Machine Converts CO2 into Gasoline, Diesel, and Jet Fuel

November 24, 2009 Leave a Comment

23.11.2009

“Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have built a machine that uses the sun’s energy to convert carbon dioxide waste from power plants into transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. [...] When the scientists heat the inside of one chamber to 1,500C with a solar concentrator, the iron oxide undergoes a thermo-chemical reaction where it gives up oxygen molecules. [...] When carbon dioxide is pumped into this chamber, the iron oxide retrieves oxygen molecules from the carbon dioxide, transforming it into carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide could then serve as a building block to create a liquid combustible fuel. [...] It will probably take 15-20 years before the technology is ready for the market, with the biggest challenge being to increase the system’s efficiency. [...]”

Source/article: PhysOrg

Filed Under 2009, Energy, SESTI Signals Tagged With Energy, Environment, SESTI Signal

Stem Cells Restore Cognitive Abilities Impaired By Brain Tumor Treatment

November 10, 2009 Leave a Comment

10.11.2009

“Human embryonic stem cells could help people with learning and memory deficits after radiation treatment for brain tumors, suggests a new UC Irvine study.

Research with rats found that transplanted stem cells restored learning and memory to normal levels four months after radiotherapy. In contrast, irradiated rats that didn’t receive stem cells experienced a more than 50 percent drop in cognitive function. [...]

Source/article: Scienc Daily

Filed Under 2009, Health Tagged With Biotech, Medicine, NeuroSciTech, Stem Cell

Japan eyes solar station in space as new energy source

November 9, 2009 Leave a Comment

08.11.2009

“It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan’s space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades. [...]”

Source/article: Physorg

Filed Under 2009, Energy, SESTI Signals Tagged With Energy, SESTI Signal, Space

Gentherapie stoppt Nervenkrankheit ALD

November 8, 2009 Leave a Comment

06.11.2009

“Eine Gentherapie hat erstmals die tödlich verlaufende Nervenkrankheit ALD bei zwei Kindern aufgehalten. Ärzte reparierten den Gendefekt in den Blutstammzellen der Kinder und setzten dabei als Gentransporter inaktivierte Viren aus der HIV-Familie ein. Auch mehr als ein Jahr nach der Behandlung sind keine negativen Folgen aufgetreten. Wie die Forscher in „Science” berichten, ist dies nicht nur die erste gentherapeutische Behandlung des Zentralnervensystems , sonder auch der erste Einsatz von HIV als Genfähre. [...]”

Source/article: Scinexx

English: Wired

Filed Under 2009, Health Tagged With Genetics, Medicine

Neue Therapie lässt Schwerst-Depressive hoffen

November 3, 2009 Leave a Comment

03.11.2009

“Tiefe Hirnstimulation ändert Hirnstoffwechsel und verbessert Symptomatik

Eine neue Methode gibt Patienten mit schwersten Depressionen Anlass zur Hoffnung: Mit Hilfe der tiefen Hirnstimulation ist es Medizinern gelungen, das Befinden der Betroffenen deutlich zu verbessern. Alle Patienten hatten jahrelang unter schwersten Depressionen gelitten, die sich durch andere Therapien nicht in den Griff bekommen ließen. Die Ergebnisse der Studie erscheinen in Kürze in der Zeitschrift „Biological Psychiatry“. [...]”

Source/article: Scinexx

Filed Under 2009, Health Tagged With Ethics, HET, Implants/Prosthetics, Medicine, Photonics/Optical

Sending Drugs to Specific Spots in a Tiny Cage

November 3, 2009 Leave a Comment

02.11.2009

“For years, biomedical engineers have been trying to develop ways to deliver tiny amounts of a drug to a specific target — anticancer compounds directly to tumors, for example. Much of the work involves microscale capsules or other hollow structures with openings that can be controlled from outside the body.

One of the latest research efforts comes from the laboratory of Younan Xia at Washington University in St. Louis. His idea? Put the drugs inside tiny cages and use light to unseal them and let the drugs out. [...]”

Source/article: NY Times

Filed Under 2009, Health Tagged With Medicine, NeuroSciTech

Nano-scale Drug Delivery Developed For Chemotherapy

November 2, 2009 Leave a Comment

01.11.2009

“[...] Duke University bioengineers have developed a simple and inexpensive method for loading cancer drug payloads into nano-scale delivery vehicles and demonstrated in animal models that this new nanoformulation can eliminate tumors after a single treatment. After delivering the drug to the tumor, the delivery vehicle breaks down into harmless byproducts, markedly decreasing the toxicity for the recipient. [...]”

Source/article: Science Daily

Filed Under 2009, Health Tagged With Biotech, Medicine, Nanotech

'Spider pill' used for scans

October 13, 2009 Leave a Comment

11.10.2009

“Scientists in Italy think they may have come up with a new way to scan for cancer of the stomach or colon.
The ‘spider pill’, which is fitted with a camera, is swallowed by the patient and once within the colon or intestine the legs are opened. Duncan Kennedy reports”

Source/article: BBC (with video)

Filed Under 2009, 2009, Health, SESTI Signals Tagged With Health, Medicine, Robotics, SESTI Signal

Researchers create smaller and more efficient nuclear battery

October 12, 2009 Leave a Comment

07.10.2009

“Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient. [...]”

Source/article: PhysOrg

Filed Under 2009, Energy, SESTI Signals Tagged With Energy, SESTI Signal

Renewable hydrogen production becomes reality at winery

October 6, 2009 Leave a Comment

05.10.2009

“The first demonstration of a renewable method for hydrogen production from wastewater using a microbial electrolysis system is underway at the Napa Wine Company in Oakville. The refrigerator-sized hydrogen generator will take winery wastewater, and using bacteria and a small amount of electrical energy, convert the organic material into hydrogen, according to a Penn State environmental engineer.

“This is a demonstration to prove we can continuously generate renewable hydrogen and to study the engineering factors affecting the system performance,” said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe professor of environmental engineering. “The hydrogen produced will be vented except for a small amount that will be used in a hydrogen fuel cell.” Eventually, Napa Wine Company would like to use the hydrogen to run vehicles and power systems. [...]”

Source/article: EurekAlert

Filed Under 2009, Energy, SESTI Signals Tagged With Biotech, Energy, Nutrition, SESTI Signal
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