Flywheel Bicycle: KERS for pedal-pushersBy Ben Coxworth
In order to help boost their range, many electric and hybrid cars employ regenerative technology where braking energy is stored in the battery instead of simply being wasted. This idea can also be applied to electric-assist bikes, but what about bicycles of the plain old human-powered variety? Isn't it a shame that after having built up some good momentum, you just have to write it all off once you stop? Maxwell von Stein, a student at New York City's Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, thought so. As his senior project, he recently rigged up a flywheel to an existing bicycle, in order to harness the energy that's lost during braking. That energy can then be used to boost the bike when needed.
A re-definição do espaço-tempo? Vou esperar pela explicação com Vídeo...
Beyond space-time: Welcome to phase spaceby Amanda Gefter
A theory of reality beyond Einstein's universe is taking shape – and a mysterious cosmic signal could soon fill in the blanks
IT WASN'T so long ago we thought space and time were the absolute and unchanging scaffolding of the universe. Then along came Albert Einstein, who showed that different observers can disagree about the length of objects and the timing of events. His theory of relativity unified space and time into a single entity - space-time. It meant the way we thought about the fabric of reality would never be the same again. "Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade into mere shadows," declared mathematician Hermann Minkowski. "Only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality."
But did Einstein's revolution go far enough? Physicist Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, doesn't think so. He and a trio of colleagues are aiming to take relativity to a whole new level, and they have space-time in their sights. They say we need to forget about the home Einstein invented for us: we live instead in a place called phase space.
Um pouco mais terra-a-terra, (mesmo que seja a voar), um novo tipo de Dirigível, que não perde nem ganha peso para subir ou descer, como os dirigíveis até agora feitos, está a ser construído:
New Type of Flying Vehicle in Development
Mike O'Sullivan
A California company is developing a new type of airship for transporting cargo and, possibly, passengers. It is not an airplane and not a blimp, but has elements of both. The vehicle uses new technology and has commercial and military applications.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/New-Type-of-Flying-Vehicle-in-Development-126449823.html
Novos materiais com, ao mesmo tempo, propriedades electrónicas e ópticas...
New photonic crystals have both electronic and optical properties
by Space Mart Staff Writers
In an advance that could open new avenues for solar cells, lasers, metamaterials and more, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated the first optoelectronically active 3-D photonic crystal.
"We've discovered a way to change the three-dimensional structure of a well-established semiconductor material to enable new optical properties while maintaining its very attractive electrical properties," said Paul Braun, a professor of materials science and engineering and of chemistry who led the research effort.
The team published its advance in the journal Nature Materials.
E aquio, são as propriedades magnéticas e eléctricas que são juntas num único material!
Rare Coupling of Magnetic and Electric Properties in a Single Material by Space Mart Staff Writers
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have observed a new way that magnetic and electric properties - which have a long history of ignoring and counteracting each other - can coexist in a special class of metals. These materials, known as multiferroics, could serve as the basis for the next generation of faster and energy-efficient logic, memory, and sensing technology.
The researchers, who worked with colleagues at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Germany, published their findings online in Physical Review Letters on July 25, 2011.
http://www.spacemart.com/reports/
