Science News

Scientific proof of a potential alternative energy source dates back 25,000 years. Discovered in 2005, the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Archaeological Park, which houses the largest pyramid in the world, is now the most active archaeological site on the planet. The team’s findings also reveal an energy beam, 13 feet in radius that transmits an unexplainable electromagnetic signal measuring 28 kilohertz coming from the center of the Pyramid of the Sun.

The sun has been producing light for about five billion years but where does all its energy come from? The most common idea is that the sun is burning gas - like a giant fireball in the sky. If this were true, the sun would have gone out long ago. So how is the sun actually fuelling itself? It is converting its own mass into energy. By combining protons (the nucleus of hydrogen) into helium, it squeezes some mass into energy - 4.3 billion kg per second. It is Einstein's famous E=mc^2 which gives us the quantitative relationship between mass and energy, where c is the speed of light.

In this intimate talk filmed at TED's offices, energy theorist Amory Lovins lays out the steps we must take to end the world's dependence on oil (before we run out). Some changes are already happening -- like lighter-weight cars and smarter trucks -- but some require a bigger vision.

A new sensor technology for the kitchen claims to cut your energy bill and take the pressure off paying attention to what's happening on the stovetop.

On an off-grid property in Philo, California (Mendocino County), Loren Amelang built a home that would help him generate "free hot water, free power and a decent chunk of free heat". Putting his technical skills to use (he's a pioneer in C++ programming), Amelang wrote over 10,000 lines of code so that his home's water and electric systems could be operated more efficiently and automatically. An added benefit is the ability to control everything remotely, by even just a smartphone

How do we build a world that's less dependent on fossil fuels? One solution is right under your feet. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is a very boring name for a very awesome system that turns the Earth itself into a giant battery.

The time and energy we can invest in others socially – in terms of building and maintaining friendships – is a lot like money; we cannot spend it in two places at once. Given that we have a limited budget with which to build and maintain relationships, it’s of vital importance for some cognitive system to assess the probability of social returns from its investment; likewise, individuals have a vested interest in manipulating that assessment in others in order to further their goals.

Researchers from the University are studying how to make electricity from electrodes coated in bacteria, and other living cells, using light or hydrogen as the fuel.

Few generations have been as dependent on electricity as Gen Y, however new research has found the energy conservation message might not be getting through.

Dogs meet and greet at the Cosmo dog park in Gilbert, Ariz. ASU students have developed a way to use dog waste to power a light at the park.

Colorado State University apparel design and production researchers and students are working to develop natural-fiber outdoor clothing that can charge MP3 devices, tablets, computers, GPS units and cell phones with built-in -- but comfortable to wear -- solar panels.

Painting roofs white and using light-coloured materials to surface roads and pavements would not only make cities cooler in summer, it would save the same amount of carbon as taking all the cars in the world off the roads for 50 years.

Scientists have further narrowed the search for a hypothetical particle that could be dark matter, the mysterious stuff that makes up 80 percent of all the mass in the universe. This video from NASA Astrophysics presents the new results, compiled from two years' worth of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.

Articles about ASTRONOMY: http://www.scoop.it/t/science-news?tag=astronomy

The US consumes 25% of the world's oil -- but as energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens points out onstage, the country has no energy policy to prepare for the inevitable. Is alternative energy our bridge to an oil-free future? After losing $150 million investing in wind energy, Pickens suggests it isn't, not yet. What might get us there? Natural gas. After the talk, watch for a lively Q&A with TED Curator Chris Anderson.

Energy storage is the key to deploying wind and solar energy on a vast scale, but exactly how much of it will be required remains to be seen...