THE GLOBAL SEED VAULT

svalbard Global Seed vault was established to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds in an underground cavern. It is an assurance to reduce of hunger & poverty due to the national disaster. Construction of the Seed Vault, which cost approximately 45 million Norwegian Kroner (9 million USD), was funded entirely by the Government of Norway. The seed bank is constructed 120 meters (390 ft) inside a sandstone mountain at Svalbard on Spitsbergen Island. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened officially on February 26, 2008. The first seeds arrived in January 2008. This vault can storage 4.5 million samples of different seeds in the dry temperature of 0° F (-18° C). This storage process can protect the seeds for the thousands of years. Svalbard Global Seed Vault ranked no.6 on Time’s Best Inventions Of 2008.

5G it is going to happen

The hottest topic at Mobile World Congress 2015 will connect billions of people and things to the internet and one another without wires.

While much of the world is connecting their personal devices to fast data sharing 4G mobile networks, industry pioneers are shaping next generation networks to feed the world’s increasing appetite for the internet.

5G networks aren’t expected to roll out broadly until 2020, but according to analyst firm CCS Insight, 5G will be one of the hottest topics at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That’s because talk is significantly shifting beyond smart pipe dreams into a do-anything-anywhere-from-any-device reality.

In a nutshell, 5G networks will provide more data bandwidth and less latency due to built-in computing intelligence aimed at handling more data more efficiently than today’s 4G networks. By combining communications and computing technologies, 5G networks will leverage more benefits of Moore’s Law, according to Asha Keddy, vice president in Intel’s Communication and Devices Group and general manager of the company’s Standards and Advanced Technology team.

“3G networks were designed for voice while 4G was designed for more complex human interaction with voice and data,” she told iQ just ahead of attending Mobile World Congress for the fifth consecutive year.

Advanced medical alert systems now offer GPS, fall detection

The choices are numerous. Medical alert systems have advanced far beyond the basic pendants that enable a loved one to summon assistance.

Today's range of products includes wristbands, watches and cellphones equipped with emergency buttons or apps. Their capabilities have also expanded to include GPS tracking and fall detection, all of which help users live more independently and keep them safe when they venture outside. That's broadened their appeal from just homebound senior citizens to younger people with physical disabilities and others worried about security.

The whole category started with the Philips Lifeline pendant in 1974. It helped seniors living alone feel safe and gave their loved ones peace of mind. But it only worked in and around the home.

Christopher DeHaven, who uses a wheelchair due to a rare neurodegenerative disorder, had a basic pendant that worked around his home until two months ago. Then he upgraded to a pendant with built-in GPS, the Splash from Philips' rival GreatCall.

The device also enables DeHaven's niece to track his location and movements remotely if he doesn't answer his cellphone.

Other providers include LifeStation, Medical Alert, MobileHelp, ADT Medical Alert, Medical Guardian, Bay Alarm Medical and Life Alert, which runs those "I've fallen and I can't get up" ads.

hydrogen storage solution is powered by solar energy

By using solar energy to reversibly attach and detach hydrogen atoms on a 6-carbon ring called benzene, scientists have developed a simple and efficient method to store, transport, and release hydrogen potentially on a large scale. The hydrogen storage problem is currently one of the biggest challenges facing the development of hydrogen as a widespread energy carrier, and the researchers hope that the new strategy may lead to a safe and inexpensive solution to this problem.

As the researchers explain, hydrogen has a very high mass energy density but a very low volumetric energy density. The high mass energy density, which is at least three times higher than that of other chemical fuels, is what makes hydrogen such an attractive energy carrier. However, its low volumetric energy density under ambient conditions makes it difficult to store large amounts of hydrogen in small spaces. To overcome this problem, hydrogen is often stored at high pressures or low temperatures, but these storage methods present their own challenges.

The hydrogen storage system demonstrated in the new paper works under ambient conditions and stores the hydrogen in abundant, lightweight, and inexpensive molecules called hydrocarbons. The researchers demonstrated that six hydrogen atoms can be added to benzene (C6H6) in a "hydrogenation" process that forms cyclohexane (C6H12), which serves as the hydrogen carrier. In the reverse process, cyclohexane is "dehydrogenated" as the six carbons are removed and available for use in energy storage devices and other applications.

This method of storing hydrogen atoms in hydrocarbons is not new, but because the dehydrogenation process requires a large amount of energy to proceed, current versions always require high temperatures to release the hydrogen.

Since performing the reaction at high temperatures is not suitable for practical applications, here the researchers demonstrated that solar energy can be used to drive the dehydrogenation reaction at ambient temperatures. This process involves using platinum-based nanoparticles as photocatalysts. After absorbing incoming photons, the platinum nanoparticles temporarily donate their photoexcited electrons to the cyclohexane molecules, breaking the carbon-hydrogen bonds and releasing the hydrogen atoms without the need for elevated temperatures.