Humans have always known sun for its scorching heat but researchers and technology gurus are now changing the way we look at sun. Research scientists in Tunisia and Morocco are now working on a new innovative refrigerator that would use sun’s scorching heat and light and convert it to cool large factories that are involved in food packaging and frozen foods. As per the reports and surveys done by various industrial organizations it has been found that large industries and factories consume a lot of electrical power to keep their products cool and to avoid them from perishing.

Although it sounds very contradicting to everyone, but researchers at Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems ISE are now working on solar refrigeration technology that does not consume electricity but instead they take all their power from sunlight. Scientists all over the world now believe that most of the new age technology has to be on solar power because that would bring down the level of electricity consumed by these giant machines in large factories and industries all over the world. With the help of such giant solar refrigerators companies and manufacturers of perishable commodities will be able to bring down their cost of production and also contribute indirectly to make this planet a better place to live in.

These solar refrigerators are ideal for those companies where there is no electricity because they are far away from the city and even where temperatures are really high. The concept has not been revealed as of now but scientist have confirmed that they use water-glycol mixture that will absorb heat from the sunlight and pass it on to the mechanism inside the refrigerator that will keep the solar refrigerator in working condition without any problems irrespective of the season or time of the day.

Jyotsna Ramani

Do you enjoy your sleep? Well, we are not really sure if we enjoy our sleep but at least we are now sure about the fact that the quality of sleep can directly affect your lifestyle and also determine how long you will survive. As per the research done by American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) the quality of sleep is very important if you want to live longer and healthier. To support their sleep quality theory AASM did a survey and a research along with Sleep Research Society where they found that those people who are already in their late seventies and eighties enjoyed sleeping and that their sleeping pattern were absolutely different from what we are used to in our professionally hectic life.

As per the research, it was found that more than 65 percent of the people who slept for more than 7.5 hours enjoyed a better health and longer lifespan and some patients were almost in their nineties. In recent times, people prefer to work late nights and sleep only for limited hours and that is seriously affecting their lifespan and health even when they are eating good food. It was also found that men require more sleep than women because men are involved in more hard working areas where they need to exert physical and mental strength.

Most health problems like fatigue, weakness, and insomnia were directed related to sleep deficiency and therefore most doctors now feel that they can bring improvement to their patients health by giving them more sufficient rest that would act like a natural medicine and allow the metabolism inside the body to function in a natural way rather than using various medicines to cure health related problems. Many health gurus believe that proper sleep has the potential of eradicating various health problems.

Jyotsna Ramani

Most of the complicated tumors in the medical world are a problem because they cannot be detected easily by the gadgets that we have available today, but with this new innovative experiment doctors will be able to detect tumors at an early stage so that they can immediately start working on it and prevent any casualties that occur if the tumor has grown in size. Researchers at the Vanderbilt University have now come up with new fluorescent compounds that can light up inside the body when they come in contact with any tumor inside the body. This gives a fair idea to the doctors to determine the place and the exact size of the tumor so that they can start their medication and operation process.

The compounds are fluorescent inhibitors of the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) – could have a wider applications for detecting tumors earlier, monitoring them during operations and defining their exact shapes for precise tumor removal. COX-2 is an attractive target for molecular imaging because it is not found in normal human tissues, and then it is used in inflammatory lesions and tumors which make it glow inside the body. However, researchers are still working on COX-2 to make it better for grown-up tumors.

Many researchers are now trying to use the same compounds in vivo imaging where they can easily get the information about the exact shape, size and location of the tumor so that doctors do not have any problems while they are operating and removing a tumor. A team of medical experts is also working on additional toxicology and pharmacology of these fluorescent compounds so that they do not have side effects inside the body. The Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science is now working on different applications of this COX-2 to make it enable for cellular and animal imaging.

Jyotsna Ramani from Vanderbilt University Medical Center

The world under the ocean has still many secrets that we are not aware of and MIT engineers are now ready to explore the unexplored regions under the water with their latest invention called the Robofish. The prototype looks very much like a trout and contains only 10 parts which are covered by a body made from single soft polymer. MIT engineers confessed that the inspiration for making such a device came from Robotuna which was first invented in the year 1994 but it did not succeed because the fish was too large and contained thousands of parts which could not stand the test of time and the harsh conditions under water.

Now with the invention of the so-called Robofish, MIT engineers are ready to take this device to the bottom of the ocean floor where these devices will detect the pollution levels and inspect and survey various oil and gas pipelines. The device has been designed in such a way that is mimics the movements of a real fish and since the body is more streamlined and sleek it can dive into the deeper sections of the ocean to find the information we want.

The engineers at MIT are very happy about the invention because they feel that this device will work because it has gone through some harsh conditions in the lab and the overall cost of production is very low which means that if successful they can create thousands of such devices which they can release in the bay to inspect, survey and relay information to us. In other words, this robofish acts like a watchful guard inside the sea through which we can monitor the situations happening inside the water. Currently, the research is funded by an oil exploration company named Schlumberger but MIT engineers have said that even US Navy is now interested in their robofish project.

Jyotsna Ramani

More amazing research findings are being made in research centers of the Malaysia’s local universities. The PECIPTA 09 exhibition, which had been held from 8-10 October 2009, uncovers these new findings, which contribute towards a more progressive society. Among many amazing research presented, Associate Prof Dr Amin Ismail explains that his submission, “Guava Pulp Composition Moving from Industrial Waste to Useful Functional Food Ingredients”, processes guavas and their lycopene rich products for the food industry.

Guava pulp also has many health benefits and this method minimizes disposal problems in the industry. Lycopene is the bioactive compound from the “pink” part of the fruit and is gaining popularity for its powerful antioxidant properties. For more details, please visit PECIPTA 2009.

More amazing research findings are being made in research centers of the Malaysia’s local universities. The PECIPTA 09 exhibition, which had been held from 8-10 October 2009, uncovers these new findings, which contribute towards a more progressive society. Among many amazing research presented, Prof Dr Mohd Ali Hassan submitted his research on “Novel High Rate In-vessel Composter for Oil Palm Biomass, Organic and Municipal Wastes”. The invention comprises an in-vessel high rate composting apparatus for processing of biomass, organic and municipal wastes to produce compost.

The composting apparatus consists of a vertical position and cylindrical-shaped vessel with conical bottom, materials feeding and product discharge systems, a screw impeller for axial mixing, aeration and carbon dioxide removal systems and a leach-ate collection system. For more details, please visit PECIPTA 2009.

More amazing research findings are being made in research centers of the Malaysia’s local universities. The PECIPTA 09 exhibition, which has been held from 8-10 October 2009, uncovers these new findings, which contribute towards a more progressive society. Among many wonderful research presented, one of them is a submission from University Putra Malaysia’s Dr Osumanu Haruna Ahmed on “Sustainable Technology for Reduction of Ammonia Pollution in the Environment” reports simple techniques of isolating folic acid (FA) and holmic acid (HA) from decomposed organic materials and the ability of these organic acids to control ammonia loss from urea.

FA and HA can be isolated in seven hours instead of up to a week. FA reduced ammonia loss by 50% compared with urea alone. It also caused the highest retention of ammonium and nitrate. For more details on PECIPTA 09, please visit PECIPTA 2009.

Many science fields like physcis, mechanics and space have reached their quantum level and the knowledges are very common to even a layman. But, have you wondered what is quantum internet and how it works? Let’s say Adam has a message he wants to send to his friend Jack. He encrypts it with a “key” – a sequence of 0s and 1s that unlocks the message. In quantum encryption, he sends this key using one of two intertwined alphabets. An eavesdropper has to guess which alphabet to read. A wrong guess and he’ll be spotted.

Here, our alphabets are shape (a circle means a 0, a triangle a 1) and color (green means 0, orange means 1). Jack reads the shape alphabet – Adam’s message of 1, 0, 0 is encoded as “triangle, circle, circle” – and later confirms that Jack sent the key as shapes.

But if an eavesdropper tries to read the message, half of the time he’ll read the wrong alphabet (a typical key requires thousands of such guesses). When he does, the quirky rules of quantum mechanics dictate that reading one alphabet randomizes the information in the other. When Jack checks with Adam later, he’ll quickly spot the eavesdropper.

Resource: Popular Science