- RUN FOR AN HOUR
If you are reasonably fit, you can generate
around 700W of electricity on a treadmill. If
you run on the treadmill for an hour a day,
this would add up to 255kWh per year – or
about 5 per cent of a typical UK
household’s consumption. - WEAR BODY PANELS
The human body’s surface area is around
1.8m^2 , but wearing more than 1m^2 of solar
panels on your clothes would make it too
hard to move. Only half of this area would
be facing the Sun at a time, giving an
effective generating area of 0.5m^2. - TAKE A POWER NAP
Solar panels typically generate 150W per
square metre in good sunshine. If you are
outside from dawn until dusk every single
day in the UK, this would generate 53kWh
per year. If all you do is sunbathe for an hour
at midday, it will be more like 10kWh.
Which generates more electricity: running on a treadmill or wearing solar panels?
THE THOUGHT EXPERIMENTPHOTO: GETTY ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS PHILPOT
Prodigies are defined by their
childhood ability to perform at adult
professional levels in a particular area.
Some experts argue that prodigies
benefit from years of intense, early
practice, usually encouraged by
ambitious parents. Others highlight
prodigies’ innate abilities: for example,
a 2014 study assessed 18 child
prodigies and found that what they all
had in common was a heightened
attention to detail and exceptional
working memor y (the ability to store
and process information over short
time periods). Prodigiousness seems
to arise from a combination of this
cognitive profile with what
psychologist Ellen Winner describes
as a “rage to master” their craft. CJWhat makes a child
prodigy?
The thinnest blades are three nanometres
wide at the edge – 10 times sharper than a
razor blade. These are made by flaking a long,
thin sliver from a core of obsidian (volcanic
glass). They have been tested for use as
surgical scalpels but aren’t currently licensed
for use on humans, since they could leave
glass fragments in the wound. LVWhat’s the sharpest
knife in the world?
Obsidian knife blades:
overkill for slicing your
sandwich