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from Engadget
As you stretch a rubber band, it heats up. But as it cools down it actually loses some of the energy it stored when it was stretched. That means the longer a slingshot is left loaded, the less powerful it becomes. Unless you’re Joerg Sprave, the internet’s resident master of slingshot design, who discovered that simply reheating a stretched elastic band can restore up to 40 percent of its original powuh. More »
from Gizmodo
Researchers developing extra-contagious strains of H5N1 avian influenza have agreed to pause their work for 60 days.
from Wired Top Stories
Until now, there hasn’t been an all-electric car fit for road-tripping. But Tesla’s Model S, due out late in 2012, is made for extended drives. Its battery goes up to 300 miles on a charge. Its cabin is spacious enough for seven passengers. And it can get up to cruising speed fast-the Model S accelerates from 0 to 60 in 5.6 seconds.
At 85 kilowatt-hours, the Model S boasts more than triple the battery capacity of the Nissan Leaf. Its thousands of lithium-ion cells use a new electrode chemistry from Panasonic, which could allow them to store more power than other comparably sized cells.
Tesla plans to install proprietary 440-volt charging stations (first along the I-5 Corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco) built to match up with the Model S’s circuitry. They will provide a full charge in an hour. Standard chargers will require a full night.
To protect the motor, circuitry and battery from heat, channels filled with liquid coolant run through the components. Pumps cycle coolant through a front radiator and a pair of A/C condensers. This helps the motor deliver twice the power of its Roadster predecessor.
To increase the sedan’s range, the designers of the Model S kept its weight low with a body constructed from 97 percent aluminum. They added heavier structural steel only where necessary for safety: in central supports and front-end crash zones.
The Model S’s batteries sit beneath the floor in a large flat pack that spreads the width of the car and about two thirds of its length. This arrangement leaves ample space in the trunk for cargo or two backward-facing jump seats. The main interior holds five adults.
Top Speed:130 mph
Range: 300 miles
Seats: Five adults, two children
Price: $77,400
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now
Continue reading BASF, Philips team up to create transparent OLED car roof
from Engadget
Well shutdowns prompted by fracking-induced seismicity may inspire technology tweaks.
Geophysicists are increasingly certain that expanding production of shale gas is responsible for a spate of minor earthquakes that have upset some communities and prompted authorities in Arkansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and the U.K. to shut down some natural-gas operations. The question now, say the experts, is whether the underground operations causing the trouble should be scaled back or more closely monitored to minimize future quakes—and whether the relatively small quakes may yet have the potential trigger truly destructive ones.
Planet Solar’s Turanor, the world’s largest 100% solar-powered boat, is about to complete its 18 month journey across the globe. I climbed aboard while it docked in Abu Dhabi to take a look.