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views:1293
00:10:41
01/05/2010
Predator Drones
The US Air Force’s Predator system – its unmanned reconnaissance and strike plane - hunts enemies covertly from the sky, attacks on commands received
by satellite, collects reconnaissance for ground troops with remote sensing, and removes enemy leadership with precise geographic target information.
All this with revolutionary advances in geospatial technology, and a $3.8 million price tag. A Predator system is comprised of four aircrafts, a satellite link, and a ground control station. The control station sends its signal to the satellite, and the satellite sends the information to the Predator aircraft. The signals take only 2 seconds to arrive at the Predator.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZHILC3vdKI
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Keywords:predator drones, remote airplane, airforce, geospatial spies, war
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views:1295
00:04:37
29/03/2010
EnV: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Motorcycle
The EnV (Emission Neutral vehicle) is the world’s first hydrogen-powered electric motorbike. The EnV is completely silent. The motorcycle was built fr
om the ground-up, using hydrogen as the only fuel cell.
The EnV is an electrically powered bike – there’s no engine braking. You twist the throttle to go – to stop you must use the brakes. The key to the EnV is the fully-integrated fuel-cell generator, providing power on demand. The cell converts the electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, and the only by-product is water. The EnV generates about 8 horsepower, or 6 kilowats. It can reach 80 km, or 50 mph. The fuel cell weights about 20 kilos, and is very easy to insert and remove.
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Keywords:hydrogen fuel cell, electric bike, clean vehicle, ENV
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views:1216
00:07:48
17/03/2010
Tissue Engineering
Medical researchers are trying to develop the “Promethean” ability to regenerate kidneys, hearts, intestines, and so on. This is called tissue enginee
ring. Scientists are studying how it is possible to use human cells to restore, maintain, or repair human tissue. This may involve skin, muscle or bone tissue, or it may involve the regeneration of an entire organ such as the heart, kidney or liver.
Tissue engineering is not synonymous with genetic engineering, although it may include the use of embryonic stem cells, and organ cloning. Because the supply of donor organs cannot keep up with demand, organ replacement has become a major goal. The US Defense Department is funding a lot of research in this area, in order to help their injured soldiers. Of course the discoveries will be used to help all people.
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Keywords:vcu, virginia commonwealth university, Richmond, rams, organs, tissues, gene, dna, science, health, cells, biology genetics, medicine
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views:1018
00:53:23
25/02/2010
Cars of the Future
More than 95% of the transportation systems around the world are fueled by petroleum. A quarter of all the petroleum ever consumed in the history of t
he world, was consumed in the last ten years, and that trend is accelerating.
Most cars on the road today (800 million cars) are fueled by petroleum. By 2050, projections are that there will be 2 billion vehicles on the roads. There will be an energy shortage and soaring gas prices in the future. Car companies are working on new technologies for the “cars of the future,” with alternate fuel such as ethanol and biofuel, and solar powered cars. Hydrogen powered cars are also under study.
Cars of the future must be reliable, practical and safe. In order to be reliable, it must be easy for them to be refueled. At the moment, gasoline stations are ubiquitous. Locations to fill up with hydrogen are very rare. The system will have to change in the future.
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Keywords:petroleum, automobile, car talk, Tom Magliozzi, Ray Magliozzi, biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells
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views:1597
00:03:20
06/02/2010
Carbon Capture
American Electrical Power, the largest US electric company, and a French energy company, Alstrom are conducting a pilot project in a West Virginia coa
l-fired power plant called carbon capture.
Currently, coal-fired power plants emit carbon dioxide as a pollutant into the atmosphere. The goal is to capture this gaseous carbon dioxide, convert it into a liquid state, and then inject it deep within the earth via shafts bored for the purpose. There, it is permanently stored in rock formations thousands of feet below water tables and drinking water supplies. It is prevented from rising up again by the same thick solid rock layers above that have kept oil and gas deposits trapped for millions of years. The pilot project is expected to be complete in five years.
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Keywords:Al Jazeera, Coal, West Virginia, Tom Ackerman, carbon capture, underground storage
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views:1360
00:10:01
02/02/2010
X Bionic Clothing
The makers of X-Bionic clothes believe there’s a better way to design athletic apparel. They have formulated a way to turn human sweat into energy.
r /> While the temperature that people feel on the outside of their body is important, it is their core body temperature, around the heart and organs that is critical. If the body core temperature goes above 40 degrees Celsius, the individual will no longer be able to control their muscles, and they may even suffer a heart attack or heat stroke.
Regular sports clothing allows people to sweat as they normally would. The clothing wicks away the sweat from the body, and it evaporates from the shirt, rather than from the body – so it doesn’t cool the body. X-Bionic clothing, on the other hand, keeps the sweat lying on the body, and prevents individuals from becoming dehydrated. Wicking moisture away from the skin is actually a bad thing.
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Keywords:Sports Science, X-Bionic, Energy, Sweat, Sportswear Apparel, ESPN, BASE, John Brenkus, Mickey Stern, Fox Sports Net, Fox Sports, FSN, CGI, motion capture, high speed photography
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views:1681
00:08:04
18/01/2010
Future of Transportation
This documentary discusses the future of automotive travel, air travel, anti-gravity, virtual reality and teleportation.
It begins with the aut
omobile. Science fiction has always painted amazing pictures of future travel. John Clute, the author of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, points out that science fiction “has always loved the idea of travel”. “Flying cars,” he points out.
“Vaccum tubes down which rocket-shaped projectiles would be dashing. We’d find tunnels under the sea. We would find gigantic airplanes with thousands of propellers.”
But while the imaginers of science fiction were creating a fantastic future, most real engineers were pinning our hopes on the automobile.
Science fiction has always known the answer. “Take to the skies”. In other words, put wings on a car and let it take to the skies.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfZ7qzfw5EA
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjwIesSZqbQ
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v637XamX_eU
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3AWWerNpA
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMzmVx6Hv0Q
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Keywords:Future Fantastic, The Incredible Shrinking Planet, Gillian Anderson, Michio Kaku, Neal Stephenson, Paul Moller, John Klute
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views:1594
00:09:53
17/01/2010
Sixth Sense
Pranav Mistry is the inventor of SixthSense, a device one wears “that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.”
I
n this video, Mistry shares the impetuses that drove him to invent a variety of devices that allow, or will allow, people to interact directly with their computers without the need of keyboard and mouse.
He started out with a “gesture interface device”, simply by cannibalizing two mice and using the rollers within! Rather than using a keyboard and mouse to interact with a computer, Mistry wanted to use his computer in the same way that he interacts in the physical world. This device acted as a motion sensing device, so that whatever movement he did in the physical world is replicated in the digital world.
From this starting point, Mistry went on to improve sticky notes. He wished to connect the normal face of sticky notes to the digital world.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDFKYrSJefc
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Keywords:Pranav Mistry, TED, India, tedindia, sixth sense
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views:915
00:07:12
12/01/2010
Bio Fuel Jet
According to Doug Rodante, who has designed an aircraft powered entirely by renewable biofuel, there is a significant C02 output used in aircraft avia
tion. Rodante and his chief pilot, Carol Sugars, made a flight in 2007 to test the fuel.
Biofuel gels at a certain temperature, and as a plane increases in altitude, its temperature decreases. Fuel viscosity is very critical to the performance of an engine. The viscosity has to meet a certain range for the fuel to be usable. The biofuel engine was first tested on the ground before being used in the air.
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Keywords:douglas rodante, biofuel airplane, biodiesel jet, record setting, carol sugars, green aviation, Greenflight International
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views:831
00:01:50
11/01/2010
Flexible Solar Cells
Solar panels are flat, rigid and heavy. Materials engineer John Rogers has figured out a way to make them lightweight, flexible and transparent. Roger
s and his team at the University of Illinois invented a way to use ultra-thin slices of silicon, using a printing-like process that transfers them onto lightweight plastic or even fabric.
Tests showed that these ultra-thin cells are just as efficient, while using much less material. Rogers believes that this flexibility and transparency will allow solar to be used in a wider variety of applications, and because of this flexibility and transparency, and thus lack of fragility, they will also become much more affordable.
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Keywords:Solar, Energy cells, panels, silicon wafer, sunlight, Powerlight, National Renewable Laboratory, John Rogers, sciencentral, See through Cells
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