Technology, Science and the Environment.

[dsr-burnley]

Apparently the Mercedes Mixte was a petrol powered car with the petrol engine feeding rear wheel electric motors.  But the power came from petrol, it didn't have a battery.

 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092027_mercedes-benz-touts-its-hybrid-history-from-way-back-in-1906

 

I suspect the reason petrol cars drove out (pun intended) electric cars was because, then as now, they were more flexible in that they had greater range and much more convenient and faster refuelling.  (And, I dare say, cheaper too.)

Edited 16 October 2023 by dsr-burnley

[leicsmac]

49 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

Apparently the Mercedes Mixte was a petrol powered car with the petrol engine feeding rear wheel electric motors.  But the power came from petrol, it didn't have a battery.

 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092027_mercedes-benz-touts-its-hybrid-history-from-way-back-in-1906

 

I suspect the reason petrol cars drove out (pun intended) electric cars was because, then as now, they were more flexible in that they had greater range and much more convenient and faster refuelling.  (And, I dare say, cheaper too.)

Thank you for pointing out both the greatest strength and critical - probably fatal - weakness of purely individualist market based solutions; that the individual chooses the best option for them based on short sightedness both in terms of affecting those around them and the future.

[String fellow]

As this is a science thread on a football forum, here's a fun fact that seems appropriate just here.

Q: What's the link between a famous Leicester City defender who often wore the number 5 shirt during the 1960s, and the radioactive element with atomic number 106?

A: The name Sjöberg. John Sjöberg was, of course, the defender in question and element 106 is Seaborgium. It was named after the American nuclear physicist Glenn Seaborg, whose family emigrated from Sweden to the USA early last century. Upon arrival, the immigration officials anglicized their name from Sjöberg to Seaborg. Maybe John Sjöberg was distantly related to the Nobel prize winner! 

[leicsmac]

https://www.space.com/nasa-parker-solar-probe-fastest-man-made-object-breaks-record

 

The NASA Parker Solar Probe has become the fastest human-made object ever recorded — again.

On Sept. 27, the probe reached a blistering 394,736 mph/ (635,266 km/h) as it swooped close to the sun's surface, thanks to a little gravity assistance from a close flyby of Venus on Aug. 21.

 

Just for the record, that's about 0.06% of the speed of light.

[The Bear]

6 hours ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.space.com/nasa-parker-solar-probe-fastest-man-made-object-breaks-record

 

The NASA Parker Solar Probe has become the fastest human-made object ever recorded — again.

On Sept. 27, the probe reached a blistering 394,736 mph/ (635,266 km/h) as it swooped close to the sun's surface, thanks to a little gravity assistance from a close flyby of Venus on Aug. 21.

 

Just for the record, that's about 0.06% of the speed of light.

It still boggles my mind decades on from learning it just how fast light speed is. 

 

186,000 MILES per second. Per SECOND!! 

 

1 foot per nanosecond. Which is a billionth of a second. 

 

All the way round and round the Earth 8 times in just one second. 

 

Crazy. 

[Zear0]

GG

 

 

[leicsmac]

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-combination-oxygen-methane-reveal-presence.html

 

In searching for life in the universe, a field known as astrobiology, scientists rely on Earth as a template for biological and evolutionary processes...

 

..."to date, we know of about 35 rocky exoplanets circling in the habitable zones of their stars. While at the edge of technical capability for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, analyzing the atmosphere of some of these exoplanets is now a possibility. But scientists need to know what to look for. Our models identify planets like a Phanerozoic Earth as really promising targets to find life in the cosmos, of course, that life by no means would have to be dinosaurs."

 

Very interesting look at current exobiology.

[davieG]

 

 

History Season

  · A couple riding together on an autoped. The autoped was an early motorized scooter invented in 1915. New York City, USA. Ca. 1923.

[davieG]

[Free Falling Foxes]

On 20/10/2023 at 18:33, davieG said:

I was behind one of those the other day.

I was that busy admiring the superb 4k image on the screen and all the incredible detail it gave, I didnt notice it was braking.

Nearly went into the back of it.

[Eurofox]

On 20/10/2023 at 18:33, davieG said:

Rediculess 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67198206

 

The world is on an "unstoppable" shift towards renewable energy but the phase down of fossil fuels is not happening quickly enough, a new report says. 

 

The International Energy Agency, the global energy watchdog, predicted renewables would provide half of the world's electricity by 2030. 

 

But it warned that emissions were still too high to prevent temperatures rising above a key threshold of 1.5C.

 

Some good, some bad.

[The Bear]

21 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67198206

 

The world is on an "unstoppable" shift towards renewable energy but the phase down of fossil fuels is not happening quickly enough, a new report says. 

 

The International Energy Agency, the global energy watchdog, predicted renewables would provide half of the world's electricity by 2030. 

 

But it warned that emissions were still too high to prevent temperatures rising above a key threshold of 1.5C.

 

Some good, some bad.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/23/rapid-ice-melt-in-west-antarctica-now-inevitable-research-shows

 

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, The Bear said:

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/23/rapid-ice-melt-in-west-antarctica-now-inevitable-research-shows

 

Yeah, I saw that one too.

 

Best we can hope for at this point is likely limiting the consequences to change that probably results in a seven or low eight figure count of people dead or displaced, rather than higher. But that's a best case scenario, and given they'll be people out of sight of the "richer" nations, likely their plight will be treated as trivial.

[davieG]

[davieG]

[leicsmac]

You know how everyone has a line they won't cross? Yeah, as tech embracing as I am, here's mine.

[davieG]

Better than demolishing and rebuilding.

 

[orangecity23]

On 03/11/2023 at 13:52, leicsmac said:

You know how everyone has a line they won't cross? Yeah, as tech embracing as I am, here's mine.

Another thing to convince me that there's a sizeable number of very rich people who watch dystopian cyberpunk sci-fi and just think "neat, I reckon we should try that" whilst completely missing the point.

[Zear0]

Nov 13th (ish) for Starship attempt two. 

[Innovindil]

A man has been crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after it failed to differentiate him from the boxes of food it was handling, reports say.

 

 

It's time lads. 

 

In seriousness though, rip to the man. Always a risky job working on new technologies that people seem to take for granted. 

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

A man has been crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after it failed to differentiate him from the boxes of food it was handling, reports say.

 

 

It's time lads. 

 

In seriousness though, rip to the man. Always a risky job working on new technologies that people seem to take for granted. 

안 돼!

 

Yeah, they're at forefront of robotics over there so there are risks, especially given the culture of fast work for fast results that is a big thing over there too.

Edited 8 November 2023 by leicsmac

[The Bear]

Robots in manufacture/loading etc have been used already for decades. 

 

I remember when I worked at a brewery in the 90s they had "Metal Mickeys" (small automated fork lifts) loading stacks of empty pallets onto a production line. All it took was one bloke putting them in bulk in the right place a couple of times per shift and it went along it's little wire guides on the floor. Even that had sensors to stop if someone walked in front of it. 

[leicsmac]

On 07/11/2023 at 22:34, Zear0 said:

Nov 13th (ish) for Starship attempt two. 

Update: confirmed as Nov 15th, 1300 hrs UTC.

 

[ozleicester]

Due to the developed world... Tuvalu people will soon have no home.

Rest of the world take note, WE will have to take the climate refugees.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-10/tuvalu-residents-resettle-australia-sea-levels-climate-change/103090070