Making Food from Sunlight and Wind

I want to build a 21st century farm. I’ll start with a solar array and a wind generator (probably a chimney). I’ll store energy in a liquid storage facility using a redox flow battery. Then using the storage cell I’ll run a CO2 extractor and maybe a water purifier.

Then I’ll build a sealed building similar to the PlantLab system. I’ll use red and blue LED’s on for 20 hours per day (or whatever is the optimum day/night cycle for the specific food I’m growing), high concentrations of CO2, and optimum temperature/humidity to grow food dramatically faster than a traditional farm.

There are very few consumables needed, some fertilizer and seeds. It’s not clear to me how long a wind generator or solar array can last. I’m sure eventually something will be needed for repair or maintenence.

Depending on the outdoor temperature this system could work for decades. If the greenhouse were buried in 57F degree ground and well insulated it may not lose much heat to the ground.

If you like my writing on this blog you may enjoy some or all of my books.

Stress Dependent Superconductivity

Here is a interesting article from phys.org about modifying superconductivity using stress. Film stress in the semiconductor industry can change electrical properties of conductors so this makes perfect sense.

At an atomic level the concept of stress is simply the distance between atoms or molecules. In an equilibrium state the atoms want to be a specific distance from each other. Due to the formation process the atoms may be a little too close or too far from each other. Technically this is not an equilibrium state, but the positions can be locked in place so that it is difficult for the film to relax. Moderate levels of compressive and tensile stress can be stable in the long term.

It would be interesting to deposit some high temperature superconductors at a variety of film stresses ranging from compressive to neutral to tensile and see how the critical temperature and critical magnetic field depend on the stress.

On a side note, I met Lee, Richardson, and Osheroff at the 1996 Nobel Prize ceremonies. They were all friendly and exciting people to be around.

If you like my writing on this blog you may enjoy some or all of my books.

Do we have free will?

Perhaps not, at least when we are rushed into a decision.

But what I find really odd is that the people who think we have no free will are insistent that we convert to their position, whether it's their religious opinion, or their political preferences.

My friend Harry Kroto was a committed atheist who believed I had no free will, that I had no choice whether or not to be a Christian. And yet he would not give up trying to commit me to atheism.

The world in 2030

The National Intelligence Council writes global forecasts. Here is the forecast for 2030 written in late 2012. The next forecast (for 2035) will be published in late 2016.

The discussion of black swans was interesting. I disagree with the narrow focus of financial disasters, they focus on only on the Euro zone. I think there is a very high chance of a nightmare financial collapse in the United States. The reason is that the US Government cannot and will not effectively police the financial markets. Financial derivatives have skyrockted recently, including the frightening bespoke tranche opportunity. In addition the US is almost certain to default on its debt by the year 2030. Medicare will bankrupt our country and there is no political leadership to avoid it.

The discussion of the pandemic was good but there was no mention of a more likely pandemic, not for humans, but for our food chain. Rust is a powerful fungus which is devastating the world's wheat crops, and it is moving from the Middle East towards the breadbasket of India.

Humor

I think the greatest creation of humanity, the greatest achievement, the highest we can aspire, is comedy, humor, and laughter.

Study after study shows that success, good health, and satisfaction result from happiness. Happiness is the cause of all the good things we want in our lives.

Transcranial Stimulation for Asperger's

Here are a few more articles discussing the use of transcranial stimulation to treat Asperger's. We are on the cusp of a revolution in neurotherapy. In a few years patients will go to brain therapy clinics as frequently as they go to physical therapy today.

Another exciting idea is to combine nutritional and/or drug dosages with transcranial stimulation. Just as physical therapy can repair a frozen shoulder, neurostimulation will be able to repair cognitive impairment and degradation.