SPACE POLLUTION: MAJOR THREAT TO EARTH

We know about the fact that the things which goes up in outer space never comes down. But now, the fact is whatever goes in outer space may come down.

Did you know that the world outside our Planet is also getting polluted???

Yes, it is so.the junk present in space is considered as SPACE JUNK or SPACE DEBRIS.Spent rockets ,old satellites, fragments from erosion, and collisions contributes to space junk. The waste also consists of lost devices or equipments of astronauts. Since in the last 50 years many satellites have been launched, but only 1000 of them functional at present and when the junk present collides with functional satellites, the parts of satellites break into fragments thereby increasing the quantity of junk present. It happens as the speed of the junk is estimated as 11km/hr. we can't imagine world without satellite because We are dependent on the satellite communication (banking, mobile communication, Internet and treatment) and space junk is a biggest threat for it.

Major Collisions:

• In 1969, five sailors on a Japanese ship were injured by space debris, of Russian origin.

• The first major collision was on 10 February 2009.The deactivated 950 kg Kosmos 2251 and an operational 560 kg IRIDIUM 33 collided over northern Siberia resulting into huge risk to spacecraft.

• On 22 January 2013, a Russian laser-ranging satellite was hit by a piece of debris suspected to be from the Chinese ASAT test of 2007 in this case both the orbit and the spin rate where changed.

Techniques to avoid collision:

The techniques suggested to avoid harm are that space stations should be asked to DEACTIVATE the non-functional satellites before launching the other one. LASER BROOM, the another method which produces a rocket-like thrust,slows the object. Although most debris will burn up in the atmosphere, larger objects can reach the ground intact and present a risk.

Sixth sense

Futuristic Invention
We have five sense to perceive information about the things around us; this allows us to take action and decision according to situation.
To sense information like digital data world is not natural here sixth sense technology  plays an important role to bridge the gap, bringing intangible digital information out into the tangible world and allows us to sense it with natural hand gestures.

Pranab mistry invented Sixth sense prototype which is wearable device and made by use of projector, a mirror and camera to sense the gesture of hand.

Scientists Create World's Lightest Material; Lighter Than Air

Chinese scientists have developed the world's lightest substance - carbon aerogel - with a density only one sixth of that of the air. Scientists at Zhejiang University produced the solid material which has a density of only 0.16 mg/cubic centimetre, breaking the previous record of the world's lightest material held by graphite aerogel.

The graphite aerogel was developed by German scientists last year with a density of 0.18 mg/cubic centimetre. Aerogel is a material produced with semi-solid gel dried and solvent removed. It appears in a solid state with many internal pores filled with air, and thus it's of minimal density.

The research team led by Professor Gao Chao freeze-dried solutions of carbon nanotubes and graphene to remove moisture and retain integrity.

"Carbon aerogel is similar to carbon sponge in structure. When an aerogel of the size of a mug is put on Setaria, the slender grass will not bend," Gao Chao said in a statement.

Despite its fragile appearance, carbon aerogel is excellent in elasticity. It can bounce back when compressed. In addition, it's one of the materials with biggest oil absorption capacity. Current oil absorbing products can usually absorb organic solvent of about 10 times of their own weight. The carbon aerogel newly developed can absorb up to 900 times their own weight.

"Carbon aerogel is expected to play an important role in pollution control such as oil spill control, water purification and even air purification," Gao Chao said.

In addition to pollution control, carbon aerogel is expected to become an ideal material for energy storage insulation, catalytic carrier and sound-absorption.

The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Courtesy: CNN IBN

Correction Fluids

A correction fluid is an opaque, white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. Once dried, it can be written over. Earlier It is typically packaged in small bottles, and the lid has an attached brush (or a triangular piece of foam) which dips into the bottle, but now both are mixed together and filled in pen that’s why we now a days, call it as correction pen. The pen is spring-loaded and, when dabbed onto the paper, releases a small amount of fluid. If the pen does dry out, a few vigorous shakes usually get the fluid to flow again. Compared to the bottled form, the pen allows a more even and thin application, and is less prone to drying out (since only a tiny surface is exposed during application) or clogging.

History:

Before the invention of word processors, correction fluid greatly facilitated the production of typewritten documents. One of the first forms of correction fluid was invented in 1951 by the secretary Bette Nesmith Graham, founder of Liquid Paper.

Chemical composition:

It contains volatile organic compounds; like thinner, which originally contained toluene, which was banned due to its toxicity. Later, it contained 1,1,1-trichloroethane, a skin irritant now widely banned under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer, and then the slightly safer trichloroethylene. Thinners currently used with correction fluid include bromopropane.

To avoid the inconveniences of organic solvents (safety and availability), some brands of fluid are water-based. However, those have the disadvantages of a longer drying time, and incompatibility with some inks (which will soak through them).

Harmful Effect:

In India the Pune police are struggling to cope with increasing cases of addiction to 'whitener'. Since it is not covered as a substance under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the police are finding it difficult to tackle this menace. So the after all incidents, Government of India banned the correction fluids with the liquid separately.

ADVANCED 3D SCANNING IN INDIA

THIS ADVANCE 3D SCANNING TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS USER TO CONVERT ANY 3D PHYSICAL DATA TO 3D CAD DATA,IT HAS ACCURACY IN MICRONS AND USED IN REVERSE ENGINEERING,FEM,CAD/CAM,CIM AND HAS VARIOUS APPLICATIONS IN ENGINEERING.

STUDENT,INDUSTRIES,ORGANISATIONS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN  GAINING KNOWLEDGE OF THIS FIELD CAN REPLY GENUINELY TO THIS POST.

Cheap And Clean Energy For Rural Areas

A small innovation make a great impact if followed by masses.

our green planet is facing problem of global warming and to fight back with this problem designer needs to innovate new design and techniques to implement in  modern structures.
Water beach based bulb is working on basic principle
of reflection and refraction.

We Should Know the Hidden Truth of Scientific Inventions: Series 1

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose: The Unsung Hero & The Real Inventor of Radio (Wireless receiver)

We all use to listen music,songs,News,Debates,Cricket commentary and many more things on Radio and from our childhood we have read in books and heard from our teachers that Radio is invented by Guglielmo Marconi an Italian Scientist. This invention revolutionized the field of communication because it was wireless and first time the term Wireless Communication comes into existence.

In the year 1998, Dr. Probir K. Bondyopadhyay found out that it was actually Sir J. C. Bose who invented Marconi's Italian Navy Autocoherer. He explained the sequence of events in great detail in his paper, "Sir J. C. Bose's Diode Detector Received Marconi's First Transatlantic Wireless Signal Of December 1901 (The "Italian Navy Coherer" Scandal Revisited)." [ 3, Proc. IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 1, January 1998.]

According to Dr. Probir K. Bondyopadhyay -

The true origin of the “mercury coherer with a telephone”receiver that was used by G. Marconi to receive the first transatlantic wireless signal on December 12, 1901, has been investigated and determined. Incontrovertible evidence is presented to show that this novel wireless detection device was invented by Sir.

J. C. Bose of Presidency College, Calcutta, India. His epoch making work was communicated by Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., to the Royal Society, London, U.K., on March 6, 1899, and read at the Royal Society Meeting of Great Britain on April 27, 1899. Soon after, it was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Twenty-one months after that disclosure (in February 1901, as the records indicate), Lieutenant L. Solari of the Royal Italian Navy, a childhood friend of G. Marconi’s, experimented with this detector

device and presented a trivially modified version to Marconi, who then applied for a British patent on the device. Surrounded by a scandal, this detection device, actually a semiconductor diode, is known to the outside world as the “Italian Navy Coherer.”

Sir J C Bose with his 1st Wireless receiver 

Achievements of Sir J. C. Bose in the field of communication :

• Sir J. C. Bose invented the Mercury Coherer (together with the telephone receiver) used by Guglielmo Marconi to receive the radio signal in his first transatlantic radio communication over a distance of 2000 miles from Poldhu, UK to Newfoundland, St. Johns in December 1901. Guglielmo Marconi was celebrated worldwide for this achievement, but the fact that the receiver was invented by Bose was totally concealed.
• In 1895, Sir J. C. Bose gave his first public demonstration of electromagnetic waves, using them to ring a bell remotely and to explode some gunpowder. He sent an electromagnetic wave across 75 feet passing through walls and body of the Chairman, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal.
• Sir J. C. Bose holds the first patent worldwide to invent a solid-state diode detector to detect EM waves. The detector was built using a galena crystal. 
• Sir J. C. Bose was a pioneer in the field of microwave devices. His contribution remains distinguished in the field and was acknowledged by the likes of Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh, etc. 

The Lady Scientist

From first look one would think that the stream of her life also must have been quiet, easy, uneventful. It was not so, she had many hurdles to cross. Many rapids to pass, before she could be known as a ‘Woman in Science’.

After passing her B.Sc from Bombay University  she thought that doing research work at that famous institute was a matter of course. She then applied for admission there and received a prompt refusal. The reason cited being that she was a woman. The illustrious director of the institute, Sir C.V. Raman, Nobel Laureate, did not think a woman scientist, to be research material!

Kamala refused to accept this refusal based on gender bias and  she decided to do Satyagraha in Raman’s office, till she was admitted. Prof. Raman granted her admission with some condition that for one full year she would be on probation; meaning that she could work but that work would not be recognized until the director was satisfied about its quality and also that her presence did not distract his male researchers from their work. Kamala accepted these terms, but one can only imagine her indignation at them. The first hurdle in her pursuit of science was crossed (1933). At the Institute of Science, Bangalore, she worked very hard under her teacher, Shri Sreenivasayya. He was very strict, demanding and at the same time eager to impart knowledge to deserving students. After observing her for a year, Raman was satisfied about her sincerity and discipline. She was allowed to do regular research in Bio-chemistry. He was impressed enough to admit lady students to the institute from then on. This was another victory for Kamala, and through her for other aspiring Indian women scientists.

TECHNOLOGY OF DIGITAL HOLOGRAPHY

Infrared digital holography allows firefighters to see through flames, image moving people

Firefighters put their lives on the line in some of the most dangerous conditions on Earth. One of their greatest challenges, however, is seeing through thick veils of smoke and walls of flame to find people in need of rescue. A team of Italian researchers has developed a new imaging technique that uses infrared (IR) digital holography to peer through chaotic conflagrations and capture potentially lifesaving and otherwise hidden details. The team describes its breakthrough results and their applications in a paper published February 26 in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express.

Firefighters can see through smoke using current IR camera technology. However, such instruments are blinded by the intense infrared radiation emitted by flames, which overwhelm the sensitive detectors and limit their use in the field. By employing a specialized lens-free technique, the researchers have created a system that is able to cope with the flood of radiation from an environment filled with flames as well as smoke.

"IR cameras cannot 'see' objects or humans behind flames because of the need for a zoom lens that concentrates the rays on the sensor to form the image," says Pietro Ferraro of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Istituto Nazionale di Ottica in Italy. By eliminating the need for the zoom lens, the new technique avoids this drawback.

"It became clear to us that we had in our hands a technology that could be exploited by emergency responders and firefighters at a fire scene to see through smoke without being blinded by flames, a limitation of existing technology," Ferraro says. "Perhaps most importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that a holographic recording of a live person can be achieved even while the body is moving."

Holography is a means of producing a 3-D image of an object. To create a hologram, such as those typically seen on credit cards, a laser beam is split into two (an object beam and a reference beam). The object beam is shone onto the object being imaged. When the reflected object beam and the reference beam are recombined, they create an interference pattern that encodes the 3-D image.

In the researchers' new imaging system, a beam of infrared laser light is widely dispersed throughout a room. Unlike visible light, which cannot penetrate thick smoke and flames, the IR rays pass through largely unhindered. The IR light does, however, reflect off of any objects or people in the room, and the information carried by this reflected light is recorded by a holographic imager. It is then decoded to reveal the objects beyond the smoke and flames. The result is a live, 3-D movie of the room and its contents.

"It became clear to us that we had in our hands a technology that could be exploited by emergency responders and firefighters at a fire scene to see through smoke without being blinded by flames, a limitation of existing technology," Ferraro says. "Perhaps most importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that a holographic recording of a live person can be achieved even while the body is moving."

Holography is a means of producing a 3-D image of an object. To create a hologram, such as those typically seen on credit cards, a laser beam is split into two (an object beam and a reference beam). The object beam is shone onto the object being imaged. When the reflected object beam and the reference beam are recombined, they create an interference pattern that encodes the 3-D image.

In the researchers' new imaging system, a beam of infrared laser light is widely dispersed throughout a room. Unlike visible light, which cannot penetrate thick smoke and flames, the IR rays pass through largely unhindered. The IR light does, however, reflect off of any objects or people in the room, and the information carried by this reflected light is recorded by a holographic imager. It is then decoded to reveal the objects beyond the smoke and flames. The result is a live, 3-D movie of the room and its contents.

Novel Wireless Brain Sensor Unveiled: Wireless, Broadband, Rechargeable, Fully Implantable

A team of neuro-engineers based at Brown University has developed a fully implantable and rechargeable wireless brain sensor capable of relaying real-time broadband signals from up to 100 neurons in freely moving subjects. Several copies of the novel low-power device, have been performing well in animal models for more than year, a first in the brain-computer interface field. Brain-computer interfaces could help people with severe paralysis control devices with their thoughts.

Arto Nurmikko, professor of engineering at Brown University who oversaw the device's invention, is presenting it this week at the 2013 International Workshop on Clinical Brain-Machine Interface Systems in Houston.

According to him "This has features that are somewhat akin to a cell phone, except the conversation that is being sent out is the brain talking wirelessly".

Engineers Arto Nurmikko and Ming Yin examine their prototype wireless, broadband neural sensing device. (Credit: Fred Field for Brown University)

Neuro-scientists can use such a device to observe, record, and analyze the signals emitted by scores of neurons in particular parts of the animal model's brain.

Meanwhile, wired systems using similar implantable sensing electrodes are being investigated in brain-computer interface research to assess the feasibility of people with severe paralysis moving assistive devices like robotic arms or computer cursors by thinking about moving their arms and hands.

This wireless system addresses a major need for the next step in providing a practical brain-computer interface.

National Science Day

National Science Day 2013 Theme is - “Genetically Modified Crops and Food Security”

Save Our Mother Rivers and Secure Our future to be Safe .....

In India we belive the rivers of our country are our mother (Jeevan Dayani) but it is also very true that how much now we are caring them.On the one way we use to worship our rivers and on the other hand not caring them.

Worship of river ganga at varanasi

Most of the Indian rivers and their tributaries viz., Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna, Sone, Cauvery Damodar and Brahmaputra are reported to be grossly polluted due to discharge of untreated sewage disposal and industrial effluents directly into the rivers. The indiscriminate dumping and release of wastes containing hazardous substances into rivers lead to environmental disturbance which could be considered as a potential source of stress to biotic community. River water pollution leads sever impact on living community. Some recent studies show terrific facts like; Death of ghariyals in the Chambal sanctuary, pesticide pollution in Yamuna River etc.

The Ganga Basin, the largest river basin of the country, houses about 40 percent of population of India. During the course of its journey, municipal sewages from 29 Class-I cities (cities with population over 1,00,000), 23 Class II cities (cities with population between 50,000 and 1,00,000) and about 48 towns, effluents from industries and polluting wastes from several other non-point sources are discharged into the river Ganga resulting in its pollution. The NRCD records, as mentioned in audit report, put the estimates of total sewage generation in towns along river Ganga and its tributaries as 5044 MLD (Million Litres per Day). According to the Central Pollution Control Board Report of 2001, the total wastewater generation on the Ganga basin is about 6440 MLD.

The pollutants include oils, greases, plastics, plasticizers, metallic wastes, suspended solids, phenols, toxins, acids, salts, dyes, cyanides, pesticides etc. Many of these pollutants are not easily susceptible to degradation and thus cause serious pollution problems. Contamination of ground water and fish-kill episodes are the major effects of the toxic discharges from industries. Discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents leads to number of conspicuous effects on the river environment (Table 3). The impact involves gross changes in water quality viz. reduction in dissolved oxygen and reduction in light penetration that’s tends loss in self purification capability of river water. 

Table 3 : Environmental implications of the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents
S.N.	Factor	Principal environmental effect	Potential ecological consequences	Remedial action
1.	High biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) caused by bacterial breakdown of organic matter	Reduction in dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration	Elimination of sensitive species, increase in some tolerant species; change in the community structure	Pretreatment of effluent, ensure adequate dilution
2.	Partial biodegradation of proteins and other nitrogenous material	Elevated ammonia concentration; increased nitrite and nitrate levels	Elimination of intolerant species, reduction in sensitive species	Improved treatment to ensure complete nitrification; nutrient stripping possible but expensive
3.	Release of suspended solid matter	Increased turbidity and reduction of light penetration	Reduced photosynthesis of submerge plants; abrasion of gills or interference with normal feeding behavior	Provide improved settlement, insure adequate dilution
4.	Deposition of organic sludges in slower water	Release of methane and hydrogen as sulphide matter decomposes anoxically, Modification of substratum by blanket of sludge	Elimination of normal benthic community loss of interstitial species; increase in the species able to exploit increased food source	Discharge where velocity adequate to prevent deposition
Other poisons
1.	Presence of poisonous substances	Change in water quality	Water directly and acutely toxic to some organisms, causing change in community composition; consequential effect on pray- predator relation; sub- lethal effects on some species	Increase dilution
Inert solids
1.	Particles in suspension	Increased turbidity. Possibly increased abrasion	Reduced photosynthesis of submerged plant. Impairing feeding ability through reduced vision or interference with collecting mechanism of filter feeders (e.g. reduction in nutritive value of collected material).Possible abrasion	Improve settlement
2.	Deposition of material	Blanketing of substratum, filing of interstices and/or substrate instability	Change in benthic community, reduction in diversity ( increased number of a few species)	Discharge where velocity adequate to ensure dispersion
Source: S. C Santra

ALLAHABAD, India — Standing at the shores of the Sangam — the calm expanse of gray-blue water where the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet — it’s not hard to sense the profound spiritual significance the spot holds for millions of Hindu pilgrims.

Crossing it, however, can be a harrowing experience. But if we not care then can we feel this type of ambiance in future, think what we are going to give our next generation???

HOW TO CONSERVE WATER????????

WE NEED TO LEARN FROM RAJASTHAN

ANCIENT INDIAN TECHNOLOGY OF HARVESTING WATER

DO you know the Full form of COMPUTER  ?

In this world million and billions of people using computer but very few of them know the full form of it. It may be like silly but i think every user and non- user should have to know it.
Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and processes these data under the control of set of instructions (called program) and gives the result (output) and saves output for the future use. It can process both numerical and non-numerical (arithmetic and logical) calculations.The basic components of a modern digital computer are: Input Device,Output Device,Central Processor. A Typical modern computer uses LSI Chips.

Full form of computer is :

C= Common 
O= Oriented

M= Machine
P= Particularly
U= United and used under
T= Technical and
E= Educational
R= Research

Algae Lamp eats carbon dioxide more than trees

Algae lamp that eats carbon dioxide 150-200x than trees.

Biochemist pierre calleja invented algae lamp which is shortly seen on streets.

Earth atmosphere is filling up with CO₂ and we seem to be the major cause of that. The generally accepted solution seems to be cutting back on emissions as quickly as possible, but implementing such cuts is problematic because everyone has to agree to do more in this competitive world, which essentially ends up costing a lot of time and money for such cleaning.

T Instead of relying entirely on cutting emissions, why don’t we start taking CO₂ out of the atmosphere? That’s exactly what biochemist Pierre Calleja is trying to do, and his solution almost sounds too good to be true.

How HP designed a laptop with 32 hours of battery life

When Hewlett-Packard engineers begin designing a new laptop, they bring in the battery experts like John Wozniak on the very first day. That’s part of what enabled HP to create a laptop with a 32-hour battery life.

And that also tells you how important energy efficiency has become in modern electronics, where the demand for thin, powerful, and lightweight is putting an enormous amount of stress on battery technologists. The battery has been called “the most humble and unsexy of inventions.” But it will likely be one of the most important technology battlegrounds of the future. Batteries are a $50 billion industry, and that could become bigger with more breakthroughs. People are far more productive when they don’t have to hunt down outlets to charge a laptop.

Wozniak, HP’s battery guru, has to deal with requests from all sides. Industrial designers want thin batteries in thin laptops. Marketing people also want lighter weight. But engineers like Wozniak can only show the designers what they have to currently work with and what they might have in the near future.

“It depends on the timing of the launch,” Wozniak (no relation to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak) said at a press event at HP’s original garage headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. “We’ll tool up and produce a couple of different options. It’s like a puzzle game, and you see what kind of battery is going to fit with a certain kind of design.”

HP created a 32-hour solution last year for the launch of its HP EliteBook 8460p laptop for business users. To get to 32 hours, you had to add an HP BB09 ultra-extended life notebook battery, which attaches to the bottom of the laptop. That adds more than a pound to the weight. Some new solutions can push the life of a laptop to 36 hours.

I’m trying one of those out right now. The standard battery gives the machine about 10 or so hours of life, according to the meter HP provided. But the life goes way up if you snap on the extended battery pack. That battery pack has nine cells (the pink cylinders pictured below) in it and adds the equivalent of 100 watt hours, which is the legal limit; any more and HP would have to ship it as dangerous goods. Once you snap it on, the notebook has about 200 watt hours of battery life.

“It comes with a price of added weight,” Wozniak said.

While improving battery efficiency is important to getting longer laptop battery life, the improvement has been gradual. So HP has focused on better power management for its laptops, turning the power down or powering components off when not in use.

If you keep the operation on a light level, with six or seven watts usage, then you can stretch the battery life out to 28 or 32 hours, Wozniak said. You can do that by reducing the number of times your laptop sends out wireless signals and by reducing the screen brightness.

Replacing a hard drive with a solid state flash memory drive also helps. HP found it could improve battery life 18 percent on the HP EliteBook 8460p when it used flash memory instead of a hard drive.

HP also used Intel’s Sandy Bridge integrated graphics — combining a microprocessor and graphics on the same chip — rather than a stand-alone graphics chip. That saved another 26 percent in power savings.

While processor speeds and storage capacity keep racing ahead, Wozniak said batteries are getting about 3 – 5 percent better each year in energy density, or the amount of energy produced by a battery in a given space. Plenty of attempts have been made to stretch that out. But the disappointments are myriad.

Wozniak said a silver zinc battery showed promise, with 40 percent better energy density. But the chemistry of the battery broke down after just 40 or 50 charges. To satisfy consumers, rechargeable batteries should last for hundreds or thousands of charges.

Some technologies have tried replacing carbon graphite anodes with silicon anodes, since silicon can store more energy. But the problem is that it swells in size. The silicon has to be encapsulated in carbon, offsetting some of the gains.

Batteries produce hydrogen gas when they are charging, resulting in the swelling. And since hydrogen is explosive, the risk of a fire or explosion is very real when it comes to battery operation. Batteries can corrode over time as well and leak dangerous chemicals.

That’s why the circuitry around a battery, which can help measure its charge and improve its efficiency, has to be physically separated from the battery itself.

Lithium ion batteries are the rechargeable types used in laptops; they’re lighter than other kids of batteries and come in a variety of shapes. They’re powerful, but the cell’s capacity diminishes over time. The batteries can also get hot when they’re in use.

Some battery cells are round (see the pink cells in the picture) and others are flat, or prismatic, (like the one pictured above)

“This has been familiar in the history of energy,” Wozniak said. “There are theoretical disruptive technologies. I don’t know what the next one is. There are a lot of new chemistries. The Holy Grail for the battery industry is to have a non-flammable electrolyte.”

The electrolyte is the chemical solution (either wet or dry) that causes a reaction that produces electrons. HP itself once did its own fuel cell battery replacement technology research, but it sold that business off. Now Wozniak stays in close touch with the suppliers that manufacture cells.

Right now, the thinnest battery cell size is about 2.8 millimeters, with the total battery thickness at 5 millimeters. The thinnest Ultrabooks (the thin, fast computers Intel is promoting this year) are about 18 millimeters thick for 13-inch models and 21 millimeters for 14-inch and larger displays. Intel requires that the battery lives be at least five hours.

Wozniak believes that the cells can be brought down to 2.5 millimeters without too many trade-offs in energy density.

The biggest consumers of energy in laptops and tablets today are the displays. Touchscreens take more energy than normal displays.

HP also put ambient light sensors on all of its EliteBook models. Those sensors adjust the display brightness based on how much light is available in a room. Toward the end of the year, Wozniak expects to see Ultrabooks that operate on five watts of power, compared to 25 watts for many laptops in the past.

“[Battery life is] going to get better and better, because a lot of resources are going into solving it,” Wozniak said.