Pomme::TAB

This month has been rich in news/articles about solar technology in the blogosphere.

Below are two more links

• Sliver
• 3D solar cells

That’s great news for renewable energy!

Solar Power-Cell Breakthrough: “An anonymous reader writes ‘Researchers from the Nanomaterials Research Centre at Massey University in New Zealand have developed synthetic dyes that can be used to generate electricity at one tenth of the cost of current silicon-based solar panels. These photosynthesis-like compounds work in low-light conditions and can be cheaply incorporated into window-panes and building materials, thereby turning them into generators of electricity.’

“

(Via Slashdot.)

At the beginning of the month Digg reported on an article on how to make your own biodiesel.

It’s quite interesting, especially since you can get waste vegetable oil from restaurants for free. It’s a pity the yield is not as great as producing biodiesel from algae, but then again algae is not that freely and widely available.

Alternatively you can also build your own nuclear reactor.

So, are we all mutants?

Breakthrough in Human Genetics: “Many readers have submitted this story about a breakthrough in our understanding of human DNA. In particular how much variation can exist between peoples genes and how genes are involved with certain diseases. ‘One person’s DNA code can be as much as 10 percent different from another’s, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that questions the idea that everyone on Earth is 99.9 percent identical genetically. They said their new version of the human genetic map, or ‘book of life,’ fills in many missing pages and chapters to explain how genes are involved in common diseases. The Human Genome Project mapped the billions of letters that make up the human genetic code. Scientists later refined the map by looking for single variations called SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphisms. The CNV map gives researchers a different way to look for genes linked to diseases by identifying gains, losses and alterations in the genome.’

(Via Slashdot.)

Humm,

I’m not into conspiracy theories, but this is going to argue in favor of people who think Mankind never landed on the moon, and everything that happened in 1969 was staged and fake (remember the film Capricorn One?)

They don’t want us to analyze the missing tape, they must have something to hide

Apollo 11 TV Tapes Go Missing: “Richard W.M. Jones writes ‘On July 21st 1969, Honeysuckle Creek observatory brought us the first TV pictures of men on the moon. The original signals were recorded on high quality slow-scan TV (SSTV) tapes. What was released to the TV networks was reduced to lower quality commercial TV standards. Unfortunately John Sarkissian of Parkes Observatory Australia reports that 698 of the 700 boxes of original tapes have gone missing [warning: large PDF] from the U.S. National Archives. Even more worryingly, the last place on earth which can actually read these tapes is scheduled to close in October this year. The PDF contains interesting comparisons which show that if all you’ve seen are the TV pictures from the landing, you really haven’t seen the first moon walk in its full glory.’

“

(Via Slashdot.)

And for the fun, below is a comment from Slashdot :

“Holy crap, They were labeled “Moonwalk” so I thought they were the michael jackson video or something and I taped the world cup games over them. My bad guys. Can’t you set up the studio in the desert and tape them again?”