Dutch Company Siphoning Heat from Asphalt for Energy Uses

Treehugger reports on how a Dutch company is collecting solar energy from a road and parking lot to power an apartment complex.  To quote: the heat stored from 36,000 sq ft of pavement during the summer helps keep a 160,000 sq ft-industrial park warm in the winter.

Can’t find it on Google, but I recall an article on the mechanism of using solar energy to heat underground silos filled with water.  Under pressure, the water could receive nearly unlimited amounts of heat during the summer, which would pump through the stadium in winter to both warm the air and keep the soft dome inflated.  Adding to that, my elementary school principal gave me a tour of his retirement home, showing how he had water pumped beneath the ground and through his walls to receive or transfer heat and to add extra insulation.

Three different levels, and price points, for using natural forms of heat for efficiency.  Seems a combination of these could easily be adapted to all forms of habitat and architecture.  Especially given the amount of pavement every region of North America, Asia and Europe currently own.  Finding a way to put it all to use would certainly create a gain for the world’s energy pool.

Synthetic Biology: It’s Not What You Learned, But What You Made

I’ll not pretend to understand all of this article, but I can get enough to believe engineers are looking for methods to build synthetic DNA strands by hacking natural methods.  Read about the ‘Black box’ methadology and the simplification of understanding the process by ignoring the complexity of the natural process between input and output.  Certainly some questions to ask about how science will approve these procedures for public access.

The best quote is from Tom Knight, describing the history and future of science behind electronics research.

Brainwaves Become Commands

Great article on Makezine with two videos showing how a company named Neurosky is developing technology which reads controllable states of your brain to allow control of objects within a virtual space.  Their mission mentions both additions to the gaming industry as well as allowing individuals to control real-world objects such as wheelchairs.

This is truly breakthrough interface technology.  But…

Currently, we have ‘Net addiction, Crackberry addiction and research beginning to show how our constant immersion in multitasking environments are creating stress and discomfort and detracting from our lives.  The question must be asked: as individuals modify their mental patterns to control these devices, what negative ramifications will this have on the future youth?  I could certainly see this becoming an issue in which constant practice drives a form of neural addiction.

MIT’s 3D Installation Pwns Roger Rabbit

You have to watch the video to appreciate what they’ve developed at MIT.  Using an interactive display to create virtual artifacts in virtual space, tagged to a specific location in the real world.  Then, moving the display around, allows you to view the virtual object from all sides.  Certainly something to watch.

School Cop Investigated for Porn Link on Friend’s MySpace Profile

Just a reminder of how ignorance, or blindly rabid prosecutors with a name to make, can misuse technology when it is out of our control.  The officer involved in this situation has absolutely no control over what his MySpace links are doing unless he constantly polices (pun intended) their pages.  A reason to be very careful in this day and age, as perception can often override the techno-magic so many don’t understand.

‘Wii warm-up’ good for surgeons via Gizmodo

Specific games, requiring fine motor skills, were found to benefit surgeons’ skills when operating in a simulator.  The belief is that the dexterity requirements “warm up” the surgeons and better prepare them for surgical work.  Further proof that some bad things are good for you.

Two interesting articles on work to replace and upgrade human vision.  To begin, Gizmodo covers research to replace the retina with a micro-camera.  The mission being to replace lost vision with a chip that would record and stimulate the natural optical nerves with a chip. 

The second article, from medGadget, reports on an attempt to embed a visual feed into something as basic as a contact lens.  This would allow for a wide range of use from tourism to combat assistance to gaming, as the feed, if combined with GPS and directional awareness, could be overlayed on what the viewer can see in the moment. This could also have influence on education and psychology by adding/removing visual influences which might cause stress or distraction.

Naturally, once somone’s retina is replaced, it should be simple to include this type of visual overlay.

Robots Evolve and Learn How to Lie

Short and informative on a robot experiment in which the robots are affixed with “genes” that predisposed their light sensitivity and response to light.  From there, they were allowed to procreate, and pass on successful genes.  50 generations in, they learn to communicate about food sources and even begin to develop special characteristics.

Rough Nano-Wires Hold the Secret to Efficient Heat to Electricity Conversion

Gizmodo does a great job outlining an article from Nature magazine about a discovery which will lead to the ability to convert heat energy into electricity.  So many effective uses for this, I can imagine our vehicles, plants and buildings will be covered in nanofibers, and whatever offspring further research creates, to pull waste heat from every possible source.  Using attic heat to power AC would be a wonderful change if it means both cooling the attic air and increasing the efficiency of home energy use.

Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All from Horrible Deaths

There should be consideration for the idea that, due to population expansion and, hopefully, an interest in maintaining regions of the planet for wildlife, humans will need to build habitats in a wider variety of regions.  There seems to have been some success with providing underwater habitat and reef regrowth areas by sinking old ocean vessels.  Perhaps an underwater habitat for humans would give us a place to live, plus have a secondary effect beneficial to ocean life.

Providing we don’t completely destroy the region when it is built…