I remember back when I was in school that excellent solar cell conversion efficiency was only 6-13%, not 30%….Sadly that was 40 years ago.
Construction Completed on Tokai University's Solar Car Equipped with Sharp Solar Cells Tokyo, Sept 7, 2009 – (JCN Newswire) … A team from Tokai University will use this solar car in the Global Green Challenge, one of the world's largest solar car races, to be held from October 24 to 31, 2009… [big snip]
…The “Tokai Challenger” solar car is equipped with Sharp compound solar cells developed for outer space applications. The cells have an output of 1.8 kW and a cell conversion efficiency of 30%, the highest level in the world.
I have noticed that over the years the overall appearance of solar cars have stopped looking like an exciting collection of geeky Wacky Racers and all the team’s cars follow the same body design, yawn.
Ok, ok, so perhaps the photo of the top mask was not so yellow originally. However, these glue-n duckbills are still almost as humorous as these fun flu masks previously covered on the 3Yen:
Here’s what Tokyo will look like in a modest estimate of a 7m rise of the ocean due to global warming.
Via Flood Maps (blog.firetree.net)
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Today the “serious” Japanese news blog, Japan Probe, is covering the topic of “killer” Japanese wasps. As Japan is heading towards the autumn, these Japanese giant hornets are starting to nest in their annual preparation for cold weather (which makes them even more aggressive).
As I reported on several years ago in Japanese hornets from Hell, these giant hornets, called ‘Suzume Bachi’ (sparrow bee) are only a problem for children and whimpy, over-sensitive Japanese.
Most Japanese people have the odd idea that warps and hornets are as lethal as cobras. In my Japanese office, only a gaijin would ever “brave” swatting one of these wasps. Even the salarymen would scream like schoolgirls at the sight a hornet. Weird.
Once in my office I caught one these Japanese giant hornets, Vespa mandarinia, and let it sting me much to horror of the OLs who claimed it would kill me. The string was EXACTLY what I expected. It was about 2-3 times stronger than a regular wasp sting (since it was 2-3 times larger than a regular wasp sting). In other words, it was no big deal.
Making Babies in Space May Be Harder Than It Sounds August 25, 2009 | Wired Science | Wired.com—Experimental mouse breeding in a near-zero-gravity space simulation suggests making babies is best left to Earthlings. According to Japanese biologists, defects in their microgravity embryos suggest that “fertilization can occur normally” in space, but standard Earth gravity may be needed for embryo development …more.…
The charming ‘Piko-Piko Hammer’ is a favorite of nasty little (and big) Japanese boys along with the dread koncho. The vile toy is benignly described by J-List as, “Part clown toy, part stress reliever, this wacky toy can be found in almost every corner of Japan…great for bopping hecklers, naysayers, or friends on the head when they say something stupid.”
Obviously then the Piko-Piko Hammer is a favorite tool of Japanese game shows and drunk salarymen, and thanks to Japan’s hi-tech engineering, there is now ‘Piko-Piko Hammer’ detector in the form of a Contact Detection Sheet…
Beans Lab Shows Off Fiber-like Contact Detection Sheet Aug 24, 2009 Nikkei Microdevices–Beans Laboratory, a cooperative association for technology research in Japan, developed a contact detection sheet using a fiber-like device…[that]… can detect pressure and position where pressure is applied, it will possibly be used for artificial skins and body sensors…more… Embiggen for the concept of the device
And here is a delightful little Japanese boy wielding killer ‘Piko-Piko Hammer on his sister…
(And, Japanese folks wonder why they have such a problem with ijime/bullying, sheesh.)
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch aka the “North Pacific Gyre” gets scarier every time I read a report. I have observed for decades from ships the dead-zone growing just 20 hours off the coast of Honsho, Japan’s main island.
Plastic Breaks Down in Ocean, After All — And Fast National Geographic News, August 20, 2009–
… new study is the first to show that degrading plastics are leaching potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the seas, possibly threatening ocean animals, and us. The researchers behind a new study, however, found that plastic breaks down at cooler temperatures than expected, and within a year of the trash hitting the water.
The Japan-based team collected samples in waters from the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, and elsewhere, lead researcher Katsuhiko Saido, a chemist with the College of Pharmacy at Nihon University in Japan… …[big snip]…
….plastic debris–most of it smaller than a fifth of an inch (five millimeters)–is “dispersed over millions of square miles of ocean and miles’ deep in the water column…more…
Here’s a short report on the Garbage Patch…
Also watch the more detailed Ted Talk of Charles Moore describing this toxic issue.
IBM Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards –Nanotechnology advancement could lead to smaller, faster, more energy efficient computer chips– IBM Press room San Jose, CA – 17 Aug 2009—
…could be a major breakthrough in enabling the semiconductor industry to pack more power and speed into tiny computer chips, while making them more energy efficient and less expensive to manufacture.
IBM researchers… have made an advancement in combining lithographic patterning with self assembly — a method to arrange DNA origami structures on surfaces compatible with today’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment….more…
Student drowns while testing concrete canoe Mainichi – August 17, 2009 OSAKA – A university student here died after a test on a concrete canoe in the Yodogawa River went disastrously awry on Sunday afternoon...more…
Ok, ok, if you stop giggling so will I. Creating concrete canoes are common engineering competition throughout the world—the idea being to make the seemingly unfloatable float—It’s considered integral part of a civil engineer’s education (Wiki).
Ok, you may go back to giggling about drowning during a concrete canoe test (because I certainly am).
Well, I just discovered the exact time the earthquake hit Tokyo (and killed my wall clock).
This morning’s earthquake was “only” 6.4M on the Richter scale, but it felt stronger than the so-called 7.1M earthquake we had yesterday. The epicenter of today’s 6.4M quake was only 170 km (105 miles) SW of Tokyo, whereas Sunday’s 7.1M quake was 320 km (200 miles) SSW of Tokyo very deep under the ocean.
My friends down in Izu sent me this cellphone photo timestamped 2009-08-11-05:27:04. embiggen
Long-time contributor to the 3Yen, “Kuang_Grade,” just quipped about: “love how Jessica Simpson is currently the second topic heading under a Google news search for Tokyo earthquake.
Jessica Simpson, Beyonce In Japan During 6.6 Earthquake AccessHollywood.com Beyonce and sister Solange Knowles were in Japan on Monday to promote the Samantha Thavasa & Disney handbag collection kickoff at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.
“wtf! wtf! wtf! my sister said she was scared out of her mind and calling my mom and i was snoring. 6.6????? omg! omg! omg! tsunami watch???” Solange posted on her Twitter page.
With two major earthquakes recorded in Tokyo in the past 48 hours and a typhoon is on its way from in the south of Japan that has already killed 12 with more missing, it’s time to round up the usual suspects….
SOLAR CARS
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Embiggen for the concept of the device
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