Category: Technology

Solar Powered Tesla

EV Solar Kits is a business founded by Steele Wasik, their main focus is to encourage the usage of solar energy instead of burning fossil fuels and polluting the atmosphere. Wasik believes that if you install an EV Solar Kit in your car, it can totally depend on the sun’s energy if your car gets enough hours of solar energy. Steele Wasik started this business by following in the steps of his father and grandfather, who were both design engineers for Cadillac. EV Solar Kits claim that your Tesla model 3 standard range 50kw battery can add up to 60 miles of charge per day when charged with 6 hours of direct sunlight. These solar kits can be installed over Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y cars’ roofs where they can easily access the solar energy. These kits are still not installed in any of the vehicles but they do claim to have tested their kits in the Austin, TX area however no photographic proof has been provided. Steele Wasik’s reasoning behind not providing the proof is that “the final design of the panels isn’t yet finalized”.

Image : canadianPhotographer56 Shutterstock

Wasik also said that he’s working on solar kits that can be used on other cars by attaching them on the trunk. He said that those trunk panels will be easily compatible with all electric vehicles. Steele Wasik’s company is also planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign in the future. He suggests that there are thousands of potential buyers willing to try these new EV Solar Kits. EV Solar Kits stated on the website Indiegogo that, “[we] are excited to bring our vision to life with our range of kits from EVSK. We have a top tier engineering and design team building a series of products to eliminate range anxiety and allow you to get the most out of your vehicle! It will allow your car to charge while you drive!” and intend to “make EVs more attainable for those with an adventurous lifestyle.”

According to a study, the average North American drivers 31 miles a day, while the average driver from Europe goes 25 miles a day, which means that if what Steele Wasik is claiming about charging up to 60 miles is right, then these drivers will be able to drive powered by the Sun without having to use any fuel! Their kit consists of a rooftop solar panel system, an extendable solar panel that can be stored in the trunk, and a battery for emergency charge. The amount of charge will mainly depend on the weather conditions, and where the car users park their vehicles because the most important part of getting the extra 60 miles will be having the right amount of solar power for your EV Solar Kit to gain energy from. 

Could Augmented Reality Make Reality Disappear

Louis Rosenberg, one of the world’s leading computer engineers believes the metaverse, could one day ‘make reality disappear.’

The scientist known for developing the first functional augmented reality system at Air Force Research Laboratory and founding virtual reality company Immersion Corporation, believes that by integrating virtual reality and augmented reality and having people interact in the digital realm for a significant portion of their day, it could ‘alter our sense of reality’ and distort ‘how we interpret our direct daily experiences.’

‘Our surroundings will become filled with people, places, objects, and activities that don’t actually exist, and yet they will seem deeply authentic to us,’ Rosenberg penned in the piece, published by Big Think.

He is concerned about the legitimate uses of AR by the powerful platform providers that will control the infrastructure

Rosenberg, 62, also worries that augmented reality technology, such as glasses (like those produced by Meta and reportedly being worked on by Apple) will eventually force people to ‘become thoroughly dependent on the virtual layers of information projected all around us.’

‘It will feel no more optional than internet access feels optional today,’ Rosenberg, who made his fortune in technology, explained.

‘You won’t unplug your AR system because doing so will make important aspects of your surroundings inaccessible to you, putting you at a disadvantage socially, economically, and intellectually.

‘The fact is, the technologies we adopt in the name of convenience rarely remain optional — not when they are integrated into our lives as broadly as AR will be.’

In addition to the fact he notes society is living in ‘dangerous times,’ and that augmented reality ‘has the potential to amplify the dangers to levels we have never seen before.’

Rosenberg cited one example that is particularly worrisome to him about a future in which the metaverse overcomes reality:

‘Imagine walking down the street in your hometown, casually glancing at people you pass on the sidewalk.

‘It is much like today, except floating over the heads of every person you see are big glowing bubbles of information.

‘Maybe the intention is innocent, allowing people to share their hobbies and interests with everyone around them.

‘Now imagine that third parties can inject their own content, possibly as a paid filter layer that only certain people can see. And they use that layer to tag individuals with bold flashing words like “Alcoholic” or “Immigrant” or “Atheist” or “Racist” or even less charged words like “Democrat” or “Republican.”

‘Those who are tagged may not even know that others can see them that way.

‘These virtual overlays could easily be designed to amplify political division, ostracize certain groups, even drive hatred and mistrust.

‘Will this really make the world a better place? Or will it take the polarized and confrontational culture that has emerged online and spread it across the real world?’

Anti Covid Chewing Gum

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania claim that they are creating a chewing gum which could be used to prevent the spread of CoronaVirus in your body. The researchers, who published their study in the journal Molecular Therapy are saying that this chewing gum is coated with a plant based protein which supposedly neutralizes the virus, SARS-CoV-2 which causes covid, by trapping it while the protein is in the saliva which can cut down the transmission of the Covid-19. This research was led by Henry Daniell at the Penn’s School of Dental Medicine where scientists from different universities like Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the Wistar Institute, and Fraunhofer USA also worked. These scientists were aiming to create a cheaper option to fight the virus, and they believe that this chewing gum could work.

The SARS-CoV-2 is multiplied within the salivary glands and when an affected person sneezes, coughs or opens their mouth, the SARS-CoV-2 virus transmits and can reach other people. Through the chewing gum, the infected person will not be able to transmit the virus as the SARS-CoV-2 will neutralize when it when it comes in contact with the infected person’s saliva. The protein, which is the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was studied by Henry Daniell before the spread of CoronaVirus and he was researching it in order to treat hypertension. According to different researches, the ACE2 injection can also treat many severe viruses. The main idea of creating a protein laced chewing gum by Henry Daniell and his colleague, Hyun Koo, was to fight dental plaque but then Henry Daniell got the idea of making the chewing gum with the ACE2 in order to prevent the deadly CoronaVirus.

Henry Daniell then contacted Ronald Collman, who is a virologist at Penn Medicine, and they did some research on this protein and developed the chewing gum and created some samples. They tested those samples on some Covid positive patients which proved that their research works to a great extent. Further research was performed at the Wistar Institute and the School of Veterinary Medicine where it was proved that the chewing gum prevented viruses or viral particles from entering cells. When the scientists did test swabs, the change in the presence of the virus was huge, the presence became almost undetectable. This means that up until now, the researches have proved that this chewing gum could totally work.

This anti covid chewing gum could be useful for healthcare workers, as well as for patients who need to go to the dentist where the taking off of masks is necessary as the chewing gum will prevent the transmission of the CoronaVirus. Currently, the team of researchers are trying to gain permission for conducting a trial of their anti covid gum to make sure it has no negative effects.

Blood of the Young

According to scientists, you can now stay younger if you transfuse blood from younger people into your body. The very first experiment on this was done in the early 1950s which is known as Parabiosis where they took two mice, a young mouse and an old mouse and paired them together by removing a part of each mouse’s skin from their sides and stitching them together so the two mice shared their blood systems. The muscles of the older mouse started becoming like the younger mouse’s muscles after about a month of the pairing. Scientists then again started researching this experiment in the early 2000s which gained a lot of interest. By 2016, this idea became so popular that an American business called Ambrosia started collecting the plasma from young blood, which was quite pricey. This organization was later shut down by the authorities as the benefits of this transfusion were not yet completely proven to work and was also a threat to the health of the young donors. Scientists are now researching to see if the blood of people of younger ages could cure some age related diseases. 

The mouse experiment worked because mice have different particles in their blood called extracellular vesicles (EV) which send instructions for to longevity protein called “Klotho” which in turn sends signals to the muscle cells. Scientists are now working to see if the same blood transfusion will be able to work on humans as well. Currently a team from the University of Pittsburgh is working on finding how effective the blood transfusion from a younger person could be. Their aim is to figure out if this transfusion will help in slowing down the aging process as well as helping to understand how muscle regeneration and its biology works. The mice experiment could also prove if a young persons blood transfusion will slow down the aging process or even possibly stop it.

This blood transfusion process could be a big risk to the lives of the young people as they have developing systems which is why scientists are also working to ensure that it is a safe practice for both parties. Some scientists are also analyzing the differences between the cells in order to find some supplements or alternatives to provide to aged people which provide similar benefits to young blood plasma. The reversing of age might also change the way people look which is also a big plus point for people who are conscious about their skin and their wrinkles. But as younger people are involved in this, it is very important to be 100% sure that this transfusion is completely safe.

Cheaper Nuclear Fusion

At a Shanghai facility the size of a soccer field, Chinese scientists are firing powerful laser beam pulses at a tiny pair of gold cones in a bid to replicate the nuclear fusion process at the heart of the sun.

The cones, as small as pencil tips, have narrow ends which face each other and emit a plasma of hydrogen. When the two hot gas streams collide at precisely the right time and place, and in the right manner, they trigger a fusion reaction – the process which ultimately could provide a source of endless, sustainable energy.

With government funding of 1 billion yuan (US$156 million) over six years, Zhang Zhe and his colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics in Beijing began their unprecedented experiments at the Shenguang II laser facility in Shanghai last summer.

The research team has conducted three tests so far, with another scheduled for next month, and encountered some unexpected challenges. But initial results suggest the theory works and part of the findings were published recently in domestic peer-reviewed journal Acta Physica Sinica.

“Our goal is to achieve sustainable fusion,” Zhang said in a phone interview, “the cones can be mass-produced and loaded as bullets in a machine that will rotate and fire like a Gatling gun”.

The race to fusion power heated up in 2021, when researchers with the US National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved an energy output eight times greater than ever before. While the output was still lower than the energy input, the breakthrough gave hope as well as added pressure to research teams in other countries, including China.

The NIF experiment aimed more than 100 extremely strong laser beams at a single target, using some of the largest laser generators on Earth, producing enough heat to deform mirrors but also reducing accuracy after repeated shots.

In China, researchers were looking for a cheaper, simpler way to achieve fusion with a less powerful laser. One result was the double-cone ignition scheme developed in 1997 by Zhang Jie, a leading Chinese physicist and former president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The plasma generated by relatively weak laser beams on a single target was insufficient to create the right conditions for fusion, but when two plasma streams hit each other, the temperature, density and pressure of the gas would increase significantly to allow two atoms to fuse into one and release energy in the process.

The idea remained on paper for two decades because the required cutting-edge laser technology was not available. However, Chinese scientists have recently built some of the world’s most powerful ultra-fast laser sources able to release a considerable amount of energy in a split second. It was these new technologies which paved the way for the government’s greenlight of the experiment in Shanghai last year.

The gold cones vaporize after fusion, but “the cost of gold will be extremely small – if not negligible – in the future operation of a power plant”, Zhang Zhe said. “A small grain of gold can make thousands of cones.”

E-Bike Game Changer

The dramatic increase in the sales of electric powered bikes is a clear sign that in the upcoming decade, E-bikes could crush the sales of e-cars by becoming the highest-selling electrical vehicle. According to a recent report from the New York Times, over half a million e-bikes were purchased in America during 2020, however during the same period, only 231,000 e-cars were purchased.

The sales of electric bikes in recent years has dramatically changed and increased, even though they were considered elite for years. As per New York Times, the boom in sales happened during the pandemic from 2019 to 2020. It is now believed that the number of e-bicycles on the streets will dominate other electric vehicles within the next year. Due to improvements in lithium-ion batteries, pricing, and new technology, many popular metropolitan cities like Chicago, and New York have started incorporating e-bikes into their public transport infrastructure.

The additional number of bike trips each year means fewer vehicle trips and lower emissions, which translates into a decrease in traffic congestion and improved air quality. In Britain, the government is offering tax breaks for e-bikes and supports local endeavors to extend bike paths and lanes. A study by Mintel found that the e-bike market in the UK saw a 70% jump with 170,000 sold in 2020.

E-Bikes are eco-friendly, compact, and help keep you in shape. At the point when a person runs out of breath, they can change to the electric mode and let the battery do all the difficult work. Moreover, they are also incredible for making rough terrain trips for individuals who might not otherwise be able to transport up a mountain passes or across an extensive or harsh landscape. In contrast to electric cars that need special charging stations, e-bikes can be recharged anywhere with a plug.

In Europe, the number of e-bikes sold annually could increase from 3.7 million in 2019 to 17 million by 2030, based on recent forecasts. A Forbes article recommends that twice as many bikes as e-cars will be registered each year in the European Union if those forecasts prove accurate. Even though e-bikes don’t have the range and speed of e-cars, they have several other advantages including lower costs, free parking, and faster urban commutes. These are the reasons why sales of e-bikes have boomed in recent years.

In many cities, the governments are striving hard to create a safe and comfortable cycling environment for bikers by providing them with good and secure infrastructure. This will give a sense of security to riders and help them commute much quicker than before. All of these factors have increased the demand for e-bikes and many people from different cities are keen to make the switch.