Homely Scientist

How would you like to have a device that generates electricity just from the vibrations that are all around us?  How about if this device were smaller enough to be used in lots of small devices?  Making things like wireless transmitters small, cheap, and self-powered?  It’s a reality now:
The trick with this generator is efficiency: Its vibrating magnets are 10 times better at generating current than other machines of this sort. The obvious use for this is in wireless sensors, that currently use batteries that need to be replaced, and therefore must be located in accessible spots. With a vibration …read more

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Insulating buildings is one of the most important aspects of the building process.  Insulation not only has to, well, insulate, but it also has to not grow nasty things and last for a long time (who wanted to rip open all their outside walls every few years–if ever).  Insulation, which is typically fiberglass now, does take resources to make and isn’t recyclable (although it is made from recycled glass).  Now, what if you could grow insulation?  Yeah, grow.  Couple smart guys figured out how to make a growing medium for oyster mushroom spores that could become suitable insulation material:
Placed in …read more

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LOL!  Not really, but learning from how gecko’s stick to walls and even glass, scientists are working on better and better adhesives.
Unbundled, their nanotube tape was nearly as adhesive as a live gecko, but as these same tubes were clustered into bundles, their strength went up. By the time the authors optimized the combination of fiber length and bundle width, their tape was over four times stronger than a gecko: a square centimeter was sufficient to support nearly four kilograms. Although this was weaker than the initial strength of a standard piece of adhesive tape, the “gecko tape” had staying …read more

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You say to yourself, “and…so…”, okay read, please:
Raydiance has purportedly developed a laser that “looks like an ordinary slide projector,” yet can emit “burst of photons so intense that it can vaporize matter without creating heat.” Its uses could span every area from removing tattoos (yes, even Zune ones) without burning the skin, killing cancer cells without affecting healthy ones, or handling any undercover task that the military may require. Source: Raydiance laser can vaporize matter sans heat – Engadget
Yes, this is huge.  Okay the weapon thing is creepy, but think of being able to get rid of stuff, mostly …read more

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While biodiesel is cool (and according to the article below you can drink it…eeewww) manufacturing is still not 100% there.  So here comes the handy home biodiesel test:
Biodiesel is sort of like buying cheese. Some of it is fantastic, and some isn’t so hot.
Enter the pHLip, a testing system from CytoCulture, which specializes in oil spill technology. Place a few drops of the biodiesel you are thinking of buying into the vial, shake it up, and then let it stand. If the fluid on the bottom stays cherry red, you have yourself good biodiesel, says Randall von Wedel, principal researcher …read more

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 Today is not one of my better post title days…regardless…
Jean-Baptiste Denys, personal physician to France’s Louis XIV, is generally credited with performing the first human blood transfusion, although some sources award that distinction to Englishman William Lower. What is not in dispute is the year — 1667 — and the patient — a 15-year-old boy who had been bled so much by his doctor that he required an infusion of blood.
The source is also not under dispute: Whoever the physician was, he used a sheep’s blood. And, somehow, the kid recovered. Source: June 15, 1667: First Human Blood Transfusion Is Performed …read more

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Pope Benedict XVI might not get kudos, or even consideration, for his green leanings, but he can certainly put his money (not to mention buildings) where his mouth is:
Yes, indeed, it’s a definite move toward green as the roof of the Pope Paul VI auditorium will be replaced next year with solar panels, a reflection of Pope Benedict XVI’s concern about energy use and conservation. Source: » The Vatican Goes Green » Blog Archive   Alice Hill’s Real Tech News – Independent Tech
So why, frankly, aren’t more places doing this?  How many large roofs are just sitting there doing nothing but …read more

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 There are very few medical advances that hold both tremendous promise and equal controversy as embryonic stem cells.  Stem cells have the ability to “become” (grow into) any cell in the body.  Embryonic stem stems are the most powerful stem cells, for obvious reasons–they need to make a complete person.  One problem, the only source of embryonic stem cells are human embryos and obtaining them, means destruction of the embryo.  I will not get into this controversy here.  I read today that scientists have been able to take stems cells from mice skin and make them behave like embryonic ones:
(AP) Three …read more

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