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Prius battery guru says future EVs will be powered by nothing but cotton
The road to the perfect EV battery is already littered with burnt out husks, so it's only right to be wary of big promises. Nevertheless, a startup called Power Japan Plus (PJP) says it has developed an organic, cotton-based battery that's cheaper, safer, more durable and quicker to charge than the best lithium ion power packs currently used in electric cars, with a range of up to 300 miles. PJP possesses no track record to speak of, but it does have some pedigree courtesy of a partnership with Kyushu University, and also thanks to its CTO, Kaname Takeya, whose CV includes R&D for the battery system used in Toyota's Prius hybrids. Takeya and his colleagues say they've built a pilot production line that will begin manufacturing thousands of organic "Ryden" batteries before the end of this year, so it shouldn't be long before we have something concrete to go on, beyond just the promo video after the break. As for how the battery works, the video (sort of) explains that part too: It involves fibers that have somehow been treated to act as anodes and cathodes inside a conducting liquid, such that the only active ingredient is the carbon inside the cotton.
Slime molds could hold key to new kinds of intelligence, help Statue of Liberty walk
See that yellow amoeboid slime mold? It's up to something. A team of Japanese scientists at Future University Hakodate led by professor Toshiyuki Nakagaki has found evidence that physarum polycephalum -- or grape-cluster slime -- are capable of navigating mazes and can organize their cells to find the most direct route. Nakagaki and others believe this could be the key to designing bio-computers capable of solving complex problems. According to Nakagaki, the slime's cells appear to have a kind of information-processing ability that allows them to "optimize" the route along which the mold grows to reach food while avoiding stresses -- like light -- that may damage them. Over at Kyushu University, researcher Atsushi Tero told the AFP news agency: "Computers are not so good at analysing the best routes that connect many base points because the volume of calculations becomes too large for them. But slime molds, without calculating all the possible options, can flow over areas in an impromptu manner and gradually find the best routes." Tero and other researchers have expressed hope that slime mold networks could be used in future designs of new transportation systems, electric transmission lines and understanding the human nervous system. Just remember, if you're going to coat the interior of the Statue of Liberty with some pink slime you found in the sewer, make sure you play some upbeat music to go along with it. It's just a good idea in the long run.
This robotic sunflower's LED seeds will cure you of that spitting habit in no time
We've performed some very careful, scientific research on the movement of sunflowers that one time on lunch break where we stared at a sunflower for four or five minutes, and let us tell you: it's pretty boring. Mix in robotics, however, and things start to get a bit more interesting -- no roasting required. Himawari the robotic sunflower, developed at Kyushu University in Japan, is a bit of interactive art which can track people with an IR camera, point itself in their direction and blink on its LED lights if they wave hello. Not exactly at the forefront of robot research, but it is pretty dang cute. An adorable video is after the break.
