Day: 25 September 2006

Bigger Lithium ion batteries ….with no explosion

According to Moore’s law the processing power of a microchip doubles every 18 months. If we extend this line of reasoning to include all technologies electricity storage technology (batteries) could enable huge advances in computers and electric cars. However lithium ion battries have reached their limit of their capacity per kilogram at one hundred fifty watt-hours per kilogram.

Thin film lithium ion batteries are certainly something new. The batteries are actually composed of flat layers of pure lithium electrodes and an electrolyte bonded to a glassy surface. The batteries never lose charge, can withstand extremes of heat and cold, can charge quickly and discharge slowly or quickly an infinite number of times, can pack a ton of power into a small space, and will not explode in your lap if you dent them.

Cell Phones get Greener

Cell phones are a huge contributor to that problem of e-waste and the cell phone makers are aware of this. Now the phone makers are going to do a little something for the environment by checking what goes into their phones. The companies are looking into removing toxic chemicals and improving recycling and proper-disposal programs.

The consumer can curb the amount of energy that the cellphone uses. New cellphones will tell the user that the battery is charged and that the phone should be unplugged thereby conserving energy.

“If 10 percent of the world’s cell phone owners did this, the group’s final report said, it would reduce energy consumption by an amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 European homes per year.”

Show Your Green Side

green underwear
The company GreenKnickers is about making your under-clothing organic, sweat-free, and sexy. They spare no expense with making your knickers green – they even use environmentally friendly dyes.

I like how they “support local trade and minimise our knickermiles,” which must keep the transportation cost down. Since they are on the web they feel the need to have a blog dedicated to knickers.

“GreenKnickers are knickers with an ecological and ethical foundation, both in meaning and in material substance. They are designed using the principals of Natural sensuality, humour and communication.”

Baby Ape/Human Uncovered

selem3721.jpegThe remains of a baby who existed 3.3 million years ago have been uncovered in Ethiopia and reassembled after 5 years of painstaking diggs to uncover it. The Baby girl named Selam (meaning peace) is equal parts human and ape with an ape like upper body and a human like lower half. This discovery is suggesting to scientists that the species ‘Australopithecus afarensis’ was both a land dweller and tree climber.

It’s amazing to think that humans were around in some form or another a whole 3 million years ago. The first human like remains date back as far as 6.5 million years ago.

Plans are in the works to eventually create a model of the child once her complete skeleton has been unveiled. Then we will even be able to see a likeness of what her features would have looked like!

I found this incredibly interesting and thought I’d attach the actual human evloutionary timeline for your perusal.

The ascent of man

6.5m years ago
Earliest human lineages split from chimpanzees and gorillas, but share many traits with the apes.

5.8m years ago
The oldest human ancestor, Orrorin tugenesis, emerges and is thought to walk on two legs.

4m years ago
Australopithecus arrives with a brain no larger than a chimp’s. Makes home on the savannah and develops teeth for chewing tough food.

2.5m years ago
Homo habilis, right, the first modern human genus emerges. It has a brain half the size of humans today and begins to use primitive stone tools.

2m years ago
Homo ergaster arrives with a smaller face and teeth, but slightly larger brain. Develops hand axes and may have begun to harness fire.

1.8m years ago
Homo erectus or Java man, the first true hunter-gatherer settles in Asia.

600,000 years ago
Homo heidelbergensis lives in Africa and Europe. Its brain is similar in size to a modern human’s.

230,000 years ago
Neanderthals arrive in Britain and Europe.

195,000 years ago
Homo sapiens appears, but it is a further 45,000 years before the first signs of speech emerge.

95,000 years ago
The diminutive “Hobbit” people, Homo floresiensis, is believed to emerge in Indonesia.

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