Hello all I am going to enter the Healthcare innovation contest this
year. My idea is based on the fact that the flu virus and other
respiratory viruses activate interferon's that result in cell death by
cytotoxic T-cells reducing the cell count in the nasal cavity, and the
fact that bacterial infections could have he opposite effect because of
the emergence of macrophages to clear the infection. It has also been
noted that bacterial infection due to the clearing of mucus secreting
epithelial cells is a rare but could cause problems in this test. I am
going to preform an experiment to test this hypothesis. I will be using
nasopharyngeal, and sputum specimens to preform cell counts on
individuals with confirmed influenza, on healthy patients, and on
patients with a bacterial infection like strep A. I will preform the
cell count with a Wright stain and a high powered light microscope. I
will then compare the positive flu sputum to the healthy and bacterial
infected sputum, and will do the same with the nasopharyngeal
specimens. I will try to get a minimum of thirty samples so that my
error rate can be within three significant figures. If my hypothesis is
correct this can be used as an at home or field screening tool for
respiratory viral and bacterial infections by using the cell phone
cytometer developed by by Aydogan Ozcan’s group at University of
California, Los Angeles (Anal. Chem., Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/ac201587a) and described by this article http://www.labtimes.org/labtimes/trick/tricks/2011_05.lasso
My
research can also lead to a cheaper method of screening for respiratory
viral and bacterial infections by removing the need for costly test
kits and instrumentation and instead using already established
instrumentation like the iris from iris diagnostic. Some might say that
the viscosity of sputum is too great and will clog the instrument but
this can easily be overcome with the use of sputolysum.
here is a link to the contest I am entering http://ceshealth.com/
References:
http://www.medicinenet.com/interferon/article.htm
http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/mhunt/flu.htm
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/viruses/influenzavirus.html
http://www.labtimes.org/labtimes/trick/tricks/2011_05.lasso
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/340?fmt_view=mobile
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
My Interview with Charles Stevens - An Update on "Laser" Powered Cars
Last night I had a conversation with "doctor" Charles Stevens about
his invention the thorium laser powered car. In our discussion we talked
about my invention, and how his invention was completely different from
mine and he went on to tell me how his invention might work in the
future. Here is how the conversation when along.
He started out the conversation by saying that his invention does not use a laser in the traditional sense of a focused beam of light. He said that this was a misconception by the reporters who had published articles about his invention on the internet. Instead, he thinks that if one was able to heat the element thorium enough it would become sub critical and start releasing electrons in the form of heat. Thorium would then start decaying into an isotope of lead. During this decaying process thorium produces heat and when placed in water it creates steam. The steam could then be pressurized like in a pressure cooker. From this point the pressurized steam could be released to directly power anything you could think of. His idea would be to power a turbine that is connected to a generator to power say a car. He claimed his current system would be about the size of a small refrigerator and could produce 10 kilowatts of electricity. He said this would be enough to power a small home but there is possibility to connect multiple systems together or to make a larger system to power larger buildings. I stopped him here to ask him about some pretty obvious problems with this type of system if it was to be implemented.
I first asked about the spent thorium we will have after it has finished decaying to a radio active isotope of lead. He responded by saying that this isotope of lead is much more valuable then its thorium counter part because it can be used by the medical community to test for and treat cancer. He also mentioned the probability of the lead being recycled in other ways like recharging it back to uranium or thorium again but the technology to do such a thing does not exist yet. I then proceeded to ask him about the problem of excess heat that this type of reactor would give off. He then told me then he would channel this heat with what I presume would be some sort of heat sinks into a type of dehumidifier. This dehumidifier would then produce condensation and create cool drinking water by sucking out the moister from the air around it. He also stated that this dehumidifier could act as a type of air scrubber that could clean the air " thus solving all of modern mans problems of having clean air, clean water, and energy".
I then asked him why his product has not been put out into the world yet. He replied "there was too much red tape to cut through and too many laws to follow. " he went on to say that the lobbyists and the president would rather turn a blind eye to this technology in favor of other EV's and solar energy. he went on to say he would like to market his technology to third world countries that have much larger problems with clean water, air and energy but for now his dream of a laser power car has been put on the back burner.
I then asked him about my laser project that I have been tinkering with. He has taken a look at it and did not think it would work for two reasons. The first being the solar collector laser would not produce the same power as the solid state laser in the video. He also went on to say that he helped review that project with the laser propulsion craft and even with a solid state laser the craft was not capable of lifting anything other than itself off the ground and it was very unstable. Thus, the cones could not power a crank shaft directly.
Our conversation then ended here and he finished by saying that he "appreciated my ideas and if more people would get their head in the game the world would be a better place."
Though after researching more about Dr. Charles Stevens I could not find any reliable credentials to confirm he was in fact a doctor at all. I do believe he has some amazing ideas that he has shared with the world and I think that if more people would just think out side of the box and "get their head in the game" so to speak I think we would be living in our imagined future sooner rather than later.
References:
My laser power car idea can be scene at the following link http://www.juliansportfolio.com/My_Projects.html
Charels Stevens website can be found here http://laserpowersystems.com/
Here is an example of the decay of thorium to lead wich any chemist can say is true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thorium_decay_chain_from_lead-212_to_lead-208.svg
Here is an article from a reliable source explaining the potential for thorium based fuel
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1349_web.pdf
International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) website http://www.iaea.org/About/index.html
He started out the conversation by saying that his invention does not use a laser in the traditional sense of a focused beam of light. He said that this was a misconception by the reporters who had published articles about his invention on the internet. Instead, he thinks that if one was able to heat the element thorium enough it would become sub critical and start releasing electrons in the form of heat. Thorium would then start decaying into an isotope of lead. During this decaying process thorium produces heat and when placed in water it creates steam. The steam could then be pressurized like in a pressure cooker. From this point the pressurized steam could be released to directly power anything you could think of. His idea would be to power a turbine that is connected to a generator to power say a car. He claimed his current system would be about the size of a small refrigerator and could produce 10 kilowatts of electricity. He said this would be enough to power a small home but there is possibility to connect multiple systems together or to make a larger system to power larger buildings. I stopped him here to ask him about some pretty obvious problems with this type of system if it was to be implemented.
I first asked about the spent thorium we will have after it has finished decaying to a radio active isotope of lead. He responded by saying that this isotope of lead is much more valuable then its thorium counter part because it can be used by the medical community to test for and treat cancer. He also mentioned the probability of the lead being recycled in other ways like recharging it back to uranium or thorium again but the technology to do such a thing does not exist yet. I then proceeded to ask him about the problem of excess heat that this type of reactor would give off. He then told me then he would channel this heat with what I presume would be some sort of heat sinks into a type of dehumidifier. This dehumidifier would then produce condensation and create cool drinking water by sucking out the moister from the air around it. He also stated that this dehumidifier could act as a type of air scrubber that could clean the air " thus solving all of modern mans problems of having clean air, clean water, and energy".
I then asked him why his product has not been put out into the world yet. He replied "there was too much red tape to cut through and too many laws to follow. " he went on to say that the lobbyists and the president would rather turn a blind eye to this technology in favor of other EV's and solar energy. he went on to say he would like to market his technology to third world countries that have much larger problems with clean water, air and energy but for now his dream of a laser power car has been put on the back burner.
I then asked him about my laser project that I have been tinkering with. He has taken a look at it and did not think it would work for two reasons. The first being the solar collector laser would not produce the same power as the solid state laser in the video. He also went on to say that he helped review that project with the laser propulsion craft and even with a solid state laser the craft was not capable of lifting anything other than itself off the ground and it was very unstable. Thus, the cones could not power a crank shaft directly.
Our conversation then ended here and he finished by saying that he "appreciated my ideas and if more people would get their head in the game the world would be a better place."
Though after researching more about Dr. Charles Stevens I could not find any reliable credentials to confirm he was in fact a doctor at all. I do believe he has some amazing ideas that he has shared with the world and I think that if more people would just think out side of the box and "get their head in the game" so to speak I think we would be living in our imagined future sooner rather than later.
References:
My laser power car idea can be scene at the following link http://www.juliansportfolio.com/My_Projects.html
Charels Stevens website can be found here http://laserpowersystems.com/
Here is an example of the decay of thorium to lead wich any chemist can say is true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thorium_decay_chain_from_lead-212_to_lead-208.svg
Here is an article from a reliable source explaining the potential for thorium based fuel
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1349_web.pdf
International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) website http://www.iaea.org/About/index.html
Researching a New Cheaper Way to Screen for Respiratory Virus
I am working on a new way to detect a respiratory virus by doing a
cell count on a nasopharyngeal swab that has been vortexed in a saline
solution. A drop of this solution can be placed on a slide and stained
with wright stain. I think the number of epithelial cells present on
this slide is inversely proportional to the amount of virus present in
the specimen and the amount of lymphocytes is directly proportional to
the amount of virus present in the specimen. This test would cut the
cost of screening for virus during the winter down to almost nothing. If
virus is detected a more expensive reflex test could be preformed like
influenza IgG, IgM, or IFA so that Tamiflu can be prescribed to the
immunocompromised. If no virus is present then there is no need to
preform and expensive test. I will be devising an experiment to test
this hypothesis for now here is some interesting preliminary discoveries
that I have made.
The following images are fields of one nasopharyngeal slide stained with Write stain that was positive for influenza A. Notice that the few epithelial cells that are present in the fields have been destroyed either by the virus or by cytotoxic effects from interferon's. Also note the many leukocytes present in these fields.
The following images are fields of one nasopharyngeal slide stained with Write stain that was negative for viral infection. Notice that the epithelial cells that are present are large and healthy and note the rarity of leukocytes when compared to the positive specimen.
The following images are fields of one nasopharyngeal slide stained with Write stain that was positive for influenza A. Notice that the few epithelial cells that are present in the fields have been destroyed either by the virus or by cytotoxic effects from interferon's. Also note the many leukocytes present in these fields.
The following images are fields of one nasopharyngeal slide stained with Write stain that was negative for viral infection. Notice that the epithelial cells that are present are large and healthy and note the rarity of leukocytes when compared to the positive specimen.
Spiders
Bugs have interested me since I was a kid because of the way they
move so alien like and how they react to the things around them.The most
intriguing to me is the spider because it has almost magical abilities.
It can shoot webs stronger than steal. It can make it self almost
invisible, and it can move like a shadow. One of my secret goals and
thoughts has been to try and recreate some of the spiders special
abilities. Imagine if you had a device that can allow you to move as
fast and as agile as a spider up a wall or shoot webs like Stan Lee's
Spider Man and fly through the skies. I found that some people have
already started this research for me. I invite you to check out this
experiment conducted by researchers at Cambridge University that is
about how spiders move their legs in spite of the fact that they lack
muscles to be motile. What they have found is that spider hearts might
act like powerful hydraulic pumps that can react in a split second. Here
is the link
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~eshyr/n/survey/hydraulic_mechanism.pdf
I will be updating this post with my ideas on how to make a spider leg that can react as quickly as a live spiders. I am also thinking of ideas on how one might control a spider as a type of platform for a cybernetic organism like they can do with fly's, and cockroaches
Here is an amazing article about a scientist that is working on the medicinal and magical properties of spider silk. http://gu.com/p/3dx6h In it professor Fritz Vollrath tells about his discovery of how our own human cells grow along the spider silk as if it were our own collagen and how he found a way to melt the webs to forge them into a plastic like material that can be used to make anything from knee joints to artificial hearts.
I will be updating this post with my ideas on how to make a spider leg that can react as quickly as a live spiders. I am also thinking of ideas on how one might control a spider as a type of platform for a cybernetic organism like they can do with fly's, and cockroaches
Here is an amazing article about a scientist that is working on the medicinal and magical properties of spider silk. http://gu.com/p/3dx6h In it professor Fritz Vollrath tells about his discovery of how our own human cells grow along the spider silk as if it were our own collagen and how he found a way to melt the webs to forge them into a plastic like material that can be used to make anything from knee joints to artificial hearts.
Laser Powered Engine
The Laser Powered Motor:
For this project I am combining two technologies that are not my own.
I came up with this idea after watching a video on you tube of a laser powered elevator that will soon enable us to travel to outer space with out the use of costly chemical fuels. In the video a man focuses a high powered laser made of infrared light on to a parabolic cone shaped mirror. The light emitting from the laser condenses on the outer edges of the cone and a quick explosion occurs sending the shape flying upward toward the sky. The scientist in the video said the problem they were having with this technology was stabilizing the air craft. I thought, "what if instead of using this technology to power an air craft we use this energy in a centrifugal force to power a crank shaft in an automobile". The scientist said that this form of energy is extremely efficient when compared to a chemical fueled engine and it could be much lighter weight because of the lack of a need to carry fuel. This is ideal for land travel as well.
The next stage to this project was how to power this laser. After a little research I found that students in Japan are developing a solar powered laser. Their intention for the laser is to blast magnesium with it and create a large source of energy from it. The problem with this is that it is not renewable and still produces a waist product.
However, if you combine these two ideas you have a perpetual renewable source of energy. I have placed a diagram below to give some idea about how this machine would work.
The
outer diameter of the fly wheel would be studded with parabolic shapes
that a laser would shine into and produce propulsion much like the craft
in the YouTube video. The laser beam can be broken up by mirrors to
produce more that one beam that can activate more than one parabola
shape on the fly wheel at a time like the cylinders on a combustion
engine. The laser would be powered by a solar collector much like the
one they are developing in Tokyo Japan.
Here is another version of my idea modifying a modern combustion engine by fitting the pistons with a parabolic shape and using a infrared laser to ignite the air around it to force the piston down.
References:
Here is a link to the article I refer to from MIT's website http://www.technologyreview.com/news/408698/solar-powered-laser/
Here is a link to the YouTube video I saw http://youtu.be/LAdj6vpYppA
For this project I am combining two technologies that are not my own.
I came up with this idea after watching a video on you tube of a laser powered elevator that will soon enable us to travel to outer space with out the use of costly chemical fuels. In the video a man focuses a high powered laser made of infrared light on to a parabolic cone shaped mirror. The light emitting from the laser condenses on the outer edges of the cone and a quick explosion occurs sending the shape flying upward toward the sky. The scientist in the video said the problem they were having with this technology was stabilizing the air craft. I thought, "what if instead of using this technology to power an air craft we use this energy in a centrifugal force to power a crank shaft in an automobile". The scientist said that this form of energy is extremely efficient when compared to a chemical fueled engine and it could be much lighter weight because of the lack of a need to carry fuel. This is ideal for land travel as well.
The next stage to this project was how to power this laser. After a little research I found that students in Japan are developing a solar powered laser. Their intention for the laser is to blast magnesium with it and create a large source of energy from it. The problem with this is that it is not renewable and still produces a waist product.
However, if you combine these two ideas you have a perpetual renewable source of energy. I have placed a diagram below to give some idea about how this machine would work.
The
outer diameter of the fly wheel would be studded with parabolic shapes
that a laser would shine into and produce propulsion much like the craft
in the YouTube video. The laser beam can be broken up by mirrors to
produce more that one beam that can activate more than one parabola
shape on the fly wheel at a time like the cylinders on a combustion
engine. The laser would be powered by a solar collector much like the
one they are developing in Tokyo Japan.Here is another version of my idea modifying a modern combustion engine by fitting the pistons with a parabolic shape and using a infrared laser to ignite the air around it to force the piston down.
References:
Here is a link to the article I refer to from MIT's website http://www.technologyreview.com/news/408698/solar-powered-laser/
Here is a link to the YouTube video I saw http://youtu.be/LAdj6vpYppA
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