The 1,000mph jet car: Bloodhound SSC, a 42ft-long vehicle

From The Sunday Times

October 26, 2008

The 1,000mph jet car

A British team aims to smash the land-speed record with weird science

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Pat Malone

Did your car feel a little underpowered this morning? What you need perhaps is a Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine under the bonnet. Plus, for good measure, a Falcon solid-fuel rocket engine, and for an extra kick, a V12 racing engine. That would give you a top speed of, let’s see, roughly 1,050mph, and allow you to travel 10 miles – a typical journey to the newsagent’s and back – in 34 seconds.

Say hello to the Bloodhound SSC, a 42ft-long vehicle (you can hardly call it a car) in which Wing Commander Andy Green, a former RAF pilot, will attempt to break his own land-speed record. It is 11 years since Green became the first driver to travel faster than the speed of sound, hitting 763mph in the Thrust SSC (supersonic car). The Bloodhound is set to beat that by more than 200mph, reaching 1.4 times the speed of sound. Blink and you’ll miss it. Really. In the sixth of a second it takes you to blink, it will travel nearly the length of a football pitch. This monstrous contraption is blessed with the power of 1,200 family cars. The fuel pump alone has 800 horsepower.  more 

Nicole Kuepper invents a New Solar Cell - Easy As Pizza To Make

ECHNOLOGY

NPR
Weekend Edition Saturday, October 4, 2008 ·

The iJET is a new type of solar cell that's cheap and easy to make, requiring not much more than a pizza oven, some nail polish remover, and a common inkjet printer. Australian scientist Nicole Kuepper describes her invention. read

Robot suit for rent in Japan

The hybrid assistive limb at a demo.
TSUKUBA: A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems, an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly, will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 (about Rs. 1 lakh) a month starting Friday .

HAL, short for “hybrid assistive limb,” is a computerised suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.

The s10-kg battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people as they walk.

Cyberdyne, a company in Tsukuba outside Tokyo, will mass-produce HAL. Two people demonstrated the suits at the company’s headquarters on Tuesday. more

Police dog donates blood, saves colleague

Patna, Oct 7: Three-year-old Bishan donated blood to save Jyoti, who was suffering from high fever and acute anaemia. Both are members of Bihar's police dog squad.

"It is true ... Bishan donated blood to save Jyoti's life. If blood was not given to her on time, she would have died," Om Prakash, a trainer of police dogs, told IANS here Tuesday.

Both are labradors. Bishan is trained to catch criminals; Jyoti is an expert in locating explosives.

The two have become close friends now, said Om Prakash.

"This was not the case before Bishan donated blood," he said. The trainer added that they would study the change in the behaviour of the animals.

Last week, Jyoti's condition deteriorated after she stopped eating. She was taken to the state veterinary hospital where doctors said only a blood transfusion would save her life, officials in the Bihar police dog squad said.

The labrador's haemoglobin level had dropped to 2.5 gm, as compared to the normal levels of 14-15 gm.

"Bishan was tested fit for donating blood by veterinarians and one unit of blood was procured to save Joyti," an official said.

Bishan has now become the hero of the nearly one dozen-strong Bihar dog squad. "We will take special care of Bishan. He deserves the attention," Om Prakash said. read