Six years ago, I had to make a bed base so our mattress wasn’t sitting
on the floor. I had lots of plastic bottles that needed recycling, and
an idea. Tools and materials The reason this bed is so primitive is
that I had just moved countries and had no power tools with which to
make one, except…
By: makendo
Tilly is 9 years old and needs a new home because her owner has sadly passed away. She’s a sweet girl who loves company and gets on with cats and other dogs. She’d like a quiet retirement home with someone who is around most of the day.
For the first time a collaboration of researchers across Europe now achieved to investigate the electrical behaviour of only two C60 molecules touching each other. The molecule which is shaped like a football was discovered in 1985 and since then has attracted tremendous attention by researchers all over the world due to its unique chemistry and potential technological applications in nano-technology, materials science and electronics.
12 year old Dream really is a “dream” of a dog – she’s absolutely no trouble at all and she gets on nicely with other dogs. Poor Dream was picked up as a stray, so she’s hoping she’ll be spending this Christmas in a warm and comfortable home.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2009—Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or completely cloaked object would look like in real life can now get their wish — virtually. A team of researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany has created a new visualization tool that can render a room containing such an object, showing the visual effects of such a cloaking mechanism and its imperfections.
You might have heard about harnessing the power of algae to make biofuels, but the team at Joule Biotechnologies decided started from scratch — by redesigning the organisms themselves.
They genetically engineered organisms that use photosynthesis to directly create the molecules that form the basis of diesel. Their SolarConverter array system suspends these organisms in a solution within a light-permeable structure that looks something like a solar panel array. Point these arrays at the sun, and the critters turn carbon dioxide and sunlight into biodiesel. They expect their first plant to be online by 2011.
Unlike traditional biofuels, like ethanol, the SolarConverter requires no farmland to grow the corn or other feedstock. In fact, the sunnier and more “useless” the land, the better.
Beyond fueling long-distance trucks, you could picture this system sitting beside large-scale solar farms or wind farms. Joule-biodiesel-powered generators could provide the green energy needed to cover the times of day when the sun doesn’t shine and wind doesn’t blow.
You still have holiday shopping left to do, I’m betting. Well, guess what? Not anymore. Bam. You’re done. You’re buying one of these spinning tops.
Mark Frauenfelder from Boing Boing writes: “My daughter earned this spinning top for selling wrapping paper in a school fundraiser. It plays the theme from Beverly Hills Cop and draws a laser circle on the floor. Thirty years ago the technology in this toy would have cost $100,000.”
A laser light show and the theme from Beverly Hills Cop? Begging Mr. Frauenfelder’s pardon, I say this toy is still worth $100,000. Check it out in the video above.
Via Boing Boing
Time Magazine has released its list of the 50 Best Inventions of 2009. It’s worth checking out – tons of interesting stuff.
Topping the list is NASA’s Ares Rocket. Yay! And the Herschel Space Observatory is also on it, which happens…
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