H.H. Angus

The Bionic Dog

hhadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:11:12 +0000

There are now braces, prosthetics and implants for dogs and other animals. In particular, a Brazilian dog has received four prosthetic legs. This video shows how enormous advances in veterinary science get this hard luck puppy back on its paws.

The Secret of Trees

hhadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:06:14 +0000

A 13-year-old budding scientist was out for a walk in the woods and noticed that trees use a mathematical formula to gather sunlight. Then he wondered why we don’t collect solar energy the same way. See the science project that took Adrian all the way to the White House.

Moving Windmills

hhadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:03:06 +0000

A 14 year old boy in rural Malawi took a book out of the library that had a photo of a windmill. Using only the photo, he figured out how to build one using junkyard materials. The energy he generated powered lights, electronics, and wells to irrigate the family crops. It wasn’t long before the world took notice.

Chris Hadfield – how water behaves in space

hhadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:54:31 +0000

Chris Hadfield was recently asked by high school students Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner to demonstrate what happens when you wring out a waterlogged washcloth in space. The behaviour of the waters’ surface tension is quite surprising.

Solar Impulse

hhadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:48:14 +0000

This plane is powered by 12,000 solar cells and nothing else – it carries no fuel of any kind on board. As wide as jumbo jet and as light as a car, the fixed wing Solar Impulse dazzled Europe with its technology and has created a sensation in North America. It can fly day or night, an important feature in the pilots’ plan to circumnavigate the globe in 2015.

Solar Island

hhadmin — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:44:37 +0000

These islands are actually giant thermal-solar panels. Located offshore, they avoid the environmental challenges in the sunbelt areas where they will be most productive. The islands are 100 metres in diameter and rotate to follow the sun for maximum solar absorption. Installed off shore or on unproductive land, the inventors believe these could one day meet the entire world’s energy demand.

SickKids Centre for Research and Learning

knielsen — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:50:08 +0000

The Centre for Research and Learning will help ensure that Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children remains a world leader in health research that will benefit children around the world. We’re proud to play a role in helping SickKids realize that achievement.

This new 740,000 ft² high rise research and educational facility has been designed to target LEED® Gold. Energy modeling indicates a significant improvement over the minimum energy performance required by the program. Systems have been segregated with the goal of achieving significant thermal reuse within the facility. The design incorporated the option to integrate a waste heat recovery system from the neighbouring district heating provider, in order to realize even greater energy efficiency in future.

The shell and core design for the tower were already well along when the Hospital decided to locate their high performance computing equipment in the new data centre. This resulted in significant changes to the base building construction, as well as to the architectural, mechanical and electrical engineering. Creative solutions were required to accommodate the intense and sophisticated computer systems within the architectural constraints of the building.

Harvesting Energy from Rain

hhadmin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:37:47 +0000

A Canadian Eighth grader has invented the ‘Weather Harvester’, a means of converting the kinetic and potential energy from rain, wind, snow and hail into electricity. Raymond Wang explains how it works on ”Ted Talks.”

Solar Roadways

hhadmin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:36:20 +0000

A couple in Idaho, USA have created a prototype for a solar panel road surface. They hope it will one day replace paved roads, parking lots and sidewalks, all while generating power. You want more advantages? How about fewer traffic disruptions for road maintenance and an end to shovelling snow!

Water from a Billboard

hhadmin — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:20:37 +0000

A billboard in Lima, Peru is literally producing potable water out of thin air! With less than 2.5cm of rain annually, Lima is located in a coastal desert. Engineers have developed a billboard to take advantage of the very humid air that blows in from the ocean. Using reverse osmosis technology, the billboard produces 2500 gallons of badly needed drinking water every 3 months.