The brain is a bio-chemical organ that emanates electromagnetic waves. That little, we do know. And brainwaves are linked to cognitive states from awareness and consciousness, to dream states. But what are their particularities? And are brain waves modulated by external frequencies? Continue reading Neural Oscillations – Are You Having a Brain Wave?
Category Archives: Electricity
Building the Energy Future with Thorium in the Gobi Desert, China
Wuwei City, Gansu, China. On the edge of the Gobi desert, the production of safe, inexpensive nuclear energy is soon to be underway. The technology will not use uranium, and it will not require water for its cooling process. Continue reading Building the Energy Future with Thorium in the Gobi Desert, China
Eliminating the Impossible – The Complex Electro-Chemistry Behind the Hessdalen Lights
A Norwegian valley. Strange lights observed by many witnesses. It has been called “Norway’s Roswell”. But what makes the remote valley of Hessdalen so different from other locations?
Identifying the Unidentified – The Hessdalen Light Phenomenon, Norway
The Hessdalen Valley of Norway. Just 15 kilometres across. Low population density. But why is there a blue box perched high up on the hillside, with cameras covering the valley? What’s going on in this secluded valley?! Continue reading Identifying the Unidentified – The Hessdalen Light Phenomenon, Norway
The Brief Flight of the Russian Woodpecker Over The Horizon – And More About Phased Array Radars…
North east of Ukraine, close to the Russian border, is the site of the Duga radar, also known during the 70s and 80s as the Woodpecker – one of the most extraordinary engineering structures ever built.
Engineering A Star – Nuclear Fusion, Tokamaks and Stellarators
A Stellar Reactor
Greifswald, Northeastern Germany, 2016. Physicists at the Max Planck Institute have been racing to find a way of producing sustainable, clean energy with a stable nuclear fusion reactor. The challenge? Re-creating the Sun’s powerhouse on a much, much smaller scale. Continue reading Engineering A Star – Nuclear Fusion, Tokamaks and Stellarators
Charming New Particle Xi-cc++ Discovered at CERN
The Xi-cc++ Particle
CERN’s LHCb collaboration has announced the discovery of a new “charming” particle, thought to be instrumental to the strong force – the Xi-cc++. Another particle. So…? Continue reading Charming New Particle Xi-cc++ Discovered at CERN
The Spark of Being – A Not-So-Brief History of Life and Electricity
Omnipresent Electricity
Within every object on Earth lies concealed a positive or a negative electric charge. From the very structure of the atom to the essential functioning of our brains, the natural power of electricity is all around us, and it is one of the most potent symbols of our Modern World. Making the story of electricity, the story of life itself… Continue reading The Spark of Being – A Not-So-Brief History of Life and Electricity
Spice of Life? The Health Cost of Synthetic Cannabinoids and the Adverse Effects of Full Agonists
What is Spice?
Synthetic cannabinoids were designed for recreational use. Many used them legally in an attempt to recreate the effects of organic cannabis, or to achieve similar psychoactive effects, until they were banned in May 2016. But they promised more than they delivered. Spice is one of them. Continue reading Spice of Life? The Health Cost of Synthetic Cannabinoids and the Adverse Effects of Full Agonists
The Fog Harvesters of Lima, Peru
Fog Harvesters
Many places in the World have limited sources of drinkable water, whether it is because of limited rainfall or because of polluted water resources. Without sufficient potable water, the health of possibly billions of people remains at risk. In Lima, Perú, a simple technology helps people harvest water from the fog. Continue reading The Fog Harvesters of Lima, Peru
Ouch!! #$@*!! – We Take a Quick Look at the Neuro-Physics of Pain
Signals and Perception
Prior to the discovery of nociceptors in 1906, scientists believed that animals were like mechanical devices that transformed the energy of sensory stimuli into motor responses. Pain is one of those stimulated reactions, but it is unlike other sensations. What is the purpose of pain? Continue reading Ouch!! #$@*!! – We Take a Quick Look at the Neuro-Physics of Pain
We Consider Human Network Physiology and Medicine – The “Body Electric” – Part Deux
The Network Within Us
Everything is connected. And so it is in the human body too. Everything in the human body is connected. No doubt that all your organs – heart, liver, lungs – work as one to keep you alive and as close as possible to a healthy state. Continue reading We Consider Human Network Physiology and Medicine – The “Body Electric” – Part Deux
A Theory of Life… The Physics of Cells and Macroscopic Irreversibility
“It’s Life! But Not as We Know it…”
There is one essential difference between living things and inanimate clumps of carbon atoms. From an all-physical point of view, the former tend to be so much better at capturing energy from their environment and dissipating that energy as heat. At MIT, Jeremy England derived a mathematical formula that he believes explains this capacity. Continue reading A Theory of Life… The Physics of Cells and Macroscopic Irreversibility
Between the Lines of the Herculaneum Papyri using X-Ray Imaging Techniques
Scrolling Back the Past at Herculaneum
Once a chic resort on the Bay of Naples, Herculaneum was favoured by the finest of Roman’s elite society, who spent the hot Italian summers there… until a catastrophe struck one afternoon in 79 AD. The Villa dei Papiri, excavated centuries later, was found to contain the only library to have survived from the Classical World – a unique cultural treasure, which the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly destroyed, and yet preserved all at once. How do you read what is essentially a charred book? Continue reading Between the Lines of the Herculaneum Papyri using X-Ray Imaging Techniques
A Day in the Life of a Plant – Photosynthesis and Phytochemistry
Plant Life
Plant life is one of Nature’s miracles. Imagine being a plant and almost all you will ever need to keep on striving is sheer sunlight. In green plants, both photosynthesis and aerobic respiration occur. It’s a lot like the way in which the human body breaks down food into fuel that it can store. Essentially, using energy from the Sun, a plant can transform carbon dioxide CO2 and water into glucose and oxygen… Continue reading A Day in the Life of a Plant – Photosynthesis and Phytochemistry
Defining the Anthropocene – What is the Age of Man?
The Age of Man
We, humans, have driven environmental changes on a scale that is unique in Earth’s history. Human-driven biological, chemical and physical changes to the Earth’s system are so great, rapid and distinct that they may characterise an entirely new epoch – The Anthropocene. Continue reading Defining the Anthropocene – What is the Age of Man?
Name: Tim Peake Job: Space Electrician
♫ Spaceman, I always wanted you to go into space, man! ♫
After nearly five hours in space, British astronaut Tim Peake completed his first spacewalk, at 17:31 GMT on Friday 15 January. Intended to last over six hours, the space walk was cut short after his US colleague Tim Kopra reported a water leak in his helmet. Continue reading Name: Tim Peake Job: Space Electrician
The Everlasting Storm of Catatumbo, Venezuela
Catatumbo’s Lightning Show
There is a place on Earth where lightning storms last forever. We are at Catatumbo, in Venezuela. And this year, Catatumbo was approved for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records, as the place in the World with the most lightning bolts per square kilometre each year at 250. What causes such a powerful storm to develop in the same spot, up to 300 nights a year? Continue reading The Everlasting Storm of Catatumbo, Venezuela
What’s the Matter… with Spontelectrics?
Spontelectrics
This blog is cool. It’s spontaneous! It’s electric!! But not as cool as it has been at these cutting-edge laboratories on the outskirts of Europe. Scientists there are dealing with an entirely new type of solid matter – ‘spontelectrics’. Continue reading What’s the Matter… with Spontelectrics?
From Super Weed to Super-Capacitors, Another Surprising Use for Cannabis…
Nano-Cannabis?
Waste fibres from cannabis crops can be transformed into high-performance low-cost pseudo-graphene energy storage devices. Cannabis is quite possibly the most versatile, yet highly controversial, plant we have on the planet: from a popular recreational drug to a potential medicine for a range of incurable conditions. If Carlsberg made a weed, this would be it… Continue reading From Super Weed to Super-Capacitors, Another Surprising Use for Cannabis…
Just a Second…
What Does a Second Look Like?
1/60 minute. 1/3,600 hour. 1/86,400 day. 1/1 hertz. The duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of a 133 55Cs caesium isotope corresponds to one second. But what does it look like? And where might you find a second? Continue reading Just a Second…
Physics at 13 TeV – Cranking Up the LHC
A Vernesque Feat of Human Engineering
Deep down, in huge subterranean caverns… Underneath the Franco-Swiss border… 300 feet underground… lies a beast of unprecedented power… and mystery. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that man summons to explore the uncharted corners of the sub-atomic realm… After two years of a deep slumber, the mighty beast has awoken… Continue reading Physics at 13 TeV – Cranking Up the LHC
The World Outside My Window… What a Window!!
What a World!!
Amazing timelapse footage of the Earth (including aurorae, lightning and city lights) as seen from the International Space Station. Just mesmerizing…
Published on YouTube on 3 Dec 2013
Images: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/
Music: ‘Fill My Heart’ by Two Steps from Hell
Editor: David Peterson
All Alone in the Night…
Late O’ Clock at Night
It’s late o’clock at night. All alone in the night? Enjoy this amazing time footage flyover of the Earth from the International Space Station. Absolutely uplifting… Positively enthralling…
Continue reading All Alone in the Night…
Geothermics and Gravity – The IRENA Global Atlas for Renewable Energy
Eye on the Energy Sources of the Future
Geothermal energy prospectors have long used gravity meters in their search for the right subsurface characteristics. But these have been point measurements. GOCE now provides this information across the World at a resolution never before achieved on that scale. Continue reading Geothermics and Gravity – The IRENA Global Atlas for Renewable Energy
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