Month: April 2013

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From Autoblog: Official: Nissan Leaf all-electric taxis start pilot program in NYC [w/video]

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When New York City picked the Nissan NV200 as its Taxi of Tomorrow, many were surprised that the vehicle wasn’t electric, or even a hybrid for that matter. With NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg on hand, Nissan celebrated Earth Day on Monday by unveiling a pilot program of electric taxis for the city consisting of six 2013 Nissan Leaf EVs, which the mayor referred to as the “taxi of the day after tomorrow.”

This pilot program is aimed to show how EVs can operate as taxi cabs, and Mayor Bloomberg said that New York City hopes to have a third of its taxi fleet electrified by 2020. In addition to the six cars, Nissan has also provided three quick chargers around Manhattan, allowing the Leafs to get an 80-percent recharge in just 30 minutes.

According to David Yassky, commissioner of the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, “What we have to do now is figure out how you integrate the charging of an electric vehicle into the duty of a taxi cab.”

Scroll down for a press release about the pilot program as well as a video interviewing Mayor Bloomberg, Yassky and even one of the pilot drivers.

Continue reading Nissan Leaf all-electric taxis start pilot program in NYC [w/video]

Nissan Leaf all-electric taxis start pilot program in NYC [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch This: Using Lasers to Manipulate Blood Flow in Live Mice

When you’ve got a clogged artery, your options are usually few and risky: anti-clotting drugs or surgery to unblock the clot or reroute blood flow past the blockage.

via Pocket http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=843&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiscoverMag+%28Discover+Magazine%29

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From Discover Magazine: Watch This: Using Lasers to Manipulate Blood Flow in Live Mice

When you’ve got a clogged artery, your options are usually few and risky: anti-clotting drugs or surgery to unblock the clot or reroute blood flow past the blockage.

But researchers in China have figured out how to use a laser to clog and then clear a blocked blood vessel in a live mouse, without surgery. This is the first time scientists have been able to externally manipulate cells inside a living animal, and it could lead to a safer way to unclog arteries in the future.

The techniqu

from Discover Magazine

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From Ars Technica: IBM’s solar tech is 80% efficient thanks to supercomputer know-how

IBM Research’s prototype HCPVT system in Zurich.

By borrowing cooling systems used in its supercomputers, IBM Research claims it can dramatically increase the overall efficiency of concentrated photovoltaic solar power from 30 to 80 percent.

Like other concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) collectors, IBM’s system at its Zurich laboratory uses a mirrored parabolic dish to concentrate incoming solar radiation onto PV cells. The dish uses a tracking system to move with the sun, concentrating the collected radiation by a factor of 2,000 onto a sensor containing triple-junction PV cells. During daylight hours, each 1-sq cm PV chip generates on average between 200 and 250 watts of electrical power, harnessing up to 30 percent of the incoming solar energy.

Ordinarily, the remaining 70 percent of energy would be lost as heat. But by capturing most of that heat with water, IBM Research says it is able to reduce system heat losses to around 20 percent of the total incoming energy. This results in a bottom-line efficiency of 80 percent for its CPV collector, dubbed HCPVT for High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal. Unlike a regular CPV system, HCPVT delivers its energy in two forms: electricity and hot water.

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from Ars Technica