Another interesting application of diamond films is their use in constructing gamma ray lasers.
It's hard to make such a device, based on the fact that there is not enough energy in an electronic transition to make gamma frequency emmisions. So, instead of electonic transitions, you rely on *nuclear* transitions. You have to pump the nucleus of an unstable isotope with x-rays to acheive population inversion inside the nucleus.
Anyways, you also have to imbed the radionucleide in a matrix, namely thin film diamond. I think the gamma ray laser project was one of the last SDI funded research projects in the 90's. I think they got the whole concept to work, but I'm not sure if it got developed further.
It turns out that phosgene (aka mustard gas) smells just like newly mown hay. Fortunately, if you accidentally make phosogene, and it is within your smell threshold, you're probably dead, and they will be unable to prosecute you for trademark infringement.;)
Well, I don't really understand why this is any different from other biological systems that are known to produce hydrogen. The first three attached references are for microorganisms that produce hydrogen gas as a normal part of their life cycle. In the second reference you can see that the rate of this process has even been measured at about 12 mL per liter of fermentation per hour. This is thee times as fast as what was just announced at Berkeley. The last two references show how some organism can use hydrogen as an energy source. They absorb and "eat" hydrogen. That means that an enzyme in their metabolism can oxidize hydrogen. Enzymatic reactions are all, in principle, reversible. Thus, it is not surprising that a bacteria could catalyze the reverse reaction., the electrochemical reduction of some substrate resulting in hydrogen.
Smooches --- > O'Biquody
References:
1) Electrochemical study of reversible hydrogenase reaction of Desulfovibrio vulgaris cells with methyl viologen as an electron carrier. Anal Chem 1999 May 1;71(9):1753-9
2) Studies on kinetics of substrate utilization of hydrogen production from wastewater with immobilized cells of photosynthetic bacteria. Chin J Biotechnol. 1995;11(1):69-77.
3) Methanogens outcompete sulphate reducing bacteria for H2 in the human colon. Gut. 1994 Aug;35(8):1098-101.
4)Fe(III) as an electron acceptor for H2 oxidation in thermophilic anaerobic enrichment cultures from geothermal areas. Extremophiles 1997 May;1(2):106-9
5) Purification and molecular characterization of the H2 uptake membrane-bound NiFe-hydrogenase from the carboxidotrophic bacterium Oligotropha carboxidovorans. J Bacteriol. 1997 Oct;179(19):6053-60.
There is a cogent aspect of this research and a silly aspect.
The *cogent aspect* is the recognition of how tenacious prokaryotic life is. If you've ever cultured bacteria, you know how they can grow on just about anything. And they are everywhere. If you just lift the cover off your culture plate for several seconds, and put it back, something will eventually grow. There's an organism for almost any condition. Deep sea vent bacteria grow on carbon dioxide and use hydrogen as an energy source. Dienococcus Radiodurans grows in glowing hot radioactive waste.
*Silly Aspect*: We have been exchanging rocks with Mars forever and the chances that we have not *cross contaminated* each other thousands of times are almost zero. The answer to where life started is buried back so far in time, that only planetary geology will give is our best clues to where life began. For all we know, life could have started on Europa, which is probably covered with water as well.
I think the person who figures out how to integrate wearable PC's with the electronic dance music scene will create a new subculture. I'm thinking along the lines of S.R. Delany's cyberpunk book Dhalgren in which street gangs have wearable hologram devices that augment their appearence to huge psychedelic glowing creatures and such.
A wearble PC that could generate interactive visuals and chatting would be so cool! A virtual consensual hallucination (drug free) could be created that would really fit in well with techno and dancing.
Seeing those supermodels in bikinis and techware was pretty funny. But the borgish "ick-factor" was really absent in me when I looked at those pics. I can really see these things becoming all pervasive.
Slashdot Mirror
Another interesting application of diamond films is their use in constructing gamma ray lasers.
It's hard to make such a device, based on the fact that there is not enough energy in an electronic transition to make gamma frequency emmisions. So, instead of electonic transitions, you rely on *nuclear* transitions. You have to pump the nucleus of an unstable isotope with x-rays to acheive population inversion inside the nucleus.
Anyways, you also have to imbed the radionucleide in a matrix, namely thin film diamond. I think the gamma ray laser project was one of the last SDI funded research projects in the 90's. I think they got the whole concept to work, but I'm not sure if it got developed further.
-->OBQT
It turns out that phosgene (aka mustard gas) smells just like newly mown hay. Fortunately, if you accidentally make phosogene, and it is within your smell threshold, you're probably dead, and they will be unable to prosecute you for trademark infringement. ;)
--->OBQT
Well, I don't really understand why this is any different from other biological systems that are known to produce hydrogen. The first three attached references are for microorganisms that produce hydrogen gas as a normal part of their life cycle. In the second reference you can see that the rate of this process has even been measured at about 12 mL per liter of fermentation per hour. This is thee times as fast as what was just announced at Berkeley. The last two references show how some organism can use hydrogen as an energy source. They absorb and "eat" hydrogen. That means that an enzyme in their metabolism can oxidize hydrogen. Enzymatic reactions are all, in principle, reversible. Thus, it is not surprising that a bacteria could catalyze the reverse reaction., the electrochemical reduction of some substrate resulting in hydrogen.
Smooches --- > O'Biquody
References:
1) Electrochemical study of reversible hydrogenase reaction of Desulfovibrio vulgaris cells with methyl viologen as an electron carrier.
Anal Chem 1999 May 1;71(9):1753-9
2) Studies on kinetics of substrate utilization of hydrogen production from wastewater with immobilized cells of photosynthetic bacteria.
Chin J Biotechnol. 1995;11(1):69-77.
3) Methanogens outcompete sulphate reducing bacteria for H2 in the human colon.
Gut. 1994 Aug;35(8):1098-101.
4)Fe(III) as an electron acceptor for H2 oxidation in thermophilic anaerobic enrichment cultures from geothermal areas.
Extremophiles 1997 May;1(2):106-9
5) Purification and molecular characterization of the H2 uptake membrane-bound NiFe-hydrogenase from the carboxidotrophic bacterium Oligotropha carboxidovorans.
J Bacteriol. 1997 Oct;179(19):6053-60.
There is a cogent aspect of this research and a silly aspect.
The *cogent aspect* is the recognition of how tenacious prokaryotic life is. If you've ever cultured bacteria, you know how they can grow on just about anything. And they are everywhere. If you just lift the cover off your culture plate for several seconds, and put it back, something will eventually grow. There's an organism for almost any condition. Deep sea vent bacteria grow on carbon dioxide and use hydrogen as an energy source. Dienococcus Radiodurans grows in glowing hot radioactive waste.
*Silly Aspect*: We have been exchanging rocks with Mars forever and the chances that we have not *cross contaminated* each other thousands of times are almost zero. The answer to where life started is buried back so far in time, that only planetary geology will give is our best clues to where life began. For all we know, life could have started on Europa, which is probably covered with water as well.
---->obqt
I think the person who figures out how to integrate wearable PC's with the electronic dance music scene will create a new subculture. I'm thinking along the lines of S.R. Delany's cyberpunk book Dhalgren in which street gangs have wearable hologram devices that augment their appearence to huge psychedelic glowing creatures and such.
A wearble PC that could generate interactive visuals and chatting would be so cool! A virtual consensual hallucination (drug free) could be created that would really fit in well with techno and dancing.
Seeing those supermodels in bikinis and techware was pretty funny. But the borgish "ick-factor" was really absent in me when I looked at those pics. I can really see these things becoming all pervasive.
--->obqt