Lifeboat Foundation

Self-assembled materials are attractive for next-generation materials, but their potential to assemble at the nanoscale and form nanostructures (cylinders, lamellae etc.) remains challenging. In a recent report, Xundu Feng and colleagues at the interdisciplinary departments of chemical and environmental engineering, biomolecular engineering, chemistry and the center for advanced low-dimension materials in the U.S., France, Japan and China, proposed and demonstrated a new approach to prevent the existing challenges. In the study, they explored size-selective transport in the water-continuous medium of a nanostructured polymer template formed using a self-assembled lyotropic H₁ (hexagonal cylindrical shaped) mesophase (a state of matter between liquid and solid). They optimized the mesophase composition to facilitate high-fidelity retention of the H₁ structure on photoinduced crosslinking.

The resulting nanostructured polymer material was mechanically robust with internally and externally crosslinked nanofibrils surrounded by a continuous aqueous medium. The research team fabricated a membrane with size selectivity at the 1 to 2 nm length scale and water permeabilities of ~10 liters m⁻² hour⁻¹ bar⁻¹ μm. The membranes displayed excellent anti-microbial properties for practical use. The results are now published on Science Advances and represent a breakthrough for the potential use of self-assembled membrane-based nanofiltration in practical applications of water purification.

Membrane separation for filtration is widely used in diverse technical applications, including seawater desalination, gas separation, food processing, fuel cells and the emerging fields of sustainable power generation and distillation. During nanofiltration, dissolved or suspended solutes ranging from 1 to 10 nm in size can be removed. New nanofiltration membranes are of particular interest for low-cost treatment of wastewaters to remove organic contaminants including pesticides and metabolites of pharmaceutical drugs. State-of-the-art membranes presently suffer from a trade-off between permeability and selectivity where increased permeability can result in decreased selectivity and vice-versa. Since the trade-off originated from the intrinsic structural limits of conventional membranes, materials scientists have incorporated self-assembled materials as an attractive solution to realize highly selective separation without compromising permeability.

Any future colonization efforts directed at the Mars all share one problem in common; their reliance on a non-existent magnetic field. Mars’ magnetosphere went dark about 4 billion years ago when it’s core solidified due to its inability to retain heat because of its small mass. We now know that Mars was quite Earth-like in its history. Deep oceans once filled the now arid Martian valleys and a thick atmosphere once retained gasses which may have allowed for the development of simple life. This was all shielded by Mars’ prehistoric magnetic field.

When Mars’ magnetic line of defense fell, much of its atmosphere was ripped away into space, its oceans froze deep into the red regolith, and any chance for life to thrive there was suffocated. The reduction of greenhouse gasses caused Mars’ temperature to plummet, freezing any remaining atmosphere to the poles. Today, Mars is all but dead. Without a magnetic field, a lethal array of charged particles from the Sun bombards Mars’ surface every day threatening the potential of hosting electronic systems as well as biological life. The lack of a magnetic field also makes it impossible for Mars to retain an atmosphere or an ozone layer, which are detrimental in filtering out UV and high energy light. This would seem to make the basic principles behind terraforming the planet completely obsolete.

I’ve read a lot of articles about the potential of supplying Mars with an artificial magnetic field. By placing a satellite equipped with technology to produce a powerful magnetic field at Mars L1 (a far orbit around Mars where gravity from the Sun balances gravity from Mars, so that the satellite always remains between Mars and the Sun), we could encompass Mars in the resulting magnetic sheath. However, even though the idea is well understood and written about, I couldn’t find a solid mathematical proof of the concept to study for actual feasibility. So I made one!

Nearly one year ago to the day, we first revealed Curtiss Motorcycle’s upcoming Zeus V8 electric motorcycle. And now we’re learning that the innovative electric motorcycle has already begun production, thanks to a recently announced partnership.

In the 2015 movie “Chappie”, which is set in the near future, automated robots comprise a mechanised police force. An encounter between two rival criminal gangs severely damages the law enforcing robot (Agent 22). His creator Deon recommends dismantling and recycling the damaged police droids. However, criminals kidnap Deon and force him to upload human consciousness into the damaged robot to train it to rob banks. Chappie becomes the first robot with the human mind who can think and feel like a human. Later, in the movie when his creator Deon is dying, it’s Chappie’s turn to upload Deon’s consciousness into a spare robot through a neural helmet. Similarly, in the “Avatar” a 2009 Hollywood science fiction, a character in the film by name Grace connects with Eiwa, the collective consciousness of the planet and transfers her mind to her Avatar body, while another character Jake transfers his mind to his Avatar body rendering his human body lifeless.

Mind uploading is a process by which we relocate the mind, an assemblage of memories, personality, and attributes of a specific individual, from its original biological brain to an artificial computational substrate. Mind uploading is a central conceptual feature of many science fiction novels and films. For instance, Hanson’s book titled “The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth” is a 2016 nonfiction book which explores the implications of a future world when researchers have learned to copy humans onto computers, creating “ems,” or emulated people, who quickly come to outnumber the real ones.

Now, the company is trying yet another approach, launching a new program that lets homeowners rent Tesla solar panels for as little as $50 per month plus tax.

To rent Tesla’s solar panels, you must own a home in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or New Mexico and be a customer of one of 20 listed utility companies.

The rental rate varies by state and size of the system — small, medium, or large — but in all instances, the single monthly fee is all-encompassing, covering everything from the hardware and installation to maintenance and support.

With more electric cars on the road and the negative environmental impact of traditional vehicle emissions on the forefront of many minds, some may struggle with their choice to drive a car with a standard combustion engine.

But what if you could just “convert” your car into an electric one?

French startup Transition-One says it can do it for only $9,500 — in fact, in France, you also get a subsidy for a converted car so it actually only works out to around $5,600.

► Second Lagonda concept ► All-electric, All-Terrain ► Revealed in full at Geneva

After kickstarting the Lagonda brand with the slick Vision Concept at the 2018 Geneva motor show, Aston Martin has returned to the 2019 Geneva motor show with an evolution of this idea called the All-Terrain Concept.

Continue reading “Lagonda All-Terrain Concept: Aston Martin electric SUV revealed at Geneva” »

Solidia’s systems offer superior products that address the cement industry’s goal of reducing its carbon emissions, which contribute 3 to 5% of global CO₂ pollution. Solidia’s patented processes start with an energy-saving, sustainable cement. Concrete made with this cement is then cured with CO₂ instead of water. Together, the sustainable cement and CO2-cured concrete reduce the carbon footprint of cement and concrete by up to 70%. Additionally, up to 100% of the water used in concrete production can be recovered and recycled.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued three patents covering processes and products manufactured using Solidia Technologies‘cement and carbon-curing technology. The patents extend the range of applications for Solidia’s processes to include hollow core, pervious and aerated concrete.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190516006022/en/

Continue reading “Three New US Patents for Solidia Technologies’ CO2-cured Concrete Advances the Performance and Sustainability of Building Materials” »

Throughout the densely-populated country of Bangladesh, a lack of access to clean drinking water is responsible for a variety of debilitating and often-lethal infections. Soon, however, residents could filter virtually all harmful microbes out of their water, using paper derived from algae.