Panasonic Photosynthesis System converts carbon dioxide to organic material with plant-like efficiency Panasonic Develops Highly Efficient Artificial Photosynthesis System Generating Organic Materials from Carbon Dioxide and Water Osaka, Japan - Panasonic has developed an artificial photosynthesis system which converts carbon dioxide (CO2) to organic materials by illuminating with sunlight at a world's top efficiency*1 of 0.2%. The efficiency is on a comparable level with real plants used for biomass energy. The key to the system is the application of a nitride semiconductor which makes the system simple and efficient. This development will be a foundation for the realization of a system for capturing and converting wasted carbon dioxide from incinerators, power plants or industrial activities. CO2 is one of the substances responsible for greenhouse effect and as such, efforts are being made to reduce the emissions of CO2 worldwide. We found firstly that a nitride semiconductor has the capability to excite the electrons with enough high energy for the CO2 reduction reaction.
5 Seemingly Random Factors That Control Your Memory We have all experienced zone-out moments when we know we totally should remember something that has apparently been deleted from our brain's hard drive against our will. That's because the human brain is a haphazard, messy machine that glitches at the slightest, strangest provocation. However, our old friend science has tracked down some of the completely random things that decide whether or not your memory will choose to function at that particular moment. Things like ... #5. Photos.com You're standing in a room, looking around, confused. You try to decide if this is the sign of a cripplingly short attention span or early onset Alzheimer's. Photos.comIt's corn dogs, isn't it? It's doorways. Your brain uses a very similar directory system to that of your computer. Photos.com"Son? And the effect of doorways is so strong that you don't even have to physically move for those bastards to put the kibosh on your memory. Photos.com"Hey there, Jerry! #4. What the hell? #3. Imagine Morgan Freeman.
Tiny reader makes fast, cheap DNA sequencing feasible The various levels of electrical signal from the sequence of a DNA strand pulled through a nanopore reader (top) corresponds to specific DNA nucleotides, thymine, adenine, cytosine and guanine (bottom). Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available. The technique could lead to affordable personalized medicine, potentially revealing predispositions for afflictions such as cancer, diabetes or addiction. "There is a clear path to a workable, easily produced sequencing platform," said Jens Gundlach, a University of Washington physics professor who leads the research team. "We augmented a protein nanopore we developed for this purpose with a molecular motor that moves a DNA strand through the pore a nucleotide at a time." The researchers previously reported creating the nanopore by genetically engineering a protein pore from a mycobacterium.
5 Random Factors That Determine Whether You Succeed in Life You've stayed in school, stayed off drugs and made the right friends. Dollar bills should be raining down on you like a ticker tape parade, right? Not if you've got these completely arbitrary factors working against you. Studies show that ... #5. A Baby Face Earns More Money (If It's Black) Photos.com If given the chance, Science will jump over mountains to point out that we're more superficial than we think. But that study mostly involved white CEOs. Photos.com"Give this man a pacifier and make him our new CFO!" Here's how they figured out the correlation: Whiteys were shown 40 headshots of black men, white women and white men who were current or former CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. So then things took a turn for the oddly specific. To function effectively as an African-American male in the U.S. it helps to have a disarming mechanism. Photos.com"No, sir, his face is pretty square. GettyPlus, you know he was only in one little fight before his mom stepped in and rewarded him with luxury.
Antioxidants: Beyond the Hype - What Should I Eat? Table of Contents Introduction The body’s trillion or so cells face formidable threats, from lack of food to infection with a virus. Another constant threat comes from nasty chemicals called free radicals. They are capable of damaging cells and genetic material. The body generates free radicals as the inevitable byproducts of turning food into energy. Free radicals come in many shapes, sizes, and chemical configurations. We aren’t defenseless against free radicals. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of different substances that can act as antioxidants. But using the term “antioxidant” to refer to substances is misleading. Health Benefits of Antioxidants: What’s the Buzz? Antioxidants came to public attention in the 1990s, when scientists began to understand that free radical damage was involved in the early stages of artery-clogging atherosclerosis and may contribute to cancer, vision loss, and a host of other chronic conditions. Heart Disease and Antioxidants Cancer and Antioxidants
The 5 Weirdest Things That Control the Global Economy The global economy is an insanely complex system of labor, money and goods all governed by laws to keep each facet in check. So it'd be pretty depressing if researchers discovered that the whole thing was actually the end result of a bunch of seemingly random bullshit, wouldn't it? Answer: Yes it would be, and they did. Getty It's widely believed that fraudulent practices like mortgage underwriting and predatory lending were some of the main causes of the 2000s credit crunch, which raises some terrifying concerns: If the state of the economy is so dependent on a handful of people promising not to be greedy, what's really stopping the economy from collapsing all over again as soon as those assholes decide more is better? Surprisingly, it might be their belief in hell. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. "I hate it when naked men try to swamp my boat. Interestingly, believing in God alone didn't cut it. Luckily there already is a name for it: psychopathy. GettyThe sun: The tequila of Wall Street.
Kreb's History 5 Mind-Blowing Academic Theories as Taught by Classic Movies #2. Quantum Immortality Getty Movie protagonists tend to be improbably lucky. "The disease is B. And it's not just the superhuman action heroes. As it happens, there's a thought experiment in quantum physics called quantum suicide that might explain why every one of those movies is illustrating how reality actually works. "If you keep pulling, we'll turn into hydrogen! To understand why that should be impossible, imagine that you balanced a perfectly sharpened pencil on a tip occupied by one of these particles that spins left and right at the same moment. Now imagine if, instead of a pencil balanced on one of these particles, there are 10 of these particles connected to a contraption that fires a gun at your head if they move right and lets you live if they move left. In 999 universes, McClane was gunned down while picking glass out of his feet. GettySomewhere, a version of you has won the lottery, and that asshole won't give you a dime. #1. No. "Yer a wizard, Harry.
Anaerobic System (Anaerobic glycolysis) 5 Absurd (But Mind Blowing) Pop Culture Conspiracy Theories Conspiracies are a lot like orgies -- they take careful planning, involve a lot of people putting themselves in compromising positions, and never end up working as well as movies promised they would. And even though we just created an image of a sloppy gang bang in your head, we're not just talking about politics, here -- pop culture is just as full of "secret symbols" and "hidden messages" that make it seem like there's a shadowy genius secretly manipulating the puppet strings from behind a vast curtain. But there's not. As this Cracked Classic shows, even the most convincing arguments about secret messages turn out to be even dumber than the ending of How I Met Your Mother (and as a side note, we apologize for so thoroughly driving home the point that no one in any position of authority has any idea what they're doing -- we admit that's not, ya know, super comforting). The Fox Network Predicted the 9/11 Attacks ...this is pretty freaking creepy: Holy shit! Why it's Bullshit:
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