I liked this post because of how creative and fun it makes science. I recommend looking further into this if you have a creative spirit and a lot of patience.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Lego Mind storm: A Helping Hand
At England's Cambridge University, a small team of scientists are conducting experiments about bones, and how to make precise artificial bones. If they succeed, they can make artificial bone implants, and even building materials. However, there is one task that bores the scientists to death: putting a solid object like a bolt into a dish of calcium and protein, then in water, then in phosphate and protein. They then do this again and again. Then, a mechanical engineering PhD student decided to make a robot out of Lego to do the job for them.Because the robots don't need anything but energy, they can go on all night, so that samples are ready in the morning. They also have automatic programming, so it means that they don't have to be told to do anything again and again. It's like anything else natural: simple yet efficient.
I liked this post because of how creative and fun it makes science. I recommend looking further into this if you have a creative spirit and a lot of patience.
I liked this post because of how creative and fun it makes science. I recommend looking further into this if you have a creative spirit and a lot of patience.
The Sahara Desert Project:Its Becoming Real!
We all know that the Sahara Desert is...well a desert. The biggest. However, a project has finally come up to restore the trees to the land of Northern Africa, and turn it into an oasis.
How does it work? The engineers and scientists have designed a greenhouse that draws water from the atmosphere and energy from the sun. While this sounds like something from a Sci-fi alien, it actually exists today. What happens is the sea water from the surrounding oceans/seas (Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Red Sea) is pumped to the greenhouses and then flows around the rooms in little pipes. What this causes is cool air. Now, with glass ceilings, heat comes into the greenhouse as light and condenses the cool air into humid air. Plants love humid air.Then comes the cool part. The walls of the greenhouse "catch air" and cause the humid air to condense. When it condenses, the condensed air becomes water droplets, which slide down the wall into a storage tank of fresh water. This can then be used to give plants cool, fresh water. Now I bet you're wondering "Alex, how does the air reach the walls? Air just rises and falls depending on the temperature!" Well, what happens is they installed fans to draw air through the greenhouse. Where do they get energy to power the fans? Concentrated Solar Energy! How that works is lots of mirrors direct sunlight to tanks filled with sea water, where it steams up, spins turbines and generates electricity. So, in a way, they designed a greenhouse that is solar/water powered!
I chose this topic because it was exciting to see people giving back to the environment in a positive way. And such a big way too! It seems out of this world, yet it seems right were it should be. I recommend looking at this article further if you truly care for this dying planet.
I chose this topic because it was exciting to see people giving back to the environment in a positive way. And such a big way too! It seems out of this world, yet it seems right were it should be. I recommend looking at this article further if you truly care for this dying planet.
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