The next wars will be about water and not oil. Because potable water is becoming as short in supply as any of our precious metals. It’s an issue in the Middle East. It’s an issue in Africa. It’s an issue in Asia. It’s an issue in the Western portion of the United States. It’s even an issue in Virginia and Florida.
I haven’t kept you up to date on the new things going on with 3D printing- you know, where you can “print” a real object. Sometimes called rapid prototyping, sometimes called additive layer manufacturing, these “printers” can use cells (as in living things), plastics, or other materials to construct the desired shapes or objects. The objects are “built up” by printing very thin layers repetitively- of the same material or different materials (to yield flexibility, strength, implantation, etc.) until the desired thickness is achieved.
We reported yesterday about Dr. Bretschger’s (J. Craig Venter Institute) MFC (microbial fuel cells) to recover energy from wastewater. Today, we’ll discuss a slightly different version, under development at Penn State University and for which results were recently published in Science.
One of my theses involved the conversion of Honest-to-Goodness Solid Waste (HGSW) to energy. The process made sense then- and makes even more sense now. (Believe it or not, there’s only one company examining this process on a large scale, some 4 decades later.) But, we also need to treat our liquid wastes (sewage)- because we want to keep our rivers and streams (which is where we discharged those treated waters) safe. Amazingly, we employ about 2% of our energy supply to treat this waste stream.
We “know” that petroleum as a fuel source is running out. Not as fast as we once thought- only because as the price rises, sites and sources that were out of reach (economically) become more feasible. Think Athabascan tar sands, coal to gas, fracking (water fracturing of structures to release natural gas). But, we still need alternative sources, not only as a national security issue, but to reduce our carbon footprint and maintain/improve our air quality.
Imagine this scenario. It’s almost Christmas. And, you’re in a Hilton hotel bar- teeming with people celebrating, virtually wall to wall. And, you hear a voice. And, recognize it as that of a friend from decades past. “Jeffrey Fried, where are you?”, I call out. Seconds later… “Roy?”. I hadn’t seen Jeff in 21 years. But, I recognized his voice. (Which restarted our friendship for another decade, until I got married and moved away. Jeffrey Fried- where are you?)
Here we go again. The US Congress is complaining that the US Postal Service (USPS) is losing money. And, they can’t figure out why. Instead of fixing the problems, they plan to cut Saturday delivery (why not Wednesday?) and adjust another problem they caused the Service with its pensions. (I’ll address that below, too.) And, you wonder why I doubt the intelligence of our Congressfolk and Senators?
There’s a new program at the US Food and Drug Administration. One designed to afford innovative devices a speedier review process. This Innovation Pathway 2.0 program is designed for pre-market evaluations of medical devices, expediting the process without reducing the need or quality of safety and effectiveness reviews. And some 30 years ago, there was a similar process for smaller companies- it worked, then, too. (I know, we used it- twice!) Continue reading
One of the biggest components of the US Healthcare costs is kidney failure. About 1/9 of Americans (26 million) suffer from chronic kidney disease. $ 40 billion a year in costs. Almost 400,000 of Americans undergo dialysis thrice weekly.
You have the sniffles. You ache. You complain. You call your doctor. He prescribes antibiotics. All is well? Right?
