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views:593
00:04:36
21/07/2010
Megaflora Trees
Ray Allen is a pioneer in the field of bio-energy. It is his goal to plant the MegaFlora tree worldwide. The MegaFlora tree is also known as the HDSR
tree – high density, short rotation. It has high density because it has a high yield of lumber and biomass per acre, for fuel and other energy uses. Short rotation, because developers say it can grow to its full size – 60 feet tall, in just three years.
Unlike a traditional tree, the megaflora tree re-grows from its stump after harvest. It also produces no fruit or fertile seeds, so it is non-invasive. Every other biomass has to be replanted. The megaflora tree only needs to be planted once.
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Keywords:megaflora tree, ethanol, switchgrass, renewable energy, billy barnwell, john chapman, ray allen, biofuel, crossbreed, hdsr, high density short rotation, Emerald Energy
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views:834
00:10:10
20/07/2010
WiTricity - Wireless Electricity
Trillions of dollars have been spent to create an electricity infrastructure around the world, putting up wires to get power from where it’s created t
o where it’s used. In addition, there are 40 billion disposable batteries used every year, for power that generally is used within a few inches or a few feet from where there is very inexpensive power.
A few years ago, a group of theoretical physicists at MIT came up with a concept of transferring power over distance. They were able to light a 60 watt light bulb at a distance of about 2 meters. Imagine a coil with a capacitor attached to it. If you can cause that coil to resonate, it will pulse at alternating current frequencies, at a fairly high frequency. If you bring another device close enough to the source, that will only work at that frequency, you will be able to transfer magnetic energy between them. This transferred magnetic energy can be converted back into electricity.
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Keywords:Witricity, wireless electricity, Eric Giler, batteries, resonant energy transfer
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views:664
00:08:00
13/07/2010
Biggest Telescope Using Interferometry
In the northeast of Holland, 14 large antenna dishes have been placed next to each other in a 2.7 kilometer long line. This is the Westerbork Synthesi
s Radio Telescope, or Westerbork Array. These telescopes have been linked together to act as if they were a single larger instrument. This array has become part of a global radio astronomy network, using a technique known as very long baseline interferometry (vlbi).
Scientists collect the filter signals from multiple radio telescopes, which are then sent to a correlator and an extremely accurate image is generated, as if you were using a single dish that was the size of all the combined radius of the telescopes around the world.
These images are several orders of magnitude more clear than those obtained by even the Hubble space telescope.
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Keywords:Futuris, antenna dishes, global radio astronomy network, very long baseline interferometry, evlbi, Hubble space telescope, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope
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views:517
00:09:58
10/07/2010
Special & General Relativity Made Easy
Relativity is a method for two people to agree on what they see, if one of them is moving. The theory of relativity is used in everyday life, even tho
ugh it is not called by that name. The GPS system, for example, depends on relativity. The GPS can pinpoint your location on earth, to within a few yards. It does this by using two dozen satellites 12,000 miles above the earth, and relativity.
The GPS receives a timer signal from three different satellites. Using Einstein’s theory of relativity, it calculates the distance from each satellite. Using triangulation, the GPS then records the user’s location.
Relativity was not a new concept with Einstein. Scientists had been trying to reconcile their observation of the world, if one was moving and the other not, for decades, before Einstein proposed this theory.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNB7KEg9siM
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6pzEh6pE3A
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAaktsuFNQo
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Keywords:Albert Einstein, Cassiopeia Project, GPS, special theory of relativity, general theory of relativity
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views:1064
00:09:00
30/06/2010
Atom - Illusion of Reality
In 1912, Victor Hess made one of the most astonishing discoveries in science – what would come to be known as cosmic rays. At the same time, scientist
s were studying radioactivity – rays coming out of atoms.
Almost a hundred years later, scientists have come to realize that the world we think we know, the solid, reassuring world of our senses, turns out to be just a tiny sliver of an infinitely weirder, more wonderful universe. Our reality is just an illusion.
In 1905, Albert Einstein conclusively proved the existence and size of an atom. Scientist Rutherford, a few years later, performed an experiment that revealed the shape of the interior of an atom. It is almost entirely empty space. How then could this empty atom make the solid world around us?
Danish theoretical physicists postulated that the world of the atom ran on principles that were completely different from everything we’d known before.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6_7_EY8_78
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4pkc3MoxE4
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjK3Z_xIuMQ
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JTAyErIFB4
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Keywords:Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing, String Theory, bran Theory, Loop theory, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, theoretical physics, quantum theory
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views:1478
00:03:17
27/06/2010
Dealing with Stress
Stress can kill. It works silently and invisibly, eroding our minds and bodies. This is ironic, since stress evolved to help us survive. Sudden danger
triggers the release of hormones that rev the body up for a life or death struggle, or a frantic escape from danger. This adrenalin rush can be addictive. But when this adrenalin is constantly flowing, it actually harms the body.
Today, people no longer need be concerned about predators, but rather about work, their relationships, their money and their health. Over an extended period of time, these stress hormones can cripple the immune system and put harmful pressure on the heart – leading to a heart attack or stroke. In order to deal with stress, a variety of techniques are used, including meditation.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm9Ge-RXg_U
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiHHRXQ4vm4
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqmbvjGVphQ
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkp-APFAu9k
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLtd3IWyU4U
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Keywords:stress, meditation, adrenalin rush, stress related diseases, relaxation
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views:1241
00:02:34
22/06/2010
Drugs Factory
Modern drug discovery relies more on calculated gamble than on careful design. At GSK, a company in England, they have a library of over 2 million nam
eless chemical compounds. Scientists know very little about them. They could be highly toxic or they could be harboring a life-saving drug.
A known disease molecule – the target – is introduced to each of the 2 million compounds, one by one, to see if anything happens. With these 2 million or so compounds, they might get a few that are active against that target – as little as one or two. Chemists will then make hundreds or thousands of samples related to that original structure to try to improve that activity.
The samples must be screened over and over again. Just a handful will make it through to be tested on people. The cost in research to find a single drug is over one billion dollars and requires thousands of tests, over a period of fourteen years.
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Keywords:GSK, modern drug discovery
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views:1027
00:02:05
21/06/2010
Google TV
Producers provide TV programs and movies to various networks, which in turn air them on television for people to watch. Prior to the advent of the int
ernet, audiences were at the mercy of the TV schedule. They could watch a program only at the time it aired. When the internet became popular, people could suddenly watch any TV programs they wanted on the internet, at any time they wanted…but the screens were small, not to be compared with big screen TVs.
Then came Google TV. Google TV brings everything you love about the web to your television. Right on your TV screen, you type on what you’re looking for, and Google TV will find it. It is an entertainment hub. Google TV also provides a full web browser. Google TV will make your TV smarter and easier to use.
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Keywords:television, TV schedules, channels, web videos, TV on demand
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views:1077
00:05:44
15/06/2010
From Molecule to Medicine
The human body is extremely vulnerable – many illnesses and disorders are still untreatable. However, science is always evolving in its efforts to fin
d drugs to help patients all over the world.
14 years is the length of time it takes to develop a new drug. Over this time period, 100 research projects lead to one drug being introduced to the market.
In many illnesses, one or more proteins in the body are not working correctly. Scientists are trying to discover which proteins cause an illness, and if any drugs can be developed to correct them. Our bodies, however, contain hundreds of thousands of different proteins. Finding a single protein that isn’t working properly is a long, labor intensive process.
In modern labs, with advanced technology, up to 100,000 substances can be tested a day.
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Keywords:PhRMA, pharmaceutical industry, drug discovery, molecule, medicine
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views:995
00:49:00
13/06/2010
Total Isolation
Can a human being spend 48 hours in a room, in the dark, with no sensory stimulation whatsoever? Six people undergo a test to find out what happens to
their brains when they are kept in solitary confinement. Sensory deprivation has been used as a weapon and an aid in interrogation. The test is to discover whether their brains will still be able to process information when no stimulation reaches the brain – no touch or feel, no sight or sound.
Scientists, and interrogators, have long known of the impact of sensory deprivation on their subjects, but this is the first study to codify that impact.
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Keywords:total isolation, total solitude, sensory deprivation, human mind, walls in the mind
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