Purple Bacteria Natural Self-Arrangement Process Can Make Solar Cells Become More Efficient
The purple bacteria are very flexible when it comes to the intensity of light, arranging themselves in different patterns. "Our study develops a mathematical model to describe the designs it adopts and why, which could help direct design of future photoelectric devices," says Johnson, who collaborated on his study with colleagues from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.
Hydrophobic Coating Inspired by Water Ferns Could Make Ships Consume 10 Percent Less
Water ferns have tiny hairs that are superhydrophobic. Their properties, if applied in real life conditions to a sail boat, for example, could lead to a reduction of up to 10 percent of the boat's fuel consumption by reducing friction.
Bladeless Wind Turbine Built by Solar Aero, Inspired by Nikola Tesla's Invention
Remember that Tesla turbine we wrote about two years ago? Or the Tesla turbine made out of a hard drive? Nikola Tesla patented these turbines back in 1913, but he wasn't able to build them properly because the metals he could use at that time didn't have the right thickness and quality.
Volkswagen Test Drives Golf Blue E-Motion Electric Car on The Streets of Berlin
Not wanting to stay behind their competition (such as Renault-Nissan), Volkswagen is beginning to develop pure electric cars. Their new Golf Blue e-motion has been presented by Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, member of VW's development board, and the German minister of transportation.
Photoprotein Found in Marine Bacteria Could Improve Solar Cells
The open-access journal PLos Biology presented a novel finding by a team of researchers from the Univeristy of Linnaeus, in Sweden, and colleagues from Spain, explaining how oceanic bacteria harvests light energy from sunlight by using a unique photoprotein.
New Metal Catalyst 70 Times Cheaper Than Platinum Splits Water Efficiently
A team of researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, has discovered a catalyst metal 70 times cheaper than platinum for use in electrolysis systems, to generate hydrogen from water.
Tokyo to Have World's First Swappable-Battery Electric Taxis
Due to a government-funded pilot project to test emission-free cars, the world's first taxis with easily replaceable batteries hit the streets of the Japanese capital on Monday.
