Mark Jennings-Bates -Mar 20, 2020 / 6:00 am | Story:280043

Photo: sd41blogs.ca

I feel like I should write a column about COVID-19, but more people are doing that, so lets stick with the plan.

As I mentioned last week, I wanted to write a series of articles about nanotechnology and the impact it can have around the world.

One thingI can count on is voluminous feedback from all the people who dislike reading my column yet, continue to read it, which always confuses me, but thank you anyway.

If you do the research, it turns out that there is a lot of scientific data that supports the positive impact nanotechnology applications can make in society.

OneareaI first learned about several years ago was utilizing the unique properties of nanotechnology to fortify soils and build roads that are at least equivalent in strength to existing technologies, yet offer some superior qualities in terms of porosity, low maintenance and economics.

While we analyze a road technology that offers a comparable product for less money and reduces maintenance, it should be enough to turn heads.

Indeed, in places like Africa it is.

This could be attributed to less availability of funding for infrastructure but it, like cell phones or solar power, can lead to a technology jump where more traditional forms of road construction, such as asphalt or concrete, are bypassed for a preferred alternative.

The technology is quite simple. Nano particles of iron and sometimes zinc are produced with a particular type of faceting and coating to allow them to react with native soils in a particular manner.

The construction process is similar to asphalt in terms of building an appropriate and engineered sub-base for the road and then fortifying the top layer to provide a smooth, strong driving surface.

In essence, once the soil has been lab tested, a recipe is created for the top layer. A certain amount of the sub-base is ripped and mixed with the nano particles before being returned on top of the sub-base and then compacted.

Over 24 hours, the iron and zinc oxidizes and bonds with the soil particulates, creating a very strong layer. This layer, because of the size of the nano particles, is virtually impermeable to water, which is what degrades roads quickly.

It also exhibits the ability to transfer heavy load because of the large surface area to mass ratio of the nano particles.

Once cured, tests have shown little degradation of the substrate after years of commercial use and a tremendous simplicity to the repair process.

But the bigger news is the vast reduction of material movement required because of the use of in-situ soils. Aside from reducing logistics, this has a tacit positive effect on the environment with a reduction in GHG emissions from the logistics.

Combine that with the fact you are not heating asphalt, transporting it and letting it cool in an open atmosphere and emit VOCs that are harmful to anyone in the vicinity, and you have what I believe is a game changing model in the infrastructure world that can impact the environment positively.

Studies have shown that by comparison to asphalt, GHG emissions would be reduced by approximately 80% if we replaced asphalt roads with nanotechnology roads.

If you extrapolate that to the forecast number of roads to be built by 2050, it is equivalent to grounding all aircraft for nine years.

I understand it is easy to say so what, but this week, with a vast reduction in vehicle traffic, manufacturing emissions around the world and less productivity, we are already seeing quick examples of cleaner oceans and air.

What is unusual is that green technologies often cost more. This may be one example where not only can we benefit the environment, but we can save some money in the process.

Mark Jennings-Bates -Mar 13, 2020 / 6:00 am | Story:279331

Photo: hidenanalytical.com

Can nanotechnology save the world?

I believe it can and goodness knows we need some solution for what is going on whether it is:

We likely only have ourselves to blame for the challenges we are experiencing.

While the world struggles to contain the ripples from theCovid19 outbreak, some people are hard at work in labs and R&D centres around trying to find new world solutions.

It turns out those solutions come in a very tiny form and the potential for nano particles is, lets say, explored, but not implemented.

To give you an idea how small a nano particle typically is, a piece of writing or copy paper is approximately 0.05mm thick.

By comparison, 1mm is equivalent to 1,000,000 nano metres and a nano particle ranges between 1nm and 100nm. I hope you see the point, but you wont ever see a nano particle with the naked eye.

But why is something so small able to change the future of the world?

Turns out there is a lot of answers from a short question so over the next few weeks, I want to explore a burgeoning industry and talk about why nanotechnology can in fact save the world.

When you take a deep dive in to the subject, you will see that nano particles have been around for a long time, and secondly that development is advancing at a rapid rate with our knowledge of what they can be used for increasing exponentially.

Literally, we can find examples of nano particles being used very successfully in areas like road construction through to anti bacterial and anti viral applications in the medical industry.

How? Well lets start getting in to it a little more than next week.

Mark Jennings-Bates -Mar 6, 2020 / 6:00 am | Story:278776

Photo: The Canadian Press

While the media generally is bashing Michael Bloomberg for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on a personal campaign to run for president in the U.S., I think he might have had another plan all along.

After investing almost $700 million in his personal campaign, he just walked away, or did he?

As a very successful entrepreneur, Bloomberg is clearly a smart person who thinks very carefully before making a move like this. As a politician, he understands the process;and as a philanthropist, he is one billionaire who has signed The Giving Pledge unlike current President Donald Trump, who cannot help but brag about his wealth.

I dont think Bloombergs plan was ever revolving around becoming the president.

Is he competent? I believe so.

Could it have happened?Certainly.

But what was the real issue?The real issue in my mind was a divided second party,aparty with a spectrum of politics almost as broad as the overall political spectrum in the U.S. From Bloomberg to Sanders there is a bone-chilling variety of approaches if you are a card-carrying Democrat in the US.

No, I dont think Bloomberg could count on changing the USA by being the President. But he could change the face of politics by investing wisely in another candidate.

Bloomberg understands the power of spending money in politics, as does Trump. But for Bloomberg to try and back a winning horse, he can only donate around $3,000 to the candidate. He could, of course, donate in a few other ways and increase that to somewhere around $100,000, as far as I can tell. But Bloomberg knows that compared to the Republican war chest that is a drop in the ocean. The other challenge by donating to the party is it will be divided amongall of the candidates; when, in fact, they need to field the strongest candidate to have a chance to unseat Trump.

So there is only one other option. As a billionaire, with a solid background in business, politics, and philanthropy, you throw your hat in the ring. You hire some very smart people, you enter late, make a lot of the right noise, and weed out the weaker candidates. Then at the right time, statistically, you bow out gracefully.

In the processand in this instance, Biden a more moderate candidate, who might appeal to someone like Bloomberg who is known to move from Democrat to Republican routinely in his support benefits from a $700-million investment that took Bloomberg from nowhere to fourth on the list during his short but impactful campaign.

In comparison, Bidens campaign had raised less than $100 million, falling behind some of the other candidates. Now as the field narrows and a candidate is picked, Bloomberg has the option to help the party without seeing his money diluted across a broad range of candidates.

Bloombergs process was completely legal, completely ethical, and as a reported numbers guy, I think he waited for the appropriate time to make the best investment that he could in unseating Trump.

It was a brilliant move that nobody in the media appears to be talking about because the media focusses on losing not winning! Bloomberg just had a major win. Lets see how it plays out later in the year.

Mark Jennings-Bates -Feb 28, 2020 / 6:00 am | Story:278165

Photo: Contributed

I was one of those people who had heard of the miraculous effects of CBD oil.

Now that it is readily available, I read more and more articles of people reducing anxiety, curing all kinds of ailments, and reducing pain.

My wife occasionally suffers a little anxiety (often a few days before we compete in a rally event). The pre-event planning is pretty intense, and together with the knowledge of having to compete and try to get on a podium, the anxiousness builds. Once in the car, however, my wife is calm and relaxed while we fly along forest roads over crests and within inches of trees.

So, with all my wisdom and experience (none!) I suggested my wife give CBD oil a try perhaps it would reduce her anxiousness.

I splurged for the best I could find on my way home from Kelowna recently. The closest I have ever been to marijuana or a similar product is talking to someone who suddenly fell off the kitchen stool they were sitting on while smoking weed and then continued the conversation from the floor, so I definitely felt like a neophyte choosing the product.

I was excited to see if my wife would find any calming sensation.

It took a few nights to build up the courage to give it a try and then wait to see the reaction. I was sure the mild pains would fade away, her mood would calm and we would have an amazing night planning the next rally.

Thirty minutes later my wife became restless. She suddenly looked very tired and became irritable. Then she was definitely uncomfortable.

We tried to watch a movie, but it was clear she was not enjoying the sensation.

The next day we discussed what had happened. It turns out that for her, all of her minor ailments started to become painful all at the same time. Far from calming she became quite anxious and said it felt similar to PMS! By the end of the day she was smiling and said everything had returned to normal, thank goodness.

So our little experiment was pretty short lived and I guess the lesson may be the CBD oil may work for some, but is certainly not a cure all for everything or everyone.

Anybody want to buy some CBD oil?

Excerpt from:
Nanotech hits the road - It's All About . . . - Castanet.net