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Passing the Biosciences blogging torch

Hey everyone! I apologize for not having posted in a while as I have been very busy with some big life changes. In the past few weeks I have gotten married, moved two apartments from Maine and New York, and accepted a new job! It is with some sadness that I inform you all that I am leaving GE to pursue a new career as a scientific recruiter in the New Jersey area to be with my husband. I’m very excited about my new job but will miss my colleagues and the research projects at Global Research very much! Thanks for following the blog!

BUT don’t be too sad…I am leaving you in good hands with Megan Rothney, a fellow member of Biosciences! You may know her already because she has posted on Edison’s Desk before with articles, “Developing technology for health management” and “Battle of the bulge: “Good fat” vs. “Bad fat”– and then of course, her campaign to have Barbie become the next computer engineer. Megan has a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt, has a great sense of humor, likes the Spice Girls and will you keep you up to date with all of the cutting edge research we’re doing here in Biosciences.

Thanks for letting me share our stories, it’s been fun!

July 19th, 2010 | Biosciences

TAGS: employee activities

Checking out the 1926 Model T Speedster

Kristen Brosnan, editor
Ceramic And Metallurgy Technologies
Niskayuna, NY USA
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Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that one of our researchers, Bob Zabala, was mentioned in a NY Times article on July 8th 2010 “A Handbuilt Twist to an Industrial Icon” . The article is about Bob’s son, James Zabala’s 1926 Ford Model T Speedster (which was actually built by Bob seven years ago). In addition to being a technologist here at GE Global Research in Ceramic and Metallurgy Technologies, Bob restores Model T’s in his spare time.

Bob is one of many researchers who have strong passions about cars, restoring vehicles, and electric vehicles. Bob King, in Power Conversion Systems global technology organization has an all-electric personal car that he engineered himself, a VW Rabbit. Here is a piece from when he showed off his car to Make Magazine. And Matt Nielsen, in Electronic Systems and Controls has blogged a bit about electric vehicles himself. Pretty neat stuff!

July 16th, 2010 | Global Research

TAGS: electric cars, employee activities

“White OLED Outlook Brightens with Efficiency Breakthrough”

Jie Liu
Ceramics And Metallurgy
Niskayuna, NY USA
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July 15th (Thursday) 6:00AM – wake up
I can see the sun in the east, as always.
I can see my kids are still sleeping in their beds, as usual.
Getting in the car, driving to work……

Everything in my surrounding looks like just another typical day.

Except one thing – today GE announces “56 lumens-per-watt efficiency achievement proves that flexible, white OLED lighting devices can be made at low cost using ’solution-coatable’ materials”. An important milestone, especially to the folks who have been working on and believe in the OLED technology for so many years!

Since my first blog on GE’s OLED program “Curtains that brighten your living room” was posted on March 22, 2006, we have received numerous inquiries and comments like “It seems impossible to achieve both high performance OLEDs and low-cost fabrication at the same time”

We hope that the announcement should be able to answer some (if not all) of your questions.

All of our team members, together with many others, do believe that the low-cost OLED technology play an important and unique role in future lighting solutions. We hope you think so too.

July 15th, 2010 | Ceramic & Metallurgy Technologies, Lighting, Organic Electronics

TAGS: articles, OLEDs

Stump the Scientist: Underground temperature

This week on Stump the Scientist, we’re answering a question that was submitted by a reader in the comment section of the “Zero G” Stump the Scientist entry. We tracked down a Global Research geologist to best answer this question. Please continue to submit your questions in the comments section or by connecting with us on Twitter by mentioning @EdisonsDesk or using the hashtag #stumpthescientist.

Question from Edison’s Desk reader John Conway:

Response from GE Global Research Materials Scientist David Wark:

I was (until joining Global Research 3 yrs ago) a geologist (PhD, plus 20 yrs in academia). I’m always happy to put my geo-skills to work!

In reality, the near-surface temperature of the earth varies with geographic location (below freezing where there is permafrost, but much warmer in equatorial regions). The surface ground temperature will also vary from season to season (and even from day to day), but because soil stores heat better than air (the soil has a higher “heat capacity”), the ground temperature will not change as much as that of the overlying air. The deeper one goes below the earth’s surface (this can be at A depth of 25 feet in many places), the ground temperature is little affected by the seasonal (or daily) air temperature changes and the soil temperature is indeed constant – in some locations at the 54 degrees that you mention.

Consequently, the relatively constant ground temperature there is some average of air temperatures (perhaps 90 degrees now, but don’t forget those cold winter months!), modified somewhat by effects of vegetation, groundwater, porosity, surface topography, and other factors. One way to look at it is yes, it is hot in the interior of the earth, and yes, the top soil can get warm on a 90 degree day…. but at depths of around 25 feet deep, the earth’s temperature is an average of the yearly air temperature, which includes the 90 degree summer days and the 0 degree winter days!

July 14th, 2010 | Global Research

TAGS: geology, stump the scientist

Some science-related “did you know…?”s

I posted recently about how presenting science to children helps remind me how fascinating and cool it is. I decided to share some science fun facts with you. Enjoy!

Did you know…

A sneeze can reach 100 miles per hour.
Your heart pumps 8,000 gallons a day.
Your circulatory system would wrap around the world twice.
Your brain, while being only 3% of your weight uses 20% of your energy.
The DNA in just your own body, if stretched out end-to-end would reach from Earth to Pluto and back again, 7 times.
You are made up of 50 trillion cells, but you can carry 500 trillion microbes on and in you (you are more something else than you are “you”!)
If all the elements contained in your body were removed and sold on the open market, you would be worth a little over a dollar.

July 13th, 2010 | Biosciences, Global Research

TAGS: cool stuff, employee activities