Lifeboat Foundation

Danny Key in his Wheel Horse Garden Tractor lined up against Freddie Ringlet (I think) in his Roper Garden Tractor, for what may be the first ever heads up tractor race!! Danny’s tractor is fitted with a Honda cbr1000 engine, out of a 1990’s bike. It has straight through pipes, and bell mouths on the carbs. The timing has also been advanced to enable it to run on VP race fuel. Danny said ‘it is a little down on compression, and he is just waiting on it going bang, before he can start on a rebuild’. The other tractor, I have no info on as yet. (any info appreciated)

Danny won both races with an 12.53 @ 107mph v 14.8 @ 90mph. and an 11.92 @ 108mph v 14.34 @ 92mph.

Continue reading “QUICKEST TRACTOR IN THE WORLD — 1/4 Mile 11.92 @ 108mph” »

Circa 2013 o.o

We may still have a long way to go before we get a warp drive, but we may not have to wait much longer for our very own Star Trek-style phasers.

Scientists at NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Japan have managed to build the world’s first phaser, which is essentially a laser-like emission that works with sound instead of light. Like a laser, but not a laser. Aka a phonon laser. Basically: a phaser.

Continue reading “Whoa! Scientists create real Trek-style phasers from sound waves” »

Circa 2020

Lasing—the emission of a collimated light beam of light with a well-defined wavelength (color) and phase—results from a self-organization process, in which a collection of emission centers synchronizes itself to produce identical light particles (photons). A similar self-organized synchronization phenomenon can also lead to the generation of coherent vibrations—a phonon laser, where phonon denotes, in analogy to photons, the quantum particles of sound.

Photon lasing was first demonstrated approximately 60 years ago and, coincidentally, 60 years after its prediction by Albert Einstein. This stimulated emission of amplified light found an unprecedented number of scientific and technological applications in multiple areas.

Continue reading “A phonon laser: Coherent vibrations from a self-breathing resonator” »

Circa 2012

Jet-injected drugs could improve patient compliance, reduce accidental needle sticks.

Learn more about PharmaJet’s easy-to-use needleless jet injection device and accompanying products.

The Department of Defense’s research and development agency awarded contracts to three companies to build a nuclear spacecraft by 2025.

Making Kazakhstan Green Again — Mr. Arman Kashkinbekov, Honorary CEO and Board Member, Association of Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan — Director, International Snow Leopard Foundation.

Mr. Arman Kashkinbekov, is the honorary CEO and board member, Association of Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan and Deputy Chairman of the Board, International Centre for Green Technologies and Investment Projects (Kazakhstan).

Continue reading “Arman Kashkinbekov — Honorary CEO, Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan — Making Kazakhstan Green Again” »

Place one clock at the top of a mountain. Place another on the beach. Eventually, you’ll see that each clock tells a different time. Why?

In his book “The Order of Time,” Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli suggests that our perception of time — our sense that time is forever flowing forward — could be a highly subjective projection. After all, when you look at reality on the smallest scale (using equations of quantum gravity, at least), time vanishes.

“If I observe the microscopic state of things,” writes Rovelli, “then the difference between past and future vanishes … in the elementary grammar of things, there is no distinction between ‘cause’ and ‘effect.’”

Continue reading “Physics without time” »

Imagine Apple, Bose or other consumer electronics companies making hearing aids more stylish and relatively affordable — with people having confidence that the devices had been vetted by the F.D.A. Bose told me that it’s working on over-the-counter hearing aid technology.

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.

On Tech is back from a spring break, and the magnolia trees are blooming outside On Tech headquarters (a.k.a., my New York apartment).

Continue reading “Hearing AIDS for the Masses” »