Popular Science

Some times I recall an invention I read about in Popular Science when I was a wee lad and wonder what ever became of that? For example I recall an air conditioner who’s design was based on blowing a stream of air, at an angle, onto a surface. The magazine assured me that the air that then went one way was cooler than the air that went the other.

These days I read Science Blog for my science innovation porn. Today we have room temperature combustion using catalysts.

… “nano-catalytic reaction” with nothing but nanometer-sized particles of platinum stuck to fibers of glass wool in a small jar with methanol and air — with no source of external ignition. … “Since the caveman days, we have burned things to utilize their energy, and the high temperatures and the entire process have created a lot of problems that we’re then forced to deal with,” … solve the energy crisis is to replace our existing fuel consuming method with one that has much higher efficiency … the reactions can reach high temperatures of greater than 600 degrees Celsius and low temperatures of just a few tenths of a degree above room temperature …

Meanwhile Stefano points out some programming language porn. A wonderful hack. A cool trick. At the end of the little movie the inventor says “I hope I made you think.” Indeed!

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