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Brinker hopes to bring leak-fixing artificial platelets to water pipes
U.K.-based Brinker Technology has been fine tuning its artificial platelet technology for oil pipelines for a while now, but it looks like the company's now looking to bring the leak-sealing solution to a water pipe near your. Unfortunately, the technology doesn't involve nanobots crawling though the pipes and fixing leaks with their pint-sized blowtorches (yet), with Brinker's solution instead relying on "squishy blobs" that flow through the pipes and attach themselves to leaks, forming a temporary "scab" that'll keep the fluids contained until the pipe can be permanently fixed. While the company apparently thinks that the blobs will be just at home in water pipes as they are in oil pipelines, they're currently stuck waiting for the necessary approval to put 'em to the test.
MIT gasoline / ethanol engine to up gas mileage by "30 percent"
Anyone with enough coin to not concern themselves with fuel prices anyway can throw down $100,000 (or more) for an uber-green Tesla Roadster, or you can tack a few extra grand onto the price of your next vehicle to ensure it has some sort of hybrid engine underneath the hood, but MIT researchers are developing yet another alternative to our oh-so-troublesome fuel dilemma without looking to fuel cells. The gasoline / ethanol prototype is about "half the size" of a conventional gas engine, and would only add "about $1,000" to the price of a vehicle -- much less than current battery / gasoline options. The gasoline and ethanol are housed in separate tanks, with the ethanol "suppressing the spontaneous combustion inside the cylinder," allowing for a "higher compression ratio" and a "30 percent increase" in overall gas mileage. Ford is currently testing the system with Ethanol Boosting Systems, and while we're unsure how these engineering minds will solve the problem of double-pumping each time you need a fill up, they're reportedly working hard to "minimize any inconvenience to the driver."
Game & Watch compilation coming soon?
Nintendo of Japan recently announced that through its Club Nintendo program, gamers over in Japan would be able to acquire Game & Watch Compilation, which features three classics in Donkey Kong, Oil Panic, and Greenhouse. In purchasing Japanese Nintendo games, there are included inserts that equal a certain amount of points, 500 to be exact, will score the gamer a copy of this compilation. As of now, there is no word on a release for the US, but here's to hoping it's successful over there as I know I'm not the only US gamer who would love to get their mitts on a copy.[Via Game Brink]
