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Power plant in a button

01.02.2002

Engineers at Columbia University (USA) have created a prototype gas turbine power generator that can replace batteries in portable electronics.

The button-sized miniature power plant is made in a block of crystalline silicon using the same methods used to make microchips. The fuel is hydrogen. Hot steam, the product of its combustion, rotates a turbine with a diameter of four millimeters, developing two million revolutions per minute, and an electric generator is connected to the turbine. The power of the unit is 20 watts, it is quite enough to power a laptop computer, a cell phone or just a flashlight.

True, not every owner will like the fact that his device throws out a trickle of hot steam. Therefore, most likely, a miniature power plant will be mounted in a separate case the size of a deck of cards, and the current from there will be used to charge conventional batteries of a computer, telephone, or flashlight.

According to the creators, the commercial version will be ready by the end of this decade.

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Muscle tone without physical activity 25.03.2020

Scientists at the University of Birmingham and the University of Dundee have conducted research that will help older people maintain muscle mass in good shape.

One of the best ways to maintain muscle strength with age is, of course, constant physical activity and exercise. However, not every aging person is able to withstand such loads.

Scientists set out to find out at the cellular level what exactly makes muscles elastic. Cells contain a kind of energy stations. Their role is played by mitochondria, it is they who produce energy, while being destroyed and synthesized again. The older the body, the more difficult the process of mitochondrial renewal is, and more and more decay products accumulate in the cells without renewal or old mitochondria that no longer work. Therefore, muscle function decreases, and at the same time the physical capabilities of a person.

Using fluorescent labels, scientists tracked the development of mitochondria in muscle cells. At first they had a golden color, and when destroyed they turned red. It turned out that molecules of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) stimulate the process of destruction of spent mitochondria, the activity of which increases with sports.

Scientists came to the conclusion that exercise does not affect the renewal of mitochondria directly, but indirectly - thanks to AMPK. Therefore, if you use a drug that activates AMPK chemically, you can achieve the same result - restore muscle strength and elasticity.

Therefore, the new development will help create new drugs to maintain muscle tone until old age, which means that older people will be able to stay physically active longer.

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