Power to the people

Hi Carolyn,





  I very much enjoyed your Sherlockian musings from last weekend. What an absolutely indelible and endurable cast of characters  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created. Holmes, Watson and even Moriarty are probably going to be timeless. I do agree that the movies with Robert Downey  are thoroughly in the Rock 'em Sock 'em vein, though. 



I'm aghast, however, that you left out Sherlock Hemlock and think, perchance,  that Mr. Cumberbatch might be a tad miffed and perplexed as well.






 Only recently I noticed that we actually have the first seasons of Downton Abbey and Sherlock on DVD, courtesy of our daughter, and simply haven't gotten around to them. I'd take them to Mexico with us but I can pretty well guarantee that my LSBH will, when time permits, be following the Olympics as assiduously as Sherlock pursues his cases.  Hence,  they would simply languish in the luggage.  


My weather induced house arrest gave me gad about time in cyberspace and this entry contains some of the fruits thereof. 



In 1942 Robert Heinlein published " Waldo " in Astounding Fiction Magazine.  In 1950 it was paired with another of his novellas, "Magic Inc." and published as a book.

 

 

 I read Heinleins Glory Road in 1964 and was hooked . As usual, once bitten I grab as many of the authors works as I can and just get immersed. Waldo & Magic Inc. was in that frenetic first wave of reading. Among other things,  it is often referred to as a having presaged the whole science of nanotechnology.   The  Da Vinci Robot that ever so delicately snatched my prostate out a few years ago is operated by a "waldo" system. - But, I digress slightly. 






One of the things in Waldo that has stayed with me in a " that is so cool " context ever since was Heinleins " radiant energy " concept. Basically, it was  energy transmitted through the air and used to power anything from small appliances to all manner of vehicles just by having them fitted with a " dekalb receptor".  A radical idea in the 1940's but much more conceivable now I think. Super cheap and super abundant energy is one of the holy grails of scientific research .



As a regular at the Gizmag.com bar, three articles about energy from alternate sources I read recently really brought me back to this whole idea in a science fiction becoming science fact way.


The first article came from Darren Quick on Jan. 23 and dealt with producing aviation fuels from desert vegetation. The next three paragraphs, and the pic,  are from his article.

Whenever the topic of plant-derived biofuels is raised, the issue of turning valuable arable land over to the task of growing feedstock is generally not far behind. A discovery by the Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SRBC) that desert plants fed by seawater can produce biofuel more efficiently than other well-known feedstocks could help alleviate such concerns.

The SRBC, which is affiliated with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, is receiving funding from Boeing, Etihad Airways and Honeywell UOP to develop and commercialize a sustainable biofuel that emits 50 to 80 percent less carbon through its lifecycle than fossil fuels. Plants called halophytes, which are highly salt tolerant, could be the answer.

SRBC researchers found that halophyte seeds contain oil suitable for biofuel production and that the entire shrub-like plant can be turned into biofuel more effectively than many other feedstocks.


A few days before that an article from Ben Coxworth had to do with creating better batteries from, of all things, sugar. The next three paragraphs  and the pic  are from his article:

Even today's best rechargeable lithium batteries do lose their ability to hold a charge after a while, and are considered toxic waste once discarded. In just a few years, however, they may be replaced by batteries that are refillable and biodegradable, and that will also have a higher energy density yet a lower price ... and they'll run on sugar.

"Sugar is a perfect energy storage compound in nature," says Virginia Tech's Prof. Y.H. Percival Zhang, who is leading the research. "So it's only logical that we try to harness this natural power in an environmentally friendly way to produce a battery."

Zhang's isn't the first experimental sugar battery, although he claims that its energy density is "an order of magnitude higher than others."



Finally, the most intriguing article of all dealt with producing energy from humidity. Darren Quick posted an article on Jan. 27th about humidity as a power source. The illustration and next three paragraphs are taken from that posting:

Ozgur Sahin, Ph.D., believes that water evaporation is the largest power source in nature. In an effort to demonstrate the potential of this untapped resource, Sahin and his fellow researchers have created prototype electrical generators with rubber sheets that move in response to changes in humidity thanks to a coating of bacterial spores.
In a 2012 study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Sahin, along with Wyss Institute Core Faculty member L. Mahadevan, Ph.D., and Adam Driks,Ph.D., a professor of microbiology and immunology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, detailed how a soil bacterium called Bacillus subtilis dries up to become a tough, wrinkled, dormant spore. These spores can then be almost immediately restored to their original shape when taking on water.

With their ability to shrink reversibly, the researchers realized the spores must be storing energy. In an effort to measure the energy of the spores, Sahin coated a tiny, flexible silicon plank in a solution containing the spores with the assumption he would be able to measure the humidity-driven force in a customized atomic force microscope. To his surprise, before he could even get it under the microscope, Sahin could see with the naked eye the plank curving and straightening in response to the subtle humidity changes from his breath.

"I realized then that this was extremely powerful," said Sahin.






I don't pretend to understand a great
deal about the inner workings of any of these developments but can't deny that all of them really make the future look so bright - energy wise - that as the song goes " I gotta wear shades."




Okay, from the brightness of the future to the darkness of the cave - the riddle cave that is.



My last one was coffee tables. We inherited one with a transparent top and that's how I discovered that dastardly dust bunnies lurked underneath.  I believe your last one is soup. You are correct about the hitting the spot part, to be sure. One of the best winter concoctions from that kitchen we used to have was a simple hamburger soup that just hit all the right gastronomic notes.

Submitted for your approbation this time around is the following:

Men are made of it

As are angels

If it rides with the wind

you'll be trapped where you sit or stand

 

 

 

By the time you read this we'll hopefully have shifted our latitudinal position from  44.5667 degrees North to 20.9700 degrees North. The Wi-Fi hassles have been apparently conquered so I hope to converse at the regular time from that clime. In the meantime have a good week.

 

 

 

Don

 

 

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 7 sourced from Google Images

 

Fig. 1 - forum.maplewoodonline.com

Fig. 2 - pbagalleries.com

Fig. 3 - asme.org

Fig. 7 - finnhoward.wordp[ress.com