Nanotechnology Fast charging hybrid car batteries

 “Hybrid cars” working both on petrol as well as fuel cells (which use hydrogen as a store of power) or batteries (which can be electrically recharged) have been known for some years. One problem associated with such rechargeable batteries is that it takes hours to charge them. Kang and Ceder at MIT have now developed an experimental battery that charges 100 times more quickly. The battery contains “nanoballs” of lithium iron phosphate which can be charged in minutes instead of hours. Cell phones containing batteries made of such nano-materials may be charged in seconds!! The day may not be far when petrol filling stations may be replaced by “battery charging stations”.

Shock treatment for cancer

A technology similar to that used in the “taser stun gun” is being explored for treating cancer. Nanosecond high voltage pulses when applied to cells can cause those cells to destroy themselves, offering a potential treatment for cancer. Such nanosecond pulses have longer lasting effects then the microsecond pulses used in taser guns, the effects of which wear off quickly.

Is thought abstract and is intelligence inherited?

Is thought abstract? Most people would imagine that it is. Not true! The ability of the brain to store knowledge and to think is a chemical process, which can be chemically manipulated. Thus there are anti-depressant medicines which will help to cheer you up if you are depressed, and “truth drugs” which will make you tell the truth even if you do not want to. Atta-ur-Rahman and co-workers working at H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi have proposed a new Theory of Memory ( Pure Appl. Chem., 74(4), 511 (2002), USA). Learning may involve a process of formation of hydrogen bonds in the glycoproteins present in the human brain while forgetting may involve the breakage of these bonds.

Whatever be the basis of memory, one can state with certainty that thoughts have a molecular basis and thus a physically concrete existence.

The brain's “grey matter”, which contains the processor cells, is heritable. The brain's “white matter”, which is responsible for providing the connections between processors and which correlates with intelligence, is also heritable. Recently Paul Thompson and co-workers at the University of California have shown that the protective myelin sheath (which governs the quality of the connections between the grey and white matter) is also determined genetically.

So can you improve your intelligence? The answer is yes, within limits, with mental exercises and training as we normally use only a small fraction of our brain's full capabilities.

Planet earth drying up!

Scientists working on global weather patterns predict that the glaciers in the Himalayas as well as in Europe and other parts of the world will melt causing major portions of Asia, Africa, USA and South America to turn into uninhabitable deserts. Extreme flooding will occur in some areas and severe droughts in others resulting in millions of deaths. Most animals and plants will vanish and the population on the planet will rise to nine billion by the year 2050, but it may diminish rapidly thereafter due to mass famines and wars. This is a terrifying scenario if the average temperature on the planet increases by only 4°C. The last time that global temperature increases of this magnitude occurred was 55 million years ago when large amounts of frozen methane were released from deep oceans and caused temperature increases of 5-6°C. This resulted in tropical forests springing up in Polar Regions, vast areas from southern Africa to Europe turned into desert, and the dissolved carbon dioxide made the oceans so acidic that most sea life was wiped out.

US appoints science “dream team”

Convinced that economic revival lies in science, technology and innovation, President Obama has appointed top scientists in the country to lead the national science and technology programmes and allocated huge funds for science and technology.

This contrasts with the relatively low priority accorded to science by the previous US regime. The Nobel Laureate in Physics Stephen Chu has been appointed at the key executive position of Secretary of Energy with a US $ 24 billion departmental budget. Obama has announced that out of the US $ 787 billion stimulus package for the US economy, a huge amount of US $ 120 billion will go to research and technology ventures.