"... about a minute or so before main engine cut off, we go through a time period where we feel 3g's through our chests. This is the maximum g-force that we experience. It seems to last forever and it is hard to talk; you feel like there is a 200 lb gorilla sitting on your chest. The greatest thing is that right after you feel this very strong force holding you down in your seat, the main engines cut off and you are in orbit and immediately start floating in your seat, only held down by your seat belt. It is quite a contrast!"

Read the full news release here.

Similar studies have been conducted on products found to contain arsenic and lead. Clark and Wang will test fruits, rice and meats in different brands of baby food. Clark says she also wants to test organic baby food. The results should be available next semester.

NOTE: If something bad does turn out to be in baby food, look for people to link the findings to the explosion in autism cases. But that's probably getting WAY ahead of ourselves (and we're not speaking for Clark or Wang here). Oh, and where is baby food produced? Where are the jars made? Where does the food come from? We've always wondered how the heck they make that stuff.  

-- Elsewhere, the S&T EcoCar Team just found out that they they have been selected to receive a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain as part of the Eco-Car Challenge.

Missouri S&T is one of 17 universities chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to compete in the three-year competition. Each team will re-engineer a new Saturn VUE so that it has improved fuel economy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, while retaining the car's performance and consumer appeal.

The teams will incorporate lightweight materials into the vehicles, improve aerodynamics and utilize alternative fuels like ethanol and hydrogen.

Strategies for each team will depend upon the specific task they are assigned. Only one other team in the competition, a team from the University of Waterloo in Canada, will be working with a hydrogen fuel cell solution.

Other teams in the challenge will be working with fully electric, range-extended electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid propulsion systems.

More later.

Currently 82 percent of Missouri's power comes from coal, 10 percent comes from nuclear, 6 percent from natural gas, 2 percent from large-scale hydropower and less than 1 percent comes from renewable resources.

Those percentages might be about to change in Missouri.

In Rolla, you can see the beginnings of the renewable energy push for yourself.

That sounds about right.

But this part might sound a little crazy at first: Nam thinks algae, if we think of it as a crop, could play a big role in the unfolding dramas associated with preserving traditional sources of food, finding alternative sources of energy and reducing greenhouse gasses.

Read about it here.

• The U.S. consumes a billion tons of coal annually -- enough that, if placed into trains of 100 coal cars, each carrying 100 tons of coal, it would take 274 of those trains every day, or 19 trains per minute, to transport our coal.
• The U.S. consumes 7.5 billion barrels of oil a year. That's 21 million barrels a day. Assuming Arrowhead Stadium, where the Kansas City Chiefs play, holds 1 million barrels, then U.S. consumption of oil would fill 21 Arrowhead Stadiums each day.

The research project, unveiled today at a press conference in Jefferson City, Mo., involves capturing CO2 emissions from power plants to grow algae, which in turn would be converted into biofuel. Dr. Paul Nam, assistant professor of chemistry, is leading Missouri S&T's part of the project.

Forbes and the Kansas City Star have the story, and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc has the official news release. Central Electric Power Cooperative is also funding the research, which will be based at Central's Chamois Power Plant east of Jefferson City on the Missouri River.

According to the news release, staff members at the Chamois plant have been creating power using biomass materials for more than five years. The plant has used corn cobs, walnut shells and old railroad ties to produce power. These days, the Chamois staff is experimenting with burning turkey processing sludge with coal to produce electricity.

The NSF’s Energy Research Center for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems will be led by North Carolina State University and includes four other U.S. universities, as well as universities in Germany and Switzerland.

The program is supported through a five-year, $18.5 million grant from NSF. Missouri S&T's part of the research will be directed by Mariesa Crow, the Fred W. Finley Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Missouri S&T and director of the university’s Energy Research and Development Center. “Our university has a long tradition of excellence in power engineering, and our expertise in that area, combined with our emphasis on addressing the pressing energy issues of our time, allow us to make unique contributions to this research effort.”

Read more about the new center, or read about some of the work Crow and her colleagues are already doing to plug in to this new approach to electrical power.

The cell phone would come with an insert-ready hydrogen pack and a small solar array for charging.

“We need to be realistic about what we can and can’t do with hydrogen right now,” says Dr. Scott Grasman. “In addition to some of the more Buck Rogers things that might happen in the future, we need to study some of the things we can do in the short term.”

Read the full story here.