Word: floorful
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...leader, David Cameron, has more than once referenced New York's success in reducing violent crime by stamping out low-level disorder. But as police officers Weston and Lovegrove respond to another emergency call that takes them to another highrise in Hackney, where another toddler sits on a filthy floor amid dog dirt and discarded needles, it's clear that a growing number of young Britons may be irretrievably damaged before any policy changes percolate through...
SHANGHAI — The laughing Buddha towers over us, a bulging golden figure sparkling in the firelight and beaming through ashy smoke. Small, weathered women with crinkled skin and wispy gray hair kneel on the silky red cushions before the statue, making eye contact with only the floor as they hold their incense high and pray. Lining the ceiling are red lanterns, hangings, and tiny golden statues...
...real science. The environmental group, founded by British real estate mogul Andrew Charalambous, is set to open what is being touted as the world's first eco-club on July 10 in London. And as the dancers get pumped up, Club Surya will get powered up. Literally. The dance floor is designed to harness the energy of the people stomping on it based on a principle called piezoelectricity. Piezo, Greek for pressure, uses crystals or other materials that, when compressed, give off a small amount of voltage. So as clubbers dance on the spring-lined floor, the crystal blocks beneath...
Charalambous, the owner of Club Surya, calls the human body the "ultimate energy battery." His dance floor appears to be the first commercial application to use piezoelectricity on such a large scale--a separate group has been trying to work out the kinks for a similar eco-club in the Netherlands--but the technology isn't new. Piezoelectricity was used in early sonar devices in World War I and can be found in electric cigarette lighters and some gas grills...
Scientists, however, are skeptical of Charalambous' claims that the dance floor may be able to generate up to 60% of the club's electricity. "That level of power surprises me," says Eric Cross, an expert on piezoelectric materials at Penn State University. According to Cross, the required materials are stiff, but if enough people are moving at the same time, he surmises, it's possible that that much energy could be produced. The rest of the electricity at Surya--Sanskrit for "sun god"--will come from solar panels and wind turbines...