Archive for September, 2008
Early parenting plays key role in infants’ physiological response to stress
Saturday, September 20th, 2008Oil sands upgrader
Friday, September 19th, 2008
Oil sands are naturally occurring mixtures of clay, sand, water and extremely viscous bitumen. Such deposits in Canada alone are thought to contain 173.7 billion barrels of oil, a source of oil second in size only to Saudi Arabia.
The extreme viscosity of oil sands, though, makes them very expensive to mine, and difficult to process when they have been dug up, although the recent dramatic increase in oil prices is making extraction commercially viable.
But Steve Larter, co-director of the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for In Situ Energy at the University of Calgary, and colleagues think the process can be made much simpler.
They propose a way to "upgrade" oil sands while they are still in the ground, starting the refining process early, and making them flow more easily. Their method is to pump hydrogen and particles of a catalyst down into a well while simultaneously heating the oil sands.
That breaks the long chain hydrocarbons in the bitumen into smaller molecules that flow better and are easier to pump and store.
As well as making it easier to pump, Carter and his team say that "down-hole upgrading" reduces the amount and cost of equipment and storage facilities needed on the surface.
Read the full oil sands thinner patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
The extreme viscosity of oil sands, though, makes them very expensive to mine, and difficult to process when they have been dug up, although the recent dramatic increase in oil prices is making extraction commercially viable.
But Steve Larter, co-director of the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for In Situ Energy at the University of Calgary, and colleagues think the process can be made much simpler.
They propose a way to "upgrade" oil sands while they are still in the ground, starting the refining process early, and making them flow more easily. Their method is to pump hydrogen and particles of a catalyst down into a well while simultaneously heating the oil sands.
That breaks the long chain hydrocarbons in the bitumen into smaller molecules that flow better and are easier to pump and store.
As well as making it easier to pump, Carter and his team say that "down-hole upgrading" reduces the amount and cost of equipment and storage facilities needed on the surface.
Read the full oil sands thinner patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
Face blindness research shows emotions are key in the study of face recognition
Friday, September 19th, 2008Context is everything: An Armani ad on 1 page changes perception of Honda ad on next page
Friday, September 19th, 2008Looking versus seeing
Thursday, September 18th, 2008Baby eyes are taking in the world, applying self-experience to other people
Thursday, September 18th, 2008Quad bike skis
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Quad bikes are expensive machines that are designed to cope with a wide range of terrains, and are known in some parts of the world as all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). But they do not always cope with snow as well as some users would like.For all those people, Michael Nanowski and Umed Panu at Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada, have developed a pair of skis that can replace the front wheels of an ATV.
They fit onto the same bolts that usually hold the wheels in place. The result is an easier ride over snow and greater control for the driver.
Read the full patent application for quad bike skis.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
