Because I continually run across interesting inventions and discoveries that I cannot give my full attention to I thought I would create a weekly summary of items that have caught my eye. I’ll publish these headlines every Friday and hope, you, my readers find them as interesting as I do. Let me know if you
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The most advanced batteries in today’s electric cars are based on lithium-ion technology. These batteries use metal-oxide cathodes combined with an encased oxidizer. They are heavy and provide a limited range, up to 160 kilometers (approximately 100 miles) before they need recharging. When compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) technology, with an average range of
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The Wind Challenger Project will be bringing sailing ships to a port near you in the very near future. The earliest date for the first deployment may be 2016. What’s this technology all about? A return to sails on ships, but not the canvas ones of old. The use of up-to-the-minute satellite and radar tracking
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I couldn’t miss the opportunity to memorialize RMS Titanic in this blog on the 100th-year anniversary of it sinking. Could it happen again? Could a ship hit an ice berg and sink? In light of the Costa Concordia sinking in the Mediterranean, maritime safety is once more a front page headline. But ice bergs are
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Recently in a blog focused on the evolution of materials for automobiles I wrote about the future of shape memory polymers, self-healing nanoparticle-based plastics that return to their original shape after being dented or dinged. Well it seems the future is getting closer to the present. At the March 2012 meeting of the 243rd National
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Creating “living buildings” requires a new approach to design and construction that recognizes the need to reduce our energy footprint. With this in mind the designers of the Bullitt Center, a 6-storey headquarters for the Bullitt Foundation, intend to create a sustainable office building that minimizes its environmental footprint. The new building being constructed in
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After the American landing on the Moon, human space flight returned to low-Earth orbit. The cost to launch a kilogram of payload into near-Earth space under the Apollo Program was prohibitively expensive. Post-Apollo engineers focused on finding a cheaper solution. Both in the United States and Soviet Union, engineers conceived of reusable winged spacecraft. The
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In 1800, 2% of us lived in cities. By 1950 that number had grown to 30%. In 2007 we surpassed 50% and forecasts for 2050 based on present growth indicates that 65% of us will be urban dwellers. Before World War II, the majority of humanity lived on subsistence farms supporting large family units. Today
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Like the automobile, the airplane is an icon of the 20th century. It began with the Wright Brothers and their successful launch of the ” Flyer” in 1903, and by the end of the century saw space shuttles, supersonic transports, and scramjets. The Flyer looked more like a box kite than an airplane. Today’s aircraft
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How far we have come from the Montgolfier balloon flights of 18th century France to today. How much farther will we go in the 21st century? In Part 7 of our look at transportation we will look at the evolution of flight technologies not including space. When we started talking about transportation we briefly introduced
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