Water-gel-based solar devices, what researchers liken to "artificial leaves", can act like solar cells to produce electricity, bringing technology a bit closer to solar cells that more closely mimic the efficiency of nature and farther from the disaster of today that advocates want mandated and subsidized for questionable benefit.

If it pans out, they will be less expensive and more environmentally friendly than silicon-based solar cells.

The bendable artificial leaves are composed of water-based gel infused with light-sensitive molecules – the researchers even used plant chlorophyll in one of the experiments – coupled with electrodes coated by carbon materials, like carbon nanotubes or graphite.

Recently scientists have discovered that a little molecule called Triclosan can help us eradicate a condition that affects 2 billion people around the world (we are only 6.7 billion total right?). A parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis affects those many people is caused by a protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.

A total of 11% of the population in the US and up to 80% of the people in Brazil suffer by toxoplasmosis.   Domestic cats are primary carriers, but many animals and humans also  can carry the bug. It can pass on from even mother to the baby in the womb :( It causes morbidity and mortality to some extent, although it is a nuisance to the bigger extent.

Recently Scientists have figured that Malagasy spiders spin world’s toughest 
biological material (link to the full article given below). There was another article on the secret of oysters sticking together (link is below). Silk, wool from sheep camel etc, are routinely used,  we know. Why am I writing about spider webs and oyster shells? You might be surprised.

Simple answer: Just don't be there in the first place.

I am currently on fieldwork on Santorini, which does involve a fair bit of walking from outcrop to outcrop. Walking past deposits from the last big eruption, the Minoan, I can't help but be impressed by the size of some of the chunks of rock the eruption transported. To pass the time, I have been playing a game of "what would I do if the volcano erupted now", thinking about pyroclastic flows and trying to work out where would be safest. So just a quick post until I get back and can write up the trip in some more detail.

It’s managed to stay out of the general press, mostly — probably because it’s geeky, it’s hard to explain what it really means, and it’s not likely to affect anything any time soon — but the tech press has been covering the cracking of the HDCP master key. But even PC Mag got it wrong at first, having to correct their article.

To see what it does mean, it helps to back up a bit. If you have a TV made in the last few years, look at the back, where all the associated components can plug in. Especially if your TV is high-definition, you’ll have quite a mass of sockets back there.

Originally, televisions just got their signals “off the air”, using antennas.