Simanaitis Says

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Category Archives: Sci-Tech

UCI’S HYDROGEN BATTERY

HYDROGEN STORAGE promises to make renewable energy sources more efficient. The University of California Irvine is at the forefront of this hydrogen battery research and, in fact, it has already … Continue reading →

December 4, 2016 · 1 Comment

DOES AIRPLANE AIR MITIGATE JET LAG?

PEOPLE WHO MAKE long-haul aircraft trips are no strangers to jet lag, the delayed response of our bodies to different time zones around the world. Nor are travelers particularly fond … Continue reading →

December 1, 2016 · Leave a comment

VARIABLE COMPRESSION RATIOS–NISSAN, HONDA AND THE CFR

AS NOTED BY edmunds.com, Nissan made news at the 2016 Paris Motor Show with its variable-compression-ratio VC-T engine scheduled for production in the 2018 Infiniti QX50 crossover. Not that it’s … Continue reading →

November 20, 2016 · 1 Comment

BATTLING ALGORITHMS

MACHINE LEARNING benefits mankind only if the machine learns things to mankind’s benefit. I do not intend this simply as a play on words or philosophical tautology. The thought arose … Continue reading →

November 18, 2016 · Leave a comment

CURTA CURTAIN CALL

THE CURTA CALCULATOR looks like a pepper grinder with numerals peering out. There’s a crank on the top that whirs with reassuring precision. And anyone serious about Time-Speed-Distance rallying in … Continue reading →

November 13, 2016 · Leave a comment

SO, HOW FAR IS THAT STATION ANYWAY?

STUDENTS USED TO tell me they liked having the answer in the back of the textbook. Here, in a sense, it’s in the back of the website. Yesterday’s Peg Lynch … Continue reading →

November 11, 2016 · 4 Comments

NANOCAR RACING

HERE’S RACING that makes Formula 1 look low-tech. Nanocar racing is right up there, er… down there with the 1966 sci-fi flick Fantastic Voyage. In Fantastic Voyage, a submarine with … Continue reading →

November 3, 2016 · 2 Comments

TRUTH AND PROOF: AN EXAMPLE FROM EASY NUMBER THEORY

THIS PARTICULAR election campaign–thank goodness it’s almost over!– has been littered with innuendo, accusation and downright prevarication. As a counterpoint, I offer an example of truth, verified by genuine, unadulterated … Continue reading →

November 2, 2016 · 2 Comments

SCIENCE AND THE CITY

A NEW BOOK, Science and the City: The Mechanics Behind Metropolis is a must-read. A book review titled “Street Smart,” by Sybil Derrible, is in the latest Science, October 21, … Continue reading →

October 29, 2016 · 1 Comment

DIRECTIONS IN 3D PRINTING

3D PRINTING, also known as additive manufacturing, is the layer-by-layer fabrication of a product done under computer control. Science magazine, published weekly by the American Association of Science, offers an … Continue reading →

October 12, 2016 · 3 Comments