Future Buses Travel Above Your Head

Public transportation in the city could be very confusing and tiring, especially if you are not from that city or county. So, to make transportation easier on commuters, a company based in Netherlands designed a new concept bus and train system that make it easier for people to navigate the city and know where they are exactly. – -Designer Page

The bus has a built in monitors that give full description about the location of the train, the destinations, and any delays.

The monitors look like a GPS, that gives your real time updates about your trip.

The goal of the company is also to free up the city streets from trains and tracks. The train will be traveling above your head with little or no sound.

8 Promising Alternative Sources Of Energy

Without doubt, oil supply will come to end one day . We will run out of oil actually much faster and sooner than what oil companies are claiming. Scientists have criticized a major review of the world’s remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit. So, in order to survive and make sure that the future generation will have an independent source of energy, we have to start seriously looking into other sources of energy, especially the clean ones.

1. Artificial Photosynthesis: Since the creation of earth, green plants have employed photosynthesis to capture energy from sunlight and convert it into electrochemical energy. Researchers in the United States funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, discovered the key catalyst the can do the same job as photosynthesis. They discovered that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively carry out the critical photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules and produce liquid fuels from (carbon dioxide and water). Just yesterday, Sun Catalytix, a company based in Cambridge, MA announced that they used only one bottle of drinking water and four hours of sunlight to produce 30 KWh of electricity. The research led by Dan Nocera, Catalytix owner and MIT chemist. The even more exciting news, artificial photosynthesis produces Hydrogen instead of Glucose like in green plants. This means that we can use Hydrogen to power up many other things. In 2008, for the first time in the history of aviation, Boeing has flown a manned airplane that was powered by a hydrogen battery. Imagine using Catalytix’s technology for commercial planes, cars, factories etc.., wouldn’t be great cheap source of alternative energy?

2. Garbage and Human Waste: Tons of garbage and waste products from our houses, factories restaurants and many other places are produced everyday around the U.S. So, scientists had this genius idea to convert all that garbage to some kind of energy. So, Fulcrum BioEnergy announced a plan for building 120$ million plant near Reno, Nev., to make ethanol from garbage. The plants then would use over 90,000 tons of garbage to make 10.5 million gallons of ethanol a year. The project is expected to start in 2010.

3. Bacteria and Microorganisms: A very interesting research conducted at the University of University of Sheffield and published in the Journal of Bioinformatics, investigated the possibility of harvesting energy from bacteria. They studies a kind of bacteria called Nostoc. Nostoc fixes nitrogen and, in doing so, releases hydrogen that can then potentially be used as fuel. Fixing nitrogen is a complex process because bacterial metabolism is a huge network of chemical reactions, and even the most sophisticated techniques can only measure a small fraction of its activity. Shang-Tian Yang, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State, used another kind of bacteria to produce energy. Yang and his colleagues developed a mutant strain of the bacterium Clostridium beijerinckii in a bioreactor containing bundles of polyester fibers. In that environment, the mutant bacteria produced up to 30 grams of butanol per liter.

4. Geothermal Energy: Earth is boiling inside, it has enormous energy stored.This geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet, from radioactive decay of minerals, and from solar energy absorbed at the surface. But, can we use that energy? how efficient is it? Apparently, it has been used for bathing and space heating since ancient Roman times. These days, scientists are hoping to convert that energy into electricity. Oregon Institute of Technology is planning on building a 7.6$ million geothermal power plant on campus, the plant will become the main source of power for the school in few years; and making the school the first university to be powered completely by geothermal energy.

5. Wind Energy: I’ve read so many new inventive ways using wind to generate power. The recent one that really inspired me was using kites to power up over 100,000 homes in Netherlands. Researchers from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, have successfully demonstrated an experiment to generate electricity from high-flying kites. According to the scientists, a single 10-square-meter high-flying kite could produce 10 kilowatts of power, which could supply electricity for about 10 houses.

6. Breath: Talking about inventions, a new technology called “the Eco-Box”, developed by Origo Industries will capture the CO2 exhaled by airport travelers and convert it to fuel. The system will recycle breths through a photo-bioreactor (PBR) to create an algae-based biofuel to power some of the airport’s ground vehicles and potentially generate electricity. How Amazing is that?

7. Solar Power: The sun is our ultimate energy source because it drives other sources, such as wind and water. From the earliest times, in ancient Greece, great teachers advised people to build their homes facing south. Philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle taught that houses should be built so that they could be heated by the sun. Many companies these days making many things that run on Solar power, such as cell-phones, small  planes, and solar panels to power several things. I believe that solar energy is going to be the main source of power in the future, its free, clean and lots of it.

8. Water: ocean current, waterfalls, dams are ways to produce power. The recent impressive project I read about was in Florida. A team of scientists at Florida Atlantic University are working on a project to generate renewable energy using ocean currents. When the project is completed, it is expected to supply Florida with 1/3 of its energy and power 3-7 million homes.

Sources:

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Oregon institute of technology
America.gov

The World’s Top 8 Smartest People

These smartest people were picked based on their IQ (Intelligence quotient) test. IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. The purpose of the test is measure the mental ability and horse power of the brain for any person. I have noticed that many of these people are Chess players and champions. I don’t know if there is any link between intelligence and chess, but this is my observations. Many of my resources confirmed the name and the IQ score for each of the people on the list. There were couple of other names with high IQ score but I couldn’t really confirm that 100%. Note: All these people are still alive as of 2010.

IQ scores reflect general capacity for performing intellectual tasks, such as solving verbal and mathematical problems.

The average IQ score is 100.  The standard deviation of IQ scores is 15.  So, this means:

• 50% of people have IQ scores between 90 and 110
• 2.5% of people are very superior in intelligence (over 130)
• 2.5% of people are mentally deficient / impaired / retarded (under 70)
• 0.5% of people are near genius or genius (over 140)

Genius IQ is generally considered to begin around 140 to 145, representing ~.25% of the population (1 in 400). Here’s a rough guide:

• 115-124 – Above average (e.g., university students)
• 125-134 – Gifted (e.g., post-graduate students)
• 135-144 – Highly gifted (e.g., intellectuals)
• 145-154 – Genius (e.g., professors)
• 155-164 – Genius (e.g., Nobel Prize winners)
• 165-179 – High genius
• 180-200 – Highest genius
• >200 – “Unmeasurable genius”

So, here is what I came up with. Please comment of you have any suggestions.

1. Kim Ung-Yong – IQ = 210

Yong is a Korean child prodigy.  He showed his intelligent ability since he was little. He started speaking at 6 months, he was able to read Japanese, Korean, German, English and many other language by his third birthday. At age 3, he was able to solve complicated calculus equations easily with no problems. He got his Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University when he was 16 years old. Kim has the highest score in the planet, he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under “Highest IQ”; the book estimated the boy’s score at over 210.

2. Christopher Michael Langan – IQ = 195

“The Smartest Man In America“, thats what the media called him when he scored 195 on the IQ test. Langan was born in San Francisco and spent most of his early life in Montana. He began talking at six months, taught himself to read before he was four, and was repeatedly skipped ahead in school. During high school he started teaching him self, advanced physics, math, philosophy, Greek and Latin. Then he went to college but dropped out because he thought he could teach the professor more than they could teach him. for over 20 years he worked several jobs, he worked as construction worker, cowboy, forest service firefighter, and farmhand. In 2004, Langan moved with his wife Gina (née LoSasso), a clinical neuropsychologist, to northern Missouri, where he owns and operates a horse ranch. On January 25, 2008, Langan was a contestant on NBC’s 1 vs. 100, where he won $250,000.

3. Philip Emeagwali – IQ = 190

Emeagwali was born in Akure, Nigeria on 23 August 1954. He dropped out of school in 1967 because of the Nigerian-Biafran war. He became an engineer and computer scientist/geologist who was one of two winners of the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, a prize from the IEEE, for his use of a Connection Machine supercomputer to help analyze petroleum fields. in 1991, He was studying for his PhD degree, but his thesis was rejected by committee of internal and external examiners and thus he was not awarded the degree.

4. Garry Kasparov – IQ = 190

Garry Kasparov is the World Chess Champion. He was born on April 13 1963 in Russia. Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the “Classical” World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Kasparov announced on March 10, 2005, that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world. Garry wasn’t only an excellent chess player, he wrote several books related to chess.

5. Marilyn Vos Savant – IQ = 186

Born in St.Louis Missouri on August 11, 1946, she is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under “Highest IQ”. Since 1986 she has written Ask Marilyn, a Sunday column in Parade magazine in which she solves puzzles and answers questions from readers on a variety of subjects. Vos Savant studied philosophy at the Washington University in St. Louis despite her parents’ desire for a more useful subject. After two years, she dropped out to help with a family investment business, seeking financial freedom to pursue a career in writing. You can visit her official website here.

6. John H. Sununu – IQ = 180

Born on July 2, 1939 in Havana, Cuba. He was the former Governor of New Hampshire (1983–89) and former White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. His father’s family came to the United States from the Middle East at the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of the last two generations of Sununus were also born in the United States. Most of his closest relatives in Beirut have died, including a relative who returned to the Lebanese capital from the United States several years ago.

7. Judit Polgár – IQ = 170

Judit is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, she achieved the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years and 4 months. Judit in her own words “In 1991, I became Chess Grandmaster, breaking Bobby Fischer’s record as youngest grandmaster in history at the time. On four occasions, I played on the Hungarian men’s Olympic chess team, and we won a silver medal in 2002. I have defeated world chess champions Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Topalov and Anand at international tournaments, matches and rapid tournaments. I have been the world’s No. 1 woman chess player for nearly 20 years straight, since 1989. Among men, I was ranked 8th in 2005. I was awarded the Chess Oscar seven times, and was elected Woman Chess Player of the Century.” Visit here website.

8. Stephen Hawking – IQ = 160

Stephen is a British theoretical physicist, whose world-renowned scientific career spans over 40 years. His books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity and he is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Hawking’s key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation). Hawking has a neuro-muscular dystrophy that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralyzed.

Just I wanted to mention another name I stumbled upon while researching the topic.

William James Sidis – IQ = 250

April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944. Was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities. He became famous first for his precocity, and later for his eccentricity and withdrawal from the public eye. He avoided mathematics entirely in later life, writing on other subjects under a number of pseudonyms. With an estimated ratio IQ of over 250, he is often cited as one of the most intelligent people who ever lived. Although the University had previously refused to let his father enroll him at age nine because he was still a child, Sidis set a record in 1909 by becoming the youngest person to enroll at Harvard College. He was 11 years old, and entered Harvard as part of a program to enroll gifted students early.

Beautiful Pictures of King Tutankhamun’s Treasure

These absolutely breathtaking images were discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, an English archaeologist and Egyptologist.

Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled 1333 BC – 1324 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. Tutankhamun was nine years old when he became pharaoh and reigned for approximately ten years. In historical terms, Tutankhamun’s significance stems from his rejection of the radical religious innovations introduced by his predecessor and father, Akhenaten.

Interestingly, A DNA study released in February 2010 claimed that Tutankhamun was weakened by congenital illnesses and died of complications from the broken leg aggravated by severe brain malaria.

Genetic tests have provided evidence that Tutankhamun and at least four other mummies from his family were infected with Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite that causes an often deadly form of malaria. The team, led by Zahi Hawass, of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, concluded that the king’s many disorders probably weakened his immune system, so that he could have died after suffering a “sudden leg fracture, possibly introduced by a fall,” which became life-threatening when he got malaria.

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