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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.

He has run down into the low 11’s before @ 114mph, but with cold track conditions and being down on power, this was not a bad run. Hope to see him out again next year, running on Renegade Race Fuel and sponsored by Jeff Ludgate.

Note: I have removed the earlier video, as I found this quicker run that I filmed.

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.

The technology essentially is able to emit a force via sound waves without the use of a laser, which is a major scientific feat. Scientists working on the project say the leap will make it “much easier to integrate into other applications and devices.”

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 found an unprecedented number of scientific and technological applications in multiple areas.

Although the concept of a “laser of sound” was predicted almost at the same time, only few implementations have so far been reported and none has attained technological maturity. Now, a collaboration between researchers from Instituto Balseiro and Centro Atómico in Bariloche (Argentina) and Paul-Drude-Institut in Berlin has introduced a novel approach for the efficient generation of coherent vibrations in the tens of GHz range using semiconductor structures. Interestingly, this approach to the generation of coherent phonons is based on another of Einstein’s predictions: that of the 5th state of matter, a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of coupled light-matter particles (polaritons).

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

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).

With a bachelor’s degree from Karaganda University, in International Economic Relations, and a master’s degree in economics from Vanderbilt University, Mr. Kashkinbekov also studied at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the Kazakhstan-Japan Development Center.

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.’”

So, why do we perceive time as flowing forward? Rovelli notes that, although time disappears on extremely small scales, we still obviously perceive events occur sequentially in reality. In other words, we observe entropy: Order changing into disorder; an egg cracking and getting scrambled.

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).

Today, let’s talk about relatively simple technology and a change in government policy that could unleash more innovation for Americans who have difficulty hearing.

Continue reading “Hearing AIDS for the Masses” | >

This spring, the biotechnology company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Oxitec says its technology will combat dengue fever, a potentially life-threatening disease, and other mosquito-borne viruses — such as Zika — mainly transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

While there have been more than 7300 dengue cases reported in the United States between 2010 and 2020, a majority are contracted in Asia and the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Florida, however, there were 41 travel-related cases in 2020, compared with 71 cases that were transmitted locally.

Read more | >