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Wireless Charging Roads, Microplastic Sponges, NASA Dragonfly Mission w/ Ralph Bond

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Show Notes December 15, 2023

Story 1: Detroit now has the country’s first wireless-charging road for EVs

Source: Scripps News Story by news staff

Link: https://scrippsnews.com/stories/detroit-now-has-the-country-s-first-wireless-charging-road-for-evs/

See also: https://detroitmi.gov/news/mdot-city-detroit-and-electreon-unveil-nations-first-public-ev-charging-roadway-michigan-central

A white box on the side of a road

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  • Detroit has the first wireless-charging road in the United States. 
  • A new quarter-mile roadway west of downtown Detroit can charge your electric vehicle while you drive, idle or park on the street.
  • The technology is by Electreon, an Israel-based developer of wireless charging solutions for electric vehicles, and it works using copper coils under the road and receivers on electric vehicles. When a car with a receiver is close to the coils, electricity transfers wirelessly through a magnetic field, charging the vehicle’s battery.
  • Using technology from Electreon, 14th Street between Marantette and Dalzelle streets is now equipped with inductive-charging coils that will charge electric vehicles equipped with Electreon receivers as they drive on the road. 
  • The road will be used to test and perfect this wireless-charging technology in a real-world environment and before making it available to the public in the next few years….
  • Side note, what are inductive-charging coils? Induction charging coils are copper tubes that are shaped into coils and carry an alternating current. They create a magnetic field that transfers energy to another coil in a nearby device. This allows for wireless charging of devices without physical contact. Induction charging coils are used for charging smart phones, tablets, and other devices.
  • Side note – Wireless power seems cutting edge, but it was actually pioneered over 100 years ago by Nikola Tesla. 
  • When a car with a receiver travels over a road with charging segments electricity is wirelessly transmitted through a magnetic field. This electricity is then transferred as energy to the vehicle’s battery, charging it. 
  • As noted before, these charging segments can transfer wireless electricity to the receiver either when the vehicle is parked (static charging) or is driving in-motion (dynamic charging). 
  • The electric road is safe for drivers, pedestrians and wildlife. Each coil in the road is activated only when a vehicle with an approved receiver passes over the coil. This ensures that energy transfer is controlled and provided only to vehicles that require it.     
  • The Michigan State Department of Transportation and Electreon have committed to a five-year partnership to develop new electric road systems in the city. 

Story 2: Scientists Have Created Synthetic Sponges That Soak Up Microplastics – Made from starch and gelatin, the biodegradable sponges remove as much as 90 percent of microplastics in tap water and seawater

Source: Smithsonian Magazine Story by Chris Baraniuk

Link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientists-have-created-synthetic-sponges-that-soak-up-microplastics-180983017/

A group of trash in the water

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A person holding a handful of plastic waste

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  • Whether synthetic or natural, sponges are great at ensnaring tiny particles in their many pores. And, as scientists around the world are beginning to show, sponges’ cavity-filled forms mean they could provide a solution to one of our era’s biggest scourges: microplastic pollution.
  • In August, researchers at the Ocean University of China published a study describing their development of a synthetic sponge that makes short work of microscopic plastic debris. 
  • In tests, the researchers show that when a specially prepared plastic-filled solution is pushed through one of their sponges, the sponge can remove both microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics from the liquid.  Note: nanoplastics are too small to be seen by the human eye. 
  • These particles typically become trapped in the sponge’s many pores. Note…the sponges’ effectiveness varied in experiments, in part depending on the concentration of plastic and the acidity and saltiness of the liquid.
  • Optimal conditions allowed the researchers to remove as much as 90 percent of the microplastics. They tried it in everything from tap water and seawater to…soup from a local takeout spot.
  • The plastic-gobbling sponges are made mostly from starch and gelatin. Looking a bit like large white marshmallows, the biodegradable sponges are so light that balancing one atop a flower leaves the plant’s petals upright and unyielding, which the researchers suggest ought to make them cheap and easy to transport. 
  • Inside, the sponges’ structure appears less like lots of tiny bubble-like cavities and more like a jagged surface.
  • The sponges, if ever produced at an industrial scale could be used in wastewater treatment plants to filter microplastics out of the water or in food production facilities to decontaminate water.
  • It would also be possible to use microplastic-trapping sponges like this [for example] in washing machines.

Story 3: NASA will land daring spacecraft on a world 800 million miles away

Source: Mashable.com Story by Mark Kaufman

Link: https://mashable.com/article/nasa-dragonfly-space-mission

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A drone on a desert

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  • The space agency will launch the car-sized craft, fitted with eight spinning rotors, to one of the most intriguing worlds in our solar system, Saturn’s ocean- and dune-covered moon, Titan. It’s a frigid realm where methane, not water, fills lakes and seas, and where the dunes are teeming with the organic ingredients needed for life (as we know it) to develop.
  • NASA determined that Dragonfly aced its preliminary design stages, and on Nov. 28 gave the thumbs up for this “dual-quadcopter” endeavor to proceed to its final construction. The flying craft is uniquely designed for this mission, as it will explore hundreds of miles of Titan’s terrain. 
  • Over a planned mission of close to three years, Dragonfly will take off and land at multiple sites as it investigates the “prebiotic” conditions that could have provided the brew for life to eventually form in our solar system.  Note: prebiotic means conditions existing or occurring before the emergence of life.
  • Titan’s dunes are covered in an ice-water crust, allowing carbon-rich molecules to mix with water.  Note: organic molecules contain carbon; our bodies, for example, are filled with carbon.
  • This world harbors a glimpse into early Earth — and how the ingredients for life may have spawned in such environments. 
  • Although Dragonfly is primarily designed to find these answers, it also can assess if Titan is a habitable world (meaning whether it could host living organisms) and look for potential signatures of life.
  • Dragonfly is scheduled to launch in 2028. It will land in equatorial Titan, home to expansive dunes, in the mid-2030s. It’s a mission to a little-known world with a spacecraft capable of flying some six miles in a day amid temperatures dipping to -290 Fahrenheit [that’s about143.3 degrees Celsius].
  • Once on Titan, the craft’s rapidly spinning blades will have little trouble lifting the nearly 1,000-pound (450 kilogram) Dragonfly through the air. That’s because Titan’s atmosphere is four times as dense as Earth’s, providing the blades ample air to blow downward and generate lift. Dragonfly can reach over 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) high.

Story 4: This 3D Printer Works in Your Body to Repair Bones and Guts

Source: The Daily Beast Story by Tony Ho Tran

Link: https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-3d-printer-works-in-your-body-to-repair-bones-and-guts

Source: Interesting Engineering Story by Amal Jos Chacko

Link: https://interestingengineering.com/science/now-print-structures-deep-in-your-tissues-with-this-new-acoustic-technique

A diagram of a human heart

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A screenshot of a computer screen

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  • 3D printing technology has come a long way in the past few years—and one of its most promising applications is in medicine. Not only have we seen it be used to create artificial bones and tendons, but it’s even capable of making skin that can feel….
  • Now a multi-university team of scientists have taken it a step further and created a 3D printer that goes inside the human body. That’s the idea behind a new study published Thursday [December 7] in the journal Science into a new method that allows researchers to use ultrasonic waves to “print” structures through layers of biomaterials like skin, muscle, and bone.
  • The technique is known as Deep-Penetrating Acoustic Volumetric Printing (DAVP), and relies on a specially designed substance called “sono-ink” to create different structures within the human body.
  • Junjie Yao, a biomedical engineer at Duke University and co-author of the paper explains, “Deep-Penetrating Acoustic Volumetric Printing works by directing focused ultrasound waves at a fluid medium containing sono-inks. These inks are formulated to respond to ultrasound, allowing them to solidify in specific patterns as the ultrasound wave scans through them.”
  • Yao noted…there’s a lot of potential for internal 3D printers to do things like repair broken bones and internal wounds.
  • “For instance, it could be used to print biocompatible structures directly inside the body, such as scaffolds for tissue regeneration or sustained drug delivery systems,” Yao explained. “This method could significantly enhance treatments for various medical conditions by enabling precise interventions without the need for invasive surgery, thereby reducing patient recovery time and improving outcomes.”
  • The process utilizes a tiny catheter that’s inserted into the body to deliver the sono-ink. As the sono-ink is injected, an ultrasonic device on the outside morphs the material into the shape needed to repair the bone, patch up torn tissue, or even inject life-saving medicine.
  • In experiments, the technique was capable of 3D printing complex shapes such as letters and spirals through layers of biomaterial such as a pig’s heart, belly fat, and kidney. It was also shown to be able to effectively deliver a chemotherapy treatment into a pig’s liver.
  • Reality Check: However, the technique has yet to be used on any human patients. More research is needed before it can move to human trials and, potentially, rolled out to hospitals and medical facilities all over the world.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Story: Scientists Find Anesthetic Kills Cancer Cells Via Unique Mechanisms

Source: Newsweek Story by Pandora Dewan

Link: https://www.newsweek.com/scientists-anesthetic-kills-cancer-unique-mechanism-1846521

A person holding a syringe and a vial

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  • A new treatment may be in sight for cancer patients, from an unlikely source.
  • Lidocaine is a commonly used local anesthetic that works by blocking signals at the nerve endings in the skin. It is often used in the form of a topical cream or injection. However, recent research has shown that the popular numbing agent may also have anticancer properties. But exactly how these properties come about has remained a mystery. Until now.
  • Lidocaine has a strong bitter taste because of its activation of a taste receptor called T2R14. The receptor is also shown to be present at high concentrations in various cancer cells, particularly those in the mouth and throat. So researchers at the University of Pennsylvania hypothesized that lidocaine may interact with cancer cells through the receptor.
  • “We were surprised to find that lidocaine targets the one receptor that happened to be most highly expressed across cancers,” study lead Robert Lee, an assistant professor of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
  • In previous research, the team found that the activation of the T2R14 receptors in cancer cells triggers a process that leads to controlled cell death. In its new study, published in the journal Cell Reports, the team found that exposing cancer cells to lidocaine can also activate the process, triggering a cascade of cellular signals that eventually lead to cell death.
  • “While we’re not suggesting the lidocaine could cure cancer, we’re galvanized by the possibility that it could get an edge on head and neck cancer treatment and move the dial forward, in terms of improving treatment options for patients with this challenging form of cancer,” said Ryan Carey, an assistant professor an co-lead author of the study.
  • Dog illness map shows states where pets are affectedREAD MOREDog illness map shows states where pets are affected
  • The drug poses a particularly exciting possibility as it can easily be injected near to or around accessible oral tumors.
  • The most common head and neck cancer—squamous cell carcinomas—has a high mortality rate, with only 50 percent of patients surviving past five years, even with treatment. So, the results offer a glimmer of hope for patients suffering from the disease.
  • The results may not be limited to head and neck cancers, however, and the team hopes that lidocaine may also be beneficial to patients with other forms of cancer. For example, in April 2023, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that breast cancer survival rates increase when patients receive lidocaine before surgery.
  • Indeed, lidocaine might not be the only drug capable of triggering cell death in cancers via this receptor.

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Story: The world’s strongest material could be used to make clean drinking water

Source: CNN Story by Rebecca Cairns

Link: https://www.cnn.com/world/graphene-abu-dhabi-hnk-spc-intl/index.html

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  • Often referred to as a “miracle material,” graphene is one million times thinner than a single human hair and stronger than steel.
  • The two-dimensional carbon material, made from single layers of graphite, a material mined from the ground, is extremely lightweight, conductive, and flexible, and has the potential to deliver transformational technologies across industries, from electronics to transportation.
  • Now, researchers at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are exploring another use for graphene: producing drinking water.

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Story: Seratech bakes bricks overnight using CO2 captured from factories

Source: Interesting Engineering Story by Sejal Sharma

Link: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/seratech-bricks-co2-captured-factories

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  • Bringing a greener option in construction, Seratech has created bricks using a process that captures CO2 from factories and stores it in the brick. The climate technology startup is testing the new brick to make sure it works well for the construction of buildings.
  • The brick is a product of 18 months of research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).
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