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Soybean oil is the prevalent starting material in the United States for biodiesel, and its relatively high production cost results in a high resale cost for this renewable fuel.

The method developed by Haas and his colleagues eliminates the use of hexane, an air pollutant regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, from the production of soy oil for biodiesel synthesis. Hexane, a colorless, flammable liquid derived from petroleum, is traditionally used to extract vegetable oil triglycerides from the raw agricultural material before biodiesel production.

The new method eliminates the conventional oil extraction step. Instead, the oilseed is incubated with methanol and sodium hydroxide, which are currently used to process extracted oil.

The researchers found that the moisture naturally present in soybeans -- as much as 10 percent in soy flakes -- requires that a large amount of methanol be used in this reaction. However, using dried flakes greatly reduced the methanol requirement. Processing costs using dry flakes were estimated at $1.02 per gallon, which is $2.12 less than for biodiesel made from full-moisture soy flakes.

The researchers are refining their economic model to account for income from the sale of the lipid-free, protein-rich flakes left over from the biodiesel reaction for use as animal feeds, and to account for differences in the cost of the refined oil and flaked soybean feedstocks.

Neutron-scattering studies revealed that the solid phase is a "sol-gel" system in which the formation of hydrogen bonds between the CD and the 4MP leads to an ordered, rigid structure. At lower temperatures, however, the hydrogen bonds tend to break and reform within the CD, which results in the solution becoming a liquid again.

Molecular dynamics simulations by Plazanet and co-workers confirmed that the cyclodextrine ring becomes distorted as it is heated up to close to the solidification temperature. The hydrogen bonds within the CD break and the hydroxyl groups rotate towards the outside, which allows a network of bonds to form between the different molecules. The team has found a number of cyclodextrine/pyridine systems that also become solid when heated, and is now looking more closely at the structure of the sol-gel system to understand the solidification mechanism in more detail.

"Electrolyzed water" -- produced by applying an electrical current to a very dilute saltwater solution - kills bacteria on fresh produce more effectively in some cases than heat or water containing chlorine, according to a research report presented here today at the 220th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

Electrolyzed water could also be used to sanitize cutting boards, eating and drinking utensils, and food-processing equipment, says Yen-Con Hung, Ph.D., the University of Georgia professor who conducted the research. Soaking a cutting board in electrolyzed water for about five minutes at a moderately warm temperature (about 95-105 F) can reduce bacteria up to a million-fold, he says.

One advantage of using electrolyzed water to kill bacteria on food surfaces is that it doesn't adversely affect quality as heat can, according to Hung.

Trained sensory panelists "found there was no significant effect of the treatment on the quality," he said. They were "unable to find any differences in color, appearance or smell" between produce washed with electrolyzed water and produce washed with tap water.

The electrolytic process produces very acidic water. Hung believes the water's low pH (acidity) and potential for oxidation-reduction contribute to its effectiveness.

Essentially, oxidation-reduction involves the exchange of electrons. In the case of bacteria like E. coli, salmonella and listeria, this exchange may take away electrons needed by cell membranes for metabolism and survival.

"We think the main indicator of the effectiveness of the solution is the oxidation-reduction potential," says Hung. "When you compare chlorinated water with electrolyzed water, there is a difference in the oxidation-reduction potential, even though they have the same chlorine concentration." The exact role of oxidation-reduction in destroying bacteria is still being investigated, he says.

Chlorine is not physically added to electrolyzed water, but is produced when the electrical current passes through the water and salt mixture.

The chlorine that is generated "is definitely one of the major components for killing microorganisms," Hung acknowledges. But, he adds, electrolyzed water has additional active components -- oxidants -- that his research group is trying to identify.

The equipment needed to produce and treat food with electrolyzed water is compact and already produced by several companies in Japan. A typical unit costs between $3,000 and $5,000, says Hung. He believes the food industry will be first to use electrolyzed water and then, as equipment costs come down, consumers will use it at home.

A fast-food chain in the United States is testing the technology and several other companies have expressed interest, according to Hung. He did not identify them.

A few U.S. water treatment plants already use technology similar to that tested, according to Hung.

"Smart Glass Blocks Infrared when Heat is on"

Glass that blocks out heat but not light when a room starts getting excessively warm has been developed by UK scientists.

At most room temperatures the glass lets both visible and infrared light pass through. But above 290C, a substance coating the glass undergoes a chemical change causing it to block infrared light. This will prevent room from overheating in bright sunshine or if temperatures outside start to soar.

Other solutions, such as tinted glass, do not respond to changing conditions. As well as reducing the light entering a room, tinted glass keeps a room cool even when some of the Sun's warmth would be welcome.

The researchers behind the new glass technology believe it could change the way architects design large buildings.

"The current trend towards using glass extensively in building poses a dilemma for architects," says Ivan Parkin, who developed the new glass with colleague Troy Manning at University College London. "Do they tint the glass, which reduces the benefit of natural light or face hefty air conditioning bills?"

Transition Temperature ~

The glass is coated the chemical vanadium dioxide. This material transmits both visible and infrared wavelengths of light, and normally undergoes a change at about 700 C.

Above this transition temperature, the electrons in the material alter their arrangement. This turns it from a semiconductor into a metal, and makes it block infrared light. Parkin and Manning lowered the transition temperature to 290C by doping the material with the metal tungsten.

They also found a way to incorporate deposition of the coating into a conventional glass manufacturing process. This should make it relatively cheap to mass produce, they claim, with a commercial version of the glass ready within three years.

However, a number of issues still need to be overcome. Firstly, the substance is not permanently fixed to the glass. Also, the coating itself currently has a strong yellow tint.

But Manning believes it should be possible to overcome these issues. "You could add another substance, like titanium dioxide, to fix it to the glass," he told New Scientist. "And you could use a dye that would cancel out the yellow."

"Solar Photovoltaic Breakthrough Taps Infrared Light"

In a paper published on the Nature Materials Web site on January 9, senior author and Professor Ted Sargent, Nortel Networks - Canada Research Chair in Emerging Technologies at the University of Toronto's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his team report on their achievement in tailoring matter to harvest the sun's invisible, infrared rays.

"We made particles from semiconductor crystals which were exactly two, three or four nanometres in size," Sargent said. "The nanoparticles were so small they remained dispersed in everyday solvents just like the particles in paint," explains Sargent.

Sargent's team then tuned the tiny nanocrystals to catch light at very long wavelengths. The result is a sprayable infrared detector.

"Existing technology has given us solution-processible, light-sensitive materials that have made large, low-cost solar cells, displays, and sensors possible, but these materials have so far only worked in the visible light spectrum," Sargent said.

The discovery may help in the quest for cheaper, more efficient renewable energy resources. Specifically, it could help drive up the efficiencies of current polymer-based solar cells which hold the potential to be manufactured at a lower cost than current crystalline silicon cells but have so far been unable to match crystalline power conversion efficiencies.

"Companies have already been formed which have discovered how to make roll-to-roll, large area, plastic photovoltaics," Sargent said. "They face the challenge of low efficiencies in harvesting the sun's power. Our work has the potential to improve these efficiencies considerably.

Sargent expects their research breakthrough could see commercial implementation within 3 to 5 years.

Flexible, roller-processed solar cells have the potential to harness the sun's power, but efficiency, flexibility and cost are going to determine how that potential becomes practice, said Josh Wolfe, Managing Partner and nanotechnology venture capital investor at Lux Capital in Manhattan.

"These flexible photovoltaics could harness half of the sun's spectrum not previously accessed," he said.

Professor Peter Peumans of Stanford University, who has reviewed the U of T team's research, also acknowledges the groundbreaking nature of the work.

"Our calculations show that with further improvements in efficiency, combining infrared and visible photovoltaics, could allow up to 30 percent of the sun's radiant energy to be harnessed, compared to six percent in today's best plastic solar cells," Peumans said.

U of T electrical and computer engineering graduate student Steve MacDonald carried out many of the experiments that produced the world's first solution-processed photovoltaic in the infrared.

"The key was finding the right molecules to wrap around our nanoparticles," he explains. "Too long and the particles couldn't deliver their electrical energy to our circuit; too short, and they clumped up, losing their nanoscale properties. It turned out that one nanometer -- eight carbon atoms strung together in a chain -- was 'just right'."

Other members of the U of T research team are Gerasimos Konstantatos, Shiguo Zhang, Paul W. Cyr, Ethan J.D. Klem, and Larissa Lavina of electrical and computer engineering; Cyr is also with the Department of Chemistry. The research was supported in part by the Government of Ontario through Materials and Manufacturing Ontario, a division of the Ontario Centres of Excellence; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada through its Collaborative Research and Development Program; Nortel Networks; the Canada Foundation for Innovation; the Ontario Innovation Trust; the Canada Research Chairs Programme; and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Until recently meteorologists were unable to explain why clouds contain disproportionately large quantities of large and small water droplets.

Now Dutch researchers claim that areas of air turbulence that forms very small spiral patterns and that this then causes clouds to produce rain.

The research was carried out by Delft University of Technology and used the computational facilities at the Academic Computation Centre in Amsterdam. Researchers used a Cray C90 super computer to calculate how hundreds of thousands of water droplets contained in one litre of cloud move and grow.

During this process small tubular-shaped vortices are formed and that these force droplets outwards by centrifugal force, so that they congregate at the edge.

For rain to happen one in every million droplets needs grow to a diameter greater them 20 micrometers and this happens as droplets collide --- this then sets off a chain reaction within the cloud.

This new data turns on its head old meteorological calculations that did not include the effect of small-scale areas of turbulence. The process should take more than three hours before clouds become dense enough to release rain, but in actual fact this process only takes about thirty minutes.

What has also been shown is that there are very few droplets in the center of each area of turbulence and that as a consequence the air there remains supersaturated.

Until recently meteorologists had considered this to be impossible, but the results also indicated that air more than one hundred meters above the base of a cloud becomes so supersaturated with water vapour that droplets are created.

Water vapour then condenses on particles (like dust), with a radius of less than a micrometer. Just how many small droplets develop depends on the level of supersaturation of the air.

Meteorologists may now have to revise many of their long-held assumptions about clouds and rain. This may not sound like a major scientific feat, but it's right up there for many dry continents like Africa and Australia where water may be one of the key regional security issues in the 21st century.

"Stirling Engine Gets Noisy Makeover"

Scientists from the University of California and Northrop Grumman Space Technology have developed a novel method for generating electrical power for deep-space travel using sound waves.

The research, appearing in the journal Applied Physics Letters, suggests that the traveling-wave thermoacoustic electric generator could be used to power spacecraft venturing into the furthest reaches of the Universe.

Scientist Scott Backhaus and his Northrop Grumman colleagues, Emanuel Tward and Mike Petach say the traveling-wave engine/linear alternator system is similar to the current thermoelectric generators in that it uses heat from the decay of a radioactive fuel to generate electricity, but is more than twice as efficient.

The new design is an improvement over current thermoelectric devices used for the generation of electricity aboard spacecraft. Such devices convert only 7 percent of the heat source energy into electricity.

The traveling-wave engine converts 18 percent of the heat source energy into electricity.

The traveling-wave engine is a modern-day adaptation of the 19th century invention of Robert Stirling -- the Stirling engine -- which is similar to a steam engine, but uses heated air instead of steam to drive a piston.

The traveling-wave engine works by sending helium gas through a stack of 322 stainless-steel wire-mesh discs called a regenerator. The regenerator is connected to a heat source and a heat sink that causes the helium to expand and contract.

This expansion and contraction creates powerful sound waves -- in much the same way that lightning causes the thermal expansion that produces thunder. These oscillating sound waves in the traveling-wave engine drive the piston of a linear alternator that generates electricity.

Since the only moving component in the device besides the helium gas itself is an ambient temperature piston, the device possesses the kind of high-reliability required of deep space probes.

Ukrainian physicists made a remarkable discovery capable of changing that our perception of Time Scientists of Kiev"s Institute of quantum physics Dmitro Stary and Irina Soldatenko began their experiment in the early 70s. Since then, it"s been going on for more than 30 years, despite all the difficulties such lack of resources, power outages and no monthly salaries. Their longstanding scientific exploit has finally paid off; it has lead to a real scientific breakthrough, which could only be compared to Einstein"s relativity theory. Their unprecedented experiment, which was originated by famous Soviet physicist Anastas Korzh, entails measurement of the Universe"s expansion.

Their technique however differs from the one commonly used these days. Usually, scientists measure the distance between galaxies or rather those oblique "evidences" like the Doppler Effect for instance.

Anastas in turn suggested the young specialists, graduates of the University of Physics, to precisely measure the most ordinary distance such as the length of iridium standard meter, accessible for scientists, using modern high-precision quantum devices. After all, if the Universe does expand, the process does not only affect the edges, but its entirety.

The iridium standard meter rod will also have to become longer after some time.

Dmitro developed a unique computer program (BESM-4) which enabled the scientist to compensate and correct mistakes of his electronic devices.

In the end, after such tedious and lengthy research work, Ukrainian scientists managed to calculate more accurately the exact number of years of our Universe as well as to acquire other significant data. Practical advantages of such research appear to be significant as well. For instance, nowadays all leading airlines of the world take into account the so-called Stary-Soldatenko factor for calculating the amount of over-expenditure of aviation fuel.

The major outcome however, which was never intended by the scientists, became obvious only during the final stages of the experiment. After conducting thorough analysis of acquired data, they discovered that not only does the Universe expand, but Time tends to accelerate as well!

Actually, we have been following this effect for quite some time now. However, those physicists who measured Time by means of various electronic devices, which in turn also accelerated, did not lead us to believe in it.

The results of Stary and Soldatenko turn our preconceived notions of the Universe upside down. Today, they haven"t been totally accepted in the scientific world. In the meantime, the results are being tested in many laboratories worldwide. Perhaps, it will take additional 30 years for the scientific world to repeat the experiment.

Today, many researchers undoubtedly agree that this is a fundamentally new physical phenomenon, which will trigger new breakthroughs in the world of science.

( Online Source: http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/13657_ghost.html )
"Russian Scientist Invents Camera To Take Ghost Photos "

Collection Of Unique Photos Includes Dinosaurs, WWII Soldiers

by Savely Kashnitsky
( 8-6-4 )

Russian geologist, specialist for geophysical devices Henry Silanov founded a photo studio, in which one can see the collection of 80 unusual photographs - aliens, paranormal activities, people from the past eras.

When a girl was packing a camping tent, Henry was preparing his camera to take a picture of her. The girl stood up and came up to the man. Henry clicked the camera. When the film was developed, they saw the girl on a shot bending over the tent. The picture depicted the girl several seconds prior to the moment, when the picture was actually taken. Henry Silanov photographed not the girl, but the informational trace she had left. It does not sound scientific at all - the experienced geologist is aware of that. He would never believe anyone saying a camera is capable of photographing moments, which were over before the moment of shooting. The scientist would never believe it, if he did not take tens of such photographs himself.

He took the first unusual picture in St.Petersburg's Hermitage. In one of the halls Silanov photographed the throne of Russian tsars. The developed picture depictured the face of Peter the Great, who used to sit on the throne indeed. Silanov started taking photographs of the past. The geologist has a picture of the thermos bottle photographed on the grass. The image of the bottle is slightly covered with vague outlines of a bucket, which was used to keep fresh milk in. The image of the bucket is invisible, but it inexplicably appears on a film. Another photograph shows an old tree broken with a storm. One can see the pale shade of the tree top above the fracture too.

Henry Silanov uses unconventional cameras to take photographs of the past. Object-glasses are usually covered with a thin layer of magnesium fluoride to filter the ultra-violet part of the spectrum. However, Silanov believes this is the exactly the frequency, which allows the film to fix 'the memory of the field.' The scientist uses this term, because there is no better definition for the time being. Henry Silanov thinks space is a huge hologram filled with information about everything that was ever placed or moved in it. Certain conditions make it possible to 'turn the memory of space on.' The memory is materialized in light quanta, which retrieve images of the past. Many years of his extended experience in photographing equipment became of great use in the new hobby.

Traditional optical devices do not let ultraviolet rays pass through. To make a unique object-glass Silanov uses tiniest grains of natural quartz, analyzing them on a spectrometer. Then he melts the grains for the glass, and polishes the lens manually. The film is also special: it is deprived of the gelatin layer, which filters ultraviolet rays.

Silanov took the majority of photographs in summer months, during his annual missions to anomalous zones of the Hopyor river. The scientist is the permanent leader of the public scientific expedition Hopyor. Every summer he leads a group of enthusiasts to the river-bed to study paranormal activities. There is a photograph of bushes, in which profiles of soldiers are seen standing out. The analysis determined the picture depicted Czech soldiers in 1943. The quartz object-glass captured a military unit, which was apparently deployed in the area during World War II.

Another photograph shows a man wearing ancient clothes. It is supposedly a Scythian man - they used to inhabit the region in ancient times. Soldiers in pointed helmets bring up the Golden Horde warriors. One can see ropes across the river next to the warriors -- they were probably building a passage. Another photograph depicts a dinosaur, which was probably hunting in the region millions of years ago.

It is impossible to choose the period of time-photographs. The scientist does not know how to control his photo time-machine; he has not invented the time-switch yet. Silanov tried to use five cameras at once: all photographs differed from each other.

Many professional photographers analyzed Henry Silanov's pictures and found no technical flaws. Silanov learned from them he was not the only one to discover mysterious images on photographs.

The unique camera is capable of photographing dead people too. This phenomenon has its own story. American citizen William Mummler took the first picture of a ghost soon after the invention of photography. He took a picture of himself, but was shocked to discover the see-through image of his cousin Sarah, who had died in the same house 12 years before that. A girl could be seen on the picture wearing white clothes, standing next to Mummler.

Henry Silanov has his own collection of ghosts on film. The scientist believes they try to say they have not vanished, they live somewhere in a parallel world, watching over us. Henry is a skeptic person. He perfectly realizes a lot of people will never believe his theories, taking into consideration the fact they are all based on photographs. However, physicians will have to study 'the memory of the field' if other people's collections of unusual photograph present more evidence of its existence.

( Online Source: ananova.com )

"Urine to improve diesel fumes?"

Swiss scientists have come up with a way to take the stink out of diesel exhaust fumes -- by spraying it with urine. Researchers at Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institute confirmed they had developed the new catalytic converter for diesel engines based on urea, a compound found in urine.

Diesel motors emit nitrogen oxides that drive up ozone levels and until now there has not been a catalytic converter able to efficiently break down these pollutants. But the PSI's Oliver Kroecher, who headed the research team in Villigen in Switzerland, said: "Our method is to spray urea, which is harmless and used as a fertiliser, to break down the oxides."

He explained that a urea solution is introduced into the exhaust outlet as a fine spray, where it breaks down into ammonia. The ammonia then reacts with the oxides, transforming them into nitrogen and water.

Kroecher added: "We expect our technology to be on the market soon, within the next 18 months. There's been a lot of interest from truck manufacturers."

The EU plans to introduce new, tougher emission limits for diesel engines by the end of next year.

rexresearch.com