Ford looks towards nature to find answers - First step, the Gecko Lizard

And....meanwhile....Over at the FOMOCO (Ford Motor Company) Headquarters in the States, researchers of Ford have decided to study more of nature to seek out new solutions that are sustainable to modern day challenges in design and its impact to the environment. The first step is that little lizard called the Gecko.

This little lizard can stick upside down and on most surfaces. The sticky toe pads would be researched to improve adhesives (used in automobiles especially in the interior plastics and other polyurethane that needs to be stuck together). The science involved is called BIOMIMICRY, or copying what is biologically made naturally and adapting it to what humans build. 

Of course, sometimes the Gecko is also used for another company for stickiness too. On the all-wheel drive systems for grip and traction. This idea for using the little gecko for other sticky uses is new to me. Anyway, what this means in plain old English is that the research should allow us to have better glue that is easier to be recycled. Isn't that easier?

PRESS RELEASE
Looking to the Gecko for Answers; Ford to Seek Solutions by Mimicking Nature

 Ford researchers will study the gecko’s sticky toe pads for clues to improve adhesives and 

increase the recyclability of auto parts

 Biomimicry is an innovative approach that looks to nature for sustainable smimiolutions to 

modern-day challenges; biomimetic innovations could transform the interior design of Ford 

vehicles

 Ford Motor Company recently hosted a biomimicry workshop at its Dearborn campus with 

participation from Procter & Gamble and The Biomimicry Institute

DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 4, 2015 – Ford Motor Company will chart new territory as it seeks to

create adhesive innovations inspired by the gecko. Ford will also work with Procter & Gamble,

sharing research findings as both companies look to biomimicry for a host of business solutions.

For years, Ford researchers have considered ways to make auto manufacturing more

sustainable. A key challenge is glue used to adhere foams to plastics and metals can make

disassembling parts for recycling nearly impossible.

Enter the gecko.

The lizard’s toe pads allow it to stick to most surfaces without liquids or surface tension. The

reptile can then easily release itself, leaving no residue. Consider, too, that a typical mature

gecko weighing 2.5 ounces is capable of supporting 293 pounds.

The gecko could inspire a host of adhesive innovations for global applications at Ford, said

Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader for plastics and sustainability research.

“Solving this problem could provide cost savings and certainly an environmental savings,” said

Mielewski. “It means we could increase the recycling of more foam and plastics, and further

reduce our environmental footprint.”

Buoyed by the biomimetic method, Ford recently hosted a forum at its Dearborn campus with

participation from Procter & Gamble and The Biomimicry Institute, a nonprofit committed to

promoting the innovative approach of looking to nature for sustainable solutions to modern-day

challenges. Nearly 200 researchers and designers took part in the day-long session to learn

about biomimicry and how to apply it to their work.

“We are excited for the opportunity to participate, together with Ford – with whom we have a

history of collaboration – in The Biomimicry Institute workshop,” said Lee Ellen Drechsler,

director for corporate connect and development, The Procter and Gamble Company. “We have

an interest within Procter & Gamble for using biomimicry as a way to broaden our approach to

solving tough research challenges.”

The biomimetic approach is not new. The Bullet Train in Shinkansen, Japan was inspired by the

kingfisher. Velcro took its cues from a burr. And improved medical needles were developed

For news releases, related materials and high-resolution photos and video, visit www.media.ford.com

Follow at www.facebook.com/FordMalaysia or www.youtube.com/FordMsia

based on the mosquito. Interest in the approach has increased in the last decade as awareness

of climate change and environmental challenges is heightened, said Gretchen Hooker, project

manager for design challenges at The Biomimicry Institute.

Founded in 2006, the group works to empower people to create sustainable products and

services using biomimicry. In addition to mobilizing educators and regional practitioners through

the Biomimicry Global Network, the organization provides a platform to learn and practice

biomimicry through multiple design challenges. These include open innovation, academic-

corporate partnerships and corporate-employee challenges where employees get hands-on

training while developing new solutions to issues corporations face. AskNature.org, the

organization’s online database of biological solutions, offers inspiration to those looking to find

answers in biomimicry.

“Ford and P&G are the first companies to take part in these new corporate-employee

challenges,” said Hooker.

Beyond recycling, the Ford design teams have worked for nearly a decade to find nature-

inspired technologies, with recent successes in yarn production for seating materials and

headliners.

Ford is the only automaker to use Unifi’s high-performance REPREVE fiber, made from 100

percent recycled materials including plastic bottles, in its vehicles. Ford employs REPREVE in

five of its vehicles – the new F-150, Explorer, Edge, Focus Electric and Fusion – making it a

globally used material. The use of REPREVE represents Ford’s commitment to reduce, reuse

and recycle, part of the automaker’s global sustainability strategy to lessen its environmental

footprint.

Ford designers are now looking to expand upon that commitment, turning to nature to further

improve the sustainable materials in vehicle fabrics. The gecko may also inspire fabric

technologies that could transform the cabin of Ford vehicles, researchers said.

“As we look to further our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint, taking a holistic,

biomimetic approach makes sense because nature has efficiencies in design and uses minimal

resources,” said Carol Kordich, global sustainable fabric strategies and development, Ford.

“Nature is the ultimate guide.”

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Voyager 2 Good For Another Ten years?

It's the last paragraph that causes me to post this.

Right now, Voyager 2 is located around 14 billion kilometres from Earth in the heliosheath* – "the outermost layer of the heliosphere where the solar wind, which streams out from the sun, is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas",

I know there isn't much to inhibit the solar wind, but 14 billion kilometres is no mean distance and does beg the question, what price our (earth's) magnetic field?

It's no misnomer that Earth is referred to as the Goldilocks planet, everything, everything just right, all the prerequisites that have to be present in order that life can even begin, let alone evolve into the wonder that we see around us today.

Agency wants ship to explore the outer limits for 10 more years
By Brid-Aine Parnell
7th November 2011

Voyager 2 is conserving energy by using its back-up thrusters as it continues to boldly go where no spaceship has gone before.

The second of NASA's explorers of the space beyond our solar system has accepted commands from the space agency's Deep Space Network personnel to switch to the back-up thrusters that control the roll of the spacecraft.

The ship is already using its sets of back-up thrusters that control pitch and yaw, and turning on the last set, which control its roll, will allow engineers to turn off the heater that keeps the fuel line to the primary thruster warm, NASA said.

The switch will save about 12 watts of power, helping the ship to keep on flying for another 10 years, gathering scientific data at the heliopause boundary and hopefully beyond.

NASA wants to send the two voyagers out to the heliopause boundary – the outer limits of the Sun's magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind – and then through in order to take measurements of interstellar fields, particles and waves unaffected by the solar wind.

Right now, Voyager 2 is located around 14 billion kilometres from Earth in the heliosheath* – "the outermost layer of the heliosphere where the solar wind, which streams out from the sun, is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas", according to NASA. Register

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Fix For: Why does outlook keep asking for a network password

It's a crock, forget I posted it.

In the end, what I still do is to delete all the sub accounts, turn off the machine, go for a walk to calm down, and then re-install the sub accounts. It works fine then, until it doesn't. Which sometimes can be as long as a month, or as short as a few minutes.

I wish I had never started this post.



It is a vast improvement, so much so that I made this post, but it ain't the perfect fix.

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Alma Telescope Begins Study of Cosmic Dawn

Numerous short clips of Alma and other cosmic related stuff at the link. Hopefully they are accessible outside the UK, could somebody please confirm?

Alma Telescope Begins Study of Cosmic Dawn

One of the 21st Century's grand scientific undertakings has begun its quest to view the "Cosmic Dawn".

The Atacama large milllimetre/submillimetre array (Alma) in Chile is the largest, most complex telescope ever built.

Alma's purpose is to study processes occurring a few hundred million years after the formation of the Universe when the first stars began to shine.

Its work should help explain why the cosmos looks the way it does today.

One of Alma's scientific operations astronomers, Dr Diego Garcia, said that the effective switching on of the giant telescope ushered in a "new golden age of astronomy".

"We are going to be able to see the beginning of the Universe, how the first galaxies were formed. We are going to learn so much more about how the Universe works," he told BBC News.

Alma consists of an array of linked giant antennas on top of the highest plateau in the Atacama desert, close to Chile's border with Bolivia.

It has been under construction since 2003. With the addition of new antennas, the telescope has been able to see progressively deeper into the cosmos and discern star formation processes in ever greater detail.

The full testing and commissioning of its 20th antenna has enabled Alma to record events that have never been seen before. It is now that the first scientific discoveries can be made.

As a taster of what is to come, the European Southern Observatory, one of the organisations that run the facility, has released the first images taken by Alma. They show - perhaps appropriately for the occasion - the collision of two galaxies known as the Antennae Galaxies.

These colossal collections of stars can be seen using optical telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. But Alma, which gathers light that is not visible to the eye, is able to pick out clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form.

The images show concentrations of the star-forming gas at the centres of each galaxy and also in the chaotic region where they are colliding. It is here that new stars and planets will be born.

The image was taken using just 12 antennas. The sharpness and resolution of images will increase dramatically as more antennas are added. The aim is for Alma to have 66 antennas by 2013.

So what do the researchers hope to discover? more

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Brian Cox on Cern's Baffling Light-Speed Find

Update:

BREAKING NEWS: Error Undoes Faster-Than-Light Neutrino Results
by Edwin Cartlidge
22 February 2012

It appears that the faster-than-light neutrino results, announced last September by the OPERA collaboration in Italy, was due to a mistake after all. A bad connection between a GPS unit and a computer may be to blame.

Physicists had detected neutrinos travelling from the CERN laboratory in Geneva to the Gran Sasso laboratory near L'Aquila that appeared to make the trip in about 60 nanoseconds less than light speed. Many other physicists suspected that the result was due to some kind of error, given that it seems at odds with Einstein's special theory of relativity, which says nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. That theory has been vindicated by many experiments over the decades.

According to sources familiar with the experiment, the 60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos' flight and an electronic card in a computer. After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed. Since this time is subtracted from the overall time of flight, it appears to explain the early arrival of the neutrinos. New data, however, will be needed to confirm this hypothesis. sciencemag.org

Brian Cox on Cern's Baffling Light-Speed Find

Puzzling results from Cern, home of the Large Hadron Collider, have confounded physicists - because it seems subatomic particles have beaten the speed of light.

Neutrinos sent through the ground from Cern toward the Gran Sasso laboratory 732km (454 miles) away in Italy seemed to show up a tiny fraction of a second early.

Physicist Brian Cox talks to Shaun Keaveny on BBC 6 Music about this baffling find - he says that if it is right, it could require a complete rewriting of our understanding of the laws of the Universe. listen and more

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