Norman Wood, an aerodynamics and flow control engineer at Airbus UK, believes there's a lot the air industry and science can learn from nature.
He met BBC Points West's Dave Harvey at the International Centre for Birds of Prey in Newent, Gloucestershire.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8835000/8835877.stm
X-Seed 4000 is a proposed skyscraper that looks oddly like Mt. Fuji. Perhaps it’s unsurprising that it could be eventually built in Tokyo, Japan. The tallest building ever fully designed, the X-Seed 4000 would house between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people. A tiny quantity of individuals, if you take into account that the technology to “fabricate” mature adult individuals from raw materials is probably only a few decades away. (A topic that probably deserves a post all its own.)
The X-Seed 4000, which would be 4,000 meters high (13,123.2 feet), would in fact be taller than Mt. Fuji, which is merely 3776 meters high (12,388 ft).
The proposed structure would have a base 6 km wide and contain 800 floors. Designed by Taisei Construction Corporation, this mountain-shaped living environment would be powered by solar power and blend together high living with natural surroundings. It seems odd to claim that it would be powered by the sun entirely – this would mean that the company either intends to devote entire floors to nothing but solar panels or that it has found a way to power buildings economically with minimal paneling. In any case, it seems like nuclear power would be just as good.
Designed as an “intelligent building” the super-futuristically-named X-Seed 4000 would maintain light, temperature, and air pressure in response to changing external weather conditions. Because it has already been fully designed using materials available today, the structure could, in principle, be built, although it would likely cost several hundred billion dollars, if not more. Because the structure would weigh so much, it could only be built on the sea if present-day construction materials were used.
The X-Seed 4000 sounds an awful lot like an arcology, that is, ecological piece of architecture that would contain its own dependent ecosystem as well as human housing. In the long run, as buildings grow to such huge sizes that they become cities unto themselves, the integration of plants and animals will be essential for the preservation of human sanity and basic aesthetics. Eventually the Earth’s surface could become entirely covered in such structures.
Lina Medina, the 5 year-old mother (youngest ever)
Lina Medina (born September 27, 1933 in Paurange, Peru) gave birth at the age of 5 years, 7 months and 21 days and is the youngest confirmed mother in medical history. This world record is closely followed by a similar case in Russia.
Lina was brought to a hospital by her parents at the age of 5 years because of increasing abdominal size. She was originally thought to have had a tumor, but her doctors determined she was in the seventh month of pregnancy. There was never evidence that Lina Medina's pregnancy occurred in any but the usual way, but she never revealed the father of the child, nor the circumstances of her impregnation. She refuses interviews.
Nearly $2bn (£1.3bn) in loan guarantees will be given to two companies to kick-start the US solar energy industry, President Barack Obama has announced.
One of the firms, Abengoa Solar, says that it is planning to build the largest solar power plant in the world in Arizona.
Mr Obama said the projects would provide more than 5,000 new jobs.
The Arizona plant should power 70,000 homes and cut carbon dioxide emissions.
The money will come from government stimulus funds designed to boost the economy during the recession.
Outlining the "Solana" project at Gila Bend near Phoenix, Abengoa said it would have an area of 1,900 acres, using thermal storage-equipped parabolic trough technology, with 280 MW of power output capacity.
According to the company's website, 1,500 new jobs will be created during the plant's construction with 100 positions for staff to maintain it.
'Aggressive'The second company, Abound Solar Manufacturing, will manufacture state-of-the-art thin film solar panels, the first time anywhere that such technology has been used commercially, the BBC's Jane O'Brien reports from Washington.
Plants will be built in Colorado and Indiana, creating 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs, the Associated Press reports.
President Obama had promised during his election campaign for the White House to create manufacturing and construction jobs in the green power industry.
"We're going to to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America," he said on Saturday.
The renewable energy industry in the US faces tough competition from developers in China.
Mr Obama also acknowledged the loans would not be an instant solution.
Around 125,000 jobs were lost in the last month, the government reported.
