Tech wonders

Technology works both ways. Or to put it better, technology is neutral but how we use it taints it.

Take for instance the good. Giant tidal turbine goes on-stream in Scotland. It has capacity for generating 1 MW power to power 1000 homes; if successful, hundreds more will be insatlled.

And the bad. Mean machines are being deployed to fell trees as quickly as possible. If you have seen Avataar, you will recognise the Timberjack Walking Machine that makes child play of bringing down a tree. Tree Smasher, Disc Trenchers, etc are toys built for destruction.

Engineering student Maxwell von Stein applied the principles of a hybrid car to the bicycle to harness the kinetic energy typically lost when braking. With a variable transmission and a flywheel mounted to the bike’s frame, von Stein’s bike allows the rider to pick up speed faster after stopping than with a battery.

A similar prototype bus was designed earlier which stores up the energy generated during brakes application and supplements the diesel engine power with this!