Fantastic Devices and Procedures Are Coming

Every scientist knows photosynthesis is nature’s miracle. A race is going on around the world to develop artificial photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is nature’s way of storing energy from the sun and it is far more efficient than solar panels. Solar panels have their faults such as low light situations and they need some sort of storage unit with some way of stopping too much energy leakage. Photosynthesis has none of these problems. One team headed by Boston College professor Dunwei Wang thinks they have cracked the code which will allow their form of artificial photosynthesis to be on a par with natures. Photosynthesis not only uses sunlight but also water and carbon dioxide to produce fuel. There is also one more advantage. Photosynthesis diminishes carbon dioxide and in the long run could actually decrease global warming.

I think most of us know when an organ transplant is required there is a list people are put on and sometimes they are not reached and other times they are too old to go on the list. Unfortunately, the list doesn’t seem to mean much to the rich and/or powerful as illustrated by what happened in 1993 when the governor of Pennsylvania needed a transplant. Anyway, the list is there for the rest of us and this causes about 20 people a day to die waiting for that transplant. This may be a thing of the past. A new procedure is coming to light. It strips animal organs of their cells and allows those organs to receive human stem cells from the patient who needs the organ. This eliminates rejection. So far, the researchers have been able to refurbish all sorts of organs including hearts. When this procedure is finished testing it is said it could save millions of people’s lives every year.

There is no doubt the internal combustion engine will soon be a thing of the past. The new power source will either be electric or hydrogen and it looks like electric will finally take its place at the head of the class. Before that happens, better batteries or some system of supplying electricity to individual cars will be needed. Different systems are being worked on. One system is wireless electricity. Using this system cars wouldn’t need a power source or could have an auxiliary one which would allow the car to go a few miles if something went wrong. Another idea is improving batteries which would also have to include easier and faster charging. Many companies are working on improving the power of batteries. Scientists claim they have invented a new compound which will coat the electrodes of lithium batteries and will give them greater storage capacity. There is also an idea which would allow a liquid battery to be pumped into a storage tank at a station and pumped like gasoline into our cars and since there are gas stations all over the country they could easily convert pumps for this purpose. Scientists are working around the clock to perfect these systems and in a few years electric cars may all have a much greater range than gasoline cars do today. Lastly if charging stations are still needed there has to be a standard so the cars can all use any charging station.

I would like to talk about smart clothes. I call them that, but it is really not their official name. A relatively new material called graphene has been put into inks and is being used to print electronic circuits on clothes. These clothes can still be washed and are still flexible and retain all their original properties. One scientist said, “Although we demonstrated very simple integrated circuits, our process is scalable and there are no fundamental obstacles to the technological development of wearable electronic devices both in terms of their complexity and performance.” It doesn’t take much imagination to realize what an electronic powerhouse a soldier could become if a supercomputer was designed into his clothing.

Soon your cell phone may not need a battery. In 2015 a very basic type of cellphone which was more like a tiny circuit board was able to make a call with no battery. The phone was able to harness power from light or ambient radio signals. It was also tested on Skype and worked perfectly. The prototype phone was made from commercial off-the-shelf parts. The phone had to be redesigned to operate on extremely low power.

Wonders are coming and they can’t come fast enough for me. I am not saying that just because I happen to be old, I have always felt that way. Some have called me a nerd and I have even been called the world’s oldest nerd, which just might be true.