Unfortunately, they’re having a hell of a time finding the source of the natural gas leak that’s causing their water to be so flammable.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission leaders say it’s tried to find the origin of the leak. Director Dale Neslin says “We’ve looked at well compilation reports, taken gas samples to look for a match, done pressure testing and we’ve not been able to find the well that appears to be causing the problem.”

The Ellsworths say they approached Noble Energy and Anadarko Petroleum – the two companies that operate the nearby wells – and begged for help. They say the companies initially refused to do anything. But, at the urging of the Oil and Gas Commission, they have now agreed to put in a water treatment system at the home.

[CBS 4 Denver via Boing Boing]

Unlike its conventional counterpart, free-piston engines don’t have a mechanical connect between the piston and a crankshaft. Instead, magnets at the centre of the piston’s rod move past metal coils to create an electrical current. The engine’s configuration allows it to combust fuel quicker, improving efficiency, emissions and easily optimised for different fuels.

The bad news: they’re hard to control (variations in combustion cycles can cause poor performance) and they’re incredibly loud (the quick explosions need to be muffled somehow). But automakers, such as GM and Volvo, are already investigating putting the engines in future vehicles. Lets hope their forays into this don’t take as long as their exploration of fuel cell options. [Technology Review via Treehugger]

The WASP website states “the effects of the compressed gas not only cause overinflation during ascent when used underwater, but also freezes all tissues and organs surrounding the point of injection on land or at sea.” It’s like a freeze ray out of a superhero movie… Only it’s real, and thus infinitely scarier. Somebody hold me. [UK Daily Mail via Technabob]

The amount of gas they collected went from 8,000- to 1,000-litre emissions in a day, and the conclusions are clearly indicative on how dangerous farts can be, especially if your partner raises the bedsheets at the wrong time in the middle of the night (cue laughing track here). Knowing that methane traps 23 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, I won’t be surprised if some activists start demanding fart tanks for everyone on the planet. [Daily Telegraph]

Update: It also looks like Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid.

It’s not totally carbon-free, and it’s probably ugly as sin, but a man in Ohio has found a way to get 110MPG out of a 1987 Mustang. He and his team made many modifications, but it’s not a hybrid. The man’s not a total altruist, though; he’s entered in the Progressive Automotive X Prize contest, a race to be the first to develop a commercially viable car that can get over 100MPG. No details on how they’re doing it, so you can’t quite try it yourself yet. If we were Doug Pelmear, the man who invented the system, we’d watch our backs, as the oil companies have killed people like him before. It’s true, I read it on the Internet. [Local 6]