SOLAR SOLDIERS: The Australian National University has developed lightweight wearable solar panels to help soldiers power the devices they carry. The SLIVER cells are as thick as a sheet of paper. They are also bifacial — they can absorb light from both sides. What's the other side to this story? More here.
NO BRAKES BIKE: One graduate of The Cooper Union in New York is looking for ways to save energy. As a way to learn more he took the brakes off his bicycle and added a flywheel to the frame instead. When he needs to slow the bike he uses a shifter on the handlebars to transfer energy from the bike to the flywheel. When he needs a boost of extra energy it can be reclaimed from the flywheel. Ingenious.
Watch the video at Science Friday.
COPPER BOTTOMS: Monarch is a Chilean company that produces underwear and socks. But rather than using standard cotton, their underwear is infused with copper. They claim copper is up to 99% effective at killing nasty skin microbes. Copper is merged with polyamide to create an oil that's formed into wires. The wires are woven into the fabric of the underwear so it remains in contact with the skin. When I was a kid I recall a copper ring that made my finger green. That underwear won't be for me. Details at Guanabee.
STONE WIZARDS: Mathematicians at The University at Buffalo in the USA have been thinking about gravel. Their calculations predict that if particles are correctly tuned they could capture and transmit energy in a controlled way. They think they could capture the noise from aircraft on a runway or road vibrations, for example, and convert it into electricity. Just think how much power heavy trucks could
produce. Buffalo Uni has more.
WRITTEN IN STONE: M-Disc platters are made up of multiple layers of stone-like material. Rather than using dye, or a reflective layer, up to 4.7 GB of data is permanently etched onto a substrate. Any DVD player can read the disc, although special equipment is needed to write to it. The discs have been created by Millenniata and Hitachi-LG Data Storage, who see them as being suitable for long-term archival storage. Just be careful who gets hold of them. Details at ComputerWorld.com.
