An advancement in hybrid electric vehicle technology is providing powerful benefits beyond transportation. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed, fabricated and demonstrated a PHEV traction drive power electronics system that provides significant mobile power generation and vehicle-to-grid support capabilities. ‘The new technology eliminates the separate charging mechanism typically used in PHEVs, reducing both cost and volume under the hood,’ said Gui-Jia Su of ORNL’s Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center. ‘The PHEV’s traction drive system is used to charge the battery, power the vehicle and enable its mobile energy source capabilities.’ Providing more power than typical freestanding portable generators, the PHEV can be used in emergency situations such as power outages and roadside breakdowns or leisure occasions such as camping. Day-to-day, the PHEV can be used to power homes or businesses or supply power to the grid when power load is high, according to Su. The charging system concept, which is market ready, could also be used to enhance the voltage stability of the grid by providing reactive power, Su said. The Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center is DOE’s broad-based research center helping lead the nation’s […]
A new study finds three household routines lower the risk of obesity in children: having family dinners, getting enough sleep and limiting weekday TV time. Four-year-olds in homes that followed these practices had a nearly 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity than children who did none of these things. Of course childhood obesity – a soaring phenomenon in America – ultimately is fueled by poor diet and lack of exercise. But increasingly scientists have been able to tie other lifestyle factors to weight gain. Obesity raises the risk of diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each routine on its own was associated with lower obesity, and more routines translated to lower obesity prevalence. The links held up even when other obesity risks were factored in. ‘The routines were protective even among groups that typically have a high risk for obesity,’ said Sarah Anderson, assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University and lead author of the study. ‘This is important because it suggests […]
WASHINGTON – The White House, led by Michelle Obama, announced a sweeping initiative on Tuesday aimed at revamping the way American children eat and play – reshaping school lunches, playgrounds and even medical checkups – with the goal of eliminating childhood obesity within a generation. The ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, nearly a year in the making, is Mrs. Obama’s official debut in a high-profile policy role, and she has already lined up an array of partners in government, medicine, science, business, education and athletics who are pledging to work together to get children off their couches and consuming fresher, healthier food. The three major suppliers of school lunches – Sodexo, Chartwells Schools Dining Services and Aramark – pledged Tuesday to reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt in their meals over the next five years. Beverage makers promised more consumer-friendly labeling on all cans, bottles, and vending and fountain machines within two years. The American Academy of Pediatrics called on doctors to measure body mass index, an indicator of obesity, in children. Professional athletes from 12 leagues, including football and baseball, have volunteered to promote the message of ’60 Minutes of Play a Day’ through public service […]
In the traditional view of photosynthesis, the energy carried by photons streaming from the sun is transferred by bouncing from one chlorophyll molecule to the next, a process that ultimately builds simple carbohydrates from water and carbon dioxide. But last spring, a team led by Graham Fleming, deputy director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, reported that the process is much more interesting than that. Using ultrafast lasers, they found that the interaction between the sun’s energy and the chlorophyll molecules in a bacterium relies on a piece of quantum mechanical weirdness known as superposition, where a single photon’s energy can temporarily be in many different states at once. This allows photosynthesis to probe all the possible reaction pathways within the various chlorophyll molecules. The most efficient pathway is selected and energy is transferred through the bacterium as the superposition collapses. ‘This is similar to quantum computing in some sense, says Greg Engel, a member of Fleming’s team. ‘This is how quantum computing realizes its incredible efficiency and its ability to solve very complex problems, because it can evaluate many solutions at once.
Drinking as little as two soft drinks a week appears to nearly double the risk of getting pancreatic cancer, according to a new study. ”People who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87% increased risk — or nearly twice the risk — of pancreatic cancer compared to individuals consuming no soft drinks,’ says study lead author Noel T. Mueller, MPH, a research associate at the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. The study is published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. The beverage industry took strong exception to the study, calling it flawed and pointing to other research that has found no association between soda consumption and pancreatic cancer. Cancer of the pancreas was diagnosed in about 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2009, according to American Cancer Society estimates, and about 35,240 deaths from the disease were expected. The pancreas lies behind the stomach. It makes hormones such as insulin to balance sugar in the blood and produces juices with enzymes to help break down fats and protein in foods. Sodas and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: Study Details Previous […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
