IBM sets world record for photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency

IBM's CZTS Solar Cell Device (Credit: IBM Research)

An efficient and affordable photovoltaic (PV) solar cell made of readily available natural materials was developed by team comprising IBM’s Materials Science and Japanese  company, Solar Frontier.

“Tests of our Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (made of readily available copper, zinc, and tin, and referred to as CZTS) thin-film devices have achieved a world-record PV solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency of 11.1% (10% better than any previous reports) for this class of semiconductors, say IBM Research photovoltaic scientists Teodor Todorov and David Mitzi. And it can be manufactured by simple ink-based techniques such as printing or casting.


What makes CZTS better

Energy from the sun reaching the earth’s surface amounts to several thousand times our global consumption of electricity. Yet electricity from photovoltaic (PV) solar cells currently contributes significantly less than one percent of worldwide production. Of the numerous existing PV technologies, none so far have combined the virtues of being highly efficient, cheaply scalable and made with abundantly available materials.

Currently, the most widespread PV semiconductors, made of crystalline silicon, are abundant and highly efficient. They’re in panels used for everything from home electricity to the International Space Station. However, they have extremely high material purity requirements (>99.9999%), and the wafers are typically cut from large solid ingots and wired in series to form PV modules — making it expensive and difficult to upscale.

Other thin-film chalcogenide materials used in PV cells, such as Cu(In,Ga)(SSe)2 (CIGS) and CdTe, have been developed to a performance level close to that of silicon, with inherently more scalable processing, the scientists say. They are directly deposited on large-area, low-cost substrates such as glass, metal or plastic foil.

But their compounds contain rare and expensive elements that increase cost and limit their manufacturing levels to less than 100GW per year (worldwide continuous electricity consumption is 15 Terawatts — 150 times greater than the level of what these CIGS can produce).

“Our CZTS PV cells could potentially yield up to 500 GW per year — getting closer to the Terawatt levels of renewable electricity the planet needs.”

They hope that within several years this new class of photovoltaic materials will begin to contribute to the wider availability of lower-cost solar electricity.

Abbreviations:
CIGS     - Cu(In,Ga)(SSe)₂ (thin-film material)
CZTS     - Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄  (made of copper, zinc, and tin)
GW       - gigawatt
PV        - photovoltaic

Note: The original report was written by Teodor Todorov and David Mitzi, IBM Research photovoltaic scientists. Reference: IBM Research

TheGreenMechanics: Moving ahead for the better. With more and more breakthrough on finding cheaper and more efficient solar cell, let's hope that we wouldn't have to resort to nuclear power in the distant future.

How many trees are needed to provide enough oxygen for one person?

Short answer: 8 trees

Long answer (but why take the trouble to read further if you already know the answer?):

Simple. It's to satisfy your (and my) curiosity; to answer your how, why, what, etc. Or just for a the fun of it. Whichever the case maybe, it's good to know.

Rainforest tree at Forest Reserve of Poring Hot Spring, in Ranau Sabah.

The mechanism behind the production of Oxygen

Trees release oxygen when they use energy from sunlight to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water. Like all plants, trees also use oxygen when they split glucose back down to release energy to power their metabolisms. Averaged over a 24-hour period, they produce more oxygen than they use up; otherwise there would be no net gain in growth.

It takes 6 molecules of CO2 to produce 1 molecule of glucose by photosynthesis, and 6 molecules of oxygen are released as a by-product. A glucose molecule contains 6 carbon atoms, so that’s a net gain of 1 molecule of oxygen for every atom of carbon added to the tree. A mature sycamore tree might be around 12m tall and weigh 2,000kg, including the roots and leaves. If it grows by 5% each year, it will produce around 100kg of wood, of which 38kg will be carbon. Allowing for the relative molecular weights of oxygen and carbon, this equates to 100kg of oxygen per tree per year.


So, how many trees?

A human breathes about 9.5 tonnes of air in a year, but oxygen only makes up about 21% of that air, by mass, and we only extract a little over a third of the oxygen from each breath. That works out to a total of about 740kg of oxygen per year. Which is, very roughly, seven or eight trees’ worth.

Fact source is from Sciencefocus, but the picture is mine.

Why do we see only one side of the moon

Do you enjoy the sight of full moon? Then you may want to read on.

Copyrighted by TheGreenMechanics

Actually it's not just 'half' or one side of the moon. A little googling and you'd find that due to slight changes called libration, we can see slightly more than half of the moon over the time of its orbit. Look at the two shots below (I took them in Penampang Sabah, Malaysia) on two different times and they will give you some idea.

End of year shot of the full moon

Full moon shot taken in Penampang, Sabah

So, why only one side?

The time taken for the Moon to spin on its axis is almost exactly the same as the time it takes to orbit the Earth. Hence, the Moon always keeps the same side pointing our way.

According to Sciencefocus, this is not a coincidence as over many years, the Earth’s gravity has forced the Moon to spin synchronously with its orbit. However, things are a bit more complicated than that. Viewed from Earth, the Moon appears to rock slowly backwards and forwards so that we see a slightly different face throughout the lunar month.

There are two main reasons for this.

• First, the Moon’s orbit around Earth is elliptical not circular so its rotation is sometimes ahead, and sometimes behind, its orbital motion. 
• Second, the Moon’s rotation axis is not at right angles to its orbit around the Earth so we can sometimes see ‘over’ or ‘under’ its poles. 

Over time this means we actually get to see about 59% of the Moon’s surface. I have illustrated that in my two shots above. I have quite a collection of moon shots, I would probably share them here in future.


Facts source: Sciencefocus
Note: The pictures are my own.

The next-generation bionic eye - offers new hope to the blind

Earlier this year I wrote about LED Glasses that Help Restore Sight, developed by neuroscientists at Oxford University that allow visually impaired wearers to see once again.

Recently, as reported by the mainstream media, the medical science made some progress in helping individuals with age-related blindness. About 1.5million people suffer from such blindness, so, you may be interested in reading on.

How the 'bionic eye' works. Image captured from Daily Express Weekend Companion

The 'bionic eye'

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine in the US have invented an implant that could help the blind to see. The implant, which sits at the back of the eye, would help patients suffering from diseases in which photoreceptors cells in the retina slowly degenerate. It acts as an artificial retina, taking information from the outside world and converting it into electrical signals which a fed to the brain.

Several other 'bionic eye' systems have been developed previously, all of which have required coils, cables or antennae to be embedded in the eye to deliver power and information to the implant. But in this new system, near-infrared light is beamed to an implant made up off light-sensitive diodes. These convert the light into an electric current that's fed to the existing retinal nerves, reducing the amount of electronics that need to be embedded in the eyes.

"To make this work, we have to deliver a lot of more light than normal vision would require. If we used visible light, it would be painfully bright." says Associate Professor Daniel Palanker at Stanford.

Near-infrared (near-IR) light was the answer - it isn't visible to the naked eye, but it can be detected by the implanted diodes.

So far, the implant has only been tested on rats. But it has the potential to treat both age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the UK, and retinitis pigmentosa, which affects 1.5 million people worldwide. In both conditions, the retina's photoreceptor cells degenerate but the nerve cells in the retina, on which the 'bionic' implant relies, remain intact.

TheGreenMechanics: Let's hope that technological advancement is for the good of mankind, and not a showcase of military muscle that will eventually lead to confrontation.


Source: The Daily Express Weekend Companion, September 30, 2012, pp 13.

Gecko-inspired sticky tape can hold up a 42-inch TV

The next time you buy a LED TV, you may not need to drill a damaging holes on your wall. Especially if your wall have surfaces made of glass, all you need is a gecko-tape and you can easily hang your super-sized TV on it. Don't worry, your TV could just be 20kg at the most.

Gecko inspired sticky tape in action

For years man has been fascinated by the ability of geckos to run up walls feeling absolutely at home. Now a gecko-inspired sticky tape has been developed that could do everything from sticking a TV to a wall to holding parts of a car together. No kidding.

Not only is ‘Geckskin’ incredibly sticky stuff – capable of fixing 300kg to a flat surface – it can also be released with a gentle tug, and reused over 100 times without losing its strength.

Previous attempts to construct such an adhesive focused on mimicking the microscopic hairs that cover gecko toes. But it proved difficult to make larger pieces of these fabrics. Instead Geckskin, developed at the University of Massachusetts, Amhurst, employs other properties of gecko feet to impart its sticking ability- it is incredibly tough while being flexible enough to make close contact with whatever surface it’s sticking to.

In a demonstration of its abilities, the material was used to fix a 42-inch flat screen TV to a glass surface (refer to the above figure).

1. A thin rubbery polymer layer in Geckskin sticks to the glass because of van der Waals forces – an attraction between the molecules of the two surfaces. As the polymer is so flexible, it moulds to the glass surface, maximising contact between the molecules in the glass and polymer.
2. A stiff carbon fibre fabric provides the other important property of gecko feetstrength.
3. A synthetic tendon is stitched into the material that’s stuck to the wall. This is attached to the television’s mounting bracket.

TheGreenMechanics's two cents:

Several tests and R&D's claimed that the gecko adhesive can hold weight in access of 300kg (700 pounds), which is good enough for a person to 'go-spiderman' and climb the Petronas Twin-Tower or Yayasan Sabah buildings.

But for now, I wouldn't bet my money on contractors using it for their glass cleaning works with sky-scrapper buildings just yet. It's a good addition to the existing safety measures though.

Sewage-treating bacteria may generate electricity

You've heard of bio-fuel (biogas) harvested from the sewage treatment process. This biogas is then used as fuel to help turn the turbines and produce electricity.


                   A sewage treatment facility in Malaysia. Photo by Hitachi PT


New science of electro-microbiology

What is relatively new to us is the fact that certain microbes can generate electrical current outside their own cells. What this means is that, we can bypass combustion and the expensive turbines to generate electricity. We just need to find way/s to harvest energy from microbes outer cells.

Scientists likened the process to the movie The Matrix where humans are hooked up to machines to provide electricity. In this case, microbes would be connected to devices to generate electrical current.

Major obstacle - for now - is the high cost of making such devices, and on how to improve their efficiency, and power capacity capacity of the devices.

Interesting! And in a long run, this should be the cheaper, better option.

+            +            +             +           +            +            +

Read the full article on Using sewage-treating bacteria in electricity-generation.

LONDON (Reuters, August 9, 2012) - Microbes used to treat human waste might also generate enough electricity to power whole sewage plants, scientists hope.

The technology is based on the relatively new science of electro-microbiology that is finding uses for the discovery that certain microbes can generate an electrical current outside their own cells. In the context of sewage treatment, they would purify waste water by consuming the organic matter in it and use that energy to generate a current that can be harvested and stored.

Co-author of the research, published in the U.S. journal Science, Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University, compared the process he is developing to the movie The Matrix, where hfumans are hooked up to machines to provide electrical power.

"In our article we describe a process which is somewhat like that but what we do is use certain micro-organisms which can be connected to devices to generate an electrical current that can be used to generate power," Logan said.

An estimated 3 percent of the electricity generated in the United States is used to run waste water treatment plants and at least 5 percent goes into the whole water infrastructure, said Logan, adding: "That's clearly not sustainable."

Logan says the technique, still in its infancy, has sparked interest from companies including Siemens and General Electric, as well as a number of small startup firms. There are some major hurdles, including the high cost of making the devices needed and improving their efficiency and power capacity.

"Right now it's a bit expensive," Logan said.

"What we really need to do is get the cost of the materials down and start putting the technology out into practice and that takes other things than just science and engineering. It takes political will and funding."

The same technique could see microbes used to generate biofuels, hydrogen gas, methane and other valuable chemicals from the cheap and abundant product of our trips to the bathroom, say Logan and fellow researcher Korneel Rabaey from the University of Ghent in Belgium.

Source: Reuters

Is the brain of a genius heavier than those of average brains?

Scientists say if you ask 'heavy', yes it is possible.

But if you ask if geniuses have bigger brains than everyone else, it's probably a No. They say brain size does not seem to matter that much. Wait. If you find this to be puzzling, that's because we - and the high IQ scientists - know very little about human brain, and other things in this world.

Image credit: BrainWorld

So, are their brains heavier?

ScienceFocus says they probably are. But size alone cannot explain why some of us are regarded as geniuses. Some large-brained animals such as dolphins and whales are very intelligent, but so are crows with their tiny brains.

The brains of geniuses such as Albert Einstein have been measured, but no relationship with size or weight was found. One study revealed that Einstein had more glial cells than average. These support and protect neurons, suggesting that his brain demanded more energy.

Other studies show that geniuses have more long-range neural connections that reach from one area of the brain to the other. Yet no single feature explains their exceptional abilities. Persistence, hard work and determination may be just as important, and they do not require an especially heavy brain.

Try typing the title of this posting in Google and you will be presented with a lot of insights and opinions as well as academic discussions which point to the summary you read in this page.


TheGreenMechanicss two cents: Genius or average, you have your purpose in life. We shouldn't worry too much about little known facts such as this one. Besides, a day's worry won't add another day to your age. Just be thankful and do what you do best!

What and how are sinkholes formed?

Remember the tropical storm Agatha that hit Central America in 2010? Among the nations in the region, Guatemala was hit hardest, with at least 92 deaths, 54 people missing and 59 injured, as reported by CNN. More than 100,000 people were evacuated.

In May 2010 incident, a vast hole appeared overnight in the heart of Guatemala City, swallowing an entire three-storey building, a neighbouring house apart from human casualties.

Huge sinkhole caused by Tropical Storm Agatha in Guatemala City, May 2010. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

What are sinkholes?

The Guatemala sinkhole measured over 18m across and 100m deep, and the enormous void is a dramatic example of a geological phenomenon known as a sinkhole.

Sinkholes occur across the globe, and although huge, the Guatemalan sinkhole pales in comparison to some others. For example, at up to 352m wide and 314m deep, the four Sarisarinama sinkholes in Venezuela are so large that forests have sprung up within their depths, complete with ecosystems that are very different from the surrounding terrain. It is not known when these holes appeared - they were first spotted, from a plane, in 1961.

One of the four Sarisarinama sinkholes in Venezuela. Photo: Epinoma

How are they formed?

In most cases, for a sinkhole to occur, the geological composition of the earth must be just right. The topsoil must be soluble enough to allow water to drain through it, and the bedrock below porous enough to absorb the liquid. Over time, this water begins to erode the limestone or carbonate bedrock from the bottom up, forming a cave, the roof of which supports the soil above.


As happened in Guatemala City, very heavy rainfall can then saturate the topsoil to the point where the roof of the cave will collapse without warning.

Water erosion acting in this manner causes most sinkholes, but some can also be caused by human interference, or by other geographical factors.

Illustration of how sinkhole forms. Source: Daily Express, July 29 2012

A soluble layer of clay and topsoil enables water to pass through to underlying rock. Eventually the rock is dissolved, forming a cave. Over time, the roof of this cave collapses to form a sinkhole.


Sinkholes can also be caused by man?

Not all sinkholes are natural geological occurrences.

Human activities and practices have also been implicated in sinkholes. For example when natural water drainage patterns are changed or diverted, the upward pressure of water may not keep the surface stable, which can result in sinkholes.

So, in the name of development and hunger for energy, when we go about doing some cracking jobs on mother earth (e.g. mining and oil explorations) do consider about the natural and environmental impacts of those activities.

How do electric eels generate voltage?

The electric eels - a type of knifefish - are capable of generating powerful electric shocks of up to around 600 volts. They use it for both hunting and self-defense.

Image: Wikipedia

The source of their power is a battery-like array of cells known as electrocytes, which make up around 80% of the eel's metre-long body. These disc-shaped electricity producing cells each acquire a small potential difference of around 1/10th of a volt by controlling the flow of sodium and potassium ions across the cell membranes.

Image: enchantedlearning.com

When linked together in arrays of thousands of individual cells, the result is a kind of natural car battery, which releases its charge when the eel spots predators or prey. Up to 500 Watt (think about the portable gasoline generator you have at home) of electric power is released per shock. That sort of power is enough to inflict significant injury on a human.

Bird that flies like bug

A little bit of science today but hopefully one that's interesting.

Ever wonder how hummingbirds float on air hovering around flowers in search of nectar, much like insects and bugs do? That's because they pretty much fly the same way. Well, almost.

Hovering gently over a flower. Image credit: Janine Russell

An insect (bee) approaching a flower petal. Image credit: Fotoopa

Hummingbirds pull off their aerial antics by flying more like insects than their fellow birds. Most birds only produce lift in the downward flap, i.e. their wings are drawn towards their body on the upstroke. But the hummingbird, by flipping its wing before it flaps upwards, can create lift in both directions. Insects do the same thing but doing so at different percentage of downstroke/upstroke lifting ratio.

The lift on hummingbirds is obtained from 75% downstroke and 25% upstroke. For all other birds, the lift is 100% downstroke. In comparison, bugs get theirs from 50%-50% up and downstroke.

How do hummingbirds flip their wings since they have bones, unlike insects? Biologists say they twist their wrists before each upstroke.

Ouch! I can't take twisting my wrist 140 degree before every movement. Madness, that would be awfully painful.

USM invented slimming noodle

Fancy enjoying your favorite noodle while losing weight at the same time? You can, now. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) researchers have created dry yellow noodles to help consumers lose weight.

USM's Prof Azhar and Li Ling Yun showing the layered noodles. Photo: The Star Online.

The capsaicin-enriched layered noodles invented by researchers headed by Prof Azhar Mat Easa is believed to be the first of its kind in the world and it has won them a Malaysian Invention and Design Society 2012 gold medal.

"Capsaicin is an active hot substance found in plants like chili and not many can consume it in large amounts," he told a press conference.

He said in developed countries, like the United States, capsaicin was taken in the form of capsules and had a side effect on users as it contained chemicals, and also required a considerable expenditure. Azhar said the product was the first of its kind in the world because it offered a supply of capsaicin without irritation or a sting in the mouth.

He said layered noodle could help reduce up to a kilogramme in weight a week if 50 grammes were consistently taken daily.

"The layered noodle is cross-blended and capsaicin is flanked by two layers of flour making it more elastic and dense.

"These characteristics allow the noodle to stay longer in the system and enable the substance to burn calories in the body," he said.

Other than being nutritious and filling, the product could be enjoyed just like any other typical noodles. USM was discussing with several companies to commercialise the product which was expected to hit the market soon.

How much: RM7 per 100 grammes (two servings)
Availability: Soon to be announced. Stay tuned!


The Green Mechanics: Less chemicals and more natural ingredients in a food. Eat and still lose weight, that's a bonus. I like it (although I don't see myself being overweight).

Source: The Star Online, June 7, 2012

Robotic fish to detect pollution in ports and harbours

Move over robo-cop, make room for the young, slick, finned super-cop of the ocean.

1.5metre long robotic fish. Photo by BMT

Shoal, a consortium of six European organisations, has developed a new robotic fish that can detect pollution in ports and harbours. This is a combine effort of researchers on artificial intelligence (AI), robotic development, chemical sensory, hydrodynamics, and communication.


The robo-fish

It is a 1.5m long yellow-coloured robotic fish, powered by a battery that can run for up to 8 hours before needing to be recharged. The robo-fish is fitted with a range of sensors that help it to safely navigate in the waters and it has been designed not to disturb other marine creatures.

The robo-fish uses artificial intelligence to map where to go, collects and records samples, records the location of the samples and identifies their chemical composition, and communicates the information through shallow water to the base station on shore.

What this robo-fish do is that it cut the detection time and analysis of pollutants in sea water from weeks to just a few seconds.


How it benefits the ports

Chemical sensors fitted to the fish perform real-time in-situ analysis, compared with the current time consuming method of sample collection, dispatch to a shore-based laboratory for analysis. The artificial intelligence which has been introduced means that the fish can identify the source of pollution, enabling prompt and more effective remedial action.


Security risk

Like all other remotely controlled equipment, Mr. Robo-fish can be improvised and used by interested parties to spy on others while doing its routine sampling works. On a lighter note, this should be an interesting toy to play around with.

Is cold water heavier than hot water?

Hot air rises and cold air sinks. So yeah, the same applies with water. Not really. Short answer is No. Long answer: It is not as simple as that. But wait, why is science so complicated?

| f/5.6 | 1/60sec | ISO200 | 135mm | Spot metering |

Cold water is denser than hot water because the individual molecules move more slowly and thus pack together more tightly. This applies only to water at temperature above 4^oC. So, a litre of water at 4^oC weighs about 4.3% more than a litre of water at just below boiling point. But that's because to fill a litre bottle with water at 4^oC, you need to add more molecules of water than you do when the water is at 100^oC.

If you take a sealed litre bottle of water at 100^oC and let it cool to 4^oC, without losing or gaining any molecules, it should weigh the same. Right? Not really. Scientist found that the mass actually drops!

Einstein's equation, E = mc² means that mass and energy are actually the same thing. By removing energy from a system, you are also taking some of its mass. As the water cools, it loses energy and therefore mass, and the surrounding/atmosphere gains energy (or mass) by the same amount.

The effect is very small, and for each ^oC that the litre of water cools, it loses 4.7 x 10^-14 kg. That is about the weight of two human sperm cells!


Cut the crap, which is heavier - hot water or cold water?

Neither. One kg of cold water weighs the same as one kg of hot water. The difference is their density. Water gets denser as it cools down to 4^oC, then starts expanding again (less denser) as it gets colder than 4^oC. This is the reason all is not ice in the North Pole. There is water below the iceberg with temperature of about 4^oC and fish adapts to this temperature to live there.
 

Double Six for Venus to cross the sun's face

If you are in East Malaysia, mention Double Six memorial and you'll be referred to the tragic air crash that killed the first Sabah Chief Minister, Tun Fuad Stephens and several of his cabinet ministers in June 6, 1976 near Sembulan Kota Kinabalu.

Come Jun 6 this year and you will be in for another 'double six' but for a different piece of history. Venus will cross the Sun's face as seen from Earth for the last time this century on that date. National Space Agency in a statement said that Malaysians would be able to view Venus moving across the face of the Sun from 6.09am until 12:50pm

Image: Earthsky.org

Venus Transit in brief

What is Venus transit:  An event when Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth and becomes visible against the solar disk (the sun).

When                                   : June 6, 2012
Time                                     : 6.09am until 12:50pm
Where                                  : Around the world (refer below)
How often does this happen    :  At intervals of eight, 105.5, eight and 121.5 years
Last Venus transit                 : June 8, 2004
Next Venus transit                 : June 2133 (you and me will not be around anymore)


Malaysia

Transit of Venus will be observed in Malaysia as early as 06:09:29 and reaches the maximum phase at 09:29:28 and ending at 12:49:57. Sabahans are lucky as sunrise at this time of the year is at about 6.00am, so, you can wake up a bit earlier and see the transit unfold before you.

As such, you will be able to observe the entire phenomenon. Get your photography gear and set it before 6 o'clock in the morning.


Around the world

Europe, Western/Central Asia, Eastern Africa, Western Australia - will only see the end of the phenomenon as it will already be in progress at sunrise.

Western Pacific, Eastern Asia, Eastern Australia - entire phenomenon will be widely visible.

North/Central America, Northern South America  - will see the beginning but the Sun will set before the transit ends.


A word of caution

Observers must use proper safety filters when viewing the phenomenon to avoid permanent eye damage or possible blindness. During the previous solar eclipse, people used heavily filtered telescope, filtered reflections on a pail of still water, and some used old unused/unexposed film (the one used for film photography). Be cautious.

Reference: The Star Online

How fast would you have to run to "walk on water"

I attended a World Water Day recently, but this has nothing to do with conserving water or anything about food security. This is purely for light moment/s.

"Trying to walk on water, kids?"

So, how fast would you have to run to run on water? Science Focus gives us some insight:

To avoid sinking, you need to generate thrust equal to your weight. You generate this by pushing water down and backwards with each step. For a size 9 shoe, you can’t push more than around 3.5 litres of water at a time or you would sink too far and friction with the water would slow you down too much. So that 3.5Kg of water has to be pushed back fast enough to offset your weight.

If you weigh 75kg, you’ll need to push it back at around 11m/s. Since the water moves back as you push it, you need to go twice as fast as that or you would stand still. So that’s a running speed of almost 80km/hr, which would be quite impossible even in a calculation that ignores things like fluid drag.

So, if you can finish a 100m track within 10 seconds, you are running at 10m/s and you are very close, but not quite. I think Usain Bolt won't be able to accomplish that (running on water) either.

Calculation source: Science Focus

Previous article: No Plastic Bottle at World Water Day

Life, 100 Years From Now

BBC News Magazine asked its readers for their predictions of life in 100 years time.

Will there be elevators built to go up there? - Sunrise shot from Kasih Sayang Resort, K.Kinabalu.

With some inspiration from the ten 100-year predictions made by American civil engineer John Elfreth Watkins in 1900, here are the readers' top 20 picks:

1. Oceans will be extensively farmed and not just for fish
2. We will have the ability to communicate through thought transmission
3. Thanks to DNA and robotic engineering, we will have created incredibly intelligent humans who are immortal
4. We will be able to control the weather
5. Antarctica will be "open for business"
6. One single worldwide currency
7. We will all be wired to computers to make our brains work faster
8. Nanorobots will flow around our body fixing cells, and will be able to record our memories
9. We will have sussed nuclear fusion
10. There will only be three languages in the world - English, Spanish and Mandarin
11. Eighty per cent of the world will have gay marriage
12. California will lead the break-up of the US
13. Space elevators will make space travel cheap and easy
14. Women will be routinely impregnated by artificial insemination rather than by a man
15. There will be museums for almost every aspect of nature, as so much of the world's natural habitat will have been destroyed
16. Deserts will become tropical forests
17. Marriage will be replaced by an annual contract
18. Sovereign nation states will cease to exist and there will be one world government
19. War by the West will be fought totally by remote control
20. Britain will have had a revolution

Read BBC News magazine to find out what futurologists think about them. As crazy and impossible as some of these may sound, many of the previous prediction by Watkins actually came true. Check out his 10 predictions one hundred years ago.

Depending on your belief, these could well be signs that the end of time is not too far away.

Can you really go blind by staring at the Sun?

Let's start the week with a question. Can you really go blind by staring at the Sun?

Short answer: No.

Sunrise captured in Penampang, Sabah.

Long answer (I thought you'd love this): Yes, but....

It's possible, but the hazard is often exaggerated. Even at midday, a normal eye will only let in enough light to heat the retina by about 4°C. You need at least 10°C to cause thermal damage. Looking at the Sun during an eclipse for more than a minute can cause damage, because your pupils are more dilated, but it doesn’t result in total blindness and isn’t usually permanent. If the Sun is within 10 minutes of setting below a sea-level horizon, the more dangerous short-wavelength light is absorbed by the atmosphere and it should be quite safe to look at the Sun.

Source: sciencefocus.com