Tag Archives: economics

Astronomy, Computing, Consumer, Electromagnetism, Engineering, Health, Imaging, Internet, Physics, Science, Space, Technology

Laser Communications Gets a Zap(pa) from Moon Unit

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Photo by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky. Unrelated to the NASA experiment but cool nonetheless.

Lasers rank among the most vital and widespread technologies in the industrialized world, but for years they were considered a solution looking for a problem. One possible application lay in communications: Lasers, being of higher frequency and energy than radio, held the potential to communicate more information per second.

Fast-forward to October 2013, when NASA pulled off one of the most impressive proofs-of-concept in history. That month, a spacecraft orbiting the moon sent data 239,000 miles to Earth via a pulsed laser beam at a download rate of 622 megabits per second (by comparison, high-speed consumer data plans are usually measured in the tens of megabits). Everyone from cryptographers to high-speed Wall Street traders sat up and took notice. Sound cool? Read on as I explain…

How Laser Communication Works

Auto, Consumer, Engineering, Green, Maintenance, Physics, Science, Technology, Top 10, Travel

Going the Extra Mile (on the Same Tank of Gas)

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Photo of a gas price sign.
Photo by Ildar Sagdejev

Call it ecodriving, hypermiling or plain old frugality, people today are trying every trick they can think of to wring a few extra miles from a drop of gas. Unfortunately, most fuel-saving tips range from the dubious to the downright dimwitted. Even the ones that work — such as making only right turns — veer into the ridiculous. In this Top 5 list, I’ve separated the classics from the clunkers and saved you the trouble of doing your own Mythbusters episode. Read on to discover….

Everyday Driving Tips to Save Fuel

Biochemistry, Chemistry, Computing, Consumer, Engineering, Gadgets, Geoscience, History, Materials, Physics, Science, Technology

Weighing in on Digital Scales

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A truck in Tanzania drives onto a truck scale
A truck scale in Tanzania. Photo by Jan Hoffmann.

Whether they are weighing train cars, big rigs or vegetables in your local grocery, scales are the engines that drive global commerce. Without them, there could be no trade, and laboratories and pharmaceutical companies would have to dream up other ways to assay, mete and dose. Yet most of us are oblivious to the physical laws and clever engineering that go into these pivotal devices. It’s time to weigh in on…

How Digital Scales Work

Consumer, Culture, History, Law, Psychology, Science, Technology, Weapons

The verdict on strict gun laws

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March on Washington for Gun Control
Photo by Slowking4

Tragic events like the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting inspire horror and indignation. They also boost gun sales and energize campaigns demanding more comprehensive (or better-enforced) gun control. But as of this writing, the likelihood of legal reform following the events in Newtown, Conn., remains unclear.

In the U.S., the gun control debate involves deep-seated beliefs concerning constitutional law, individual rights, the proper role of the state and how to build the best and safest society. But it also encompasses an important practical question:

Do Countries with Stricter Gun Laws Experience Less Crime or Fewer Homicides?

Biochemistry, Chemistry, Consumer, Electromagnetism, Engineering, Green, Science, Technology, Water Issues

For green energy, there’s no place like loam

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Diagram of PMFC
Diagram by KVDP

Petroleum use is rife with environmental and security issues, and first-generation biofuels fall well short of carbon neutrality. Moreover, as global food crops literally lose ground to biofuel production, mounting scarcity is driving up food prices, increasing global hunger and political instability.

But what if we could have our rice and burn it, too? What if we could derive energy from crops without killing them, or generate power using plants and land not needed for food, all through the power of microbes?

How Plant-microbial Fuel Cells Work