MIT: New insights on fusion power

Research carried out at MIT's Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor may have brought the promise of fusion as a future power source a bit closer to reality, though scientists caution that a practical fusion powerplant is still decades away. Fusion, the reaction that produces the sun's energy, is thought to have enormous potential for future power generation because fusion plant operation produces no emissions, fuel sources are potentially abundant, and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste. But it still faces great hurdles.

"There's been a lot of progress," says physicist Earl Marmar, division head of the Alcator Project at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). "We're learning a lot more about the details of how these things work."

The Alcator C-Mod reactor, in operation since 1993, has the highest magnetic field and the highest plasma pressure of any fusion reactor in the world, and is the largest fusion reactor operated by any university. 

One of the most vexing issues facing those trying to construct a fusion plant that produces more power than it consumes (something never achieved yet experimentally) is how to propel the hot plasma (an electrically charged gas) around inside the donut-shaped reactor chamber. This is necessary to keep it from losing its heat of millions of degrees to the cooler vessel walls. Now, the MIT scientists think they may have found a way.

Physicist Yijun Lin and principal research scientist John Rice have led experiments that demonstrate a very efficient method for using radio-frequency waves to push the plasma around inside the vessel, not only keeping it from losing heat to the walls but also preventing internal turbulence that can reduce the efficiency of fusion reactions.

"That's very important," Marmar says, because presently used techniques to push the plasma will not work in future, higher-power reactors such as the planned ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) now under construction in France, and so new methods must be found. "People have been trying to do this for decades," he says.

Lin says that "some of these results are surprising to theorists," and as yet there is no satisfying theoretical foundation for why it works as it does. But the experimental results so far show that the method works, which could be crucial to the success of ITER and future power-generating fusion reactors. Lack of a controllable mechanism for propelling the plasma around the reactor "is potentially a showstopper," Rice says, and the ITER team is "very concerned about this."

Rice adds that "we've been looking for this effect for many years," trying different variations of fuel mixture, frequency of the radio waves, and other parameters. "Finally, the conditions were just right." Given that the ITER project, which will take 10 years to build, is already underway, "our results are just in time for this," Lin says. These results are being published in Physical Review Letters on Dec. 5. The work was sponsored by the US Department of Energy.

A number of other recent findings from Alcator C-Mod research could also play a significant role in making fusion practical, and several papers on these new results were presented at the Plasma Physics Divisional meeting of the American Physical Society held in November.

One of these is a method developed by Dennis Whyte and Robert Granetz for preventing a kind of runaway effect that could cause severe damage to reactor components. When a fusion reactor is in operation, any disruption of the magnetic field that confines the super-hot plasma could cause a very powerful beam of "runaway electrons," with enough energy to melt through solid steel. This would not be dangerous to personnel because everything is well-shielded, but it could cause hardware damage that would be expensive and time-consuming to repair.

But Whyte and Granetz have developed a kind of high-powered fire extinguisher for such runaway beams: A way of suddenly injecting a blast of argon or neon gas into the reactor vessel that turns the plasma energy into light, which is then harmlessly absorbed by the reactor walls, and suppresses the beam by apparently making the magnetic fields more disorganized.

For about a thousandth of a second, Whyte says, this brilliant flash of light is the world's brightest light — the equivalent of a billion-watt bulb — though it's in a place where nobody can directly see it. 

Because the Alcator C-Mod's design is very closely matched to that of ITER, "we are uniquely positioned to explore what happens when these disruptions occur," Whyte says. ITER will be 10 times the diameter, with a thousand times the energy, so if this quenching system is used there it would produce a trillion-watt bulb — for a fleeting instant, nearly equivalent to the total electricity output of the United States.

Secondhand Smoke Raises Odds Of Fertility Problems In Women

 If you need another reason to quit smoking, consider that it may diminish your chances of being a parent or grandparent. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that women exposed to second hand smoke, either as adults or children, were significantly more likely to face fertility problems and suffer miscarriages.

An epidemiologic analysis of more than 4,800 non-smoking women showed those who were exposed to second hand smoke six or more hours per day as children and adults faced a 68 percent greater chance of having difficulty getting pregnant and suffering one or more miscarriages. The study is published online in Tobacco Control and is one of the first publications to demonstrate the lasting effects of second hand smoke exposure on women during childbearing years.

"These statistics are breathtaking and certainly points to yet another danger of second hand smoke exposure," said Luke J. Peppone, Ph.D., research assistant professor at Rochester's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

In the study, four out of five women reported exposure to second hand smoke during their lifetime. Half of the women grew up in a home with smoking parents and nearly two-thirds of them were exposed to some second hand smoking at the time of the survey.

More than 40 percent of these women had difficulty getting pregnant (infertility lasting more than a year) or suffered miscarriages, some repeatedly.

"We all know that cigarettes and second hand smoke are dangerous. Breathing the smoke has lasting effects, especially for women when they're ready for children," said Peppone, who analyzed information in the Patient Epidemiology Data System, a well-studied cohort that has yielded information on a variety of cancers.

Peppone analyzed surveys collected from 4,804 women who visited Roswell Park Cancer Institute for health screenings or cancer care from 1982-1998. The 16-page survey focused on lifestyle, habits, family and personal health history, and occupational and environmental exposures. Each participant in this study reported that they had never smoked, and had been pregnant at least once or tried to become pregnant.

Participants reported whether one or both of their parents smoked and if they lived with or worked with smokers as adults. They also estimated the amount of time they were exposed to second hand smoke.

Peppone acknowledges that the data is based upon self-reporting and that is not perfect. However, he said "Women, especially mothers, have extremely accurate recall. Mothers can easily recall details like how long they breastfed, what vitamins they took during prenatal care, and childhood activities."

Many of the women in the study grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, long before the surgeon general issued the first warning about the dangers of cigarette smoking in 1964. Since then, millions of dollars were spent to study the dangers of cigarette smoking. Tobacco use contributes to more than nearly 90 percent of all deadly lung cancers and 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S., and a host of other health problems

Since the mid-1960s, smoking bans and government-funded, anti-smoking campaigns have encouraged smokers to quit and discouraged others from starting using a number of passive and aggressive techniques. Smoking rates have declined, however people continue to use tobacco and suffer the health risks.

The study was funded by a National Cancer Institute grant and was previously presented at the Society for Behavioral Medicine and Society of Research of Nicotine and Tobacco conferences.

NASA's Swift Looks To Comets For A Cool View

 NASA's Swift Gamma-ray Explorer satellite rocketed into space in 2004 on a mission to study some of the highest-energy events in the universe. The spacecraft has detected more than 380 gamma-ray bursts, fleeting flares that likely signal the birth of a black hole in the distant universe. In that time, Swift also has observed 80 exploding stars and studied six comets.

Comets? ... Comets are "dirty snowballs" made of frozen gases mixed with dust. X-rays come from superhot plasmas. What do cold comets have in common with exploding stars or the birth of black holes?

"It was a big surprise in 1996 when the NASA-European ROSAT mission showed that comet Hyakutake was emitting X-rays," says Dennis Bodewits, a NASA Postdoctural Fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "After that discovery, astronomers searched through ROSAT archives. It turns out that most comets emit X-rays when they come within about three times Earth's distance from the sun."

Bodewits is working with the Swift team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to study comets using data from the spacecraft's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) and X-Ray Telescope (XRT). "Swift is an excellent platform for studying dynamic processes in comets," he says.

Ultraviolet wavelengths let astronomers identify the chemical composition of the comet's atmosphere, observe the structure of dust emission, and identify the rotation of the comet's icy nucleus. X-rays reveal the structure of the comet's gas and the state of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that flows from the sun at speeds upwards of 900,000 mph.

Swift's UVOT captured a striking sequence that shows unresolved blobs of dust trailing from a crumbling comet. In early May 2006, when the largest fragment of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3) passed Earth, Swift monitored its approach.

The piece, known as fragment C, is believed to be the comet's main body, which began splintering in 1995. In 2006, astronomers counted 66 fragments. Telescopes -- including NASA's Hubble and Spitzer -- revealed dust and condensations trailing several pieces. But fragment C showed no unusual changes -- except to Swift's ultraviolet eye. "It's subtle, but Swift caught clouds of dust and perhaps small pieces that no one else was able to," Immler says.

The UVOT also includes an ultraviolet grism, which combines a grating with a prism to separate incoming light by wavelength. "Swift's grism spans the wavelengths where carbon-bearing molecules and the hydroxyl molecule are most active. This gives us a unique view into the types and quantities of gas a comet produces, and that gives us clues about the origin of comets and the solar system," Bodewits explains. In fact, with the failure of the Hubble Space Telescope's ultraviolet spectrograph in 2004, Swift is currently the only space observatory covering this wavelength range.

As a comet's surface warms near the sun, the ices turn to gas and form a tenuous atmosphere, or coma, measuring hundreds of thousands of miles across. The solar wind pushes this gas back to form a comet's glowing gas tail. X-ray emission is a side effect of this interaction.

The X-rays arise through a process called charge exchange. Fast-moving ions in the solar wind snatch electrons from uncharged atoms in the comet's atmosphere. The solar-wind ions give off X-rays as the relocated electrons settle into their new home. Because the interaction occurs over such a broad region, the total power output of these emissions can reach one billion watts.

Charge exchange may play important roles in any objects where hot, expanding gas collides with cooler gas. One example: Young stars interacting with the gas and planets that might surround them. Comets provide excellent laboratories to explore these interactions.

When Comet 17P/Holmes underwent a surprising outburst in October 2007, Bodewits tasked both Swift and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe it. "The comet was too bright to observe with the UVOT. We were afraid we'd damage the instrument," Bodewits says. "Despite this, we're still not sure whether we detected Holmes with the XRT or Chandra."

At the time of the outburst, Holmes was about 19 degrees above the ecliptic, the plane in which the planets orbit the sun. At that elevation, the comet was probably experiencing a cooler, steadier flow from the solar wind. "The source of this cooler flow wasn't hot enough to produce the ions Holmes needed to make X-rays," Bodewits notes.

Four years ago today, Swift captured its first x-rays. The radiation came from Cygnus X-1, one of sky's strongest sources at these energies. The system, located within our galaxy, contains a hot, blue-giant star orbited by a black hole.

"Swift has operated two years longer than we had hoped," says Neil Gehrels, the mission's lead scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "And while gamma-ray bursts and stellar explosions are the satellite's bread and butter, it's clear that Swift has a lot to contribute to other areas of astronomy."

A Little Wine Boosts Omega-3 In The Body: Novel Mechanism For A Healthier Heart Found

Moderate alcohol intake is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells. The study suggests that wine does better than other alcoholic drinks. (Credit: iStockphoto/Andrzej Stajer)

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2008) — Moderate alcohol intake is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells. This is the major finding of the European study IMMIDIET that will be published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study suggests that wine does better than other alcoholic drinks. This effect could be ascribed to compounds other than alcohol itself, representing a key to understand the mechanism lying behind the heart protection observed in moderate wine drinkers.

The IMMIDIET study examined 1,604 citizens from three geographical areas: south-west London in England, Limburg in Belgium and Abruzzo in Italy. Thanks to a close cooperation with General Practitioners of these areas, all participants underwent a comprehensive medical examination, including a one year recall food frequency questionnaire to assess their dietary intake, alcohol consumption included.

Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly derived from fish, are considered as protective against coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death, thus their high blood concentration is definitely good for our health.

Now European researchers found that moderate alcohol drinking acts like a 'trigger', boosting the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in our body.

"Several studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption, including wine, is associated with protection against coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke - says Romina di Giuseppe, lead author of the study, from the Research Laboratories at Catholic University of Campobasso - Although the mechanisms are not completely defined, there was some evidence that alcohol intake might influence the metabolism of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, as omega-3. That is exactly what we found in our population study. People drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, one drink a day for women and two for men, had higher concentration of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells independently of their fish intake".

However important these results appear to be, the best is yet to come. Researchers from Catholic University of Campobasso, in Italy, and from University of Grenoble, in France, turned their attention on the variety of alcoholic beverages consumed in order to see whether the high levels of omega-3 fatty acids detected might be ascribed to alcohol itself or to other substances.

"From our previous studies we know that association between wine drinking and increased concentration of omega-3 fatty acids have been observed – says Michel de Lorgeril, from the University of Grenoble, partner of the IMMIDIET project and co-leader of the study - Nevertheless, it was not possible to separate the effects of wine from those of beer or spirits. Our study of 3 populations with different dietary habits and different consumption of alcoholic beverages types allowed us to explore this aspect.".

"Analysis carried out on different alcoholic beverages –argues Licia Iacoviello coordinator of the IMMIDIET study at Catholic University of Campobasso - showed that the association between alcohol and omega-3 fatty acids was present in both wine drinkers and beer or spirits drinkers. However, the association was stronger between wine drinking and omega-3 fatty acids levels. This suggests that components of wine other than alcohol is associated with omega-3 fatty acids concentration. We may guess this effect can be ascribed to polyphenols".

Polyphenols are naturally occurring compounds contained in a different variety of food and beverages, such as wine. Due to their strong antioxidant activity, they are able to reduce oxidation processes caused by free radicals.

"We consider these data to be a major finding - de Lorgeril concludes - opening a new window in the field of cardiovascular prevention. Beyond the alcohol issue, our results raise crucial questions regarding the effects of polyphenols on lipids (both in blood and cell membranes) and possibly of lipids on polyphenols".

The IMMIDIET study

Funded by the European Union under Key Action 1: Food, Nutrition and Health QLK1-CT-2000-00100, IMMIDIET aims to acquire fundamental knowledge in the field of cardiovascular disease, especially regarding the interaction between genetics and lifestyle.

At the core of the study there is an important episode of Italian migration: Belgium, a country that became the new home for thousands of Italians, mostly from the Abruzzo region, who came to work in the mines. Many of those emigrants didn't come back to Italy but remained in their new country. Some of them married a Belgian partner. Their genes remained the same, of course, but how much "Italy" is still there in their diet? And how much did they transmit it to their spouses? Moreover, how many Italian emigrants assimilate dietary habits of the country in which they were guests? In this framework, the role of genetic factors and lifestyle can be assessed to explore new ways in prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

To carry on the research, married couples have been recruited in three European areas: South-East London in England, Limburg in Belgium and Abruzzo in Italy. In the first phase of the study the couples involved were formed by people from the same area, Italians married with Italians (in the Abruzzo region), Belgians married with Belgians (in the Limburg area) and English married with English (in the South-East part of London)".

The second phase of IMMIDIET recruited mixed Italian–Belgian couples to understand if, acquiring dietary habits from Abruzzo, the Belgian partner changed his own risk regarding heart diseases.

Cell Phones That Never Need To Be Charged? Sound Wave-powered Devices Possible

A new advance in piezoelectrics may lead to self-powering cell phones and other electronic devices that can convert sound waves produced by the user into the energy it needs to keep running. (Credit: iStockphoto/Roberta Casaliggi)

ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2008) — Imagine a self-powering cell phone that never needs to be charged because it converts sound waves produced by the user into the energy it needs to keep running. It's not as far-fetched as it may seem thanks to the recent work of Tahir Cagin, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University.

Utilizing materials known in scientific circles as "piezoelectrics," Cagin, whose research focuses on nanotechnology, has made a significant discovery in the area of power harvesting – a field that aims to develop self-powered devices that do not require replaceable power supplies, such as batteries.

Specifically, Cagin and his partners from the University of Houston have found that a certain type of piezoelectric material can covert energy at a 100 percent increase when manufactured at a very small size – in this case, around 21 nanometers in thickness.

What's more, when materials are constructed bigger or smaller than this specific size they show a significant decrease in their energy-converting capacity, he said.

His findings, which are detailed in an article published this fall in "Physical Review B," the scientific journal of the American Physical Society, could have potentially profound effects for low-powered electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, personal communicators and a host of other computer-related devices used by everyone from the average consumer to law enforcement officers and even soldiers in the battlefield.

Many of these high-tech devices contain components that are measured in nanometers – a microscopic unit of measurement representing one-billionth of a meter. Atoms and molecules are measured in nanometers, and a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide.

Though Cagin's subject matter is small, its impact could be huge. His discovery stands to advance an area of study that has grown increasingly popular due to consumer demand for compact portable and wireless devices with extended lifespans.

Battery life remains a major concern for popular mp3 players and cell phones that are required to perform an ever-expanding array of functions. But beyond mere consumer convenience, self-powering devices are of major interest to several federal agencies.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has investigated methods for soldiers in the field to generate power for their portable equipment through the energy harvested from simply walking. And sensors – such as those used to detect explosives – could greatly benefit from a self-powering technology that would reduce the need for the testing and replacing of batteries.

"Even the disturbances in the form of sound waves such as pressure waves in gases, liquids and solids may be harvested for powering nano- and micro devices of the future if these materials are processed and manufactured appropriately for this purpose," Cagin said.

Key to this technology, Cagin explained, are piezoelectrics. Derived from the Greek word "piezein," which means "to press," piezoelectrics are materials (usually crystals or ceramics) that generate voltage when a form of mechanical stress is applied. Conversely, they demonstrate a change in their physical properties when an electric field is applied.

Discovered by French scientists in the 1880s, piezoelectrics aren't a new concept. They were first used in sonar devices during World War I. Today they can be found in microphones and quartz watches. Cigarette lighters in automobiles also contain piezoelectrics. Pressing down the lighter button causes impact on a piezoelectric crystal that in turn produces enough voltage to create a spark and ignite the gas.

On a grander scale, some night clubs in Europe feature dance floors built with piezoelectrics that absorb and convert the energy from footsteps in order to help power lights in the club. And it's been reported that a Hong Kong gym is using the technology to convert energy from exercisers to help power its lights and music.

While advances in those applications continue to progress, piezoelectric work at the nanoscale is a relatively new endeavor with different and complex aspects to consider, said Cagin.

For example, imagine going from working with a material the size and shape of a telephone post to dealing with that same material the size of a hair, he said. When such a significant change in scale occurs, materials react differently. In this case, something the size of a hair is much more pliable and susceptible to change from its surrounding environment, Cagin noted. These types of changes have to be taken into consideration when conducting research at this scale, he said.

"When materials are brought down to the nanoscale dimension, their properties for some performance characteristics dramatically change," said Cagin who is a past recipient of the prestigious Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. "One such example is with piezoelectric materials. We have demonstrated that when you go to a particular length scale – between 20 and 23 nanometers – you actually improve the energy-harvesting capacity by 100 percent.

"We're studying basic laws of nature such as physics and we're trying to apply that in terms of developing better engineering materials, better performing engineering materials. We're looking at chemical constitutions and physical compositions. And then we're looking at how to manipulate these structures so that we can improve the performance of these materials."

Watch Moon, Venus and Jupiter at their closest

New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) As the sun went down Monday evening, the three brightest objects in the sky - Jupiter, Venus and Moon - came closest, a phenomenon that will not be visible again till 2012.

The two brightest planets in the solar system and the moon were seen just two degrees apart Monday evening and will be visible all through the night.

Several people thronged the Old Fort in the capital as Nehru Planetarium has put up telescopes so that the public can see the celestial activity.

'It was really beautiful to watch the celestial triangle as Venus and Jupiter beamed together through the twilight. People, especially children, came in large numbers to watch the conjunction,' Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnashree told IANS.

'I regularly gaze the night sky but believe me it was the best show of the year. It was amazing to watch the conjunction,' said Ritupurno Das, a college student at Old Fort.

Jupiter and Venus have been rapidly coming towards each other for the last few days and were closest Monday.

Solar Project Brings Water and Crops to Desert

The Sahara Desert is a notoriously hostile environment where it is almost impossible to survive - let alone grow and thrive. The Sahara Forest Project is an audacious environmental undertaking aims to change all of that. Using an inspired combination of solar power and seawater, an ambitious collective of environmental designers, architects and engineers has plans to convert part this harsh desert into a thriving plant paradise that will bring food, water and power to one of the most unlikely places on the planet.

The first critical move is to use concentrated solar power bring in vast amounts of solar energy via huge arrays of mirrors that will supply the installation with electrical power and heat. The second essential step is the employment of seawater greenhouses which useseawater rather than tapping into the depleted underwater freshwater sources via wells. The solar power is used to evaporate the seawater, clean and cool it, and to spread the conditioned air throughout a system of greenhouses.


The result: cool air, plenty of freshwater moisture, and copious plant growth. What can be grown? Essentially anything you can imagine, including most kinds of staple produce found in your local grocery stores. Best of all, the seawater being used is rich in nutrients which can be used in the growing process which in turn minimizes the need to bring in external nutrient sources from outside of this closed system.

And outside of the system? Extra clean water can be released into the local atmosphere and create a regional microclimate that can sustain the growth of some kinds of plants that can live outside of the greenhouses. In the long run, then, not only can the greenhouses themselves provide food but the entire operation can improve the regional climactic conditions and repair environmental damage (such as fresh water depletion) slowly change the local ecosystem back to something closer to what it was thousands of years ago.

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Biomass & Thermal Power: 25 Cutting-Edge Designs

Did you know that a river could cool the second tallest skyscraper on the planet or that chicken droppings could power thousands of homes? Unlike solar and wind power generators, earth-based energy sources such as geothermal or biomass power systems are often completely invisible in the finished design of a building with one. However, in hidden partnership with other sustainable systems biomass and thermal energy strategies have been incorporated into the design and construction of some amazing architectural structures. Here are some particularly compelling real-life architectural and design applications of ‘earth energy’ (with more general history and information on biomass and geothermal power after the gallery).

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Software Enables Cameras to Duplicate Keys

A photograph of your apartment key is enough to enable someone to unlock your door, thanks to a new technology developed by computer scientists at UC San Diego.

Led by computer science professor Stefan Savage, a group of students devised a way for a computer program to create a duplicate of a key by simply analyzing a photograph of it. Each bump and valley on a key represents a numeric code, which completely describes how to open any lock, according to UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering publication.

The team demonstrated the software at ACM's Conference on Communications and Computer Security 2008, where students showed off the technique up close and from afar. They took close-up shots of keys with a cell phone camera. Then, using a 5-inch telephoto lens, they stood on top of a building and took photos of keys sitting on a table 200 feet away. In both examples, they were able to capture sufficient data to create duplicate keys.

As neat as the technique sounds, the computer scientists are aware it will instill fear in those who have posted photos of their keys on public photo sites such as Flickr. However, Savage says for quite some time, some expert locksmiths have been able to copy keys by hand from looking at high-resolution photos. The computer scientists' project would simply enable anybody with the software to do the same.

To address the concern, some companies are developing keys that contain computer chips, so they'd need to both physically fit the lock and send the proper code to open it.

Top 10 Most Expensive Cars in the World

It is almost everyone’s dream to own a flash car, but only the super wealthy can own the flashest. This is a list of the ten most expensive cars in the world. You may be surprised to know that Rolls Royce is not on the list, nor is Bentley, Ferrari, or Lamborghini. Exclusions from the list are cars that exist as prototypes or special one-off makes. Ratings are based on US dollars.

10. Maybach 57 S $367,000

DaimlerChrysler revealed the Maybach 57 S at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. It uses a 6.0 L version of the V12 engine manufactured by Mercedes-AMG. Power output is 604 hp (450 kW) and 738 ft·lbf (1000 N·m), providing a sub-5 second sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h). It also rides 0.5 in (13 mm) lower on 20 in (508 mm) wheels. The North American unveiling was at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2006. The S stands for “special” and not for “sport”.

9. Maybach 62 $385,250

The Maybach 62 includes many luxury features such as fully-reclining rear seats, Maybach 4 zone climate control, tinted, infrared-reflecting laminated glass all round, AirMATIC dual control air suspension, display instruments in rear roof liner (showing speed, time and outside temperature), folding rear tables (left and right), BOSE Surround Everywhere sound system and a refrigerator compartment.[1] The Maybach 62 also includes an array of additional features such as Cockpit Management and Navigation System (COMAND), which includes DVD navigation, CD changer in rear seats, DVD players and TV tuners front and rear, two rear LCD TV screens including remote control and two sets of headphones, automatic closing doors.

8. Porsche Carrera GT $440,000

The development of the Carrera GT can be traced back to its successors, the 911 GT1-98 and LMP1-98 racing cars. The Carrera GT is powered by an all-new 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 612 DIN (605 SAE) horsepower (450 kW) whereas the original concept car featured a 5.5 litre version rated at 558 hp (416 kW). Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62.5 mph) in 3.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 330 km/h (205 mph), although road tests indicated that in reality the car could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds and 0-100 mph in 7.0 seconds. The interior is fitted with soft leather. BOSE audio system and navigation systems are available as options. In typical Porsche fashion, the ignition is to the left of the steering wheel.

7. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren $457,250

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is a German supercar jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive. It is assembled at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. DaimlerChrysler owns 40% of the McLaren Group. Classified as a supercar and compared to cars like the Porsche Carrera GT and Ferrari Enzo, the presence of the automatic gear box, front mid-engined arrangement and its driving characteristics lead some commentators to classify the SLR McLaren as a Super GT whose closer rivals are the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish and Ferrari 599 GTB. One of the goals of the SLR was to combine both supercar and GT characteristics.

6. Koenigsegg CCR $545,568

The Koenigsegg CCR is an automobile and supercar made by Koenigsegg. Designed and manufactured in Ängelholm, Sweden, it debuted at the 2004 Geneva Auto Show. It briefly held the world speed record for a production car. The CCR took the record from the McLaren F1, which held the record for over 12 years of 386.7 km/h, set on the 9 km straight track at the VW Ehra facility in Wolfsburg, Germany. The CCR ran on the Nardò/Prototipo track, a circular track with a circumference of 12.5 km. This means that the car is driven in a constant turning motion, which makes the exercise and speed even more impressive. The steering wheel at this speed is kept at around 30 degrees of constant angle, a fairly sharp angle for the speed. On the same track, the F1 managed an unofficial record of 372 km/h.

5. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo $555,000

The Saleen S7 is a limited edition, hand built coupe developed jointly by Saleen, Hidden Creek Industries, Phil Frank Design and RML, and produced solely by Saleen in Irvine, California. It is the first car produced by Saleen not based on an existing design and is considered to be the first true American production certified supercar. The S7 debuted on August 19, 2000 at the Monterey Historic Races. At this time the car was normally aspirated with 550 horsepower. In 2005, the S7 was replaced by the S7 Twin Turbo, which featured a more powerful twin-turbo system that boosted engine power to 750 horsepower (760 PS/559 kW) and the top speed to an estimated 250 mph (402 km/h).

4. LeBlanc Mirabeau $645,084

Mirabeau is the newest car from Wysstec GmbH and Leblanc cars. It’s a new proposal for a racecar and prepared to FIA/Le Mans standards .The fact that it is street legal, is almost unbelievable. To reach the maximum of lightweight building and race feeling the car interior is optimized for maximum of speed and acceleration. There are some special options, including leather interior and a sequential gearbox. Power comes from Koenigsegg’s V8, the same engine found in the CCR. It is equipped with a Lysholm Screw Compressor, which has several advantages to the common centrifugal compressor.

3. SSC Ultimate Aero $654,400

The American-built SSC Aero TT is a supercar built by Shelby Super Cars (SSC) in order to rival the new Bugatti Veyron with speeds of over 250 mph (400 km/h) and a 0-60 mph time of just 2.78 seconds (for the Ultimate Aero TT version). The company and vehicle are the brainchilds of Jerod Shelby, who spent over seven years designing the Aero. The car is the world’s fastest production car at 255.83 mph (411.707 km/h), a speed reportedly achieved on September 13, 2007 in West Richland, WA. The results of this test, if verified by Guiness World Records, will give the SSC Aero the world’s fastest production car title. The Aero’s styling includes the use of flip doors similar to the ones found on the Mercedes-McLaren SLR, and the Ferrari Enzo, to name a few. It uses carbon fiber and titanium extensively throughout the car, keeping the weight down to 1233 kg (for the standard Aero). For the Ultimate Aero, weight is further reduced to 1179 kg by marking the navigation system, 10-speaker audio/CD/DVD system, video/DVD screen, and back-up camera as optional equipment; and removing air-conditioning and any trunk space altogether.

2. Pagani Zonda Roadster F C12S 7.3 $667,321

The Pagani Zonda is a supercar produced by Pagani in Italy. It debuted in 1999 and continues through the present, with production proceeding at roughly 25 cars per year. As of December, 2005, 60 Zondas had been built. It is a mid-engined 2-seat coupe and convertible. Construction is mainly of carbon fiber. The Zonda Roadster F debuted at the 2006 Geneva show. It is similar to the coupe, but with a removable carbon fibre roof and canvas side curtains weighing just 11 lb (5 kg). Production of the Roadster F is suggested at 25 units. The Roadster F is able to maintain chassis rigidity without any gain in curb weight by eschewing conventional thinking by not strengthening the sills - a process which would have needed more than 35 kg of reinforcement. Pagani instead uses racecar thinking, materials and construction techniques, strengthening the firewall structure of the chassis tub together with billet alloy braces that connect the points where the roof rails would have joined. The windscreen is also strengthened for safety reasons. These techniques enable the Roadster to have virtually the same weight as the coupe - 1230 kg (2712 lb).

1. Bugatti Veyron 16.4 $1,192,057

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is currently the most expensive street-legal full production car in the world, with in excess of 1001 horsepower, in either the metric or SAE scale, with its top speed of 253.81 mph (408.47 km/h). The Bugatti Veyron reached full production in September 2005. The car is built by Volkswagen AG subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS in its Molsheim (Alsace, France) factory and is sold under the French Bugatti marque. It is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm. After the release of the car, it has been reported that while each Veyron is being sold for $1.2 million, the production costs of the car are approximately £5 million per vehicle. This is not the price to produce one vehicle, but rather the cost of the entire Veyron project divided by the number of vehicles produced at that time. As Bugatti, and therefore Volkswagen, are making such a loss, it has been likened by automotive journalist Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear programme team in their story on it to the Concorde, in that both were huge achievements, but the car will probably, like the plane before it, be discontinued after proving to be an economic failure.

The ThrustSSC: Fastest Car in the World

Sometimes I curse the human mind. We have to worry about all sorts of ridiculous nonsense. Why can’t we be like the lilies of the field? Consider the lilies, right? They toil not, neither do they spin. Isn’t that how it goes? Well either way, that’s usually how I’d like to be, without a care, toiling not. Then I see something like the ThrustSSC. It helps me see the beauty in human ingenuity.

There is no earthly reason to want to break the sound barrier in a car. There’s simply no earthly reason to see a gigantic jet engine and say “You know what, two of those would look really nice on my car”. It’s just that weird human instinct to want to break records and go fast. It’s awesome.

On October 15, 1997, the ThrustSSC set the current land speed record (and broke the sound barrier) when it hit a top speed of 763 mph. In the first 16 seconds of its run, it accelerated to 600 mph. Zero to 600 in 16 seconds.

How’s it do it? Well it’s powered by two afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines, usually used in jet fighters. It is 54ft long, 12ft wide and weighs 10.5 tons. The twin engines developed a thrust of 50,000 lbf and burned almost 5 gallons of fuel a second. That means it gets .04 mpg. I like it.

You may have heard the term afterburners before and not know exactly what they are or what they do. Essentially, afterburners massively increase thrust by injecting fuel into the turbine exhaust, so an afterburner is basically just like an exhaust pipe with some fuel injectors in it. The gases coming out of the turbine are hot enough to ignite the fuel.

Check out the ThrstSSC homepage

World’s Fastest Cars

While most of us can only dream of owning the fastest car in the world, some will do whatever it takes to possess such speed and power.So, how fast are the fastest cars

in the world? Here is the 10 fastest cars available on the market measures by top speed.

1.SSC Ultimate Aero: 257 mph+, 0-60 in 2।7 secs. Twin-Turbo V8 Engine with 1183 hp, base price is $654,400. Tested in March 2007 by Guinness world records, The SSC Ultimate Aero takes the lead as the fastest car in the world beating Bugatti Veyron.

2.Bugatti Veyron: 253 mph+, 0-60 in 2।5 secs. Aluminum, Narrow Angle W16 Engine with 1001 hp, base price is $1,444,000. With the highest price tag, no wonder this is rank #2.

3. Koenigsegg CCX: 250 mph+, 0-60 in 3।2 secs. 90 Degree V8 Engine 806 hp, base price is $695,000. Made in Sweden, it is expected to take #1 spot in the future.

4.Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo: 248 mph+, 0-60 in 3।2 secs. Twin Turbo All Aluminum V8 Engine with 750 hp, base price is $555,000. Smooth and bad-ášš, will make you want to show it off non-stop.


5.McLaren F1: 240 mph+, 0-60 in 3.2 secs. BMW S70/2 60 Degree V12 Engine with 627 hp, base price is $970,000. Check out the doors, they looks like bat wings, maybe Batman need to order one and paints it black


6.Ferrari Enzo: 217 mph+, 0-60 in 3।4 secs. F140 Aluminum V12 Engine with 660 hp, base price is $670,000. Only 399 ever produced, the price goes up every time someone crashes.


7.Jaguar XJ220: 217 mph+, 0-60 in 4।0 secs। Twin Turbo V6 Engine with 542 hp, base price is $345,000. Made in 1992, this car still got what it takes to make the list.


8.Pagani Zonda F: 215 mph+, 0-60 in 3.5 secs. Mercedes Benz M180 V12 Engine with 650 hp, base price is $741,000. With a V12 motor, this baby can do much better.


9.Lamborghini Murcielago LP640: 213 mph+, 0-60 in 3.3 secs. V12 Engine with 640 hp, base price is $430,000. Nice piece of art, the design is very round and smooth.


10. Porsche Carrera GT: 209 mph+, 0-60 in 3.9 secs. Aluminum, 68 Degree, Water Cooled V10 Engine with 612 hp, base price is $440,000. The Porsche most expensive car made the list as #10.

Best car in the world the BUGATTI VEYON

Engine

1 bugatti = 16 dirtbikes