Using solar energy to keep homes cool

CNET has a great article today about a new solar powered A/C unit from SolCool. As they say in the CNET article this is an absolute no-brainer and I can't believe it has taken this long to reach the market.

These units need to be scaled to replace home A/C units as soon as possible. This unit could eliminate the electricity drain from air conditioning homes. It is the largest drain on our grid and this type of solution could really make a difference.

The unit even has battery backup and can run without sun from period of 12 to 24 hours depending on the battery size.

You can learn more about this at the CNET link above and the link to SolCool is: http://www.solcool.net/. They have several interesting products and ideas. Here is the link that goes directly to the two-ton Hybrid SolCool platform: http://www.solcool.net/solcool.htm

image: SolCool

Tata planning to deliver compressed air car to market

This car is really amazing. The car runs on compressed air and can travel over 100 miles on a tankful. Only costs a few bucks to fill the tank as well. From what I understand the automobile will cost less than $10,000.

I hope Tata really delivers on this capability and it could turn the entire automobile industry upside down!

We need solutions like this! They could use some improved styling on the car but hey this is their first version!

Here is a link to another article at Gizmag: http://www.gizmag.com/

New way to look at news on the web! - Another hot thing today!

Jonathan Harris has developed a unique and effective way to look at news and events from around the world (or universe as he likes to say) through his new search portal - UNIVERSE.

What is different is the way Jonathan has organized the information and connected the dots to every major noun involved in the story or event! There was a really cool music site that did this years ago and allowed you to traverse the "taxonomy" of the artist and where they derived their inspiration, etc. This will be very interesting to look at information and have a lot of the dots connected and displayed in a manageable and useful way.

The "past day" page link is going to be a popular destination for myself. I think this ushers in yet another perspective on how to look at everything happening around us.

This site has tremendous potential! Be Patient when you first access it - I am sure they are experiencing very heavy traffic.

World's First Commercial Quantum Computer

DailyTech has a great article tonight about D-Wave's 16-qubit processor and the first commercially viable quantum computer.

The pictures are fascinating and when I look at them I can't help but think what people were feeling when they say the first photos of main-frames.

This computer marks a milestone in the next evolutionary step of computer processing. The promise of quantum computing will certainly change our existence.

D-Wave founder has a blog as well which can be found here: http://dwave.wordpress.com/ (Geordie Rose)

Check out the article - DailyTech did a great job on this report!

Personal dishmaker in your home!

Leonardo Bonanni has invented the personal dishmaker. It literally will create all the dishes you need within minutes and guess what - you don't ever have to wash dishes again. You can recycle the dishes.

The acrylic templates can be recycled and shaped into new dishes about 100 times before degrading the quality of the material.

This project has great promise and is really an amazing idea and invention. The whole machine takes up similar space as a dishwasher.

Check out the website for this is a youtube video that is a must watch.

Leonardo bring this product out!

B.C. researchers find cancer-killing 'decoy'

Researchers from the British Columbia Cancer Agency have announced a major breakthrough in the treatment of prostate cancer.

If prostate cancer is caught early enough current treatments are very effective however, if caught too late typically only the tumor growth and disease progression can be slowed down but the disease is still terminal.

What is key about Dr. Sadar's treatment is the ability to introduce 'decoy' molecules which increase androgen receptors which in turn effectively block the growth of prostate cancer cells and not only do they stop growing they actually begin to shrink.

Now the pharmas need to jump on the approach and create a human drug and hopefully it won't take too many years to get it out!

Before this approach people with advanced prostate cancer typically just had a few years to live.

Hats off to Dr. Sadar who made a career decision 12 years ago to go after cancer - her greatest hope was to make a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer and now she has!

Can't wait to see what she does next - hope I don't have to wait 12 years for her next breakthrough.

New molecules for a faster Internet

Chromophores which have been theorized by physicists at Washington State University have been synthesized by chemists in China and tested by chemists in Belgium. Chromophores are a new generation of optical molecules which interact 50% more strongly with light than any other molecules ever test.

End result some day, maybe we will see these molecules used in optical switches and Internet connections resulting in higher throughput.

The article has several links to other background information and scientific data.

It always amazes me how we are often reminded of how little we know about physics, science, our bodies, our world and universe. Sometimes it feels like we are all part of some kid's ant farm!

Interesting new development on the war on cancer - Cancer cure patented

A group of researchers is patenting an approach to potentially cure cancer. They are out of John Hopkins and they make it clear their approach has not been tested on animals or humans.

Their approach utilizes sugar and short-chain fatty acid. This isn't the first time a sugar approach has been used for fighting cancer.

This research has been going on for many years. Hopefully this will lead to something very useful in this ongoing battle!