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Self Healing Rubber: Vegetable Oil and Urea
May 16 2011 12:38:41 pm EST
Topics:Mix vegetable oil with urea and what do you get? Self-healing rubber.
Scientists in Paris created a rubber that can be torn in half and reattached at room temperature, simply by placing the ends together. After 15 minutes, the rubber can be stretched to twice its normal length without breaking.
The self-healing rubber was made in the lab of Ludwik Leibler, at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution in Paris. Leibler and his colleagues built up their rubber from simple starting materials — fatty acids and urea (that’s vegetable oil and a component of urine). Their research was published in Nature.
Unlike normal rubber, which utilizes a long chain of molecules covalently bonded, Leibler’s approach was to use small molecular groups: the fatty acids from vegetable oil. Reacting these molecules with urea in a two-step process stu
Author: Chris Bemis
Check out the pistil and stamens on that hibiscus!
Drinking two cups of water before all three meals helped dieters lose weight and keep it off, according to Brenda Davy, a nutrition researcher at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
However, the study focused on older adults, between the ages of 55-75. Whereas experiments on younger adults failed to find the same effect.
From my own experience, I’ve spoken with people who drink lots of water all day. I suspect adding a little more water won’t be as beneficial. However, I have spoken with people who don’t drink water at all. Instead, they drink coffee, soda, juice, etc… For these people, adding water before meals would be extremely beneficial.
I’ve implemented my own system based on this study that has proven beneficial. If I am hungry, I drink a cup of water and wait ten minutes. Often, I am no longer hungry.
If I am about to eat a meal, I drink two cups of water. I find that I eat less and digest better. Since I am not much of a water drinker, I get it over with quickly and guz
A Diamond Sponge for that Special Someone
May 14 2011 10:12:49 am EST
Topics:Looking for a sponge for that special someone? Look no further. This diamond aerogel sparkles like its gem cousin, but with 90% air. Popular Science recently wrote up a nice article on the innovation.
Aerogel is a manufactured material with the lowest bulk density of any known porous solid. It is derived from a gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas. The result is an extremely low-density solid, with a notable effectiveness as a thermal insulator. It is nicknamed frozen smoke, solid smoke, solid air or blue smoke due to its translucent nature and the way light scatters in the material; however, it feels like expanded polystyrene (styrofoam) to the touch. —Wikipedia
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory successfully manufactured diamond aerogel. To make a diamond aerogel, Peter J. Pauzauskie and colleagues at Lawrence Livermore Na
Author: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A 2.5 kg brick is supported by a piece of aerogel weighing only 2 grams. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.
In the first chapter of On Growth and Form, we learn the effects of magnitude on the shape of an animal.
In essence, magnitude is governed by basic physics. Mass is proportional to the cube of the linear dimensions of an animal. An animal must overcome its own mass with musculature. However, the strength of the muscle varies with the cross-section, or the square of the linear dimensions. Here are some examples:
Chapter II, On Magnitude. Page 23:
“...A fish, in doubling its length, multiplies its weight no less than eight times; and it all but doubles its weight in growing from four inches long to five.”
Page 25-26
“...The strength of an iron girder obviously varies with the cross-section of its members, and each cross-section varies as the square of a linear dimension; but the weight of the whole structure varies as the cube of its linear dimensions. It follows at once that, if we build two bridges geometric
In the Spotlight, Kinda
May 13 2011 12:52:09 pm EST
In the Spotlight about My Travels with Eos, kinda. Supposedly, I am on page 13, but I guess that’s like one of those buildings with no 13th floor. I guess I’ll just have to check back again next week…
Author: Chris Bemis
Campanula Bellflower
I believe that over time, human technology and infrastructure will approach molecular scale engineering principles. For example, structural steel will be replaced by carbon nanotubes, perhaps assembled and woven by modified microorganisms or artificial life.
As we approach this direction, we will rely upon nature for guidance. Our current engineering practices are better suited for larger systems. However, nature has billions of years experience on the molecular level.
In my studies of natural systems, the core of my studies stem from one work, On Growth And Form by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson.
First published in 1917, On Growth and Form has become a classic text on morphology. It was ahead of its time when first published, and may find new use as we delve into biomimetics over the coming years.
While writing My Travels with Eos, I relied upon On Growth and Form.
Author: Chris Bemis
Firewitch Dianthus is a perennial flower with grass-like silvery blue-green foliage and numerous pink star-like flowers. It prefers full sun and well drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil.
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