TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

Post by PanBiker »

Crazy, jewellers screwdriver construction Stanley, more like watch making. My eyeballs aren't good enough :surprised:
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

Post by Stanley »

That's how I feel about 7BA screws at the moment!!!
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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Ha Ha, 7BA, massive in comparison to wave guide construction but it's all relative to how your good eyeballs are of course. I used to be able to read below the bottom line on the eye chart and who printed it, used to, says it all.
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

Post by Stanley »

I can still do that with my left eye but the right one is like a TV screen with areas that have gone out of synch..... I'm OK with TV screens but too much computer monitor triggers problems, that's why I am restricting use to once a day. I had an eye test last week and am trying new glasses......
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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See THIS Express report on research done in Norway at the University of Bergen on the use of chemicals for cleaning applied by sprays or aerosols. As I have suspected for years, this disperses the chemicals in the air and they can be breathed in with consequent ill effects which can include being prone to asthma. The same chemicals diluted in water and applied with a cloth or sponge do not have these side effects.
I'd include any sprays, air-fresheners, insect killers etc in this warning. I have always been wary of them, indeed I refuse to use them.
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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I wonder if it's a coincidence that this American study has been reported on the same day?
`Consumer products' air quality impact 'underestimated'' LINK
"US research has found that chemicals from everyday household products now contribute as much to air pollution in cities worldwide as vehicle emissions. The study, led from Colorado University, focussed on so-called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are contained in petroleum-based products such as cleaning fluids and paints, and when they get into the air can form particles that affect health. ..."
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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Oops...I cleaned the big gilt-framed mirror in our entry hall today. Sorry...but it needed doing.
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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Newspaper and vinegar Maz!
It can't be any surprise that there are some effects from the plethora of chemicals we have unleashed on the environment. Arsenic in wall paper?
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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Wasn't it first thought that Napoleon had been accidentally poisoned by the arsenic from the white wash they used at that time. Finally they put his death down to the good old 'inheritance powder' that had been put in his porridge.
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I thought the original theory was dye in the wallpaper emitting Arsenic but I think that has now been questioned..... I do remember that his doctor excised his penis after he died and took it home with him. It was very small.......... Funny what some people regard as acceptable practice.
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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A memento to pickle in formalin and place on the mantelpiece perhaps? I wonder if the US President's doctor would do the same should the said president die in office? :extrawink:
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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See THIS if you really want more info and a pic.....
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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This could equally well be in medical matters but here we go. Read THIS Guardian article on 'Super Agers', the people who live beyond 80, often smokers and drinkers, who are technically overweight but seem to function better than twenty year olds in some matters. Having low body mass at this age is a disadvantage so stop slimming! Needless to say, this interests me and who knows, I might be one of this select group!
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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`Why Polymer Solar Cells Deserve Their Place In the Sun'
February 2018, press release from the American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, organic polymer solar cells (PSCs) may never cover the hillsides of a megawatt solar farm. But, these lightweight, flexible cells show potential to provide solar power to remote microwatt sensors, wearable technology and the Wi-Fi-connected appliances constituting the “internet of things.”

PSCs use organic polymers to absorb light and convert it to electricity. While PSCs cannot match the durability or efficiency of inorganic solar cells, the potential to mass-produce nontoxic, disposable solar panels using roll-to-roll production makes them attractive for additional applications. In a paper published this week in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, from AIP Publishing, Paul Berger and Minjae Kim of Ohio State University review the latest advances and remaining challenges in PSC technology.

Research into PSCs has grown rapidly over the last two decades, generating increasing numbers of publications and patents. This emerging technology, however, is unlikely to replace traditional inorganic solar cells. Instead, Berger sees PSCs as complementary. They can bypass the high-voltage transmission lines and provide electricity to point-of-use devices that would otherwise require toxic batteries.

For example, PSCs could power freshness sensors on food packaging simply using the overhead lights in grocery stores. Furthermore, they could go beyond store inventory control, and tie into a “smart kitchen” to reduce food waste and automate grocery lists. “PSCs have this ability to be flexible, because they basically are plastics, so you can put them on backpacks, jackets and even coffee creamer -- a whole range of things where it’s at the point of use,” said Berger. “It’s a disruptive business model.”

The polymers can be dissolved in solvents and printed onto a flexible backing using affordable roll-to-roll production, making this technology especially attractive. “This printing press is not unlike the one for printing your Sunday newspaper, but instead of three primary colors and black, you’re printing the four or five different layers needed for the solar cell, diodes and transistors,” Berger said. Long rolls of solar cells also open up new applications, such as wrapping vehicles or covering building facades and windows. Berger cautions, however, that certain expensive PSC raw materials, namely indium tin oxide and fullerenes, which have proved challenging to replace, may limit near term affordability.

Longevity is another issue because the polymers and reactive metal cathodes oxidize when exposed to water and oxygen. “They tend to degrade fairly quickly,” Berger said, making it necessary to encapsulate the solar cells for protection. This encapsulation can be very effective on glass, but is more challenging on flexible surfaces, like potato chip bags.

In the lab, PSC efficiency reaches about 13 percent, which is far from the 20 percent efficiency of commercial solar panels. PSCs that use P3HT:PCBM polymers, introduced in 2002, are the standard “workhorse” design and yield about 3.5 percent efficiency. Recent advances in chemistry, geometry, and the development of tandem solar cells that stack multiple layers together have made this greater efficiency possible.

A handful of companies in the U.S. and Europe are working to bring viable PSCs to market. If successful, then PSCs could establish their own niche apart from silicon solar cells, powering all manner of remote devices.

`Polymer solar cells: P3HT:PCBM and beyond' featured in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 10, 013508 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5012992
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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More plastic to clog up the world?
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I hope by then we'll be recycling the waste plastic. It's possible now to recycle the uPVC from old window frames but I think there's only one company doing it in the UK. I heard the lady from the Retail Consortium this morning on the radio defending the slow uptake by retailers of biodegradable plastic packaging. She said it was new but that's rubbish (no pun intended), it was already developed in the 1990s when I was writing news reports on packing developments. I can remember more recently reading about a US company that made a biodegradable replacement for expanded PS packaging from vegetable material. It was being used by small businesses but the big firms weren't interested. We've got to remember that present plastics are made from petroleum and the oil industry doesn't want to lose its profits.
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A good point Tiz. Profit is all!
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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`Most uses of insecticides known as neonicotinoids represent a risk to wild bees and honeybees, the European Food Safety Authority has confirmed. The use of neonicotinoids has been restricted in the European Union since 2013, following earlier risk assessments.'
That's from a report today, `Pesticides put bees at risk, European watchdog confirms' LINK . That's what being in the EU is all about - all the nations working together gets us farther and faster than we would on our own.
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Quite. I totally agree with you.
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A BBC report on the type of nerve agent used in the Swindon poisoning...
`Russian spy: What are Novichok agents and what do they do?' LINK

That report doesn't tell us anything about the chemistry. The Novichok agents are organophosphate molecules that inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase which is a standard mechanism for nerve agents. Novichok isn't a single chemical type, rather it's a family of related molecular structures and a concept for their application. One of the main objectives of their development by the Russians was to create nerve agents that could bypass the international regulations and were less easy to detect. More information here: LINK
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

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I am guilty of heresy here. Whilst I totally agree that there is a basis for the supposition that in some way Russia is behind Salisbury I have some sympathy with the Russian standpoint. Very handy for our government in a period of savage underfunding of the police to have such a public demonstration of action in Salisbury. All right, it's just another conspiracy theory but the same could be said of blind blaming of Russia. All I am certain of is that Putin won't be in the least worried, someone somewhere brought his election promise to fruition, "the 'traitors' would pay"...... His hold on Russia is based on the 'strong man' perception. In some quarters in Russia he has played a blinder, Crimea, Ukraine and now retribution for past wrongs.
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Doesn't the Russian bloke that developed the nerve agent in question live in the USA now, so they have the knowledge. We,that is the UK have also developed it at Porton Down, you know,that place, (not far from Salisbury), where all the other nasties known to man are played with, (for research purposes only of course). :extrawink: Typical sword rattling, not that we have a sword to speak of but par for the course, try and convict in committee, not court, without any factual evidence. Putin will be hiding under the stairs waiting for the wrath of Theresa.
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Re: TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

Post by Stanley »

Thanks Ian, nice to know I am not alone. Remember the disclosure during the F&M outbreak that the main sewer outfall at the hush hush establishment where these things are studied was leaking? All brushed under the carpet but it was admitted that there had been bio-security breaches.
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I see they have used the situation to announce that they are going to spend a lot more of our money developing a brand new chemical weapon "research facility" guess where, Porton Down. Oh and as an aside all British front line? troops are to be immunised against Anthrax, what a jolly world we live in. :sad:
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PanBiker wrote: 14 Mar 2018, 08:56 Doesn't the Russian bloke that developed the nerve agent in question live in the USA now, so they have the knowledge. We,that is the UK have also developed it at Porton Down...
Do you have reliable evidence for those two claims, Panbiker? I haven't seen them mentioned but then I haven't read everything published on the topic. The question of whether we, the UK, have `developed' it is a complicated one. The chemicals may well have been synthesised, they are not particularly difficult or obscure but developing them for application is another matter altogether. And I understand that Novichok is more than just the chemicals, it's the way of combining and using them that allowed the Russians to sidestep the international regulations.

As for Porton Down, like it or not we need such an establishment so that we can protect ourselves from chemical and biological warfare (CBW). I don't approve of anyone using CBW but it's out there, in the hands of men like Putin and we have no choice but to understand the agents used, which means synthesising them and studying their properties in case they are used against us.

Pedant's Corner: Stanley, the F&M release in 2007 was not at Porton Down or any `hush hush' establishment, it was at the combined site of the government's Institute of Animal Health and the Merial pharmaceutical company in Pirbright, Surrey. Virus didn't escape through a `main sewer outfall', it escaped underground from a pipe leading from the Institute and Merial to the Institute's final caustic soda treatment plant. The pipe had been damaged by tree roots. The Institute and Merial were criticised for not carrying out enough maintenance to the pipe.
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