On the promise of the artificial leaf

MIT's Dan Nocera is one of the forerunners involved in the development of an 'artificial leaf', a device that would mimic photosynthesis and store solar energy in the form of high-energy chemical bonds, a sort of generalization of solar cells, and photosynthesis itself.

Here's the MIT news article. This particular device uses solar energy to split water and store hydrogen. I recently attended a talk by Prof. James Barber of the Imperial College, London where he described his own work on understanding photosynthesis and described Dan Nocera's work as well. The photosynthetic machinery relies on a fantastically engineered molecular design which we would need to replicate using some heavy studies into single-molecular electron transfer in inorganic compounds. Time to hit the inorganic chemistry books, I say.

MoS2 chips rival Silicon

Here is an article on making mirco-chips faster, cheaper and more readily available in terms of resources.

Siemens going tidal

As Grist notes in this article, «tidal power (...) has always seemed like a neat idea». Now Siemens is getting in the game. The goal is for tidal power to reach price parity with offshore wind by 2020.

Why tidal, you ask? Well, it's super predictable. And so a better business case.

«Power output of the systems could be calculated for centuries in advance», says Siemens CFO for solar and hydro. (Check out the linked Tech Review article for more)

The world's new lightest material

Here is an article about how US engineers have created the world's lightest material, a metal tube micro-lattice that in the future will be used for this like batteries and shock absorbers.

Boosting Battery Strength with Small Holes

Here is an article about how researchers at the university of Northwestern in the US are playing with lithium battery to make them better performing. According to the article, it is estimated witht the few changes they have made that lithium batteries 5 years from now will charge 10 times faster and last 10 times longer.

Experiments that may mean reduced ageing

Courtesy Nick.

This TED talk is by the illustrious Cynthia Kenyon, where she describes experiments done by her which could reveal genes which cause aging, at least those that appear to do so in C.Elegans, everyone's favorite model organism.

An interesting debate should ensue about what the implications of such research could be on the human race, given that part of the population problem, and indeed most current global problems, is due to an increased lifespan in humans.

An aircraft that costs under 7 USD per hour to operate

Totally bakaakin, this one.

Electric + aircraft = good news for hippies and corporates.

This one was the result of a competition which was held, but that doesnt stop people from starting up interesting stuff with it.