Monday, November 23, 2020

Solar Panel Revolution in the Wind?


           By AleSpa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29290121

 

 I am encouraged by some research that is currently going on that is improving the efficiency of solar panels up and coming. This encouragement is based on designs I have seen in corollary manufacturing processes that could created a whole new industry.

It is a whole new research path that could greatly improve the energy retention otherwise seemingly at a standstill,  although these manufacturing processes for solar panels are currently inexpensive.

I have been pondering these ideas for sometime now and since the move to electrics for transportation is now more important then ever as I open the door to the studious and bright innovators who wonder about these potentials.


New solar panel design could increase efficiency by 125%

 Dr. Christian Schuster, researcher from the Department of Physics, told The Week news “We found a simple trick for boosting the absorption of slim solar cells. Our investigations show that our idea actually rivals the absorption enhancement of more sophisticated designs, while also absorbing more light deep in the plane and less light near the surface structure itself. Our design rule meets all relevant aspects of light trapping for solar cells, clearing the way for simple, practical, and yet outstanding diffractive structures, with a potential impact beyond photonic applications.” He added, “This design offers potential to further integrate solar cells into thinner, flexible materials and therefore create more opportunity to use solar power in more products.”

 

 

 See also: Frogs, Foam and Fuel: UC Researchers Convert Solar Energy to Sugars

 

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Gaslighting in America

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes such as low self-esteem. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs. Instances can range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.
***


***
I must say having been involved in the consumption of the news of late and the pandemic forcing us into stay at home so I started to wonder. 

Friday, May 15, 2020

Artemis Accords


 The creation of the Artemis Accords

The ability to extract and utilize resources on the Moon, Mars, and asteroids will be critical to support safe and sustainable space exploration and development.

The Artemis Accords reinforce that space resource extraction and utilization can and will be conducted under the auspices of the Outer Space Treaty, with specific emphasis on Articles II, VI, and XI.

***

Outer Space Treaty of 1967

  

Article II 

Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.


  
Article VI
States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. When activities are carried on in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, by an international organization, responsibility for compliance with this Treaty shall be borne both by the international organization and by the States Parties to the Treaty participating in such organization. 

Article XI

In order to promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, States Parties to the Treaty conducting activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, agree to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations as well as the public and the international scientific community, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations and results of such activities. On receiving the said information, the Secretary-General of the United Nations should be prepared to disseminate it immediately and effectively. 

Sunday, November 10, 2019

An Experience, with the Big Bang?


Suddenly it was completely clear. I could understand it! It was an unbelievably complex, yet self-explanatory evolution of concentric patterns growing out of concentric patterns; like self-generating, hyper-dimensional mandalas recursively blossoming, like flowers, out of the centers of previous hyper-dimensional mandalas, ad infinitum, but with a single point of origin from where it all emanated. This point of origin, this Source of it all, however, remained elusive: hidden behind the layers of wonders growing outwards from it. Somehow, the way new patterns unfolded and evolved was already entirely encoded in, and determined by, the very shapes, angles, and proportions entailed by previous patterns, so that no new primary information was ever added to the thing as it evolved. The entire story was already fully contained in it from the very beginning, and it was simply unpacking and manifesting itself in all its indescribable glory. It was a thing of startling power and beauty, yet put together with a level of sophistication and perfection that goes way beyond anything I could compare it to. ... This was the answer to the question that haunted me my entire life: ... One simply needed to “look” at it with the mind’s eye to know that this is how reality came to being; this is how nature was formed. ... All of reality seems to be the unfolding of a thought pattern in the imagination. Dreamed Up Reality by Bernardo Kastrup

See: The Symbolic Big Bang

See Also:Fractals and Antennas