There’s something to be said for this. So go ahead, say it.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
This news item may not get the attention it should. Whenever promising advancements are indicated as they were with initial success in demonstrating superconductivity, there always seems to be another problem to solve. In the former case, requiring temperatures nudging up against absolute zero is a significant example.
If controlling electron spin was previosly possible only within a frigid, impractical landscape, NC State researchers may really have something here. That is to say anything you can now do without the need for severely cold temperatures is a definite plus. First a memory device, after that, what’s next?
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Tesla unveils world’s first mass-produced, highway-capable EV
Model S sedan has anticipated base price of $49,900, up to 300-mile range and 45-minute QuickCharge capability
March 26, 2009
HAWTHORNE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE) —Tesla Motors is now taking orders for the Model S, an all electric family sedan that carries seven people and travels 300 miles per charge.
The Model S, which carries its charger onboard, can be recharged from any 120V, 240V or 480V outlet, with the latter taking only 45 minutes. By recharging their car while they stop for a meal, drivers can go from LA to New York in approximately the same time as a gasoline car. Moreover, the floor-mounted battery pack is designed to be changed out in less time than it takes to fill a gas tank, allowing for the possibility of battery-pack swap stations.
The floor-mounted powertrain also results in unparalleled cargo room and versatility, as the volume under the front hood becomes a second trunk. Combining that with a four-bar linkage hatchback rear trunk and flat folding rear seats, the Model S can accommodate a 50-inch television, mountain bike *and* surfboard simultaneously. This packaging efficiency gives the Model S more trunk space than any other sedan on the market and more than most SUVs.
“Model S doesn’t compromise on performance, efficiency or utility — it’s truly the only car you need,” said Tesla CEO, Chairman and Product Architect Elon Musk. “Tesla is relentlessly driving down the cost of electric vehicle technology, and this is just the first of many mainstream cars we’re developing.”
Tesla expects to start Model S production in late 2011. The company believes it is close to receiving $350 million in federal loans to build the Model S assembly plant in California from the Dept of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program.
Building on Proven Technology
Tesla is the only production automaker already selling highway-capable EVs in North America or Europe. With 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, the Roadster outperforms almost all sports cars in its class yet is six times as energy efficient as gas guzzlers and delivers 244 miles per charge. Tesla has delivered nearly 300 Roadsters, and nearly 1,000 more customers are on the wait list.
Teslas do not require routine oil changes, and they have far fewer moving (and breakable) parts than internal combustion engine vehicles. They qualify for federal and state tax credits, rebates, sales tax exemptions, free parking, commuter-lane passes and other perks. Model S costs roughly $5 to drive 230 miles – a bargain even if gasoline were $1 per gallon.
The anticipated base price of the Model S is $49,900 after a federal tax credit of $7,500. The company has not released options pricing. Three battery pack choices will offer a range of 160, 230 or 300 miles per charge.
“Model S costs half as much as a Roadster, and it’s a better value than much cheaper cars,” Musk said. “The ownership cost of Model S, if you were to lease and then account for the much lower cost of electricity vs. gasoline at a likely future cost of $4 per gallon, is similar to a gasoline car with a sticker price of about $35,000. I’m positive this car will be the preferred choice of savvy consumers.”
The standard Model S does 0-60 mph in under six seconds and will have an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph, with sport versions expected to achieve 0-60 mph acceleration well below five seconds. A single-speed gearbox delivers effortless acceleration and responsive handling. A 17-inch touchscreen with in-car 3G connectivity allows passengers to listen to Pandora Radio or consult Google Maps, or check their state of charge remotely from their iPhone or laptop.
Tesla is taking reservations online and at showrooms in California. Tesla will open a store in Chicago this spring and plans to open stores in London, New York, Miami, Seattle, Washington DC and Munich later this year.
About Tesla Motors
San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla Motors Inc. designs and manufactures electric vehicles with exceptional design, performance and efficiency, while conforming to all North American and European safety, environmental and durability standards. The Roadster, which has a 0-to-60 mph acceleration of 3.9 seconds and a base price of $101,500 after a federal tax credit, is the only highway-capable production EV for sale in North America and Europe. Tesla expects to begin producing the Model S sedan in late 2011. Details and photos are available at www.teslamotors.com.
CONTACT:
Rachel Konrad
Tesla Motors, Inc.
+1 (650) 701-2664
rachel@teslamotors.com
Oh joy, it’s Superbowl weekend. Could you hear cynicism in my typing? There are but a few reasons that can pass for legitimate cause to be excited about it. You are coach, player or in some way directly involved or a fan of one of the teams. Not just a fan for this game but a real fan. There are many excited for other reasons such as non-athletic remuneration or similar financial gains that do not count. Why? Because the event is or at least was promoted on the grounds that it was a venue to demonstrate who is the best team in pro-football. Blah, blah, blah he says. Maybe once upon a time but not now. Which leads to the next part of this post.
Television like so many other technologies promised a plethora of positive advantages for one and all at its infancy. While wandering around some quotes were found that should date to the early days of TV to demonstrate the disappointment here is not new or the result of any new disease or impediment on the part of the author.
“Television: A medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done.” — Ernie Kovacs
Thanks to the person responsible for the link found to provide these adorable tidbits. So how many of you know who those people are? Look it up.
Getting back to the point some other links expressed views similar to the ones which reside here. That was reassuring but solves nothing. If you check the offerings available on whatever arrangement you have for television viewing how much is really of interest to you? That old song that laments the idea of 57 channels and nothing on not only dates the song but makes the point. Over the years the number of venues for programming has only made the problem worse. More and more places to host less and less valuable programming and content. So what do we do now to make it all better? Go digital. Why? Because we can? What’s the point?
Do nothing noticeable or widespread to improve overall programming but let’s make the picture look better, maybe. Ya, that’ll solve the problem. That will make programming better. NOT. They have taken a page from other telecom industries most notably wireless communication and information technology. In each case a similar phenomenon occurred. With wireless voice services otherwise known as cell phones do not be concerned about whether or not competition resulted in a better value or bang for the buck for the customer. Oh no, add on bells and whistles like internet browsing, mp3 playing and on board cameras to justify the ridiculous price for service. Yes, for service that has ignored the primary purpose of personal communication devices. That is to speak to another human being. And text messaging is one of the biggest jokes. You can speak faster than you can text. It is more personal and presents a human to human connection. Offering it was for benefit of the vendor not the customer. You now can communicate without personal connection, take longer to do it and word for word pay more for it. Thank God you saving the vendor a boatload of money on the cost of doing business for their overpriced and substandard service.
With IT it is the same thing. Essentially the PC, Mac, whatever has not changed in its entire brief history. Sure, you get more bytes, faster connections, more space, more gadgets, etc. They have been portable for some time and also wireless. But do they really have more power? The power to deliver the promise often touted by people like the Darth Vader of IT, none other than Bill Gates. No, just more bells and whistles and improvement to what has been around for decades. There has been no technological leap to the next generation of architecture or performance in terms of what can be accomplished. And don’t answer that there are supercomputers, etc. That is simply the same technology on a much larger scale. That is, more scale, nothing new.
So back to the Superbowl. Like most sports it was once a game. Now it is mostly a matter of how much money can we make with it and an endless list of excuses for gangsta athletes, sidestepping education for a big contract, taxpayers buying sports venues for teams and no longer any relationship to the positive attributes of sports that once built character and other qualities with real benefit to society.
You can expand this discussion to many other details in ‘modern’ life. In politics it is all about the money. Who gets the pork? Who gets the appointment? Who gets what from whom and for how much? You vote for mine and I’ll vote for yours. In science and related business it is much the same. This is what I have to do to get the grant to support my career. Who will pay me and how much of a whore do I have to be to get there? In education the story differs little. And on and on it goes.
So you tell me how we’re going to fix it? Or at least where do we start?
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
You have to just love these stories. Several posts back is reference to an article where Scotch whiskey is touted as a ground water purifier. Needless to say, being a fan of Scotch whiskey, there is an upside to that story on environmental solutions. Now a story on very small homes as an answer for the downturn in the economy as well as a promotion for ‘green’ thinking and hopping on the global warming bandwagon. In general, most discussions including those on the environment and even global warming are worthwhile and serve a purpose. But to accept the premise of each and every one without performing due diligence on the proposals put forth nor the problem they are to solve screams undue panic and a less than sensible approach.
To be repetitive, doing nothing or instantly signing on to every suggestion proposed related to environmental practices are extreme notions and that is rarely where the answers lie. In the case of tiny homes and the story presented below, there is something to be said for examining the way we live and how it can be improved. Reducing waste and limiting the amount of ’stuff’ we have or seek is a legitimate pursuit. But the focus on green initiatives and measures whose sole purpose is to combat a global warming concern that is not without serious flaws lends itself to the criticism of a ploy by special interest to promote a money making enterprise.
Those in the scientific community who fully support the notion of global warming including the human contribution to it could have another motive for their support than altruism or finding of fact. It is not uncommon for those in research to compete for grants and dollars for programs which translate into how they make a living. Likewise it is not uncommon for those with an entrepreneurial spirit to latch onto the latest fad and build a business model for extracting as much cash as they can while the fad lasts.
Governments may also have a seflish motive for supporting the ‘green’ thing and global warming initiatives. This appears to be a topic in which many people have chosen not to challenge claims made or proposals presented in an effort to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Tiny Home Offers Solution for Economic Hard Times |
|
Washington 08 December 2008 |
Video: Tiny Home - Download (WM) 
Video: Tiny Home - Watch (WM)
One man’s solution to tough economic times, the high cost of living, and all that housework… is to live in, build, and sell really tiny houses.
Eighty kilometers north of San Francisco in northern California is a rural community called Sebastopol, Jay Shafer, founder of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, lives and works there in his tiny home.
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| Everything in the tiny house is scaled down including this tiny kitchen |
“Well there are a lot of reasons I’ve decided to live in a tiny house,” he explained. “Probably first and foremost is because it frees up my time otherwise. So all of the time I would spend earning money to pay off a mortgage or rent can be spent doing things I love to do. I don’t have much housework either.”
The average American family home has about 230 square meters. His is 30 years old. It is tiny, cozy, energy efficient and, according to Shafer, all he needs.
“I just don’t like the idea of spewing tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. I know that the average American house puts out eighteen tons of greenhouse gases per year, and you know, that’s not even including all of the consumption that is involved with the, you know, materials, and also just heating fuel,” Shafer said.
Margie O’Driscoll with the American Institute of Architects says Americans have a tendency to acquire stuff, a trend she thinks may be changing.
“You can hire professionals to come in and organize your garage and your closet, and really that speaks to having a lot of stuff. And if you have to organize it, and you don’t even know what it is, you sort of start to wonder: ‘well do I really need to have as much as I have’. And I think that the time of American excess has really begun to shift and people are starting to identify what is really important to them,” O’Driscoll said.
Bill Kastrinos gave up traditional home building last year to start a company called Tortoiseshell Homes.
“I’ve had several people, young people that just want to downsize. I’m getting rid of stuff. I’m having garage sales. I have three sets of China. What do I need three sets of China for?” Kastrinos noted. “So there is just a thought process that is going on where people are saying ‘well okay, if global warming is really a big problem, how much help am I by changing light bulbs to fluorescence.’ It is going to take a major rethinking of everything we do.”
Tortoiseshell homes are less elaborate than Shafer’s and cheaper.
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| Tiny home |
But both constructions are well insulated, both can be mounted on trailers, and both sleep two comfortably, in an upstairs loft.
“The bathroom becomes the shower. I have another door over here to protect the window from water, and that works out pretty well,” Shafer explained. “The little composting toilet is down here, and I can pull a plastic curtain in front of that so it doesn’t get wet.”
Tiny houses are not for everyone, but Shafer is more than happy to call his tiny house, home.
A puzzling anomaly presented itself when returning to the interactive digital hardware and software used to electronically access the network of related clusters of similarly engaged devices sometimes referred to as the internet. The modem displayed an indication there was a problem with the connection. A brief tour of recently visited sites resulted in evidence of a problem vanishing. As an additional check a not recently visited site was selected for which there was no likelihood of cached pages or other reference to it. Still no problem. Good.
The not recently visited site was Slashdot. As long as it was right there a review of the current offerings ensued. Purely by chance the reading of a brief request and the reaction to it was read. It seems a postgraduate student was seeking recommendations for physics texts that would be helpful with work in post author’s class on partial differential equations. This is not a story about math or physics. While it may be for the student it should not be for the rest of us. The following advice was offered to the student after expressing concern that the equations to be solved focused on physics problems and it would be good to have a better understanding of physics to deal with the math.
The commentary and other reactions to the student’s post together with the above information presents a good example of what is wrong with American education and people’s opinion of it or concern about it. The replies for this post at Slashdot offer a range of responses from what appear to be serious attempts to assist and recommend to adolescent attempts at humor or ridicule. But the entire discussion reminds this blog author of his own personal experience years ago to a similar dilemma.
The occupation, career or specific education requirements do not matter. It is sufficient for purposes of this post to explain the problem itself without benefit of distracting details. The subject matter presented in a course of study left me with a recurring concern that to fully understand the topics not only required understanding what they were and how they worked but why. When I mentioned this to a friend similarly engaged but in a different region of the country his reponse was much like the person offering advice to the student described in the Slashdot post. He said to not worry about it and just get through the classes. He went on to say the rest would take care of itself. I humbly disagreed then and still do today. Again, to understand what you are studying and how it works is necessary but so is knowing why.
Cognition, cognitive thinking, cognitive understanding or any number of other combinations possible with the word cognitve can be thought of as the ability to take what one learns and apply it to other things. Such as learning why things work the way they do so you can apply that knowledge to conditions or problems you face from that point forward. This is not presented as some sort of academic paper rather a brief explanation of this blog author’s opinion of the importance of knowing why things work the way they do and other answers related to the short question ‘why’.
To omit such pursuits in the area of education or an effort to learn seems an unfortunate contradiction to say the least.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
With going green going crazy and global warming fear monger, Al Gore, the failed Presidential contender fanning the flames of doom, one of the strongest criticisms of biofuels like ethanol made from corn was two-fold. It takes more energy to produce corn-based ethanol than can be derived from it and using the amount of corn required to have any significant impact in moving from fossil fuels places extreme pricing pressures on the food supply.
With most of the ‘alternative’ sources of energy years off in the future in terms of practical application, the flames the likes of Al Gore, et al, are fanning are not producing a solution rather a panic of catastrophic proportions. And the far left loves this strategy. Create new victims, attack manufactured villains and the lines of people trying to get taxpayer funding to ‘research’ alternatives may eventually reach around the globe. That is about the only connection between the globe and the term, global economy.
But while the opposing sides, of which there may be more than two, sort out the energy future in this country, one report indicates we should take a more reasoned approach to any major shifts in widespread use of alternative energy sources. According to the report below, “The process yields about eight times more energy than it consumes so it is a much more energy efficient way to produce ethanol.”
If that statement is true, the case for sorghum as an alternative energy source is probably one of the more promising developments in this crazy pursuit. The pursuit is not crazy because it is intended to find non-fossil fuel alternatives but because of the total abandon excercised by most proponents. The Chicken Little posture demonstrated by the most fanatical fans does more damage than good. A little care and a reasoned approach to solutions will minimize mistakes and speed any postive results.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Washington
Biofuel Sorghum report / Broadband - Download (WM)
Biofuel Sorghum report / Broadband - Watch (WM)
International research scientists are meeting in Houston, Texas August 19-22 to discuss various biofuel alternatives to corn, especially sorghum. Some scientists say sorghum - cultivated for food and fodder in various parts of the world - might one day help power our vehicles. VOA’s Paul Sisco has today’s Searching for Solutions report.
In the United States, sweet sorghum is grown for livestock feed and also used as a sweetener in the form of a syrup. In India, the sweet juice inside the plant’s stalk is
turned into ethanol and used as a fuel.
This has spurred William Rooney and his team at Texas A & M to work with sorghum. They say it grows faster than corn and can produce more ethanol per plant. “In the near future as we move forward you will see these types of crops become more and more prominent,” Rooney said.
Today, nearly all the ethanol in the US comes from corn. It is widely used as a gasoline additive. But using corn-based ethanol has not stopped gasoline prices from rising, and researchers are experimenting with algae, grasses, and plant stalks as biofuels.
Gene Stevens, at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, works with sorghum.
“We produced as much ethanol with the corn as we did with the sweet sorghum but the only advantage was that we used less fertilizer with the sweet sorghum,” he explains. “It may be that sweet sorghum may have a niche in some of those soils that are not so productive.”
Also, producing ethanol from sorghum uses less energy than corn — says Mark Winslow with the non-profit International Crops Research Institute.
“The process yields about eight times more energy than it consumes so it is a much more energy efficient way to produce ethanol,” Winslow says.
Critics of corn based ethanol production say it has contributed to rising food prices because of the amount of grain used to make the fuel. That explains, in part, why
the search is on to find other biofuel sources.
“I think you are going to hear more about the crops that are starting to make sense,” Rooney says.
Among them sorghum, says Rooney, a proven source of ethanol with more potential than corn.
By Alex Villarreal
Washington
27 October 2007
Villarreal report (mp3) - Download 452k 
Listen to Villarreal report (mp3)
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have successfully attached a new room to the station. They completed the task during the first of five spacewalks planned during their two-week mission. VOA’s Alex Villarreal reports from Washington.
Crew members of the U.S. space shuttle, Discovery, embarked Friday on the mission’s first spacewalk.
During the more than six-hour excursion, the Discovery and International Space Station crews used the station’s robotic arm to move a new module, named Harmony, from the shuttle to a temporary location on the space station.
Space Station Flight Director Derek Hassman called the day a success. “It’s not very often that I can report that a day goes exactly as we planned, but this is probably about as close as we get to one of those days. And this is one of those days where you really appreciate all the months and years of planning that go into these missions,” he said.
The Harmony module, the size of a bus, will provide docking ports for Japanese and European scientific laboratories to be installed on the space station. It will be moved to its permanent location after the shuttle departs.
Space Station program manager Kirk Shireman said the module is a welcome addition. “Today, the International Space Station is 18 percent more volume than it was yesterday with the attachment of Harmony. We went to..we were 15,000, about 15,000 cubic feet. Today we’re 2,600 feet, cubic feet more. So we’re glad to have the extra volume on board ISS.”
Spacewalkers also worked Friday on a massive solar power structure that will be relocated during future spacewalks and retrieved a broken antenna to be returned to Earth.
So far, the mission has not encountered major problems. After Discovery docked on Thursday, NASA engineers analyzed photos of the shuttle for damage. NASA officials say the engineers found nothing to warrant more focused inspection.
Discovery launched on Tuesday and is expected to return to Earth on November 6.
crossposted at:
Reject the UN
Screw the UN
It is doubtful the United Nations ever misses an opportunity to work the crowd and the media. If you are green or a tree hugger or a charter member of PETA (another op for Alicia Silverstone to disrobe) one can only suspect you are ecstatic over news of the UN Global Warming Summit. The rest of us may not be so sure. Not unlike the group of scientists who hold a different view of the issue than is played relentlessly in the MSM.
17,200 Scientists Dispute Global Warming
Alarmist global warming claims melt under scientific scrutiny
World scientists meet on global warming
But many top scientists reject the new figures…
This post does not accept nor reject the idea of global warming. But that is the whole point. While the global warming issue was raised near a fever pitch in anticipation of the IPCC report on global warming, the first question that should have entered your mind is who the hell is the IPCC and what credentials do they have to support the assumed credibility of their findings?
Many surprising supporters of the idea of man-made global warming are very large corporations. Those announcements were followed by the skeptics wondering what financial incentive they had to cause the voluntary participation in fighting a demon on which we have too much or too little information. Please withhold your criticism as it should be repeated again, this post does not accept nor reject the notion of global warming. But if one is the least bit skeptical or cynical of mass approval or rejection of any idea, this would be a good candidate for suspicious motives. For instance, if you have been on the planet long enough to remember the push for alternative fuels and energy conservation and other environmental issues from thirty or more years ago, the lack of enthusiasm then and over decades since should be sufficient to alert your radar. Something may be wrong here.
Leaders Gather for UN Climate Change Meeting
By Phuong Tran
Dakar
23 September 2007
Tran report (mp3) - Download 596k
Listen to Tran report (mp3)Heads of states from more than 80 countries are gathering in New York City for what will be the largest U.N.-organized event for world leaders on climate change. This is a preliminary meeting to work toward a new international agreement on the issue. But scientists say places like sub-Saharan Africa need more than just an agreement to really fix the problem. Phuong Tran has more from VOA’s West and Central Africa Bureau in Dakar.
The IPCC who provided the grand report on global warming earlier this year that renewed the discussion and raised to that fever pitch is part of the United Nations. How convenient is that? One of the reports listed at the top of the page suggests not all the panel members are scientists and those who voiced objection to the report were deleted from the publication. While that assessment seems a little over the top, the same sort of accusation in reverse was leveled at the Bush Administration earlier this year. So who knows? Again, that is the whole point. What do we really know?
If that question sounds absurd to you in light of recent developments you may want to consider how absurd it would be to act on all the recommendations if there are flaws in the data. Any undertaking this massive and ‘global’ requires more scrutiny than everyday decision making.
Schwarzenegger, Gore add star power to climate meet
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
Mon Sep 24, 1:10 AM ETCalifornia Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Vice President Al Gore are set to join world leaders for a U.N. meeting on Monday aimed at spurring global negotiations on how to cool a warming planet.
Schwarzenegger, a former bodybuilder and movie star who has pushed for environmental reforms in California, acknowledged that rich and poor countries have differing responsibilities when it comes to global warming, but said it is time to stop the blame game.
The report above certainly does not help. Part of the problem is when those with celebrity status fail to measure the undo influence of their public positions on critical issues. To take an absolute position rejecting any alternative viewpoints is dangerous even if combined with altruistic intentions. This may be another case of asking the right questions. Could a former actor and current governor of the state of California and a former VP who lost his only attempt at becoming President have any other motives for their respective stands on global warming? It is no different than asking if major corporations have jumped on the GW bandwagon to launch profitable new businesses that will cater to the environmental panic?
However, if you have not settled on a position for this issue and are more alarmed about potential panic and half-baked solutions than the idea of global warming itself, take heart. The article below aside from announcing some new agreement on HCFC elimination mentions the beginning of that organized effort as 1987. The inefficiency and time lag of all such initiatives is as staggering as the number of issue-based organizations in existence. Whether man-made global warming is a legitimate issue or not, there is better than even odds that solutions won’t be timely in either case.
‘Historic’ deal reached on cutting ozone threats
by Philippe SauvagnarguesSat Sep 22, 10:19 PM ET
Nearly 200 countries have agreed to accelerate the elimination of chemicals that threaten the ozone and exacerbate global warming, the United Nations Environmental Program announced Saturday.
UNEP chief Achim Steiner hailed the agreement by governments to move forward bans on dangerous hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as a “vital signal” in efforts to slow climate change and welcomed China’s willingness to back the deal.
“It is perhaps the most important breakthrough in an international environment negotiation process for at least five or six years,” Steiner said.
And one can only guess at why President Bush has changed his views on the subject. But the more compelling fact about the article below is there always seems to be a media story about those clamoring for attention pointing their collective fingers at the US.
U.N. climate chief urges U.S. action
By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP
Sat Sep 22, 1:53 PM ETThe Bush administration has made a “significant” shift on global warming, but still falls short on the “much more aggressive” policies needed to head off its damaging impact, the U.N. climate chief said Saturday.
“It’s very clear that we’re not on track,” Yvo de Boer told The Associated Press.
More than 70 presidents and prime ministers and 80 other national representatives are gathering here for Monday’s U.N. “climate summit.”
To emphasize once more that this post does not accept nor reject the idea of global warming is attached to the final thought expressing the need to subject the global warming issue to strict and continuous scrutiny befitting any other scientific endeavor. This is one of those times when embracing the flat earth or the sun revolving around the earth would not only be embarrassing but entirely counterproductive not to mention a colossal mistake.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
related: Michelle Malkin’s All Eyes on the UN
RESEARCHERS GENERATE HIGH-SPEED PULSES OF LASER LIGHT ON SILICON,
SPEEDING DATA TRANSMISSION
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 – In the Sept. 3 issue of Optical Society of America’s Optics Express, published online today, researchers announce that they have built the world’s first “mode-locked silicon evanescent laser.” Mode-locked evanescent lasers can deliver stable short pulses of laser light that are useful for many optical applications, including high-speed data transmission, multiple wavelength generation, remote sensing (LIDAR) and highly accurate optical clocks. This new work is a significant step toward the goal of combining lasers and other key optical components on silicon, providing a way to integrate optical and electronic functions on a single chip and enabling new types of integrated circuits. It introduces a more practical technology with lower cost, lower power consumption and more compact devices.
Summary
Present-day computer technology depends on weak electrical currents for data communication within the silicon-based microprocessor. By causing silicon to emit light and exhibit other potentially useful optical properties, integration of photonic devices on silicon becomes possible. The problem in the past – it is extremely difficult, nearly impossible, to create a laser in silicon.
Less than one year ago, a research team led by John Bowers at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Intel successfully created laser light from electrical current on silicon by placing a layer of indium phosphide (InP), an important technology in high-speed communication, above the silicon. In this new study, electrically-pumped lasers emitting 40 billion pulses of light per second were demonstrated, built on the hybrid silicon platform developed the year prior. This is the first-ever achievement of such a rate in silicon and one that matches the rates produced by other media in standard use today. These short pulses are composed of many evenly spaced colors of laser light, which could be separated and each used to transmit different high-speed information, replacing the need for hundreds of lasers with just one.
Creating optical components in silicon will lead to optoelectronic devices that can increase the amount and speed of data transmission in computer chips while using existing silicon technology. Employing existing silicon technology is a desirable goal because it would represent a potentially less expensive and easier-to-implement way of mass-producing future-generation devices that use both electrons and photons to process information, rather than just electrons as has been the case in the past. This advance was made possible by funds from the Microsystems Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the United States Department of Defense.
Paper
“Mode-Locked Silicon Evanescent Lasers,” Optics Express, Vol. 15, Issue 18.
Abstract
We demonstrate electrically pumped lasers on silicon that produce pulses at repetition rates up to 40 GHz, even without RF drive. The mode locked lasers generate 4 ps pulses with low jitter and extinction ratios above 18 dB, making them suitable for data and telecommunication transmitters and for clock generation and distribution. Results of both passive and hybrid mode locking are discussed. This type of device could enable new silicon based integrated technologies, such as optical time division multiplexing (OTDM), wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), and optical code division multiple access (OCDMA).
For a copy of the paper, please contact OSA’s
Colleen Morrison, 202.416.1437, cmorri@osa.org.
By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
20 August 2007
Schlein report (mp3) - Download 492k audio clip
Listen to Schlein report (mp3) audio clip
Experts attending an international conference are calling for quick action to reduce the threat posed by biological weapons. Participants attending the week-long meeting at the United Nations in Geneva say the so-called war on terror makes it more urgent than ever to strengthen the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. Lisa Schlein reports.
Negotiations to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention collapsed in the summer of 2001 after the United States rejected proposed verification measures. Washington said they would do little to deter countries from seeking biological weapons. A short time later terrorists carried out the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
U.N. Disarmament Official, Richard Lennane says the terrorist attacks renewed interest in the treaty.
“There was this recognition that the threats, including the threat of terrorism had really, as you say, focused minds and did increase, what can we say, the flexibility or willingness to cooperate and to find a common approach among the States parties which until then had, as you know, some very stark differences,” said Lennane.
The Biological Weapons Convention prohibits the Development, Production and Stockpiling of these Toxic weapons. The Convention, which was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons, was enacted in 1972 and came into force in 1975.
But, the Convention’s single greatest weakness is that it has no international verification measures. It does not allow for on-site inspections of industrial facilities to see whether nations are cheating on their commitments.
The Chairman of the Conference, Pakistani Ambassador, Masood Khan, agrees this is a problem. He says there is no common ground on having on-site inspections so countries have essentially given up trying to get an international verification regime. He says they are working on other measures to try to achieve similar results.
“This week we are meeting to take stock of national implementation measures,” said Khan.
Besides that, the experts will be looking at ways to control individuals or groups within countries from getting hold of biological weapons. They also will seek to improve cooperation among the different national law enforcement agencies.
By Art Chimes
Washington, DC
20 August 2007
Chimes report — Download 804k (mp3) audio clip
Listen to Chimes report — Download 804k (mp3) audio clip
Images captured by a NASA science satellite reveal the star Mira has left in its wake a comet-like tail that is some 13 light years long — more than 120 trillion kilometers. It’s a phenomenon that’s never been seen before.
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite, known as Galex, was launched four years ago with the aim of studying the history of the universe, using a telescope equipped with ultraviolet detectors. Finding a gigantic tail on a fast-moving star was not something astronomers had anticipated. Chris Martin, the principal investigator on Galex, announced the discovery.
“The Galaxy Evolution Explorer has discovered that Mira has a vast, turbulent tail stretching across interstellar space,” Martin told reporters. “And it’s truly remarkable that this star, which has been studied for centuries, has surprised us with a completely new and unexpected phenomenon.”
Mira’s “tail” is composed of carbon, oxygen and other chemical elements. The discovery may help scientists understand how old, dying stars like Mira shed material that is later incorporated into new stars and planets. The astronomers calculate that the oldest parts of the tail were left behind tens of thousands of years ago, as the star grew and gravity weakened farther from its center.
“In fact, if we had had, 30,000 years ago — If Neanderthal man had had ultraviolet eyes and could look above the atmosphere, he could have seen the beginning of this tail forming,” said Martin.
The age of the tail makes it something of a time capsule, says Columbia University astronomer Michael Shara, like the rings of a tree. “Because we have this tail that was generated over 30,000 years, we can look at small individual pieces of the tail and deduce what the mass loss rate was like and what the chemistry along the tail was, which gives us some hint as to the differentiation of elements in the atmosphere of Mira before it started to shed mass.”
In addition to the tail, images from the Galex satellite show a curved shock wave in front of Mira as it speeds through the surrounding space at 130 kilometers per second. Astronomer Mark Siebert of the Carnegie Institution says that the bow shock, as they call it, and the random-looking tail behind the star resemble a picture of a bullet in supersonic flight. “In front of the bullet there’s a leading shock, much like Mira’s bow shock. And then trailing the bullet there’s also a classic turbulent wake, which is very reminiscent of the structures that we see behind Mira.”
Seibert says Mira is a very common type of star, so it may be that this kind of tail is actually not very rare and that more will be discovered. In any event, this one is the first.
Shara, the Columbia University astronomer, says the new and completely unexpected discovery is an example of what can happen as astronomy advances.
“Any time astronomers take a look at a new part of what we call observation space — that is, they start using a telescope which has much better angular resolution like Hubble, or much greater sensitivity in the ultraviolet like Galex, or a very large field of view like Galex — they tend to find something new, and that’s exactly what’s happened here,” he said.
The astronomers say they are really just beginning to study this huge structure. They published their discovery in the journal Nature.
By VOA News
18 August 2007
Astronauts on the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour are conducting a spacewalk Saturday to add new components to the International Space Station (ISS).
This is the fourth and final spacewalk for the Endeavour mission. After it is complete, the shuttle and ISS crews will bid each other goodbye, then seal off the hatches to begin preparations for Endeavour’s possible early departure from the orbital outpost.
The U.S. space agency NASA has been considering having the shuttle return to earth earlier than its scheduled Wednesday arrival, to escape the effects of a powerful hurricane on NASA’s manned-spaceflight operations center in Houston, Texas.
U.S. forecasters say Hurricane Dean, traveling west through the Caribbean, could arrive in the Gulf of Mexico in the next few days. If it veers toward Houston, the agency would be forced to move its operations to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Earlier this week, Endeavour’s crew cut short a third spacewalk when astronaut Rick Mastracchio found a small hole in his glove. Officials said he was in no danger, but flight controllers ended the spacewalk as a precaution.
Meanwhile, Endeavor commander Scott Kelly says the crew agreed “absolutely 100 percent” with NASA’s decision not to repair a small gouge on the orbiter’s exterior heat shield.
The damage occurred when either foam or ice fell off the shuttle’s external fuel tank during last week’s launch and struck the shield.
After nearly a week of analysis, flight managers announced Thursday that the gouge is not a threat to the spaceship or its crew, and is unlikely to cause further damage. Commander Kelly says the crew shared NASA’s concern that a repair spacewalk could potentially cause even more damage.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
By VOA News
14 August 2007
Kelly spoke to reporters in an interview from space Tuesday. He said it is not clear yet whether the crew will repair the damage in space or wait until the shuttle returns to Earth.
Space agency officials say a piece of foam insulation struck the shuttle during launch last Wednesday, making a gouge in the shuttle’s exterior.
Specialist Tracy Caldwell will lead the repairs if they are done during the mission. She said Tuesday that the responsibilities for the repair have not been delegated, but that the crew is well-trained to carry out the operation successfully.
Crew members used a robotic arm Tuesday to lift the platform from the shuttle’s cargo bay and hand it off to the space station’s robotic arm. A second pair of crew members controlled that arm to finish the installation.
On Monday, astronauts replaced a faulty gyroscope on the support system (truss) of the space station. The new gyroscope will help control the station’s balance in orbit.
The shuttle is scheduled to undock from the space station next Monday for the return to Earth.
In February 2003, a damaged heat shield caused the fiery disintegration of the shuttle Columbia. All seven astronauts aboard the craft died as it broke up in the upper atmosphere.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
By VOA News
12 August 2007
U.S. astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour are examining damage to the shuttle’s heat shield.
The crew is using a camera and laser on a robotic arm to check out the heat shield, which NASA officials say was likely hit by a piece of ice during launch Wednesday.
Engineers back on Earth have been analyzing photographs of a gouge or scratch on the underside of the shuttle, measuring about seven and one-half centimeters square (7.5cm x 7.5cm).
Results of Sunday examination by the astronauts could help determine the extent of the damage, and whether it poses any risk when the shuttle returns to Earth later this month.
Based on the crew’s findings, engineers will decide whether the heat-shield damage is significant enough to warrant repairs in orbit.
The shield is made up of more than 20 thousand small heat-resistant tiles covering the shuttle’s hull. The tiles protect the spacecraft from searing heat when it re-enters the atmosphere.
In February of 2003, a damaged heat shield caused the fiery breakup of the shuttle Columbia. All seven astronauts aboard the craft died as it disintegrated in the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
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