Tag: Technology

Impact Lab > Technology
Great New Product, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

New battery design efficiently stores solar and wind energy

 Lab demonstration of the group’s new lithium-polysulfide flow battery contained in a simple flask.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University scientists have developed a relatively cheap, long-life “flow” battery that can be used to mitigate power fluctuations from solar and wind energy plants, therefore enabling them to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.

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Entertainment, Fashion, Great New Product, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

Wearable sound effects jacket

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/62465232[/vimeo]

in movies there are sound effects that make everything look and sound awesome. In the movies, we tend to experience something visual through our ears. When sound effects are added to visual content, it all becomes much more epic. Maybe that is why this wearable sound effects jacket was brought from idea to realization.

 

 

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Great Videos, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Solar Roadway – a road built out of solar panels to charge our cars

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi14nhBACEk[/youtube]

For several years Scott and Julie Brusaw have been working on their Solar Roadway, a road made of solar panels. And, now, they’re finally ready with their first full trial: a 12 by 36 foot parking lot in north Idaho, about an hour from the Canadian border. Funded with a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration, the 5,700-watt installation is set to be completed in April, and will be a key step in proving viability.

 

 

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Analysis, Science & Technology News

Older and wiser: Software developer’s skills improve over time

“Tech is a young person’s game.” “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” “A child could solve this problem–someone send for a child.”

Prejudice against older programmers is wrong and inaccurate according to new research.  Two computer scientists at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh have discovered a natural experiment to test the technical chops of the old against the young.

 

 

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Alternative Transportation, Photo Perspectives, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Airplane flies across U.S. powered by sunshine

Solar Impulse

The goal of Solar Impulse is to fly around the world using no fuel other than sunlight. But before the solar plane circumnavigates the globe they will fly across the U.S. Solar Impulse took off on May 3 proving that airplanes can fly long distances on nothing more than sunshine. (Photos)

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

Shrinking cost of solar energy drives mega-projects around the world

US solar installations jumped 76% in 2012.

There has been a dramatic fall in the cost of solar power generation. Solar is at grid parity in many countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and in parts of the US such as the Southwest. That means it is as inexpensive to build a solar plant as a gas or coal one. The pace of technological innovation in the solar field has also accelerated, so that costs have started falling precipitously and efficiency is rapidly increasing.

 

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Great Videos, Insects, Robots, Science & Technology News

World’s smallest flying robot takes off

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9FDkJZCMuE[/youtube]

A robot the size of a fly that is able to perform the agile maneuvers of the ubiquitous insects has been created bu scientists in the United States. This “robo-fly”, built from carbon fiber, weighs a fraction of a gram and has super-fast electronic “muscles” to power its wings.

 

 

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Great Videos, Nanotechnology, Science & Technology News

IBM makes world’s smallest movie ever

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0[/youtube]

The world’s smallest movie made by IBM Research has carbon monoxide atoms being moved around on a copper surface with a scanning tunneling microscope. The 250-frame stop-motion film, entitled “A Boy and His Atom,” uses discrete atoms to draw a stick-figure-like boy that bounces on a trampoline and plays catch with an individual atom “ball.”

 

 

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Alternative Transportation, Analysis, Science & Technology News

Getting around the peak car conumdrum

New breakthroughs in connecting cars to the cloud (and eliminating the need for car ownership) show what a better future for cars might look like.

The global automotive industry is on a run by all accounts. Globally, sales are surging. Advances in hybrids, electric vehicles, and even conventional petrol engines are delivering eye-popping mileage gains.

 

 

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