Hats off to the BBC, for airing an actual show about science.
In the States, we have Mythbusters, wherein two odd-looking dipshits half-assedly postulate hypotheses and perform experiments, with no certainty or control to speak of. Across the colloquial pond and at the other end of the spectrum, Bang Goes the Theory is performing some actual applied engineering…and it is pretty awesome.
Some details, from this hippy-ish site:
A team from the BBC1 science programme Bang Goes the Theory has unveiled a car that runs on coffee. Christened as Car-puccino, the car is actually a modified version of a £400, 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco. Well, the visible area of concern, for millions like me, is the running cost of the vehicle that has been estimated at between 25 and 50 times the cost of running a car on petrol.
The goal is to make the 200 mile trip between Manchester and London fueled by coffee. Since coffee has burn-able carbon, it can be used as a power source…albeit pretty low in the efficiency ranks. The car is supposed to be able to hit 60 MPH, but with the refilling and changing of filters, the trip is slated to take ten hours.
Bonus points for the design team, for making the Scirocco look like Luke Skywalker’s fighter w/ R2-D2 on the back.
***Note to the DIY fans. Car-puccino can be put together with hatchback, rain gutter down spout, and shop-vac. And brown spray paint, provided your mom’s gutters are differently colored.