Light Rays, Electric Shock, Cold Plasma Fire

Light rays and electric shock combine to purify an unlimited quantity of fresh water, inexpensively.

A new water-treatment technique that combines two expensive methods could prove a cheaper and more efficient way to remove hard-to-clean contaminants. The technology combines photocatalysis, which uses light to break down pollutants, and electrochemical oxidation, which uses an electrical current to do the same.

Aicheng Chen, an associate professor and Canada Research Chair of material and environmental chemistry at Lakehead University, in Ontario, has filed for a patent on the process and says that it could be commercialized within two years. Chen combined the two water-treatment methods by creating a dual-purpose electrode. On one side, the electrode is coated with a photocatalyst, and on the other with an electrocatalyst. Chen tested the electrode's ability to remove two different nitrophenols--chemicals that are frequently used to manufacture drugs, pesticides, fungicides, and dyes and are commonly found in industrial wastewater. The dual-function electrode removed between 85 and 90 percent of the notoriously hard-to-remove pollutants over three hours, compared with only 30 and 60 percent for either technique alone. Chen's results were published last month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. _TechnologyReview

Cold plasma fire is a new technology destined to revolutionise dentistry and perhaps medicine.

Though it looks like a tiny purple blowtorch, a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a small probe remains at room temperature as it swiftly dismantles tough bacterial colonies deep inside a human tooth. But it's not another futuristic product of George Lucas' imagination. It's the exciting work of USC School of Dentistry and Viterbi School of Engineering researchers looking for new ways to safely fight tenacious biofilm infections in patients – and it could revolutionize many facets of medicine. _SD

Sometimes groundbreaking new technologies grow out a simple hunch. The creative process occurs almost entirely subconsciously, on a massively parallel basis -- whereas the conscious mind is almost completely serial in nature. Unknown to the conscious mind, multiple strands of reasoning compete in an evolutionary "survival of the fittest" contest. Sometimes -- when we are very luck like Archimedes -- we experience a Eureka! moment, and perceive the world in a new, more powerful way.

If we are to move past the current quagmire of bad government, bad media, and corrupt education and science, into the next level of unlimited possibilities -- we will need abundant clean water. We will need teeth that last a very long lifetime. We will need abundant clean energy, transportation to take us as far as we wish, medical technologies that keep our bodies and minds vital for centuries. We will depend upon our subconscious minds for many breakthroughs, but we need to stop fooling ourselves into falling for grifters and con artists.