Now You Can Charge Mobiles With Your Body Heat!

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Erlangen, Germany, have developed new circuits that can harness electricity from body heat that would otherwise be dissipated into the air. The scientists say the advance could lead to battery-less cell phones and medical monitors that draw energy from their users.
“The idea behind it is that you can replace the batteries or at least you can enlarge the operation times of batteries,” said Peter Spies, electrical engineer and group manager at the institute.
Spies and his team improved upon semiconductors called thermoelectric generators that produce electrical energy in the face of temperature differences.
Normally, a difference of several tens of degrees is required in order to generate enough power, but the difference between the body’s surface temperature and that of its environment is only a few degrees. This produces about 250 millivolts, while electronic devices require at least one or two volts.
As part of their research, Spies and his team incorporated a component into the circuit called a charge pump. The pump temporarily stores the incoming millivolts until they reach 1.8 volts. At that threshold, an internal transistor turns on and delivers the higher voltage to a component that can transfer the electricity to a device.
Matthias Ueltzen, an application engineer at Freiburg, Germany-based Micropelt, a developer and manufacturer of thermoelectrics, said, while the “idea of generating some electric power from the heat of the body is a great idea,” there are certain difficulties, which lie in the low temperature differences between the skin and the outside air.
“Only a very small part of the thermal heat flow can be converted into electrical power, and for that reason, the technology may only work for applications that don’t require a lot of energy,” said Ueltzen.

Use Of Mobile Phones May Increase Risk Of Hearing Loss: Study

A preliminary study conducted by the ENT department at the PGI in Chandigarh has shown that long-term mobile phone users are at a higher risk of developing hearing loss, particularly at higher speech frequencies.
Presence of fullness in the ears, ear warmth and prevalence of strange noises in the ear were some of the complaints that long-term mobile phone users faced frequently.
The study, conducted over a period of 18 months, studied nearly 100 long-term mobile phone users in Chandigarh.
The subjects were divided into three categories — people using mobile phones for one to two years, two to four years and above four years.
“The study was aimed to assess if long term mobile use had adverse effects on hearing and central auditory pathways,” said Dr Naresh Panda, HoD, of the Otolaryngology department. “We found that people using mobile phone for more than four years and for longer periods than 30 minutes in a day are at risk of developing hearing loss at a later stage,” Dr Panda added.
He said that the hearing level of the subjects were tested at different frequencies and certain abnormalities were recorded in these subjects.He added that use of earphones would help in minimising the risks. He said that most of the risks occurring due to electro magnetic radiation will be reduced , if the phone is held away from the ear.The team, including Dr Jaimanti Bakshi and Dr Rishab Jain, emphasised that the study was only preliminary and a larger study needs to be done to arrive at concrete conclusions.
“We want to tell people that there is a possibility of hear loss, which cannot be reversed,” said Dr Panda. The department has applied to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for more funds to conduct a larger study on the issue. “In order to reach a scientific conclusion we need to cover a larger population,” Dr Panda said.

Workshop On Developing Low Cost Communication Materials

A Daylong Teachers’ Workshop on Low Cost Communication Materials Development was held on 12 May 2007 at Birjhora Higher Secondary School, Bongaigaon, Assam. Mr. Pulin Choudhury, Principal of Birjhora HS School, inaugurated the workshop that was organized by Aaranyak, a society for bio-diversity conservation in Northeast India, and supported by Rufford Foundation. Mr. Choudhury, in his speech, pointed out that though the Environment Education is already introduced in our educational institutes, we have lots to do for proper utilization of the course.
Mr. Dhrubajyoti Kalita, Organizing Secretary, Aaranyak discussed about various techniques of developing low cost communication materials which may be used in interior places for making the environment education effective and joyful. He displayed various types of communication materials made of wastes available in our surrounding. As a part of the practical session, the participants prepared a model Hand Written Magazine.
Dr. Hillol Jyoti Singha, Publicity Secretary, Aaranyak, briefed up the practical session and appealed the participants to prepare more such types of materials with a view to make the environment education learning process to children more effective. School Teachers, NGO workers and Science Communicators from different places of Bongaigaon District attended the programme.
Mr. Ananta Bora & Mr. Dipak Konwar, environmentalists of Aaranayak, coordinated the programme.
The detail about this event was stated in a press release by Mr. Dhrubajyoti Kalita, Organising Secretary, Aaranyak, Guwahati-28, Mobile: 9864069583. The office of the organization is situated at Samanwoy Path, Survey, Beltola, Guwahati-28, and Ph. 0361-2228418.

Talk & Slide Show On Snakes At “Aarohan”, Guwahati

In an effort to popularize science and sanitize children about environmental issues, Aarohan (run by Bhabendra Nath Saikia Children Welfare Trust, Guwahati-28, Assam) recently organized a series of popular scientific talks at its own premises. As a part of this programme, on 14 May 2007, Mr. Abhijit Das, herpetologist of Herpetology Division, Aaranyak (a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) delivered a talk on Snakes. With the help of beautiful slides, Mr. Das described about variety and variability of shapes, sizes, and colours of different groups of snakes, their diverse mode of life, adaptations in their surrounding environment, and other interesting biological facts about snakes. Colour pictures of all the venomous snakes found in and around human habitation were also showed to the students with an in-depth discussion about snakebite managements.
At the talk, importance of the snakes in our natural environments, scientific facts about snake myths and various conservation issues for these ecologically valuable fauna were discussed. The whole session was interactive in nature and all students came up with their questions, snake experiences and myths about snakes known to them. Besides the children of Aarohan, volunteers, teachers & many guardians attended the programme.
Purnima Devi, a Volunteer of Aaranyak presented a Slide Show related to conservation of Environment.
Dr. Shyamaprasad Sharma, Chairman of Aarohan, also briefed up his practical experiences with snakes around his houses and delineated about the necessity for conservation of these little appreciated animals. He appealed to all students and their guardians to discourage the snake charmers and snake traders who use to take snakes from households. Dr. Sharma also promised students to arrange more talks about snakes in future at Aarohan.
The detail about this event was stated in a press release by Mr. Dhrubajyoti Kalita, Organising Secretary, Aaranyak, Guwahati-28, Mobile: 9864069583. The office of the organisation is situated at Samanwoy Path, Survey, Beltola, Guwahati-28, and Ph. 0361-2228418.