Articles tagged with: Cells
Posted in Cells, Fuel, Health on 1 February 2008
The much abhorred E. coli for its close association with food poisoning will earn some of its lost respect if Thomas Wood’s research turns out to be fruitful. A professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M Wood successfully tweaked a strain of E.coli to get it to produce 140 times more hydrogen than it does naturally. With the help of his friends, he was able to remove 6 genes from the strain’s DNA to convert its cell machinery into a mini hydrogen-producing dynamo powered by glucose. E-coli is known to convert sugar into hydrogen through a special fermentative process.
Wood’s plan will also solve the problem of transportation, a major hassle in hydrogen production. In his own words, Wood puts it, “the idea is to make the hydrogen where you need it.” He is already confident about the potential of his project which will power the next generation of homes and vehicles. In the current stage of his experiment, he estimates that an individual would need to shovel the equivalent of a man’s weight of sugar into a 250-gallon fuel tank so that the E. coli-reactor could produce enough hydrogen to power the average home for an entire day. We sure wish him luck!
Via Treehugger/ Sciencedaily
Posted in Cells, Companies, Eco-Friendly, Products, Recycling, Solar on 23 January 2008
The world of dentistry will be revolutionized if Japanese manufacturers and a University of Saskatchewan researcher have their way. A company by the name of Shiken, based in Japan, is seeking to take dentistry in the future. Yes, they have visualized it to be a time when your toothbrush may no longer need your toothpaste to get the job done. The idea is to have a solar-powered toothbrush which will cause a chemical reaction in your mouth to eliminate plaque and bacteria from your mouth.
Sask dentistry professor Dr. Kunio Komiyama thought of it first when he created this type of toothbrush 15 years ago. A titanium dioxide rod was contained in the neck of the brush a little below the nylon bristles. Light falling on the wet rod would release electrons, which would react to the acid typically found in the mouth, helping break down plaque. The latest model is called the Soladey-J3X and works in the same way, except that it’s twice as powerful. The toothbrush needs about as much light as a solar-powered calculator.
Via DiscoveryChannel
Posted in Cells, Eco-Friendly, Efficiency, Energy on 15 January 2008
Mobile phones have become such an important part of our modern lives, that even the slightest hic up is not appreciated. And ‘running out of phone battery’ is a technological calamity that has given trouble to most of us. For whatever the amount of phone charging may be, the battery always fails to fit our requirement. But good news is finally here. A Canadian firm by the name of Angstrom Power has been working for the past six months to find a solution for this problem.
They have come up with a unique battery that runs on a hydrogen based fuel cell. And it does not even increase the overall size of the mobile phone. Battery backup has always been a problem area but the hydrogen battery will make a new history. It takes only 10 minutes to recharge this battery and so has a lower energy consumption. Angstrom has just finished working on prototypes and will massively launch this unique product only by 2010.
Via SevenClick