When the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Pirpyat, in what is now the Ukraine, melted down in 1986, it was a worldwide disaster. Radiation spread as far away as Kansas, and Pirpyat is now massively radioactive, and judged uninhabitable. A few very stubborn people live there, and made an incredible discovery. A type of yeast there developed the ability to eat gamma radiation. As food. This species of yeast is also universally found in pigeon feces.
Gamma radiation is the lowest-mass type of radiation produced from radioactive decay. It takes several feet of lead to stop it due to its high energy,and it's absolutely hazardous to human health in the same way as touching a red hot stove would be. Also, outer space is absolutely full of it, which is a hazard to would-be space travelers.
These two facts can be combined to form two mad inventions, and I'm not sure which one is crazier.
One, we can clean up radioactive spills by spreading bread all over the affected area and then releasing some pigeons, which can easily be caught in most major cities in North America and Europe. When these pigeons poop all over the place, the yeast will get right to work eating up all the radiation, making the area inhabitable years sooner than it would otherwise.
Two, we can keep a thin layer of pigeon poop in the outer hull of space going vehicles. In the depths of space, the yeasts will absolutely feast on the radiation, and only very little would reach the astronauts. Space travel would be lighter, cheaper, and safer.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Hybrid Home Power
Someday I want to have a solar powered home, and I've been gathering supplies for it. I have about 710 Amp Hours worth of batteries, but I keep shying away from buying the panels, which tend to run in the hundreds of dollars. Obviously, this dream will have to wait.
Or will it? An electronics engineer has created a system to automatically switch between a solar-battery system and mains power. Why? The solar-battery system is free to you once paid for, but it can run down, especially if there's multiple cloudy days in a row or if your need for electricity is high (especially for air conditioning in hot summer months...my home city is technically a swamp.)
The system periodically takes a read of the battery capacity. If it's full it swaps the entire house over to battery power. If it's half full, it starts swapping circuits back to mains. And if it's empty...mains for you while the system recharges. Once set up, the user of this system could get the most economical power possible at all times.
One issue -- there is a brief cutoff while it swaps electrical systems. Users of lamps and refrigerators probably won't notice. Users of computers would have theirs inexplicably reboot. A UPS (uninterruptable power supply) would be required for all computers in this house. Preferably with the alarms turned off, as they by default sound an annoying alarm every time there's any issues with the power whatsoever.
Or will it? An electronics engineer has created a system to automatically switch between a solar-battery system and mains power. Why? The solar-battery system is free to you once paid for, but it can run down, especially if there's multiple cloudy days in a row or if your need for electricity is high (especially for air conditioning in hot summer months...my home city is technically a swamp.)
The system periodically takes a read of the battery capacity. If it's full it swaps the entire house over to battery power. If it's half full, it starts swapping circuits back to mains. And if it's empty...mains for you while the system recharges. Once set up, the user of this system could get the most economical power possible at all times.
One issue -- there is a brief cutoff while it swaps electrical systems. Users of lamps and refrigerators probably won't notice. Users of computers would have theirs inexplicably reboot. A UPS (uninterruptable power supply) would be required for all computers in this house. Preferably with the alarms turned off, as they by default sound an annoying alarm every time there's any issues with the power whatsoever.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Curing AIDS
Since it first appeared in America in 1985, there has been an intensive amount of interest in a treatment of some sort of the Auto ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. Other countries may have been interested when first exposed as well. And according to Slashdot, we may now have it. Supposedly, 3 people have been completely cured of the disease, which was previously minimally treatable and guaranteed fatal.
This is still tentative and prone to additional testing, since case #1 apparently has some radical differences with cases #2 and 3, covered in the article. The theory relies upon bone-marrow transfer immunity. When you receive a bone-marrow transplant, you inherit with it the donors immune system capabilities, including all vaccinations. In this case, one of the rare people who was completely immune to AIDS (for genetic reasons mostly) donated bone marrow to these two patients, who inherited the immunity.
If this can be confirmed, this will mean a radical new hope for the world's suffering. Still no cure for the common cold or herpes, though.
This is still tentative and prone to additional testing, since case #1 apparently has some radical differences with cases #2 and 3, covered in the article. The theory relies upon bone-marrow transfer immunity. When you receive a bone-marrow transplant, you inherit with it the donors immune system capabilities, including all vaccinations. In this case, one of the rare people who was completely immune to AIDS (for genetic reasons mostly) donated bone marrow to these two patients, who inherited the immunity.
If this can be confirmed, this will mean a radical new hope for the world's suffering. Still no cure for the common cold or herpes, though.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Heart Jellyfish
Via Slashdot, I have learned of the world's first artificial animal -- a jellyfish made of plastic and rat heart cells. The benefits are surprising and unexpected.
This jellyfish like thing starts to "swim" when exposed to electric currents, just as hearts beat in time to electric currents. Put this thing in a tank of sugar water and attach a pacemaker, and you have the perfect environment for testing heart drugs.
Traditionally, heart drugs had to be tested by breeding rats with sick hearts, injecting some rats with the drug and some with a placebo (saline solution to make sure that results aren't just some weird side effect of injections in general), and noting their recovery or death. Then human clinical trials were required because rats don't respond quite the same as humans. (Doing the original testing with humans would be condemning some humans to die, which people won't put up with.) All of this was expensive and took a lot of time.
So instead, we could make a human heart cell jellyfish, put it in the tank, and expose it to drugs dissolved in the water. The effects of the drug become apparently relatively quickly, suggesting which drugs, if any, are good candidates for a successful clinical trial.
The rat version? Proof of concept.
This jellyfish like thing starts to "swim" when exposed to electric currents, just as hearts beat in time to electric currents. Put this thing in a tank of sugar water and attach a pacemaker, and you have the perfect environment for testing heart drugs.
Traditionally, heart drugs had to be tested by breeding rats with sick hearts, injecting some rats with the drug and some with a placebo (saline solution to make sure that results aren't just some weird side effect of injections in general), and noting their recovery or death. Then human clinical trials were required because rats don't respond quite the same as humans. (Doing the original testing with humans would be condemning some humans to die, which people won't put up with.) All of this was expensive and took a lot of time.
So instead, we could make a human heart cell jellyfish, put it in the tank, and expose it to drugs dissolved in the water. The effects of the drug become apparently relatively quickly, suggesting which drugs, if any, are good candidates for a successful clinical trial.
The rat version? Proof of concept.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Counterfan
As an IT expert, I am surrounded at all times by whirring fans, except when I am driving, in which case rumbling motors. These fans are to keep the electronics cool enough to function. While there are replacements, such as watercooled systems, that are significantly quieter, such systems are always significantly more expensive.
However, sound is ultimately a waveform, and interferes with itself destructively. A +1 and a -1 waveform will, when put together, combine to form 0. You can buy noise cancelling headphones that work using basically such a principle -- a microphone records the current sound, a microchip inverts the signal, and this is played into the headphones, cancelling the current sound. This gave me an idea to make computers quieter.
Instead of one case fan whirring away, there would be two rotating in opposite directions. The noise they produce would have opposite waveforms, cancelling each other and making the computer very quiet indeed. A small bubble of space between them would have higher than normal pressure, and a vent would be requires to shove this air out of the way. The case would then have negative pressure, and slowly suck air from the room. Filters would be required in the case to prevent dust buildup on the electronics, which is somewhat of a pain in the neck to clean. (Dust interferes with thermal transfer.)
However, sound is ultimately a waveform, and interferes with itself destructively. A +1 and a -1 waveform will, when put together, combine to form 0. You can buy noise cancelling headphones that work using basically such a principle -- a microphone records the current sound, a microchip inverts the signal, and this is played into the headphones, cancelling the current sound. This gave me an idea to make computers quieter.
Instead of one case fan whirring away, there would be two rotating in opposite directions. The noise they produce would have opposite waveforms, cancelling each other and making the computer very quiet indeed. A small bubble of space between them would have higher than normal pressure, and a vent would be requires to shove this air out of the way. The case would then have negative pressure, and slowly suck air from the room. Filters would be required in the case to prevent dust buildup on the electronics, which is somewhat of a pain in the neck to clean. (Dust interferes with thermal transfer.)
Friday, June 22, 2012
In Spite of the Nail
I'm going to give you an opportunity of an imaginary lifetime -- you can take a two-way trip to anywhere in history, spend thirty minutes there, then return. After this, the time machine breaks. Also, causality, schmausality, anything you change there is now permanently part of history, even if it undermines your existence. (After which you never existed.) So, where in history do we go? Please keep in mind that this is the only time we can do this, as the unobtainium used to power the time machine is literally the only one I could find in the entire world.
I can immediately hear the most popular response -- Kill Hitler.
Yes, German dictator Adolf Hitler can personally be blamed for well over 50 million deaths and was a seriously evil guy. There are worse dictators, (although not many, I can count them on one hand), and he couldn't have done it on his own, so are you sure about this? With the right nudge to history, he might instead be a relatively unknown painter, or even a real estate agent if we change...okay, I can see I'm changing none of your minds. For our thirty minutes in the past, I send a strike team to the eastern front of World War I, between the Russian and Austrian lines. My strike team quickly guns down Corporal Hitler, and returns to the present. So we prevented World War II then? Well...no.
June 18th, 1919
The treaty of Versailles ends World War I with the surrender of the Central Powers. Although the United States lobbies for Wilson's fourteen points, which the central powers would readily agree to, England and France demand harsher teams for the pain they've suffered in the war. The Central powers feel compelled to sign these terms, as they have rather literally run out of soldiers. Nationalists of these nations call bullshit, (as none of the national territory of the central powers actually saw any fighting during the war), but are ignored by everyone else.
January 1923
Rampant hyperinflation strikes Germany, and to a lesser degree Austria. Even the most basic things require entire wheelbarrows full of money. People become radicalized as they hope for anything that could even possibly relieve their suffering, even for a moment.
November 1923
An ambition member of the exceedingly fascist Nazi party, Erich Ludendorff, attempts to throw a coup. This fails and he is sentenced to death for treason. The authorities are alarmed at the way that he had over 3000 helpers providing direct help for his plan, and probably had additional agents waiting in the shadows.
Sometime 1924
The Dawes plan brings some recovery in Germany. Support for extremist parties such as the Communist part of Germany and the Nazi party decreases sharply.
October 1929
A massive stock crash leads to worldwide economic depression. Well, shit. Hyperinflation returns to Germany, and radical parties now account for at least 45% of the vote in that country.
Sometime 1931
Japan conquers Manchuria from the local warlord. China protests, but is too disorganized and warlord-riddled to manage an effective response.
Sometmime 1933
President of Germany, Hindenberg, strikes a bargain, with Goering, the leader of the Nazi party, to get them to fight off the communists. This temporarily works well, then badly backfires when...
April 1934
In a series of "emergencies," Goering increases his powers until having total dictatorial power over Germany. He declares himself to be "Fuerer," or leader, of the entire nation.
Sometime 1935
Germany and Austria combine into one nation.
Sometime 1937
Japan and China go to war, with Japan demanding effectively all of China, and China demanding the return of Manchuria.
Sometime 1938
Goebbles demands the outer portions of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetanland, on the grounds that it's majority German. An international committee of England, France, and other allied countries agrees to allow this. Neville Chamberlain declares "Peace in our time."
About a month after that
Germany absorbs the rest of Czechoslovakia, contrary to previous treaty.
October 1939
Germany demands that Poland hand over Gdanz, known in German as Danzig. Poland notes its alliance with two world powers, the UK and France, and refuses. War begins in Europe.
June 1940
France is defeated. The entirety of the French army, and 2/3rds of the British army are captured. The remaining 1/3rd of the British army manages to escape and fortify the UK. Denmark and Norway are quickly conquered by Germany.
June 1941
Germany declares war on USSR.
December 1941
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. USA declares war on Japan, Germany, and the rest of the axis.
February 1942
Moscow is taken by Germany. Russian government successfully evacuates to Kalomna.
May 1942
Kalomna is taken. Russian government successfully evacuates to Novosibirsk. Considerable help from the USA is required to keep Russia functional and in the war.
Febuary 1943
The battle of Stalingrad is won by Russian forces when the Germans retreat. The city is effectively destroyed by the battle.
May 1943
Second attack on Stalingrad. The ruins are now controlled by Germany.
November 1943
Maximum extent of the Axis. Germany and their various allies controls the entire European continent from the Atlantic to the Urals, minus the neutral countries of Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain. However, the German high command notes that there are starting to be shortages in manpower, matériel, and armaments.
March 1944
Stalingrad is retaken by Russian forces. A massive party is thrown in Novosibirsk.
August 1944
Russian forces retake Moscow. The city is promptly rebuilt, and the Russian command begins to move back. German forces are in full, perpetual retreat.
September 1944
A British, Canadian, and American army lands on the coasts of France near Normandy. Allied forces slowly push the Axis out of France, and crush the regime in Vichy.
June 1945
Project Manhattan detonates the first ever atom bomb in a classified test site near Los Alamos, New Mexico.
August 1945
France is liberated. Charles deGaulle's Free France government assumes control in Paris. United States bombs the Japanese city of Hiroshima, wiping it off the face of the planet. Millions die.
September 1945
Belgium and the Netherlands are liberated. Their respective governments return from their colonies. Nagasaki is nuked, and millions more die.
October 1945
Japan surrenders, Korea is liberated. Italy is conquered and under British control.
November 1945
Russian forces now control Romania, removing it from the axis camp. The city of Innsbruck is nuked, and millions die. Chinese civil war resumes.
January 1946
Bulgaria is conquered by Russian forces, removing it from the axis camp. Greece is liberated.
March 1946
Finland switches the the allied side under intense Russian coercion. Hamburg is nuked, killing 90% of its population.
April 1946
Hungary is conquered by Russian forces, removing it from the axis camp. Germany is now the only surviving axis power, and its days are clearly numbered. Sweden abandons all pro-German sentiment in favor of pro-British, as it is prudent to side with a winner.
June 1946
Russian forces are at the gates of Berlin. Allied forces liberate the Czech half of Czechoslovakia.
July 1946
German government decapitated when Berlin is nuked and 90% of the German high command, including Goering, are instantly incinerated.
August 1946
Russian forces take the remains of Berlin. Czechoslovakia and Austria are now fully liberated.
September 1946
Germany surrenders, ending World War II. 8 million people died under German imprisonment, and 5% of the earth's entire population died in battle and/or nuclear incineration. The world must not forget. The subsequent party in Russia uses up the country's entire supply of ethanol, starting with vodkas and ending with perfumes.
Huh, that was actually worse. Since we have no more charges on our time machine, we can only hope that the clock-roaches clean up this alternative timeline.
I can immediately hear the most popular response -- Kill Hitler.
Yes, German dictator Adolf Hitler can personally be blamed for well over 50 million deaths and was a seriously evil guy. There are worse dictators, (although not many, I can count them on one hand), and he couldn't have done it on his own, so are you sure about this? With the right nudge to history, he might instead be a relatively unknown painter, or even a real estate agent if we change...okay, I can see I'm changing none of your minds. For our thirty minutes in the past, I send a strike team to the eastern front of World War I, between the Russian and Austrian lines. My strike team quickly guns down Corporal Hitler, and returns to the present. So we prevented World War II then? Well...no.
June 18th, 1919
The treaty of Versailles ends World War I with the surrender of the Central Powers. Although the United States lobbies for Wilson's fourteen points, which the central powers would readily agree to, England and France demand harsher teams for the pain they've suffered in the war. The Central powers feel compelled to sign these terms, as they have rather literally run out of soldiers. Nationalists of these nations call bullshit, (as none of the national territory of the central powers actually saw any fighting during the war), but are ignored by everyone else.
January 1923
Rampant hyperinflation strikes Germany, and to a lesser degree Austria. Even the most basic things require entire wheelbarrows full of money. People become radicalized as they hope for anything that could even possibly relieve their suffering, even for a moment.
November 1923
An ambition member of the exceedingly fascist Nazi party, Erich Ludendorff, attempts to throw a coup. This fails and he is sentenced to death for treason. The authorities are alarmed at the way that he had over 3000 helpers providing direct help for his plan, and probably had additional agents waiting in the shadows.
Sometime 1924
The Dawes plan brings some recovery in Germany. Support for extremist parties such as the Communist part of Germany and the Nazi party decreases sharply.
October 1929
A massive stock crash leads to worldwide economic depression. Well, shit. Hyperinflation returns to Germany, and radical parties now account for at least 45% of the vote in that country.
Sometime 1931
Japan conquers Manchuria from the local warlord. China protests, but is too disorganized and warlord-riddled to manage an effective response.
Sometmime 1933
President of Germany, Hindenberg, strikes a bargain, with Goering, the leader of the Nazi party, to get them to fight off the communists. This temporarily works well, then badly backfires when...
April 1934
In a series of "emergencies," Goering increases his powers until having total dictatorial power over Germany. He declares himself to be "Fuerer," or leader, of the entire nation.
Sometime 1935
Germany and Austria combine into one nation.
Sometime 1937
Japan and China go to war, with Japan demanding effectively all of China, and China demanding the return of Manchuria.
Sometime 1938
Goebbles demands the outer portions of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetanland, on the grounds that it's majority German. An international committee of England, France, and other allied countries agrees to allow this. Neville Chamberlain declares "Peace in our time."
About a month after that
Germany absorbs the rest of Czechoslovakia, contrary to previous treaty.
October 1939
Germany demands that Poland hand over Gdanz, known in German as Danzig. Poland notes its alliance with two world powers, the UK and France, and refuses. War begins in Europe.
June 1940
France is defeated. The entirety of the French army, and 2/3rds of the British army are captured. The remaining 1/3rd of the British army manages to escape and fortify the UK. Denmark and Norway are quickly conquered by Germany.
June 1941
Germany declares war on USSR.
December 1941
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. USA declares war on Japan, Germany, and the rest of the axis.
February 1942
Moscow is taken by Germany. Russian government successfully evacuates to Kalomna.
May 1942
Kalomna is taken. Russian government successfully evacuates to Novosibirsk. Considerable help from the USA is required to keep Russia functional and in the war.
Febuary 1943
The battle of Stalingrad is won by Russian forces when the Germans retreat. The city is effectively destroyed by the battle.
May 1943
Second attack on Stalingrad. The ruins are now controlled by Germany.
November 1943
Maximum extent of the Axis. Germany and their various allies controls the entire European continent from the Atlantic to the Urals, minus the neutral countries of Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain. However, the German high command notes that there are starting to be shortages in manpower, matériel, and armaments.
March 1944
Stalingrad is retaken by Russian forces. A massive party is thrown in Novosibirsk.
August 1944
Russian forces retake Moscow. The city is promptly rebuilt, and the Russian command begins to move back. German forces are in full, perpetual retreat.
September 1944
A British, Canadian, and American army lands on the coasts of France near Normandy. Allied forces slowly push the Axis out of France, and crush the regime in Vichy.
June 1945
Project Manhattan detonates the first ever atom bomb in a classified test site near Los Alamos, New Mexico.
August 1945
France is liberated. Charles deGaulle's Free France government assumes control in Paris. United States bombs the Japanese city of Hiroshima, wiping it off the face of the planet. Millions die.
September 1945
Belgium and the Netherlands are liberated. Their respective governments return from their colonies. Nagasaki is nuked, and millions more die.
October 1945
Japan surrenders, Korea is liberated. Italy is conquered and under British control.
November 1945
Russian forces now control Romania, removing it from the axis camp. The city of Innsbruck is nuked, and millions die. Chinese civil war resumes.
January 1946
Bulgaria is conquered by Russian forces, removing it from the axis camp. Greece is liberated.
March 1946
Finland switches the the allied side under intense Russian coercion. Hamburg is nuked, killing 90% of its population.
April 1946
Hungary is conquered by Russian forces, removing it from the axis camp. Germany is now the only surviving axis power, and its days are clearly numbered. Sweden abandons all pro-German sentiment in favor of pro-British, as it is prudent to side with a winner.
June 1946
Russian forces are at the gates of Berlin. Allied forces liberate the Czech half of Czechoslovakia.
July 1946
German government decapitated when Berlin is nuked and 90% of the German high command, including Goering, are instantly incinerated.
August 1946
Russian forces take the remains of Berlin. Czechoslovakia and Austria are now fully liberated.
September 1946
Germany surrenders, ending World War II. 8 million people died under German imprisonment, and 5% of the earth's entire population died in battle and/or nuclear incineration. The world must not forget. The subsequent party in Russia uses up the country's entire supply of ethanol, starting with vodkas and ending with perfumes.
Huh, that was actually worse. Since we have no more charges on our time machine, we can only hope that the clock-roaches clean up this alternative timeline.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Voice Controlled Mouse
Computers have made a difference in thousands of people's lives. Partially because of the automation, storage, and processing of information, but partially because it offers an increasing routing around of disabilities, allowing people who used to require an entire fleet of people to function to instead command their computers to do it for them. This seriously reduces the expenses of experiencing a disability.
For example, suppose you lost both your hands in a serious accident. Your life now has serious problems, such as an inability to open doors, dress or wash yourself, and an inability to do huge numbers of jobs out there. But now, you can do some of those things again because you can now control a computer mouse with only your voice.
The program allows you to divide your screen into an arbitrary grid, and then "click" corners of that grid, all by speaking words. Combined with text-to-speech software, a computer can be operated entirely your voice, which would be pretty handy if you for some reason no longer have hands. I can also see this linking up with a domonics system, in which you can command "open door," and it does, "fill the bathtub with 90 degree water," and it happens (this would be the Fahrenheit scale, as 90 degrees Celsius would cause serious burns), "wash my back" and it gets scrubbed down. Within the confines of this type of house, the lack of hands is no longer an obstacle. In the outside world, prosthetics would still be necessary.
This system currently only runs on OSX, but if the applescript component could be ported to Perl, or another openly available language, then this could be ported to other systems as well. Way cool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
