Bionic Knees?

So, here's the deal: there is more interest today than ever before in harnessing the natural rythms of the body for kinetic-electric conversion. What you're about to see (should you choose to click "play") is a video that shows a new avenue for electrical generation which could with capacitance and battery storage provide -- assuming, of course, the bulkiness is overcome -- all the whirring joys of extended battery life for all the wearables or gargoyling that may come to pass.

Scientists Find Source of Cosmic Dust

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Scientists in California have uncovered the best evidence yet that cosmic dust in the early universe mostly came from the explosions of giant stars.

The Spitzer Space Telescope recently detected large amounts of space dust, 10,000 Earth masses worth, in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A located 11,000 light-years away.

The discovery comes two months after Spitzer found freshly made dust in the wind bursting out of super-massive black holes.

Astronomers believe both supernovae and quasars are responsible for the dust that helped seed early stars. Dust is essential in the cooling process to make stars, which are predominantly gas.

Researchers at NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology used a telescope instrument to analyze infrared light from the supernova and construct maps of the dust to determine the quantity and composition.

Results will be published in the Jan. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Source