Underwater ‘kite’ captures tidal energy

‘Deep Green’ can generate enough power for home refrigerator for a year

A small "kite" that's flown under water is boldly going where no tidal turbine has gone before.

“Deep Green” looks like someone’s flying kites from the sea floor. With its 39-foot wingspan and 328-foot cable tethering it to the ocean floor, all it’s missing is a colorful tail.

Though a nearly 40-foot wingspan may seem big, the kites are small compared to other tidal energy designs. That’s one of the big advantages to Deep Green: it can operate at greater depths, where currents are slower. 

When anchored, Deep Green can be steered into a figure eight like a sport kite, its turbine capturing tidal energy at 10 times the speed of the actual stream velocity, according to Minesto, the Swedish developers of Deep Green. One Deep Green sea kite is expected to generate 500 kilowatts of power, enough to power a modern refrigerator for a year. But hold on to your Pop Tarts. It will be a few years before sea kites power your toaster. Testing is scheduled to start in Northern Ireland in 2011. Minesto hopes to have a commercial model of Deep Green out in four years. 

As fossil fuels dwindle, the need for renewable energy sources becomes clear; scientists have even drawn up plans to power the planet with purely renewable energy.

More and more companies are working with solar, wind and tidal power. Tidal turbines’ main drawback is their cost, but the predictability of the tides makes up for it.

When wind farms and solar panels get skunked on calm, cloudy days, the tides still come in like clockwork.

 

Human stem cells grow differently in space

Research raises questions about the viability of long-term space travel

Human stem cells grown in a rotating vessel to simulate microgravity are vastly different from those allowed to develop under normal conditions, a new study shows.

The research raises questions about the viability of humans traveling in space without gravity for long periods of time.

Australian scientists used a NASA-developed bioreactor to grow cells from a human embryonic stem cell line. These types of cells can develop into any of the body's three primary layers -- ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm, which in turn form more than the 220 types of cells found in humans.

The team discovered that 64 percent of the proteins found in the stem cells grown in simulated microgravity were not in control samples. In particular, the bioreactor cells contained several proteins involved in the breakdown of bone and in the regulation of calcium, neither type of which were found in stem cells grown in regular, Earth gravity.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted that has investigated the effect of (simulated microgravity conditions) on an embryonic stem cell line and demonstrated a significant alteration in human cell function as a result of growth in microgravity conditions," lead scientist Elizabeth Blaber, with the Australian Center for Astrobiology, wrote in a paper presented at a key astrobiology conference in Houston last month.

NASA flight surgeons estimate astronauts lose about 1 percent of their bone mineral density every month they are in space. In addition to a vigorous daily exercise in orbit, astronauts are participating in a study to see if taking bone-building drugs known as bisphosphonates can stave off the deterioration.

Other well-known impacts of microgravity on the human body include muscle loss and changes in the cardiovascular and immune system.

"The researchers tell us they feel there is some kind of gene switching at the cellular level that is contributing to the conditions we see," NASA flight surgeon Mike Duncan told Discovery News.

NASA was not involved in the human embryonic stem cell research, but has flown other types of stem cells on the International Space Station, including one that looked at how microgravity impacted development and regeneration of mouse stem cells.

Research using human stem cells is "critical to both space science and cell biology," Blaber and colleagues wrote, pointing out that the findings have implications not only for future space travel but also for helping solve ground-based medical problems.

"These preliminary findings point to potential detrimental effects to the health of astronauts and therefore may also have detrimental effects on the success of a mission.

 

10 cool gadgets you can’t get here

You can look, but they're not yet available in the United States

There's small, and then there's really small. The Chobi camera, which measures a mere 1.7 by 1.1 by 0.47 inches, has no problem fitting in the smallest of pockets. (It may get lost in there, though.)

This ultrasmall shooter captures still photos at 2048 by 1536 resolution, and records video at 30 frames per second and a resolution of 1280 by 960. It doubles as a voice recorder, as well, and has a MicroSD/MicroSDHC memory card slot.

Perhaps best suited for international spies (with really petite hands), Chobi seems an oddity in an era of ubiquitous cell phone cameras. Then again, this micro-cam is an instant conversation starter.

 

Food poisoning suspected in hospital deaths

Three Louisiana mental health patients killed, 40 others sickened

A health official says food poisoning perhaps from an ingredient in chicken salad could be what killed three Louisiana mental health hospital patients and sickened 40 others.

Officials say patients at Pineville's Central State Hospital showed signs of gastrointestinal stress beginning Friday morning. The three deaths — a 43-year-old woman, 41-year-old man and 52-year-old man — happened late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

Lisa Faust, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Hospitals, says the patients had chicken salad Thursday night.

She says something bad could have been in the chicken, lettuce or mayonnaise.

Officials say the poisoning appears to be isolated to the hospital in Pineville, located between Shreveport and Baton Rouge.

 

‘Housewives’ pulls it together in time for finale

Angie and Eddie’s plots gathering speed and interest as season nears end

This season of "Desperate Housewives" has been a bit all over the map. It's hard to believe this is the same season where Katherine went nuts when Mike married Susan and where a plane crashed into Wisteria Lane. And doesn't it seem as if Lynette has been pregnant for at least two years?

The season's had good moments and bad, but recently, the show seemed to flounder a bit. Yet as "Housewives" inevitably does, it's pulling together just in time for next week's finale. Sunday's pentultimate episode was compelling and quick-moving, and reminded viewers of how entertaining this goofy show can be when it's at its best.

Every season of "Housewives" has a mystery, and when Angie, Nick and Danny Bolen moved in, with fake names and a hidden past, it seemed clear that Angie's flight from her days as a violent eco-terrorist (!) was going to be this year's big plot. Yet on the way to the reveal, a second plot developed, one almost as compelling. Susan's daughter Julie was strangled and numerous other women were murdered by a serial strangler, who's been revealed to be Scavo family friend and troubled teen Eddie.

The episode explaining Eddie's troubled childhood and drunken, unloving mother was pretty groan-worthy, but with that out of the way, Two of his victims were found this week -- his mom, and Preston's former fiance, Irina. Cops started drawing a circle of suspects, with Preston Scavo at the center.

Pregnant Lynette, just trying to do a good deed by taking Eddie in, happened to be there when he discovered the police had found his mother's body. Now she's in trouble, and, of course, everything comes together just at the same time her baby decides he wants to make his appearance.

The Angie Bolen plot has coasted for weeks on the power of Drea de Matteo's acting — fake identity or no, she'd be a great permanent addition to the Wisteria Lane poker club. But now her former partner in crime, Danny's father Patrick, has taken her and his son hostage and is forcing Angie to build him another bomb. (Supposedly to stop some logging in Oregon, a plot it seems like the writers pulled from a 1994 issue of Outside Magazine that they found in a dentist's office.) This plot isn't quite as interesting as Lynette and Eddie, but it was pretty funny that Angie frantically stuffed a note in a lasagna that Gaby's girls later pulled out of the trash.

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Last week: ‘Housewives’ are all about money

The other Housewives are reaching some plot heights too, but their stories are not nearly as interesting as those of Lynette and Angie.

Sam, Rex's apparent son, is trying to get Bree to sign over all her financial ventures to him by threatening to turn Andrew in for the ages-old car accident that killed Carlos' mother.

Susan and Mike are renting out their Wisteria Lane mansion due to Mike's money troubles, and Katherine and Karen — well, who knows what happened to them? There may have been an episode somewhere where they were sent to visit relatives, but I sure don't remember it.

It doesn't matter. The families and their plots are coming together as they always do on this show, and just in time for the finale. The best season of "Housewives" remains the first one (Paul Young, where have you gone?), but this season is redeeming itself by the minute.

 

Eating nuts can lower cholesterol, say experts

Eating nuts may help lower cholesterol levels, US research suggests.

The review of 25 studies, involving nearly 600 people, showed eating on average 67g of nuts - a small bag - a day reduced cholesterol levels by 7.4%.

The US Loma Linda University team believes nuts may help prevent the absorption of cholesterol.

UK experts said the research showed nuts were an important part of a healthy diet, but warned against eating nuts covered in sugar or salt.

Previous work has indicated eating nuts regularly is beneficial, but the Archives of Internal Medicine study set out to put an accurate figure on the effect.

The people involved ate 67g of nuts a day on average, over a period of three to eight weeks.

As well as improving cholesterol levels, it also reduced the amount of triglyceride, a type of blood fat that has been linked to heart disease.

However, the impact was least pronounced among the overweight.

It is not yet clear why nuts have this effect, although one suggestion is that it is down to the plant sterols they contain, which are thought to interfere with cholesterol absorption.

Lead researcher Joan Sabate said increasing nut consumption as part of a healthy diet should be recommended.

He added: "The effects of nut consumption were dose related, and different types of nuts had similar effects."

Ellen Mason, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, agreed, but she urged people to go for unsalted nuts.

"Apart from salted peanuts at the pub, nuts in sugary cereals or the traditional Christmas selection, nuts have been largely lacking in our diets in the UK," she added.

The study was carried out by independent researchers, although it was partly funded by the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research and Education Foundation.