WONDER

This is an amazing blog....on almost everything eerie or unconventional happening around the globe...scientific/natural/human wonders...and loads more...a must-read for anyone

Science of the TiNY

Small is BeAuTiFuL

Nanotechnology is the science of the extremely extremely tiny….chotu chotu chhotttuuuuuu

It allows man to manipulate matter at the nanoscale (down to 1/100,000 the width of a human hair) to create new and unique materials and products.

Think this, if the world were scaled down so that people averaged 100 nanometers tall, the Moon would be about 8 inches (20.5 cm) across—that’s the size of a soccer ball. The Earth would be roughly 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter. (The average human height (in the US) is about 168 cm. The Moon is about 3,475 km in diameter; Earth is about 12,750 km across.)

Nanotechnology is more than just shrinking, but fundamentally changing the internal structure of compounds! Pure carbon may have two familiar avatars: diamond and graphite (pencil lead). But by arranging carbon into precise nanometer-scale structures, a new product can be made that is up to thirty times stronger than steel, yet is 1/6 ^th the weight. This form of carbon (called a “nanotube,” or, more accurately, “nanotubes”) is one of the earliest forms of nanotechnology.

Today new nanotech products hit the market at the Rate of 3-4 Per Week, and Nanotechnology Consumer Products Are in Your Mouth and On Your Face

- from lightweight-yet-strong bicycle frames and tennis rackets (made from carbon nanotubes), sunscreens (which don’t make your skin look pasty white), tupperware (from antimicrobial nanoscale silver, prevents food stored in them from going bad), air purifier, antibacterial water taps, clothes treated with nano-engineered coatings (stain-proof or static-free clothes!), to pet hairdressing appliances, pet food containers, pet chains and cages, computer chips using nanoscale components are ubiquitous in consumer electronics, from computers to mp3 players, digital cameras to video game consoles, more than 35 automotive products (including GM’s Hummer2…ooh!).

The colorful and searchable list of nanotechnology merchandise—containing everything from nanotech diamonds and cooking oil, to golf clubs and iPhones—is available free here.

Now the potentially bad news….

-> There are several environmental issues and health hazards that emerge from the existing micro-manufacturing (called top-down manufacturing of nanomaterials), and international and national organizations strongly recommend that evaluations of nanomaterials be done in a life-cycle perspective.

Concern over exploitation and depletion of scarce resources

emerges because when products get smaller and the components that include the rare materials reach the nanoscale, economy is the not the most urgent issue but increased usage of rare materials like Galium, fullerens, scandium may be foreseen due to the expected widespread use of nanotechnological products, the recycling will be more difficult , resulting in non-recoverable dissemination of scarce resources.

The fact that the extraction of most rare materials uses more energy and generates more waste than more abundant materials is reflected in the energy intensity of a range of materials

Material	Energy intensity of materials (MJ/kg)
Glass	15
Steel	59
Copper	94
Ferrite	59
Aluminium	214
Plastics	84
Epoxy resin	140
Tin	230
Lead	54
Nickel	340
Silver	1570
Gold	84000

Carbon Nanotube Safety

Nanoscale silver followed by carbon (including carbon nanotubes and fullerenes), and zinc (including zinc oxide), titanium (including titanium dioxide), silica and gold are the most widely used in nanotech products.

These spaghetti-like structures are carbon nanotubes viewed under an electron microscope (Photo by Anastasios John Hart)

Writing in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a research team found that long carbon nanotubes, when injected into the body cavities of mice, could behave in a way similar to the way asbestos fibers behave when inhaled in sufficient quantity, forming lesions that, in the case of asbestos, lead to mesothelioma (a lung cancer that can take 30-40 years to appear following exposure), with an exception in shorter or curly nanotubes.

(Widespread exposure to asbestos has been described as the worst occupational health disaster in U.S. history and the cost of asbestos-related disease is expected to exceed $200 billion, according to major U.S. think tank RAND Corporation.

Asbestos fibers are harmful because they are thin enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, but sufficiently long to confound the lungs’ built-in clearance mechanisms for getting rid of particles.)

Despite a 2006 worldwide investment of $12.4 billion in nanotech R&D, comparatively little was spent on examining nanotechnology’s potential environmental, health and safety risks.

This is in direct relevance of nanotechnology’s capability in treating Spinal Cord Injuries, Diabetes, Heart and Parkinson’s Disease. Imagine a world where damaged organs in your body—kidneys, liver, heart—can be stimulated to heal themselves. Envision people tragically paralyzed whose injured spinal cords can be repaired. Think about individuals suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s relieved of their symptoms – completely and permanently.

It fuels a scientist to have a wish-list of manifesting room-temperature superconductivity, matter assembly bottom-up like nature does, building cognitive machines…and questions like “Are matter, information and energy the same?” (this is my most favorite question because this is exactly where the pathways of science and spirituality fuse…to prove that both are complementary.), “What happens when we merge nanotechnology with a cell?”

Apple's iPod Nano may be small, but now researchers have made a radio that really deserves the title "nano." – Mason Inman

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071105-smallest-radio.html

In a dramatic demonstration of early research on the self-assembly capability of nanotechnology, Dr. Samuel I. Stupp (director of the Institute of BioNanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University) showed paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries regain the ability to walk using their hind limbs six weeks after a simple injection of a purpose-designed nanomaterial. This can enable individualized patient treatments in previously unimaginable ways.

Think this:

doctors in Kenya could equip cells of the retina with photoswitches that can be flipped on, enabling blind nerve cells to see and restoring light sensitivity in people with degenerative blindness?

Public health workers in Bangladesh could place contaminated water into transparent bottles, which when placed in direct sunlight could disinfect the water and help prevent water-borne diseases?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative have pitched in investments towards this research already.

If the US government and industry do not work to build public confidence in nanotechnology, consumers may vote ‘No-Nano’ and investors will put their money elsewhere. Europe Spends Nearly Twice as Much as U.S. on Nanotech Risk Research.

We are visionaries, very much attached to the reality- but the ideas must be anchored in logic and more importantly, must be socially and environmentally responsible.

FOR LEARNING

ONE Blog...too good!

ONE blog your mind must experience ! very profound....

http://bawandinesh.blogspot.com/2008/07/beacons-of-light.html

Water or Coke? Very interesting!

It came to me as an email forward...I am putting it up on my blog for my educated and intelligent friends, in genuine empathy.




WATER

#1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
(Likely applies to half the world population)



#2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak
that it is mistaken for hunger.



#3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as 3%.



#4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs
for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of
Washington study.



#5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.



#6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of
water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain
for up to 80% of sufferers.



#7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term
memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on
the computer screen ! or on a printed page!



#8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of
colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast
cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop
bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water
you should drink every day?




COKE

#1. In many states the highway patrol carries
two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from
the highway after a car accident.


#2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke
and it will be gone in two days.

#3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the
toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour,
then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes
stains from vitreous China .



#4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers:
Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds
Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.


#5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour
a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble
away the corrosion.



#6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola
to the rusted bolt for several minutes.



#7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into
the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake.
Thirty minutes before ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix
with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.



#8... To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke
into the load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run
through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen
grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your
windshield.



FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

#1. the active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid.
It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric
acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major
contributor to the rising increase of osteoporosis.

#2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup! (the concentrate) the
commercial trucks must use a hazardous Material place
cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.

#3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean
engines of the trucks for about 20 years!





Now the question is, would you like a glass of water?

or Coke?

Here's the latest news:

Researchers at the University of Texas say global warming will trigger a dramatic rise in kidney stones in the United States.
Warmer weather in the next 42 years will cause a 30 percent jump in cases of nephrolithiasis, or kidney-stone disease, in some regions of the country, the study concluded.

India is not so far behind...with its infamous weather conditions?
Do we still want to go on a coke diet ?

GO GREEN IN ACTION...here's where to start !

Have all the sane and intelligent people in this planet read this blog...if not, you just missed some mind-blowing statistics (from 2 super cool divine minds)

http://bawandinesh.blogspot.com/2008/04/102-reasons-to-go-veggie.html

...psssst...

http://www.goveg.com/

What to watch out for in a new job?

Q. Why do so many new hires wash out in their first year?

A big reason is that a huge percentage of new employees, including new managers, are not clearly told what they were hired to do or what their goals should be for the first six months and the first year.

They also usually aren't told where to find information that they need, so they spend a lot of time reinventing the wheel - and their managers think they're idiots for wasting so much time and not asking colleagues or bosses for help.

www.hitthegroundrunning.com

15 career mistakes

We often make mistakes. But we tend to do the same actions, and expect different results. This should be a pointer to a good idea....

"It is always a good idea to implement a good idea" -Sri Sri