 |
|
| SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |
|
|
|
Biofluid-powered batteries
NASA eyes dark energy
Prof Yash
Pal
Trends
|
|
|
Biofluid-powered batteries
Urine is always in the limelight for its various health benefits like treating toothache, mouth pain, and tonsils, to stop blood flow due to small cuttings with many more internal benefits if it (urine) is swallowed. In villages, it was generally ox or cow urine which was considered superior to human urine but in the absence of ox or cow urine, human urine was always put to many such applications. With the growing tendency towards miniaturisation, use of micro-electronic-mechanical-systems (MEMS) and nano-devices is expanding in every day human applications. Scientists in research groups around the world are trying to develop ever smaller (i.e., credit card-sized) disposable “biochips” for disease detection that can test for a variety of diseases at once, give instant results, and, crucially, can be mass produced cheaply. But until now, no one has been able to solve the problem of finding a power source as small and as cheap to fabricate as the detection technology itself. Physicists in Singapore have succeeded in creating the first paper battery that generates electricity from urine and thus, here comes the human-waste-inspired invention - the urine-powered battery. This battery can be easily integrated into such devices, supplying electricity upon contact with biofluids such as urine. The chemical composition of urine is widely used as a way of testing for tell-tale signs of various diseases and also as an indicator of a person’s general state of health. The concentration of glucose in urine is a useful diagnostic tool for diabetics. Prof. K B Lee (Singapore) and his colleagues realised that the substance being tested-urine-could also power the test. This new battery will be the perfect power source for cheap, disposable healthcare test-kits for various diseases. To make the battery, Lee and his colleagues soaked a piece of paper in a solution of copper chloride and sandwiched it between strips of magnesium and copper. A simple and cheap fabrication process for the paper batteries has been developed which is compatible with the existing plastic laminating technologies or plastic molding technologies. This “sandwich” is then held in place by being laminated, which involves passing the battery unit between a pair of transparent plastic films through a heating roller at 120ºC. The final product has dimensions of 60 mm x 30 mm, and a thickness of just 1 mm (a little bit smaller than a credit card). The reason urine battery works is the same reason lemon batteries work as they are both acidic, i.e. ureic acid and citric acid. Urine contains many ions (electrically charged atoms), which allows the electricity-producing chemical reaction to take place in the urine battery. When a drop of urine is added to the paper through a slit in the plastic, a chemical reaction takes place that produces electricity. Using 0.2 ml of urine, they generated a voltage of around 1.5 V with a corresponding maximum power of 1.5 mW, the same as a standard AA battery, and runs for about 90 minutes. They also found that the battery performances (such as voltage, power or duration) may be designed or adjusted by changing the geometry or materials used. Other bodily fluids, such as tears, blood, and semen, would work easily as well to activate the battery. Experts say that the technology is a welcome innovation in a time of rising energy prices as urine battery will be low-cost and biodegradable. Body-fluid-powered batteries can do all kinds of things. While medical devices inspired the urine battery, it can activate any electric device with low power consumption. For example, we can integrate a small cell phone and our battery on a plastic card. This can be activated by body fluids, such as saliva, during an emergency. According to experts the technology could even be applied to laptop computers, mp3 players, televisions, and cars. Experts say that the wide number of applications for cheap and efficient biofluid-powered batteries illustrates the value of research. The issue is how to scale up the technology to produce more power. The lead researcher, Dr Lee, envisions a world where people will easily be able to monitor their health at home using disposable test-kits that don’t need lithium batteries or external power sources but will work on the use of biofluids. The writer is from Department of Physics,
SLIET, Longowal.
|
|
NASA would initiate seven new science missions in fiscal year 2009 that starts October 1 under the budget President George W. Bush proposed to Congress this week. NASA’s proposed $17.6 billion budget includes $4.4 billion for science missions. “In fact, we have more new starts in this budget for science than in the last three years combined,” Alan Stern, who leads NASA’s science missions, said in an interview. NASA is planning to begin work on a mission to send a spacecraft to either Jupiter or Saturn — the two biggest planets in the solar system — with the idea of orbiting one of three moons of these two outer solar system giants. Launch is seen by 2017, with the mission cost pegged at $2.1 billion. Two of the three moons under consideration orbit Jupiter: Europa, which boasts an ice-covered ocean that some scientists think is a candidate for harbouring some form of life; and Ganymede, the largest moon in our solar system. The third option is Saturn’s moon Titan, the second-biggest moon in the solar system. “By the end of this year, we will have it down to our final choice,” Stern said. NASA also is planning a mission involving the launch by 2015 of an Earth-orbiting satellite to study dark energy. Scientists think dark energy makes up roughly 70 per cent of the universe but do not understand its nature.
— Reuters
|
|
This Universe
When we boil or heat up something it changes from solid to liquid or from liquid to gas. But when we boil an egg its inside changes from semi-liquid to solid. Why do we have this difference?
This is a nice question. All the examples you in mind are things like ice, water and steam or other materials that are rather simple. When we talk of an egg we enter a world that is very different. We are getting close to the living world where the components are complex and interconnected. The egg white is mostly made of proteins. Proteins are long chains of amino-acids, molecules made of carbon and hydrogen with some atoms of nitrogen thrown in. These chains of enzymes could in principle be just linear but stability demands that they form helical or other structures. This is because such structures can also allow the possibility of extra bonds between neighboring molecules. For materials so composed it is easy to think of them being translucent if not transparent - as for the white of a raw egg. When you put stress on this material, by vigorous mixing or boiling the whole egg you tend to break the bonds in the chain. The churning up produces the possibility of molecules from different part of the chain coming close to each other and establishing contacts and bonds in a haphazard manner. As a result the semi-liquid material of the egg congeals into a multiply connected, coagulated mass, which definitely looks opaque — and very much like a solid. The chemical composition of the molecular complex does not change. But the structure does. It is said that the proteins get denatured! They cannot now perform the catalytic functions they previously could.
|
|
Trends
Using a computer model, German researchers showed the temperature at the bottom of surface cracks on Enceladus has to be about 0 degrees Celsius, the so-called triple point of water where vapour, ice and liquid water all can coexist.
— Reuters
Doting dad baboons
Having daddy around when they are growing up is good for little girls — even if they are little baboon girls. While that’s well known for people, it’s a bit of a surprise for non-human primates. But a report in Monday’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that female baboons in Kenya raised in groups with their fathers matured earlier and had a longer reproductive life than other baboons. Males had not been thought to be engaged in a level of care that would make any difference to their offspring, said Susan Alberts, an associate professor of biology at Duke University.
— AP
From nature to virtual reality
As people spend more time communing with their televisions and computers, the impact is not just on their health, researchers say. Less time spent outdoors means less contact with nature and, eventually, less interest in conservation and parks. Camping, fishing and per capita visits to parks are all declining in a shift away from nature-based recreation, researchers report in Monday’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Declining nature participation has crucial implications for current conservation efforts,” wrote co-authors Oliver R. W. Pergams and Patricia A. Zaradic.
— AP
|
Human body is the biggest natural miracle machine and different types of biofluids like gas breathed out (i.e., carbon dioxide), night soil/stool and urine are major wastes byproducts of this machine along with saliva, tears, semen and blood. Though nature makes best use of these biofluid byproducts but scientists are always keen in making the technological use of these products.
The U.S. space agency is planning a mission to better understand a mysterious form of energy in the cosmos and an ambitious unmanned journey to the outer solar system, NASA officials said.
Scientists on Wednesday said they have an explanation how one of Saturn’s moons can spew out a giant plume of water vapour, adding to evidence a source of life — water — lies beneath the moon’s frozen surface.