Free energy breakthrough? Holy grail of water splitting technology now achieved with sunlight, mirrors and seawater

(NaturalNews) A team of scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder, have achieved what appears to be the "holy grail" of water splitting technology for the production and storage of clean, abundant energy. Because sunlight is free, I'm calling this "free energy."

To understand this breakthrough, it's important to first understand why solar power has so many limitations. Solar is great when the sun is shining, but storing solar power require the deployment of a large array of heavy, expensive and toxic electrical storage devices known as "deep cycle batteries." To put it in street terms, deep cycle battery technology sucks. The batteries suck, the chemicals suck, the weight sucks and the cost sucks. There is absolutely nothing to like about batteries unless you enjoy hulking around with heavy, useless objects.

So the "holy grail" of solar power has always been finding a way to store solar energy that's portable, dense and relatively lightweight. Until now, that discovery has been elusive.

But now a team of scientists in Boulder, Colorado say they have come up with "a radically new technique that uses the power of sunlight to efficiently split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, paving the way for the broad use of hydrogen as a clean, green fuel."

Sunlight, mirrors and a reaction chamber

The system works by exploiting a large array of ground mirrors to focus sunlight onto a tall reaction tower. There, the intense heat (2,500 degrees Fahrenheit) powers a reaction chamber containing metal oxides. The heat drives oxygen atoms off the metal oxides, causing them to "soak up" the oxygen from steam vapor introduced into the chamber. Steam vapor is, of course, made of water (H2O), so stealing the oxygen atoms from water leaves hydrogen gas that can then be collected.

In effect, the tower uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas. The hydrogen gas is then collected, purified and pumped into high-pressure hydrogen containers which, pound for pound, are extremely dense "batteries" of energy that far out-perform chemical batteries.

Better yet, hydrogen gas then holds all this energy with 100% efficiency, losing no potential whatsoever, even if stored for decades. From an environmental perspective, hydrogen is also a super clean-burning fuel, producing no carbon dioxide emissions or particulate matter. (The reason hydrogen does not produce CO2 when combusted is because it does not contain carbon, obviously. CO2 production requires a carbon-based source of fuel such as hydrocarbons -- coal, gasoline, diesel, etc.)

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041450_free_energy_water_splitting_hydrogen_fuel.html#ixzz2anmNYxcO

Consumer Alert: Fertilizer Industry's Arsenic-Tainted Fluoride Laced into Drinking Water of 150 Million Americans

• By Douglas Main
  Live Science, July 29, 2013
  Straight to the Source
  
  

For related articles and more information, please visit OCA's Food Safety Research Center page and our Fluoride: The Hidden Poison page.

 In early August, the Environmental Protection Agency is set to decide on a petition to change the source of fluoride in U.S. drinking water.

Currently, the source of fluoride in most public water supplies is fluorosilicic acid, according to government records. The petition calls for the EPA to instead require the use of pharmaceutical-grade sodium fluoride in water fluoridation, which is the addition of fluoride to drinking water for the purpose of preventing cavities.

Fluorosilicic acid is often contaminated with arsenic, and recent research has linked the arsenic from fluorosilicic acid in drinking water to as many as 1,800 extra cases of cancer yearly in the United States, said William Hirzy, a chemistry researcher American University in Washington, D.C. Hirzy, who worked at the EPA for 27 years, submitted the petition.

The study and petition grew out of what researchers believe is a lack of regulation and understanding of chemicals used in fluoridation, Hirzy said. Fluorosilicic acid has been shown to contain the carcinogens arsenic and lead, and to leach lead from water pipes, he said.

Billions in cancer costs

In the study, published in February in the journal Environmental Science and Policy, Hirzy and co-authors estimated that putting pharmaceutical-grade sodium fluoride into the water supply would reduce the amount of arsenic in drinking water by 99 percent. The arsenic at issue is the inorganic variety, a known human carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer. [Why Is Arsenic Bad for You?]

The switch would cost $100 million, but would save billions in reduced cancer costs, Hirzy said.

"We found that the United States as a society is spending, conservatively speaking, $1 billion to $6 billion treating the excess bladder and lung cancers caused by arsenic in the most commonly used fluoridation chemical, fluorosilicic acid," Hirzy said.

The EPA limits levels of arsenic in drinking water to 10 parts per billion. Hirzy said that the researchers, in calculating the number of U.S. cancer cases yearly linked with arsenic in fluorosilicic acid, used the EPA's own risk assessment data.

Experts not involved with Hirzy's study agreed with its findings.   

>>> Read the Full Article

Chlorella protects against cadmium poisoning

(NaturalNews) One of the most powerful cleansing and detoxifying "superfoods" known to man, chlorella is a fascinating single-celled algae variety that offers a plethora of unique benefits for human health and nutrition. And one such benefit, as illustrated in a 2008 study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, is its ability to expel toxic cadmium from the body and prevent it from poisoning the liver and other vital organs.

Researchers from South Korea's Hanyang University learned this after testing the effects of chlorella on groups of Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to cadmium (Cd). The team divided 40 rats into four groups, three of which were exposed to 10 parts per million (ppm) of cadmium. The first of the three groups was given no chlorella (Cd-0C), while the second and third were given five percent chlorella (Cd-5C) and 10 percent chlorella (Cd-10C), respectively. The fourth group was assigned as a control.

After evaluating the health of the rats after eight weeks -- all rats had unmitigated access to water during this time -- the team observed that the Cd-0C group, which was given no chlorella, had the lowest overall body and liver weight, a clear indicator of poor health. This same group of untreated rats was also observed to have significantly higher hepatic concentrations, or concentrations of poison in the liver.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041431_cadmium_poisoning_chlorella_natural_medicine.html#ixzz2abwdX4OG

CDC admits, then retracts statistics reporting that 98 million Americans were injected with vaccines containing cancer virus

(NaturalNews) The Centers for Disease Control recently published valuable information about polio vaccines on their site, but afterwards retracted the information. Why has that information been taken down? Regardless, a Google snapshot of this information as it appeared on July 11, 2013 is cached here:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com

The saved CDC information comes right out and admits that more than 98 million Americans during a span of eight years were injected with a cancer-causing polyomavirus called SV40.

This fact alone should serve as a testament to anyone: always question medical professionals who say that you or your child needs a certain vaccine or prescription. So much "medicine" today is actually poison. Professionals are often duped into believing in the safety of a vaccine or prescription, when all along it may be laced with cancer-causing, health ravaging virus, heavy metals, fungus, formaldehyde, or neurotoxins.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041411_SV40_hidden_cancer_viruses_polio_vaccines.html#ixzz2aWI2YLuW

Roundup and Glyphosate Toxicity Have Been Grossly Underestimated

• Research shows glyphosate is toxic to water fleas at extraordinarily low levels, well within the levels expected to be found in the environment. These findings throw serious doubt on glyphosate’s safety
• Previous research has shown that Roundup is toxic to human DNA even when diluted to concentrations 450-fold lower than used in agricultural applications
• “Inactive” ingredients such as solvents, preservatives, and surfactants contribute to toxicity in a synergistic manner, and ethoxylated adjuvants in glyphosate-based herbicides have been found to be “active principles of human cell toxicity”
• Cell damage and even cell death can occur at the residual levels found on Roundup-treated food crops, as well as lawns and gardens where Roundup is applied for weed control
• Liver, embryonic and placental cell lines are adversely affected by glyphosate at doses as low as 1 ppm. GM corn can contain as much as 13 ppm of glyphosate, and Americans eat an average of 193 lbs of GM foods annually
•  
• http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/30/glyphosate-toxicity.aspx?e_cid=20130730_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130730 

NYC allows doctors to "prescribe" fruits and vegetables to treat disease

(NaturalNews) These days, it's difficult to find examples of government doing anything that makes sense. That's all the more reason why a program embraced by New York City is newsworthy. Dubbed the "Fruit and Vegetables Prescription Program," it allows doctors to "prescribe" fresh fruit and vegetables to overweight or obese patients by giving them "Health Bucks" that are redeemable at local farmer's markets.

See the announcement of this program at the Wholesome Wave website.

This program makes New York City the largest U.S. city to officially acknowledge that fruits and vegetables have a role to play in preventing chronic degenerative disease -- an idea that the FDA insists is delusional. According to the FDA, there is no such thing as any fruit, vegetable, supplement or superfood that has any ability whatsoever to prevent, treat or cure any disease.

Sure, the FDA's belief is ancient history in terms of present-day knowledge about nutrition and disease, but it's still federal policy. And according to the FDA, the mere "prescribing" of a food as something to prevent obesity automatically transforms that food into a "drug." Under current FDA regulations, then, NYC is guilty of promoting "unapproved drugs" which are really just fruits and vegetables. But that's how FDA logic works.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041382_fruits_and_vegetables_prescriptions_farmers_markets.html#ixzz2aQXIHj2a

Dangers of Zero Calorie Soda

Frosty and fizzy diet soda may seem refreshing when the weather is hot, but diet drinks have been tied to weight gain, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and high blood pressure, according to an article published by a Purdue professor and researcher in the journal Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, this week. 

More on Yahoo! Shine: Study: Diet Soda Increases the Risk of Diabetes. Why Do We Still Drink This Stuff?

Artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin) present in trendy zero-calorie drinks, energy drinks, and diet sodas might seem like a smart alternative when compared to their sugary counterparts, but that’s often a false perception. “We’re taught that diet beverages are tools to help prevent health conditions such as obesity and diabetes, but the reality is, people who drink full-calorie soda have about the same health outcome of people who drink diet soda,” lead author Susan E. Swithers, PhD, professor of behavioral neuroscience at Purdue University, told Yahoo! Shine.

More on Yahoo!: Diet Soda Linked to Heart Disease Risk

Based her review of recent scientific studies, Swithers sees a ‘health halo effect,’ or an unhealthy pattern of thinking, in regular soda drinkers. “People often give themselves permission to indulge in fatty foods because they've consumed a diet beverage,” said Swithers. “But if they do it enough, they’ll develop consistent unhealthy eating habits.”

Read more: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/how-to-quit-your-diet-soda-habit-for-good-191117674.html