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In 2008, Czech master glassblower Michal Zahradník built a steam engine entirely out of glass! There are no seals here, just snug-fitting glass. This is a replica of an early locomotive steam engine designed by George and/or Robert Stephenson. If you’re anything like me, you will watch this entire video waiting for something to blow up or break (which happened often, according to the video description). -via the Presurfer
This ad shows how efficient Snapdragon processors are by inferring that they can be powered by insects. And if you care about cruelty to bugs, you should know that the actual circus acts are special effects, a well-done combination of CGI and image collage. Which is less expensive than actually procuring bugs this big! -Thanks, Dustin Willson!
Why
are pencil-pusher bureaucrats - like, for example, DMV workers - are often
so mean? Researchers led by Nathanael J. Fast at Stanford Graduate School
of Business have the answer:
A new study shows why interactions with DMV employees and other clerical workers can be so fraught, and why it can feel like they are picking on people who just want to register a car. The research, titled The Destructive Nature of Power Without Status, concludes that people in positions with power but low social status often use their authority to demean others.The lesson is not just that power corrupts, but that putting people in demeaning roles leads them to demean others. In other words, it's a real life reminder of the trope that "misery loves company."
The study used 213 undergraduate students in role play scenarios, simulating different combinations of power and status. The researchers told some students they were high-status "idea producers" and others they were low-level workers, and split them further into low- and high-power groups. The students were asked to assign their classmates tasks from a list including everything from "clap your hands 50 times" to "say 'I am filthy' five times." The students given high power but low status were significantly more likely to assign the most demeaning tasks than members of the other three groups. That "demonstrates that power liberates one to act on the negative emotions that result when one is being disrespected by others," says Stanford's Nir Halevy, one of the study's three authors.
Link | The study at Stanford GSB
Who needs a generator when you’ve got the Nissan Leaf, an 100% electric car that can power your house for 2 days via the “Leaf-to-home” system, a converter that attaches to your home’s electric panel and allows for the car’s lithium-ion battery to provide power when it may be otherwise unavailable.With the people of Japan still recovering from the recent disasters, Nissan feels that a symbiotic relationship between electric car and home may be just the thing to keep the lights on when everything else around you is falling to pieces. Link -via PopSci Image via Tom Rafferty at Wikimedia
The exoskeleton of the oriental hornet is a solar collector and generator that converts sunlight into electricity! A team led by Marian Plotkin of Tel-Aviv University discovered the wasp’s power plant properties, but don’t know why the insects produce electricity.
Their research revealed that pigments in the hornet’s yellow tissues trap light, while its brown tissues generate electricity. Exactly how the hornets use this electricity is still not entirely understood, Plotkin noted.
“When I was running my experiment, people told me it was never going to work,” she said. “I’m so happy at the results.”
While solar cells using human-made substances are usually 10 to 11 percent efficient at generating electricity, the hornet’s cells are only 0.335 percent efficient. For instance, the hornet still gets the vast majority of its energy from food.
Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
(Image credit: Blickwinkel, Alamy)
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Everyone talks about alternative energy these days but mostly in terms of water, wind and solar. What about cars, cows and tornados?
To meet our future energy requirements, we need to rely on a huge range of alternative sources. Let’s not forget the whimsical beginnings of our efforts to harness electricity (I’m referring to the kite of Benjamin Franklin). It’s only fitting that electricity generation technologies come from left field.
