Tomorrow
in Brief
edited by Cindy Wagner
Wind Power for Homes
Rooftop wind turbines and generators could
potentially provide 15% of a household's energy needs. Recently a Scottish company called
Windsave produced a shoebox-sized generator whose blades turn on breezes of just 3 mph.
Power is fed directly into households' electricity supply, generating up to 750
watts—enough to power lights (but not heaters). The British government's goal of
attaining 15% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2015 has spawned a
variety of such inventions and projects: Some 83 wind projects throughout the United
Kingdom help provide power for 436,000 homes, reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by an
estimated 1.46 million tons.
Source: Windsave, 27 Woodside Place, Glasgow G3 7QL, United Kingdom. Web
site www.windsave.com.
Finding Concealed Weapons
Concealed weapons, land mines, and other dangerous objects could soon be
detected harmlessly with microwaves instead of X-ray devices that expose people to
radiation. At airport security checks, for instance, microwaves could produce
high-quality, three-dimensional images of hidden objects without damaging living tissue,
according to research supported by Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council. Although technically feasible, such 3-D microwave security devices must be able
to produce images more quickly and inexpensively than now possible. The researchers are
working on a faster process that measures the pattern made when microwaves are scattered
by a hidden object, then creates a three-dimensional image based on computer analysis of
the scatter pattern. The technology ultimately could find a wide variety of applications
in security, medicine, and industry, the researchers believe.
Source: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Polaris
House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1ET, United Kingdom. Web site www.epsrc.ac.uk.
Western Lifestyles and South African Women
Black South African women are becoming thinner as images of waif-like
women from the West invade film, television, and other media. Young black women are
increasingly dissatisfied with their body image, equating thinness with beauty, according
to a study by psychologists at Britain's Northumbria University and South Africa's
University of Zululand. Reasons for choosing thinness vary, including family and peer
pressure and the desire to appear more modern, but the researchers also note a trend
toward perceived empowerment. With the end of apartheid and increased westernization,
South African women express a desire to choose for themselves what size they want to be
rather than have it dictated to them by husbands or fathers. This sense of empowerment is
ironically "at odds with [the women's] statements about wanting to be thin in order
to attract men," notes Northumbria psychologist Julie Seed, an expert in eating
disorders. "If this is true, then it is still the males that are dictating female
body shape and size—it's just at a more covert level."
Source: Northumbria University, Press and Public Relations, 22 Ellison
Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom. Web site www.northumbria.ac.uk.
Coal-Fired Jets
Coal's stability in high temperatures could make it an ideal fuel for
the next generation of military aircraft. A thermally stable coal-based jet fuel is now
being developed at Pennsylvania State University's Energy Institute. The fuel can absorb
significant amounts of heat and not decompose at high temperatures; decomposition creates
deposits of carbon that befoul engine parts. According to the researchers, the fuel could
be manufactured in existing refineries and would produce no ash and very low sulfur.
Source: Pennsylvania State University, Department of Public Information,
312 Old Main, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802. Web site www.psu.edu/ur/news.html.
Fighting Pests with Essential Oils
Essential oils could soon offer an earth-friendly alternative to
internationally banned pesticides. Essential oils are plant extracts commonly used in
aromatherapy and in traditional medicine to treat bacterial infections and other
illnesses. Now, researchers at the University of Florida have discovered that the oils are
also protective against many plant pathogens. "The natural chemicals in some oils are
effective against soil-borne diseases caused by bacteria or fungus," says plant
pathologist Tim Momol at the university's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Thyme oil, for instance, contains thymol, a substance used to repel insects and kill some
kinds of mold. The oils' volatility enables them to permeate soil, kill pests, and quickly
evaporate, leaving no residue.
Source: University of Florida, News and Public Affairs Office,
Gainesville, Florida 32611. Web site www.napa.ufl.edu/ufnews.
