Picture a desert stretching out as far far far as your eyes can see.
Within this desert is a cube. Describe the cube. What does it look like?
How large is the cube? What’s it made of? And where in the desert is
the cube No right answers and no wrong answers. You can’t lose the game!
Feel free to take a moment before you continue. So there you are in the desert with your cube. Along with the cube,
you notice a ladder. Now, describe the ladder. How big is it? Where is
it in relation to the cube? What is it made out of? Again, take a moment
to think before you continue. Now within this desert that contains a ladder and a cube is now a
horse. It may very well be a horse with no name. Now, describe the
horse. Where is the horse? What’s it doing? Is it going anywhere or
staying put? We’re almost done. Now, you see flowers. Describe the flowers. How
many are there? What do they look like? Where are they in relation to
the other objects? Last question. There’s a storm. What’s the storm
like? Is it near? Far? What kind of storm is it? Does it impact any of
the other objects in the desert?
Now, for the fun part… the results!
The cube represents your ego!
The size of the cube is the size of your ego. If you pictured a big
cube, you’re probably pretty sure of yourself. If it was a smaller cube,
maybe not so much. If the cube was in the sand, you’re probably pretty
down to Earth. If it was in the sky, you might have your head in the
clouds. If your cube was transparent, you might be easy to see through.
If it was opaque, you might be hard to read. Here’s something
interesting: mine was an ice cube. Is my ego melting?
The ladder represents your friends.
Is it leaning on the cube? Your friends depend on you. Is the latter
short or tall? Is it weak or strong? Is it upright or laying down? You
can draw your own conclusions from here.
The horse is your dream partner.
It tells you a lot about what you want. Some see a workhorse, others see a unicorn. You can make of that what you will.
The flowers are your children.
The number of flowers you saw may indicate whether or not you’ll have
one, a few, more many. In my case? I chose not to see any flowers. This
desert is barren. That ought to tell you something.
The storm is a threat.
Is it huge? Is it thunderous? Near or far? You can likely find your own meaning in it.
Now try playing with a friend!
A new rechargeable aluminium battery has been developed by
researchers in the US, and they’re saying the prototype can charge a
smartphone in 60 seconds, plus it’s more environmentally friendly,
durable, and cheaper than anything currently on the market. And it won’t
spontaneously burst into flames like certain widely used lithium-ion batteries are capable of... "We
have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace
existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for
the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst
into flames," said one of the team, chemist Hongjie Dai from Stanford
University, in a press release. "Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it." The
new technology has done something scientists around the world have been
chasing for decades - it puts aluminium to good use in the high-demand
battery industry. The pros for aluminium are many, including its
cheapness, availability, low-flammability, and high-charge storage
capacity. But the challenge in building a viable aluminium battery has
been in finding a material for the cathode
- the device through which the electrical current flows - that can
produce enough voltage to sustain it across a whole lot of charges. Fortunately
for the Stanford team, they found the perfect material... by
accident. "People have tried different kinds of materials for the
cathode," said Dai.
"We accidentally discovered that a simple solution is to use graphite,
which is basically carbon. In our study, we identified a few types of
graphite material that give us very good performance." The team figured out that if they placed an aluminium anode
- the part through which the electrical current enters the device -
together with an graphite cathode, in a solution of iconic liquid
electrolyte. This arrangement was then placed inside a flexible,
polymer-coated pouch, which means it could be installed in a flexible
and bendy device. "The electrolyte is basically a salt that's liquid at room temperature, so it's very safe," said one of the team,
graduate student Ming Gong. They tried their prototype out on some
smartphones and report that they could fully charge one in 60 seconds - a
vast improvement on the several hours it currently takes lithium-ion
batteries to charge our phones. Plus the battery lasts for more than
7,500 recharge cycles, while current lithium-ion batteries can only
withstand about 1,000 cycles. "This was the first time an ultra-fast
aluminium-ion battery was constructed with stability over thousands of
cycles," the team reports. The battery also offers a safer option for those who are a little uneasy about powering their devices using a potential fire hazard.
Case in point - United and Delta airlines have recently decided to ban
bulk lithium-battery shipments on passenger planes, because it’s just
not worth the risk. "In our study, we have videos showing that you
can drill through the aluminium battery pouch, and it will continue
working for a while longer without catching fire," Dai said. "But lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner - in the air, the car or in your pocket." Sounds
pretty perfect, right? It’s certainly promising, but before the
researchers can think about replacing all the batteries on the market,
they first need to get the voltage of their batteries to meet what
lithium-ion batteries can achieve. "Our battery produces about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery," Dai said in the press release.
"But improving the cathode material could eventually increase the
voltage and energy density. Otherwise, our battery has everything else
you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good
safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this
as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting." The battery will be described in an upcoming edition of Nature.
Imagine
being able to take a photo or video of something, and get instant
feedback on its chemical composition. You might want to know whether
that $10 drink you ordered actually contains any alcohol, or whether the
fruit you've bought from the supermarket is covered in pesticides. Well,
such a camera is on the horizon. Electrical engineers from Tel Aviv
University in Israel have invented a device that could transform
smartphone cameras into hyperspectral sensors, capable of detecting the
chemical ingredients of an object or fluid simply by analysing a photo
or video of it. Hyperspectral imaging scans for light frequencies that humans can’t see in order to identify the unique chemical signatures of different substances. Satellites
use this type of imaging technology to detect water and nutrients in
soil, helping farmers manage their crops, or mining companies locate
mineral and gas deposits underground. This type of chemical sensing can already be done with large, sophisticated cameras,
but the team says their device - which combines a newly patented
optical component and image processing software - can conceivably be
integrated into a smartphone. Their optical component is based on
existing microelectromechanical or MEMS technology,
which relates to very small machines, less than a millimetre in size,
consisting of a microprocessor and other components, such as sensors. They say their device, which can be mass produced, is compatible with all standard smartphone cameras. “We
predict hyperspectral imaging will play a major role in consumer
electronics, the automotive industry, biotechnology, and homeland
security,” said lead inventor, David Mendlovic, in a press release.
It
sounds good, in theory, but for the captured images to mean anything,
they'll need to be paired up with a database containing information on
the hyperspectral signatures of a range of different chemicals, points
out Ben Coxworth from Gizmag points. With
a database of chemical signatures, the researchers can extract
information from their images, and match this against existing data to
determine what chemicals a given object might contain. Mendlovic,
along with doctoral student, Ariel Raz, have spun out a company called
Unispectral Technologies, and are trying to partner with companies that
can analyse its camera's images to build-up such a database. The
basic system was demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
last month, and the team is now developing a working prototype, which Gizmag says could be ready by June. According to the Tel Aviv University press release, Unispectral has financial support from the Momentum Fund, which is backed by the large Indian engineering company Tata Group, as well as the flash memory firm SanDisk.
