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This
month seems to be an astronomical season with our New
Scientist magazine (and my SkyMap phone
app) announcing a planetary lineup in the evening. Above the
horizon at dusk in the Southwest sky has been the crescent moon
highest in the sky, lined up with a visible Jupiter below it and
a very bright Venus near the horizon (until February 28). Then by
March 2, Jupiter and Venus will be changing places in the sky
(see EarthSky.org), which is a pretty dynamic solar system
performance for planets so far away. On this theme, Bloomberg
News has just featured an article about
Asteroid-Mining Startup AstroForge which will launch its first
Space Missions this year, going after platinum and other precious
metals hidden in asteroids. Maybe they will wave to the newly
arriving Martian settlers on their way back to the earth from
strip-mining an asteroid!
Also, we
just completed a Statement for Scientists, Science Students,
Physicists, Climatologists, or any other Academics on a carbon
removal solution to climate change. Please read our one-page
Statement and if you agree, you can add your name and
affiliation to show your support.
Our
Story #1 is quite a renewable energy transformation for those who
like to go out on the water in their yachts. Instead of spending
lots of cash on burning fuel just to go boating, we can now
celebrate the Sunreef
Yachts Company for their solar-powered yachting innovation.
With the roof covered by flexible solar panels and a battery bank
inside, Sunreef is now selling electric-powered super catamarans.
Their YouTube
videos are also quite inspiring, with the story of
the owner’s journey toward environmental solutions.
Story #2
could have been our IRI lead story since it is a breakthrough
confirmation for our institute’s
Bioenergy products. The 2011 NASA 4-year collaborative study
which Dr. Glen Gordon based his original small Empulse invention
focused on “the most effective electromagnetic fields (EMFs) for
enhancing growth and repair in mammalian tissues.” (An excerpt of
this study is reprinted in the EM Pulser 78 Manual.) The pulsed
EMFs (PEMF), which were found to be the most effective for that
wide range of electrotherapy back then, were “square waves with a
rapid rate of change (dB/dt)” and have now been rediscovered or
reinvented by NASA for cartilage repair and regrowth even
for cases of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The NASA
Tech Briefs article linked below is a good summary
detailing the technology with “high rising and falling slew
rates.” This wave shape is the same as their 2011 study
and Dr. Gordon’s “nanosecond rise time” in our IRI PEMF square
wave at his preferred earth resonance pulse rate of 7.8 Hz. IRI
has evolved into using this very effective regenerative PEMF
design in several products, including our OsteoPad,
MaxiMat, and MiniMat, besides our popular,
portable EM
Pulser 78 that also has a 4”x 6” PulsePad attachment.
The question can be asked, “Did NASA really discover something
new this time around?”
Story #3
is a fascinating wireless transmission story that resembles
Marconi’s telegraph experiment. Explaining it in terms of hot and
cold electrons is interesting and of course, the grounding wire
is a source of electrons. However, the real secret seems to
be the use and interruption of the ambient, random radio
frequency (RF) waves called “Johnson noise,” also related to zero
point energy which is all around us. It was significant enough
for the University of Texas to get a publication in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences (Nov.
2022) though not sufficient for high-speed
communication as of yet.
Story #4
is a real surprise in propulsion if it is true. The Chinese
Academy of Sciences reports that it has a hypersonic engine that
can travel at Mach 9 (nine times the speed of sound) using
inexpensive kerosene, as tested in a wind tunnel.
Story #5
is an endearing human interest story focused on solar power for
kids. At only 12 years old, the inventor Vinisha designed a cart
to power a steam iron for portable clothes pressing service using
solar energy. She was subsequently invited to give an
inspiring short talk at the UN’s climate COP26
which now is a 5-minute
video on YouTube.
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1) Tesla of the Seas, Fully Solar Powered Yachts
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Interesting Engineering. February 2023
While
you wouldn't list yachting as one of the most environmentally
sensitive industries, that doesn't mean things can't change. With
the era of electrification, many industries are turning their
faces to the most obvious option that is glaring at us from
above: Solar power.
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2) Noninvasive Therapy for Cartilage Regeneration
with PEMF
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Tech Briefs February 2023
NASA
Johnson Space Center Innovators researching time-variance
magnetic field (TVMF) therapies have developed a pulsed
electromagnetic field (PEMF) device that can alleviate
cartilage degradation in synovial joints by promoting the growth
of new cartilage. Joint disorders result in intense pain, and
Non-invasive and painless regeneration of a patient's tissue
offers fewer side effects than surgical joint replacement or
tissue engineering procedures. The PEMF device could be
wrapped around synovial joints where cartilage-degrading inflammation
is located.
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3) Device transmits radio waves with almost no power
– without violating the laws of physics
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The
Conversation, February 2023
A new
ultra-low-power method of communication at first glance seems to
violate the laws of physics. It is possible to wirelessly transmit
information simply by opening and closing a switch that connects a
resistor to an antenna. No need to send power to the antenna. Our
system, combined with techniques for harvesting energy from the
environment, could lead to all manner of devices that transmit
data, including tiny sensors and implanted medical devices,
without needing batteries or other power sources. These
include sensors for smart agriculture, electronics implanted in
the body that never need battery changes, better contactless
credit cards and maybe even new ways for satellites to
communicate.
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4) Chinese team says hypersonic engine can hit Mach 9
on low-cost jet fuel
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South
Morning China Post February 2023
The device
travels at nine times the speed of sound without the expense or
explosion risk of burning hydrogen, according to paper.
Several
successful ground experiments for the oblique detonation engine,
which generates thrust through a burst of explosions, were carried
out at the JF-12 hypersonic shock tunnel in Beijing earlier this
year, according to the researchers.
The team
led by Liu Yunfeng, a senior engineer with the Institute of
Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed technical details
of the kerosene-powered engine in a paper published in the
peer-reviewed Journal of Experiments in Fluid Mechanics on November
11.
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5) A 15-year-old girl invented a solar ironing cart
that's winning global respect
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The
Brighter Side News February 2023
Vinisha Umashankar
came up with an idea. Instead of using charcoal to heat up the
irons, the vendors could use something abundantly available in
India: the power of the sun. Over the span of six months in 2019,
when she was just 12 years old, she designed a cart that had solar
panels to power a steam iron. She pored over college-level physics
textbooks to get an understanding of how solar panels work. Then,
she submitted her concept to the National Innovation Foundation, run
by the Indian government. Engineers there helped her build the
full-scale working prototype and apply for a patent.
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