By Marc Timm

Well here they are, the March Science Snippets From the Far side of Science. I am having a great time putting this column together each month and I hope you are enjoying the cool science stuff highlighted each month. If you have any topics you would like some insight into, please email me at lightworker@mindspring.com. Thanks for all your emails and comments to date. Keep it up. I look forward to receiving your feedback and suggestions. Together we can explore the far side of science.

ANTHRAX ANNIHILATOR

NASA Research, aimed at building better green houses in space, may have a very down to Earth application, helping rid our interior spaces of anthrax. At first glance building space-based greenhouses and our fight on terror may seem to have little in common. A technology developed for NASA may, however, prove to have tremendous terrestrial benefits as well.

As plants grow, they produce the chemical, ethylene. On Earth, ethylene causes fruits and vegetables to mature. In a closed environment, buildup of ethylene causes "space-based" plants to mature and ripen prematurely, causing problems on future long duration space flights. To counter this problem, NASA has developed a system that removes the ethylene. The system uses titanium dioxide exposed to UV light to convert ethylene to carbon dioxide and water.

During trials, researchers noticed that the system also seemed to reduce the number of airborne dust mites in the growth chambers. In additional to decreasing the dust mite populations, the system could be used to reduce populations of many other pathogens, including anthrax.

This discovery led researchers to test the system on Bacillus thurengiensis, a non-virulent cousin of anthrax. Initial testing proved very promising, resulting in a pathogen reduction of 90%. With modifications to the systems, the thought is that even greater results can be achieved.

The AiroCide TiO2 may prove to be an effective tool for allowing long duration space flights in the future, and even more importantly, may prove to be a tool against bio-terrorism here on earth.

FREEDOM CAR

The US Government is currently working with automakers to develop hydrogen as an alternate fuel for cars, thus reducing our dependencies on foreign oil.

The program, called "Freedom Car" will be funded by the government and strives to support fuel cell development as well as infrastructure development and implementation, required to deliver hydrogen fuel to consumers. To date, automakers have succeeded in building a few highly fuel-efficient cars, but they would cost several thousand dollars more than comparably priced cars if sold today.

Fuel cells produce electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen. The by-products are heat and pure water. NASA has been using fuel cells to produce electricity on spacecrafts since the sixties. The by-products of the electricity generating processes are so clean, shuttle astronauts use the water produced by fuel cells as their water source.

Advances in manufacturing and materials are making the use of fuel cell technology more attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels. One big challenge, however, facing proponents of fuel cell technology is implementation of a nationwide infrastructure needed to deliver hydrogen to consumers. One manufacturer has recently announced a fuel cell based 1-kW Fuel Cell Stationary Power Generator.

If fuel cell technology really gets your motor going, you'll find some links at the bottom of this article that will allow you to get plugged into the latest advances in the technology.

FAT SWEDES

A study conducted in Sweden could point to the fact that long term stress could make people fat. Stress seems to concentrate fat around the abdomen, raising the risk of heart problems and diabetes, a study by the university hospital in the Swedish city of Gothenburg found.

Thomas Ljung, who led the study, said, "The stress system has developed to deal with periods of brief stress for stone-age man preparing for battle or flight. But in today's civilized world, stress is different. One does not beat up the boss or run away from the mortgage institute."

Stress causes the body to create an excess of insulin, which stimulates an enzyme that gathers fat around the abdomen, leading to our well known "pot bellies". Though these are often associated with middle-aged men, a surprisingly large number of women have a disproportionate amount of fat around their waists, he said.

This study provides yet more evidence that we should all take more care of our selves, reduce our stress levels and "go with the flow".

MORE FAT BUSTING

An Australian researcher, searching for a cure for diabetes, has potentially developed a true fat busting drug that appears to have no side effects. Obesity is one of the main reasons that Type 2 diabetes is set to be the new pandemic of the 21st century, according to the World Health Organization. One hundred and fifty million people globally have diabetes, and that number is expected to double by 2025.

The treatment is based on an element in the human growth hormone that has long been known to reduce body fat. Should trials prove out, pills could be available in around four years to the millions of people looking for a miracle -- and easy -- beer gut cure.

Stay tuned, there may be a smaller you in your future.

THINGS ARE HEATING UP… AGAIN

NOAA scientists are observing a steady evolution toward El Niño conditions and predict a localized warming of sea surface temperatures off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru over the next few weeks.

Based on the latest observed oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns, sea-surface temperature predictions and the time of year, NOAA scientists say it seems likely an El Niño will develop in the tropical Pacific in the next three months. El Niño episodes occur roughly every four-to-five years and can last up to 12-to-18 months. It has been nearly four years since the end of the 1997-1998 El Niño, which was followed by three years of La Niña.

Increased rainfall across the southern US as well as Peru are consequences of an El Niño. Destructive flooding, and drought in the West Pacific as well devastating brush fires in Australia can also be associated with El Niño events.

A REAL STOP LIGHT EXPERIMENT

Lene Hau, a scientist at Harvard University has recently accomplished the seemingly impossible. She has stopped laser light in mid-air and then sent it on its way. Light normally travels at 300,000 meters per second. At that speed, light could travel around the Earth in under a second. Hau managed to slow the speed of light down to just 17 meters per second using a small cloud, no bigger than a grain of salt. The cloud is a form of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate. When Hau shined a laser into the condensate, it was transformed into an optical equivalent of syrup. Light passed through the condensate at a greatly reduced speed, emerging from the goop and then traveling on at the normal speed of light.

Hau uses a second laser beam to make the condensate completely opaque. To capture the first laser light, Hau fires the second laser to turn the condensate opaque, capturing the first laser light in the slow moving condensate. Firing the second laser again turns the condensate clear allowing the light "stuck" in the condensate to shoot out at the normal speed of light.

Testing is currently under way to increase the length of time that light can be "held" within the condensate. To date, the maximum time a laser can be "held" is on the order of magnitude of 1 millisecond. The ability to stop and start light offers the promise of faster computers and microcircuits.

Anthrax Annihilator:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/01feb_anthrax.htm

Freedom Car
One of the largest manufacturers of commercial fuel cell technology: http://www.ballard.com/
How fuel cells work: http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm
Large commercial fuel cell systems: http://www.utcfuelcells.com/

Things Are heating Up… Again
Here's the official El Niño home page: http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/
EL Niño data can be found here: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/

A Real Stop Light Experiment
Here's a link to Lene Vestergaard Hau research site at Harvard: http://www.deas.harvard.edu/faculty/hau.html

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Marc Timm has been involved in science and engineering for practically my entire career. He graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a Degree in Biomedical Engineering and a Minor in Electrical Engineering. He began working with GE, a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center upon graduation where he developed many science hardware items used to understand the effects of microgravity on humans in space. He then relocated to the Kennedy Space Center, where he expanded these skills into developing systems and managing programs investigating the effects of microgravity on plants and animals. You can reach Marc by email here.