Hydrogen: the Fuel of the Future ... Hopefully.

For those who didn't read my first blog post, I have written about this subject already. From that post i am going to elaborate on the subject of Hydrogen Fuel.

like I said before, I have hoped that Hydrogen is used as a fuel source ever since I found out about the idea from an educational video I saw in high school. The idea that such a common element as hydrogen being able to run our cars seemed like a genius idea. Since then, I never really talked about the idea or did any research on the subject, but I always kept the idea in the back of my mind that we should be researching Hydrogen Fuel ASAP. That way we could get the problem of pollution from cars and fossil fuels out of the way.

Let me explain how Hydrogen fuel works. Firstly, Hydrogen is not a energy source, it is an energy carrier. One single fuel cell has two inputs and two outputs. Hydrogen and Oxygen go in the negative and positive ends of the cell, respectively. The hydrogen's protons and electrons split, letting the protons pass through to the side with the oxygen, and leaving the electrons to pass through an external circuit, which creates electricity. Then, the electrons meet up with the hydrogen and oxygen to create water and heat, which then exit the cell.

This model is great because the only outputs are water and heat. Pollution would not be a problem for a long time.

The problem with Hydrogen fuel is that it is a lot more inefficient than other types of renewable energies. It takes about 1000 fuel cells to power an entire car, when it only takes one battery to run a hybrid.

For the purposes of this post, I have used the same site as my first post. If you want more info, visit this site.

Lemme buy you a drink.. from my couch?

Everyone who has a facebook has at one time been witness to the 'gifts' that can be exchanged online. These virtual gifts are more a form of boredom relief than they are an actual gift. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would much rather have a real gift. A service called Bartab thinks so too.

Bartab is part of a larger company (Webtab) that is trying to combine our growing online social lives with our real ones. (in the form of a profitable business of course) Bartab allows a person to choose a bar on their mobile device and purchase a drink for a friend online who also has the service. The receiver simply shows the bartender the receipt screen and the drink is theirs to enjoy. So far it only works in San Francisco, LA, and parts of New York, but is supposed to be supported in 17 other cities in the near future.

Bartab doesn't charge bars for its service and depending on its success will likely be available in many more bars as word spreads. Users get cheap drinks and connections with friends, and bars get new customers at a low cost. It seems that the idea provides a good situation for everyone.

I personally think this is a cool idea. It is a trend that I can definitely see becoming more developed in the future. With how powerful our mobile devices are becoming its no doubt that they are going to be more and more applications like this. Online social networks originally offered a way for people to stay in touch online but ways are being made to take the online connection the to real world. As technology develops it will be interesting to see far this mobile connection will take us. Just as picture phones became standard, so will mobile internet. Soon we won't be able to buy a phone without online capabilities. This constant online connection will create a new real world connection. The possibilities seem endless and if we can keep from destroying ourselves, the future looks like it will be full of cool innovations such as this.

http://bartab.webtab.com/

Kapp, Trevor. "Users of New Facebook, IPhone Application 'Bartab' Can Buy Drinks at Bars via Social Networks." New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Photos, Entertainment, and Gossip - NY Daily News. 11 July 2010. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. .

(image from above)^

Metz, Rachel. "Forget Virtual Gifts; Bartab Says Send a Margarita."Boston.com. 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

Jumping for Juno

As a curious species we always look ahead and into the stars for what’s coming next. It was not until Greek civilization that we as a collective intelligence cherished and preserved the knowledge of the past. When we have information of past events we can partially predict what will happen in the future by recognizing patterns. In 2016 NASA will look back into the creation and evolution of our galaxies fifth planet, Jupiter, by examining the atmosphere’s composition and temperature, cloud migration, and the magnetic fields and auroras with a satellite named Juno.

In August of 2011 Juno will be launched into space, the satellite will complete an orbit around the earth, when this is finished the main propulsion system will be initiated and a 5 year trek to Jupiter will begin. In July of 2016 the Juno will have reached Jupiter and will make a total of 32 full orbits of the planet that will last for one year. Data collection will be done at this time.

Jupiter has an interesting atmosphere made primarily of dense clouds of various gasses, this shield safeguards information on the governing laws that our galaxy followed in its creation and early existence from outside forces. Nine incredibly advanced tools aboard Juno will carry out the uncovering of this data. These instruments will investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter's intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet's auroras on either magnetic pole.

Juno has many obligations on its journey, but I find the investigation for water in the planets atmosphere very interesting. The possibility of finding water could solidify a planet formation theory, and give us a more correct understanding of large planets in surrounding galaxies and their possible behavior.

Juno is currently under construction by Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado and is on schedule for its date of completion and launch. Although the process of gathering, examining, and understanding information from sky and beyond has always been tedious, complicated, and frowned upon we will continue to advance our collective intelligence until our appetite for knowledge is satisfied.

NASA website,

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/juno20100405.html

No More Need To Smoke The Weed?

In search of any possible method to remove the fun from America's favorite illegal past time, scientists are currently experimenting with a drug with the same pain relieving compounds found in marijuana but none of the high. According to these scientists, the drug, currently unnamed, "could be used in new pain medications that are non-addictive and non-sedative, unlike opiates" (Popular Science Par. 1). The drug works by blocking enzymes which slow the release of a compound called anandamide, which "comes from the Sanskrit word "bliss"" (Par. 2)and is incredibly similar to THC, the active compound in marijuana.

Anandamide is said to promote all of the positive benefits of marijuana without the 'negative' ones. While the current test subjects are rats, among the notable effects the animals revealed were increased brain cells in the hippocampus (there's a new one) and decreased anxiety and depression. Nevertheless, the animals only yielded noticeable benefits after approximately a month of regular dosage.

Articles detailing the discovery can be found all over the internet but two very contrasting accounts can be found on www.FoxNews.com and, as cited previously, on www.popsci.com . While the information provided in each article is almost word for word, each article features an opinionated conclusion. The Popular Science article ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that the medication could provide pain relief for many American’s who currently cannot access medical marijuana, or that they could instead “move to Denver”. The Fox News article concludes with a rather biased section which cites the National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA), stating “research findings for long-term marijuana use indicate some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term use of other major drugs of abuse” and further revealing just how good the political news station is at spinning something to support its perspective.

These developments will have a profound effect on our future World and its inhabitants. Perhaps this discovery might promote more scientific studies of the plant itself and its long term effects, which (surprisingly) we know very little about. Certainly, there is much to be said in support of a drug which could provide safe powerful pain relief for millions of Americans, but there is still much research to be done. There is no way of knowing the extraneous effects it could have on humans. For now, maybe the positive effects of this new drug could provide some new insight into the marijuana plant itself. If this drug is so similar to THC, then wouldn’t the effects be quite similar as well? Perhaps somebody from Fox News might even feel tempted to light up a joint.

Sources:

1. Boyle, By Rebecca. "New Drug Kills Pain by Boosting Body's Naturally Occurring Marijuana-Like Compound | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/new-drug-boosts-marijuana-compound-reducing-pain-after-injuries

2. Hitti, By Miranda. "Marijuana-Like Drug Increases Brain Cells, Relieves Depression - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News - FOXNews.com." FOXNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172194,00.html

How can YOUR sweater power your cellphone??

That's something for North Face to think about producing, huh? Well surprise! Not North Face, but Brian Korgel and his research team at the University of Texas have developed plastic solar ink cells that could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology. This would be a new cheap way for consumers to be able to get their hands on such advanced eco-friendly technology, perhaps even replacing all of our energy habits with a clean and renewable source of power such as the Sun. These spray-on solar cells can convert sunlight directly into electricity and are the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays so even when the sun isn't visible these cells can still extract energy to power items.

Uses such as covering your sweater in these cells to power you phone like National Geographic suggested is only one of the many futuristic features this new spray paint can enable you to do. The discovery of this form of solar harnessing power is one step closer to converting our wasteful technology into environmentally safe and renewable energy sources, of which we are in desperate need of. Downsizing seems to be a pattern in today's society, first we had enormous and costly solar panels and now we have these solar cells that are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair and come in spray paint form(!); whats going to be next, a portable computer able to fit in my purse?? A few years back we would have scoffed at the idea of alternative energy and the ability to harness the Sun's power to energize our electronics, but finally the knowledge is here and we should embrace it!

I gathered my information from multiple well-known sources online such as National Geographic, Discovery, Live Science and Brighter Energy. I believe each of these sources to be true and scholarly, their audiences being interested and informed people simply searching for more knowledge.


Lovgren, Stefan. "Spray-On Solar-Power Cells Are True Breakthrough." Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

Bryner, By Jeanna. "Powerful Ideas: Spray-On Solar Cells | LiveScience." LiveScience | Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News. 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

Weatherspoon, Tomeka. "Spray Paint with Solar Cells : Discovery News." Discovery News: Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, Dinosaurs, History. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

Terminator 4: Attack of Donald Trump and that Virgin Mobile Guy

The idea of cyborgs and androids is no new idea in sci-fi and fantasy works. Machine has been mimicking and fusing with humanity fictionally for countless years, creating super-powerful robots capable of at least replicating human thought and emotion. While one may choose to believe that this level of technology will not be attainable within our generation's lifetime, or perhaps ever, some scientists are saying it could come much sooner than expected.

Randall Alley is the Chief Prosthetist at Biodesigns, a high-performance

prosthetics company. When asked when he thought these "surrogate robots" would be available at a reasonable price to the public he responded:

“As a wild guess I am going to offer up the year 2025, as there are surely higher priorities than surrogate creation on the to-do list of most scientists. Then to bring this tech down to the affordable level, well, that's the tough part.”

To hear someone so closely involved in the industry claim that the technology to create real-life avatars so soon seems incredible to me, and almost too soon. With all of the ethical questions surrogate technology would bring up, would the world we live in be able to handle the new technology?

One has to wonder what these cyborg versions of our consciousness would be like. Dr. James Canton believes that just like any other new technology, both good and bad could come of it. With robot surrogates, one could be in as many places at once as they had replicas. Accidentally schedule an important meeting at the same time as your kid's soccer game? No problem, just send the cyborg. Canton also says these robots could help in many fields as well, performing surgeries or rescuing a mother's baby from a burning building are just two duties surrogates could take over for us, leaving humans with extra time to do.... something.

After reading about this technology, all I can picture is a horrifying movie scene, something reminiscent of Terminator or I Robot. Replicas of celebrities and others wealthy enough to buy robots of themselves running around cities with grenades and laser pistols destroying all organic life after developing enough to realize their subtle form of captivity living the life of another. While there are countless possibilities, I think our society would have to seriously sit down and discuss the implications of something so foreign. What would their rights be? What are the laws regarding the creation of these beings? How do humans interact with them? Could I get a replica of my Elf-Mage from WoW?!

Salton, Jeff. "Surrogate Robots: More Fact than Fiction?" Gizmag (2010). Web. 22 Sept. 2010. .

Wingardium Leviosa

Have you ever seen a person gravitate from the bottom floor of a skyscraper all the way to the top? The most likely answer is no, except maybe for the movies. What about someone lift an object and move it across the room simply by pointing a stick at it? Again the answer is probably no aside from Harry Potter. But what if it were possible? Well now it is… sort of. Scientists at Australian National University have discovered a way to move particles by only using a laser.

The laser is able to work by using photophoretic force. I could personally try to explain what that means but would most likely explain it horribly wrong, so instead ill share a quote that explains it in a pretty simple way. The scientists used a “hollow laser beam to trap light-absorbing particles in a ‘dark core’. The particles are then moved up and down the beam of light, which acts like an optical ‘pipeline’. ‘As gravity, air currents and random motions of air molecules around the particle push it out of centre, one side becomes illuminated by the laser whilst the other lies in darkness.’”( ANU News). Essentially the laser moves the particles by heating the air around it and then sends it on its way.

Though this laser can only move small particles a short distance, it is an important stepping stone for things that are to come. Previously scientists have been able to use a similar technology but the object that would be moved would be drastically smaller in size and would only travel a few millimeters at most. Today the object can be larger and be moved over a meter.

Currently this technology is not practical for everyday life, only for scientific purposes, but someday, the seemingly impossible could happen. Joe the Plumber could be able to move the thirty pound pipe simply by pointing a flash light at it, while Eric the Electrician could pick up the live wire without even touching it.

If I have been able to peak your interest in this amazing new technology you can easily find out more by going to the Australian National University website which was hyperlinked above, or by visiting Discovery News. Keep in mind all of the websites posted were written to inform you, the general public, about this discovery.

All information has been gathered from the following websites.

"ANU News » Tractor Beam One Step Closer to Reality." ANU News. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. .

Boyle, By Rebecca. "Working Tractor Beam Can Move Objects 5 Feet With Just Light | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. 08 Sept. 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. .

O'Neil, Ian. "Is Star Trek's Tractor Beam Possible? : Discovery News." Discovery News: Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, Dinosaurs, History. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. .

Chocolate the bitter but sweet treat

The idea that chocolate is actually good for you would have been considered crazy many years ago but in recent years it been discovered it has more uses that curing that broken heart. During recent years it’s become know that chocolate has health benefits. More specifically the cacao bean itself. Some say that it can help circulatory issues and also is pumped full of antioxidants which benefit the immune system.(1) Other sources conclude that it has other benefits l effects including anticancer, brain stimulator, cough preventer and antidiarrhoeal properties.(2) All of these aspects are great but the main focus of my post is the most recent discovery on a particular species of cacao. During this week it was noted that two research teams have apparently blueprinted the DNA structure of the Cacao tree. (3) But what does this exactly mean? One of the main problems the growers of the tree face is pathogens that cause frosty pod and black pod, diseases that can wipe out 80 percent of the plants. This new data sequence will allow the farmers to breed far superior cacao trees resistant to the problems they face while growing. In the eyes of science this seems like a great idea. But could the act of playing god disrupt the entire ecosystem? Only time will tell. Hopefully they will take the proper approach with testing before fully implementing their plan. As far as the credibility of the sources I’d say they are accurate in their information because WebMD is a widely know source for medical information and the same goes for CNN. I think the intended audience for each source was different, o ne being for everyone and the other being for people interested in science. A similar case makes me a tad bit frightened. When African killer bees were introduced to South America within the past hundred years it was thought they wouldn’t be able to survive as they slowly migrated north into the use to the lower temperature. The exact opposite happened. The bees interbred with a species of bee native to our country and passed on their cold resistance to a new species of killer bee. These bees are far more aggressive than their African native and have led to deaths of some number of people. Is it right playing god?

"Dark Chocolate Is Healthy Chocolate." WebMD - Better Information. Better Health. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. .http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/12/20/health.chocolate/

Ehrenberg, By Rachel. Science News. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63417/title/A_taste_of_the_chocolate_genome

http://www.cacaogenomedb.org/

The Rocky Road to Come

Never before in the history of humanity have things been so fast paced. A package can be shipped almost anywhere in the world in under 48 hours, we can communicate face to face with someone in China, the world population is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and climate change is out of control. Yet in the height of our civilizations glory and sophistication, we are still inefficient. We still fight wars, people are still starving, and will continue to do so. Never before have we held the answers to so many questions, never before have we had the cure for so many diseases, despite all of this, people are dieing from avoidable causes. Malaria and diarrhea are some of the developing worlds biggest killers, there is treatment for these, yet somehow they don't reach the approximately 7 million people who die from these diseases each year.

We live in an age of complacency, I believe this is caused by the relative comfortably many people in the US and developed world feel in their daily lives. It is hard to become riled up and angry at the government or act out against some global issue, when you are surrounded by things which make you happy and comfortable. Many of the issues which plague the world dont strike close enough to home for people to react.

It is my hope that the global brain will continue to grow and strengthen, and the access to information spreads to the people who could benefit most from it, people who have grown up and lived with nothing people who have the drive to change the world around them.

Like it or not, we are on the edge of something unprecedented in the history of the world. We may be on the edge of some higher development of man kind, or we may be on the brink of collapse.

http://www.alertnet.org/topkillerdiseases.htm

The Next Big Thing

Everything in the world of technology seems to move so fast today. Whenever something new and exciting comes out, we may be interested or impressed, but nothing seems to compare to the life changing shock and awe that the world experienced with the introduction of the internet in the 90s. Even amazing breakthroughs such as the Large Hadron Collider don't generate as much hype in the world as they really should. In this day and age we want information as fast as possible at all times, and it's almost as if we are numb to other up and coming scientific advancements.

What will be the next big thing? What will change the way we live like the internet did not so long ago? It could be so many different things: Renewable resource discovery, new ways of transportation, communication, medical advancements, etc. The possibilities aren't endless, but they're pretty close. What will our next life changing event be? Alien contact seems too far fetched, but it shouldn't be ruled out. Maybe 2012 will contain the next big thing, perhaps it will be the end of us all. Science is a possibility, magic is a myth, but the impossible is still very possible.

Hopes For The Future

As technology advances and new technology becomes old technology, I hope that certain marvels such as the internet become thought of as somewhat less of a service and more of a right for all people. As I am currently writing this blog in the basement of the Ireland Building, using the free internet I think of how unfortunate it is that I must pay $250.00 to Comcast for turn my services back on. Internet in the future ideally should be like basic cable.. a low grade form of the internet should be available for free and upgrades.

Not only would this be convenient, it would promote the spread of technology and knowledge in general. Think of everyone having a search engine at their fingertips, or a way to network with people who otherwise would have no voice at all on the web. The internet is a wealth of knowledge that I believe every person should be entitled to for free. This is not the most unheard of proposition either. "Wired Magazine" wrote an article discussing how providing a free service is be profitable for business. If it is possible AND profitable i don't see any reason that free internet shouldn't and won't be a free service in the near future.

Anderson, By Chris. "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business." Wired News. 25 Feb. 2008. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .

the future as we see it...

It’s pretty much inevitable that at the rate we are going at now, technology is just going to keep advancing as time goes on. Though it is hard not to fear what is unknown and undiscovered, I can only hope that there will be positive outcomes from these advances and that will make our quality of life better.

The reason we find ourselves in the midst of a technological revolution is because we have so many hopes and wishes for what these advances may bring. For example, even just in the past two years or so there have been discoveries in technology that can help the blind see. By placing an electrode array on the surface of a tongue, scientists have developed a way to send visual information from a video device to the electrode. “study participants have been able to recognize high-contrast objects, their location, movement, and some aspects of perspective and depth” Being able to make the blind see is so mind boggling that you can only imagine what other things are possible. Curing diseases such as aids, or even cancer seems a little bit more realistic now.

http://vision.wicab.com/technology/

Overpopulation

Over population is one issue that seems to have the back burner in most peoples mind these days. With the advent of modern medicine, genetically modified foods, and an overall easier way of life, people in developed countries are living longer than ever. Unfortunately, we may be coming up on exceeding the Earth's carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is how much life any environment can sustain with the resources available. Longer lifetimes means more resources used, and sometimes it can be difficult to find resources, or even grow resources in many parts of the world.

Modern medicine has added years to a person life expectancy. More people are living longer, illness free lives thanks to advances in antibiotics and disease prevention.

The graph to the left shows the change in population over the past 209 years. As you can see, a sharp increase in the rate of growth of the population occurs around 1950, which is when vaccines came available for many deadly childhood diseases.

Going to school in Vermont I know people are going to hate me for saying this: genetically modified foods may be a good thing. Thanks to genetically modified foods, crops can be grown where crops have never been able to be grow. Also they are more affordable and today's crops have a higher yield of usable substance to them than food from before genetic modification. Monsanto, the worlds leading supplier of genetically modified crops, helps developing countries with their rice. They are actually donating their seed to countries that have a food shortage. These crops have been engineered to be able to grow in harsher climates and even have been engineered to produce vitamins.

Today's way of life in developing countries is incredibly easy compared to the way of life in developing countries. We are even at the point where we can buy a robot to vacuum our floor, as if that task wasn't easy enough. A lot of people would be happy enough just to say they even have a floor. We could be on the cusp of having machines do all of our work for us.

While it may be good that humans are now living longer than ever, we may be set to exceed the Earth's carrying capacity if we haven't already. We can attempt to modify the carrying capacity as much as we can by creating genetically modified foods and planting them where plants haven't been able to live before, but eventually we will reach a wall. Eventually we wont be able to sustain anymore people. Science and technology have been good to us so far and helped us live much longer than our ancestors. However, our science and technology may soon come to haunt us.

Sources:

"Monsanto to Offer Free Rice Tech." Wired News. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

"Population of the Earth since 1900 - Wolfram|Alpha." Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

"A Science Odyssey: Then Now: Medicine and Health." PBS. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

A Sustainable Future

One of my biggest hopes for the future is that man kind can actually find a source of energy that is completely sustainable and can replace our dependency on fossil fuels. This being said, one of my greatest fears for the future is the possibility of running out of fossil fuels. I do not know what the world would do if we ran out of fossil fuels. Mankind as we know it would change forever, we would have to start from ground zero all over again. Its a very well known fact that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels, this is our main limitation. We need to find a replacement fuel source before we run out of the one that we have now. We as people need sources of energy in our world and would be lost without them. None of us want to live in a world with no technology what so ever. Alternate fuel sources are completely necessary in order to keep technology around.

Hydrogen Fuel and Other, Less Important Things

My hopes, my fears, and the limitations and possibilities of science can all be summed up by the phrase Hydrogen Fuel. Ever since about three years ago, when I saw a video of how "in the future" car will run on hydrogen, I always thought that hydrogen fuel is one of the greatest ideas of all time. Hydrogen is all around us, same as oxygen, and if we could find a way to use that to run vehicles, then we could run them for years without any harm to the atmosphere. The only limitation is that we could run out, and the possibilities of it are endless. Imagine if all the schools in America ran off of Hydrogen fuel. The only fear for hydrogen fuel that I have is that it will fail, wasting all the time we spent. For an elaborate explanation of how a fuel cell works, click here.

My biggest fear for science is that it will some how bring about the zombie apocalypse, but if that does happen, one of my friends in Oklahoma will drive to my house to save me.

also, light-sabers. Here's to hoping.

Oh, The Huge Manatee!

When I look toward the future, I can't help but see the decline of the human race due to our own human nature. It's a bleak picture, but it's one that I understand more than fear. Throughout the centuries of human civilization, we really haven't changed as much as many would be led to believe. In my opinion it's more of a cycle than evolution. Just take a look at the Roman empire. They were seen as the greatest empire there ever was, but they still fell. The United States is facing a similar situation, where we are powerful in some aspects but our weaknesses are beginning to show. We have been greedy (just like the Romans were) and now we need to face a revolution of some sort.

I still have hope for humanity, but I know nothing will change unless we completely change the way we view the world. One of my favorite bands, Between the Buried and Me, recently released an album discussing the way our world works and showing their views on humanity. I think it's pretty brutal. I've included a link to one of their songs, "Disease, Injury, Madness."

The Magical Powers of Sneezing Trees

When looking towards tomorrow, I like to believe that the world's power source would be one of "renewable energy". Today, scholars and scientists are dreaming up ways to make this a reality. And with the power of the Internet, I was able to stumble onto one of these dreams. Yuji Oyha, the man with the plan, designed a way to essentially blend a Dyson fan with a wind turbine. His wind turbines or "Wind Lens" would be able to produce more energy by not only having rotating blades to catch the wind but also would intensify the wind with the use of hoops. If interested in these special wind turbines a good sight to visit would be here. And for those who do not know what a Dyson fan is....

Danigelis, Alyssa. "'Lens' Wind Turbines Magnify Power : Discovery News." Discovery News: Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, Dinosaurs, History. 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

Augustus. "'Wind Lens' Wind Turbine Could Boost Energy Generation 300% | Tech the Future." Tech the Future | Solutions for the Future. 03 Aug. 2010. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

"YouTube - Balloons and Dyson Air Multiplierâ„¢ Fans." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

The future of science and cars

I think technology is improving at an incredible rate but in certain cases there are limitations as to how much it can help. Cars have become more safe as technology has progressed from anti lock breaks to automatic seatbelts. I continue to see commercials about new and improved features on cars that make it more safe to drive. If you cant parallel park even though the majority of the driving population can, there is a car that parallel parks for you. I recently saw a different commercial that has sensors to warn you about cars in your blind spots.

While some of these things may seem like a luxury and not all that important, they are still useful features to have in the car. These safety features will continue to get more technologically advanced but you have to take into account the skill level and also the state of mind of the other drivers on the road which is why a lot of the accidents take place. I think thats where the limitation is, where as many problems in todays world with driving, technology won't be able to solve all of them. As many new car features are invented, they will certainly help but there is a limit. Accidents are bound to happen on the road and technology is not advanced enough to prevent them.

Science and unsolved mysteries

I am fearful for where science is taking human kind to a state of reality that we think we can control. There are countless examples in history that involves a person or community or government that becomes to comfortable with what they are controlling and it leads to huge negative impacts that run deep for long periods of time. One example is Adolph Hitlers rise to power and WWII. I think we need to evaluate who we are as a society an stress development as a whole planet rather than individual gains. I think that technology feeds the self obsession and as we become more and more reliant on technology it only increases. I think that hidden messages have been left everywhere and more people need to open their eyes. The Coral Castle is a great mystery. Check it out.

Coral Castle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle

Hopes Fears and Possibilties

One of my biggest fears is that science and technology will take over the world. Soon we won't know the difference between a face to face interaction and one over the internet or phone. I'm afraid that our social skills will diminish, and that all we will care about is the newest ipod coming out or a amazing advance in science that will only make us more lazy. That is one of my other fears, people becoming lazy.
Everyone is looking to get things done faster and make life easier, and soon we will forget the importance of taking the time to take the dog for a walk or knock on a friends door who you haven't seen in a while. It is possible that our culture, especially teenagers, could lose intelligence by either being on facebook and always having the newest gadgets on hand. We are becoming less intelligent because we are buying and using these products while the creators of these products are becoming smarter by thinking up new ideas in science. We are at risk and don't even realize that our addiction to science and impossible magic is slowly posioning our brains. On the other hand, my greatest hope for science is that we advance in a positive way, like discover a better way to recylce and perserve what we have left of the enviorment.

Hope for the True Believers

Stan Lee created some of the most well known characters in history. Among the characters he has created are Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Iron-Man. Each of these characters are the alter-egos of three brilliant people Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark. Stan Lee did something wonderful in creating these characters he made the nerds the good guys. Even with their strength, weapons, and powers the one ability that they turn to the most for help is their brains. Stan Lee shows that it doesn't take extraordinary superpowers to save people it takes smarts and the gumption to use it.

Instead of having scientists be cast solely as the villains he chose to cast them almost exclusively as the champions of his tales. It is my hope for the future that through Stan Lee's stories of brilliant people saving the world that some real life super genius's step up and work to save the world. Although, the problems that face the real world seem less dramatic as planet eating monsters or eight legged bank robbers science still needs to solve problems everyday.

Communication Once Removed

There are many fears that remain deep in the back of of ones mind when it comes to technology and it's place in the future. Some are more extreme but they remain, for the most part, nothing more than vague hypothetical situations.

One fear of technology I have is it's incredible potential to destroy direct human communication and interaction as we know it. I see this happening more and more every day; and it really is something that makes me nervous. One commercial in particular comes to my mind. A bunch of kids standing together at a school bus stop, all with their eyes glued to their phones as they text away. The commercial is supposed to scare parents about their cell phone bills; but my question is how does no one see something wrong with a group of school kids standing together at the bus stop, all completely ignoring each other?! The bus stop!!!! The one place a child is free in the world, from their parents and their teachers. The one place they can actually be a kid and they're wasting all of that precious time with their faces down at the ground.

Texting can be expensive - T-Mobile

Every day people grow farther apart from each other and use technology to bridge that gap. A text message is now worth a call, and the call now worth a what? An actual face-to-face conversation? In my opinion people are NOTICEABLY becoming less and less able to communicate directly with others, always wanting to "send an email instead" or my favorite, "No, I can just facebook you!"

Technological communication is a valuable tool that can be used to spread messages and information quickly and in a super-efficient manner, but we have to realize what consequences can arise from relying too much on it.

Texting Can Be Expensive - T-Mobile Commercia;. Youtube.com. T-Mobile, 23 July 2010. Web. 5 Sept. 2010. .

Hopes, Fears, and Limitations

During class, we developed a list of our; hopes, fears, possibilities and limitations of science. I will list the majority of them here in my post but will only explore the ones I feel strongly toward. First of all we explored our Hopes for future science and technology. Our list contained: solving the water crisis, medicinal leaps foreword, creation of new jobs, making things easier, recycling more, less death (which goes along with medicine), and a longer life span (again somewhat similar.)

Hopes.

I will explore one of the hopes for future science and technology that my group came up with. The lowering of death and/or increase in life span. To explore the lowering of the death rate and the increase in human life span i will first start out by taking a look at the movie, "Gattaca". Gattaca is a movie that considers the future of "healthcare/technology" to allow for genetic perfection. A females egg and a males sperm is grown perfectly in a lab, allowing for no imperfection, less of a chance of disease, less of a chance of baldness, etc. No longer do the traits of the child's parents factor into the child itself, the traits are genetically programmed and enhanced by the "scientists/doctors" themselves. Although this increases the life expectancy has made for a stronger more genetically perfect human, it also creates problems. For every new development in technology that is good, something bad always comes from it. The design of perfect genetic humans creates a new level of discrimination. "I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science." (Gattaca). This hope of genetic perfection and longer life creates a fear of genetic discrimination. Every hope can be turned into a fear.

Fears.

Some fears our group explored included: Artificial Intelligence, apocalypse, less face to face interaction, laziness, technology getting in the wrong hands, accumulation of waste, and lesser intelligence. I will explore two of these topics; Artificial Intelligence, and the lessening of face to face interaction.

To begin, I will be taking the textbook example from the movie, "2001 a space odyssey" to further explore the fear of Artificial Intelligence becoming 'too smart.' In the movie, "2001 a space odyssey" an artificially created computer intelligence is created names HAL to aid in a space mission. HAL 'malfunctions' and ends up killing all of the crew. The crew thinks HAL is malfunctioning irrationally, but really HAL is thinking very rationally. As a computer HAL thinks simply with a one track mind. He factors in the human inability to be perfect and possibly ruin the mission due to human imperfection. There are many movies that explore this topic of AI becoming too smart and/or taking over because of how stupid and destructive humans are. A few examples are, Terminator, AI, iRobot, The Matrix, etc. but "2001 a space oddysey" is the prime and most classic example of this.

Next, I will explore the topic of lessening of face-to-face interaction. Does dependence on technology affect the community in a negative way or a positive way? As this both increases our ability to communicate with the world and the community around us; share, trade, etc. it also decreases our ability to communicate with each other, meaningfully, in a natural manner, face to face. The internet and technology that surrounds us impacts us in a negative way, but presents us with an ability to know more things, to learn more and become smarter through the technology. It is inevitable that we will continue to surround ourselves by technology and that it cannot make a reversal (that we must accept it) even though it may have negatory effects on the nearby community.

We rely too heavily on computers and we keep our eyes glued to an lcd screen the majority of the day we are awake. This may lead to more communication with friends, employees, family members, but in a digital way, not face to face, and therefore we begin to lose our ability to socialize with others in physical form.

Limitations:

We discussed the limitations on future science and technology and came up with a list including: resources, physical laws, cooperation (with other countries), time, and ethics.

First of all, our planet has a limited amount of resources and eventually will be depleted if we keep using them up the way we are. Ironically, we are using our resources on this planet to create/design/develop machines that can transport us to other places to be able to use their resources. A perfect example of this is the new movie, "Avatar". The human race has depleted its resources and is trying to obtain the rare and powerful element 'unobtanium' from the planet Pandora. This is a common theme in many science-fiction movies/novels/stories/etc. A current example is the recent rocket sent to the moon to search for water on the moons poles. The recent satellites/rockets to mars are very similar, and there are also plans on terraforming the planet to enable humans to live there as well.

Not only is there the limitation of resources, but ethics. The ethical limitation on technology/science is very present in todays debate over stem cell research. Whether it be ethical to continue the research on stem cells because one side argues that using of stem cells in these scientific experiments is unethical because they consider it murder of a human life.

Sources

http://stemcells.nih.gov/

Lenhart, Amanda. Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview. Pew Internet & American Life Project. 3 Jan. 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

Gattaca. Dir. Andrew Niccol. By Andrew Niccol. Perf. Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law. Columbia Pictures, 1997. DVD.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Dir. Stanley Kubrick. By Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 1968. DVD.

Avatar (2009). Dir. James Cameron. By James Cameron. Perf. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 2009. DVD.