Ideas for Innovation, July 2011

In a recent article, the possibilities of visible light communication (VLC) are explored through the use of “high-brightness light-emitting diodes.”

The VLC data rates need to be increased, but the article states that “it is possible to encode data in the light by varying the rate at which the LEDs flicker on and off…”

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The startup, Terrapower, is highlighted by Technology Review (MIT) for its development of “a new type of nuclear reactor called a traveling wave reactor that runs on an abundant form of uranium.”

Terrapower has been funded in part by Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold. Read the full article here, for details on the design of the reactor

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The New Scientist profiled the work of an environmental sciences professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is in the development stages of “solar-powered water treatment” that could be incorporated into a portable toilet.

Read the article for information on how the toilet takes advantage of “an electrochemical reaction to generate microbe-killing oxidants and releases hydrogen gas.”

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