Technological advances that will directly affect you in the next 2 years [Archive]

TargeT

8th August 2013, 17:50

The above is pretty good, but what about this:

Better, faster, smaller: How Resistive RAM could change storage forever
http://icdn6.digitaltrends.com/image/crossbar-rram-design-970x0.png
What if we told you that a terabyte of data can fit on something the size of a postage stamp? You’d think we’re crazy, right? Well, California-based startup Crossbar has done just that. The company revealed plans for storage chips that will be able to pack in a terabyte worth of data in a tiny space thanks to resistive RAM (RRAM). It would essentially replace NAND flash memory, which is the current standard in the gadget industry, and pretty much all smartphones and tablets use it. However, not very many people know about RRAM and how it works, and in order to understand Crossbar’s intentions to replace NAND, we should know the differences between the two different types of memory.

What is RRAM?

Crossbar boasts that its RRAM storage solution is capable of storing up to 1TB of data on a single chip, thanks to the ability of “3D-stacking” multiple cells in different configurations in order to save space while still upping the storage limits. All of this can fit into a tight, tiny space, which could then fit into mobile devices. The company also says that the new chip technology consumes less energy (approximately 20 times less), extending battery life in devices “to weeks, months, or years.”

Speed wise, Crossbar claims that RRAM has a write speed that’s 20 times faster than NAND memory (around 140MB/s, compared to 7MB/s with NAND), and is 10 times more reliable as well, noting that it “approaches DRAM reliability” levels. Read speeds are said to be around 17MB/s.
http://icdn7.digitaltrends.com/image/crossbar-rram-comparison-3-2-625x1000.jpg
What’s so special about RRAM?

For starters, unlike other types of RAM, RRAM is non-volatile, meaning that it can keep and store data even if the power is cut off to it. Volatile memory (like the DDR RAM in your computer) can only store data up until a certain point, like when the power is cut off. This is why you lose information when your computer suddenly shuts down. Of course, NAND memory is also non-volatile, and both of them are able to store data permanently.

However, that’s pretty much where the similarities end. RRAM uses a different method to store data, by creating different levels of electrical resistance using ions (charged atoms), rather than electrons that create electrical charges in order to store bits of data (hence the name “resistive RAM”). This means that RRAM requires less energy to operate and leaves room for a greater number of write cycles for a longer lifespan, depending on the components being used. With the ability for high and low levels of resistance, this allows RRAM to store different values on the chip to make up bits of data.
http://icdn8.digitaltrends.com/image/rram-crossbar-625x1000.jpg
The concept of RRAM has actually been around since the 1960s, but it’s only been until just recently that the concept was deemed practical and physically possible by researchers. And based on the technology in RRAM, it could even be used to replace or supplement other types of memory besides just NAND, including DDR RAM. This means that the days of losing data due to power outages could be over. With RRAM, computers could prevent data from being lost when the machine is shut off, unlike DDR RAM, which doesn’t save data when the power gets cut off.

What does the future hold for RRAM?

On top of higher-capacity mobile devices, we could see much higher-capacity solid-state drives come to fruition with RRAM. Solid-state drives currently use NAND flash memory, and they’re able to stuff in way more NAND chips for high-capacity storage, reaching up to 1TB. However, with RRAM, we could see solid-state storage jump into the multiple-terabyte levels – something that hard disk drives have only been able to achieve thus far.

When will we see RRAM hit the mainstream?

We’ve seen a lot of crazy concepts in technology – flexible displays and the Hyperloop come to mind – and most of these types of concepts seem pretty far-fetched, sometimes never hitting the market. But Crossbar says that the manufacturing of the chips can utilize current production methods, meaning there’s no need to vastly revolutionize the manufacturing process before the chips can be made. This means that Crossbar could technically pump out the volume needed right away in order to reliably replace NAND in devices easily.

While the goal is to have RRAM replace NAND memory at some point, the transition could take some time. As for where Crossbar is currently at with the development of its RRAM storage technology, it doesn’t have any chips in production at the moment, and it’s still a bit early for the company to provide an exact timeline. It does claim to have a working prototype built, so the first wave of mass production could be right around the corner. However, as with any technology in its early stages, Crossbar could come across hiccups in the manufacturing process, resulting in delays and the opportunity for other companies to pick up the baton and make a splash.

Furthermore, Crossbar doesn’t exclusively hold all the patents for RRAM, although it owns a few, so it’ll be interesting to see how the business side of things play out in the production phases of these new storage chips once they get off their feet, and it’s very possible that we’ll see the technology get licensed out to various chip manufacturers in the future.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/resistive-ram-how-it-could-change-storage-forever/

ThePythonicCow

8th August 2013, 19:44

Cool thread - I'm drooling over this upcoming tech.

I changed the thread title to match what you had already done for the opening post, from:

All-solid lithium-sulfur battery stores four times the energy of lithium-ions
to

Technological advances that will directly affect you in the next 2 years

TargeT

8th August 2013, 22:05

we are at the point in Moores Law right now that the changes will be coming at us SO FAST & with mind boggling implications

Transistor count:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Transistor_Count_and_Moore%27s_Law_-_2011.svg/667px-Transistor_Count_and_Moore%27s_Law_-_2011.svg.png

we are going to see advances in the next few years that are equal to the jump from 1985 to 2000 easily...

Hard drive capacity:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Hard_drive_capacity_over_time.svg/700px-Hard_drive_capacity_over_time.svg.png

I'm REALLY drooling over the battery advancements,, I ride an electric motorcycle every day to work.. advancement in battery tech will do so much for society; if I could have two things (that are feasible) right now it would be a LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK367T7h6ZY) in my house and a power storage solution that is at a minimum 50x greater than current commercial offerings.

those two things would cause a world wide revolution that would make the 1900's seem like everyone was sitting on their couch drinking beer and relaxing... the advancements in 3d printing alone are so exciting I can't even wrap my mind around it... and it's ALL happening RIGHT NOW!

conk

9th August 2013, 19:07

My class in the Army was the last to study vacuum tube amplifiers. We marveled at the study materials for the next class, as it contained info on TRANSISTORS. These things were the newest and greatest technology. One transistor was about the size of a pencil eraser, much, much smaller thank the huge and hot tubes. But now? Just damn! It seems we've moved forward thousands of years, rather than the 40 or so since the Army days.

Great thread! Anyone for a beefy hamburger without need of a cow?

TargeT

9th August 2013, 23:13

This one is probably a bit further out, but maybe not?

3D-Printed Microbattery Could Power Tomorrow's Electronics
Good new, techies: 3D printers can now do more than make dust-collecting doodads. Researchers have developed a method of producing powerful microbatteries using these trendy contraptions.

Developed by a team of researchers at Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, these lithium-ion microbatteries are no bigger than a grain of sand but hold as much energy as their much larger counterparts.
http://www.technewsdaily.com/images/i/000/012/208/original/3d-microbattery.jpg?1371667085
"The electrochemical performance is comparable to commercial batteries in terms of charge and discharge rate, cycle life and energy density," said Shen Dillon, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "We're just able to achieve this on a much smaller scale."

To create the microbatteries, researchers used a custom-built 3D printer to stack electrodes- each one less than the width of a human hair- along the teeth of two tiny gold combs. The electrodes were contained within a special ink, extruded from the printer's narrow nozzles and applied to the combs like toothpaste being squeezed onto a toothbrush.
The electrode inks- one serving as a cathode, the other as an anode- hardened immediately into narrow layers, one atop the other. Once the electrodes were stacked, researchers packaged them inside tiny containers and added an electrolyte solution to complete the battery pack.

This novel process created a battery that could one day help power tiny medical implants as well as more novel electronics, like flying, insect-like robots. Such devices have been in development for some time, patiently awaiting an appropriately-sized power source.

"[The researchers'] innovative microbattery ink designs dramatically expand the practical uses of 3D printing, and simultaneously open up entirely new possibilities for miniaturization of all types of devices, both medical and non-medical," said Donald Ingber, the founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.
ennifer Lewis, a professor of engineering at Harvard University and lead author of the microbattery research study, said her team is looking at using their novel 3D printing process to create other precise structures with diverse electronic, optical, mechanical or biologically relevant properties.
http://www.technewsdaily.com/18386-3d-printed-battery-powers-tiny-electronics.html

TargeT

9th August 2013, 23:24

Also a bit further out than 2 years (based on current development models) maybe these things will come to market faster however, since we have increased our tech so much?

Mystery Particle To Make Devices Even Tinier
A strange, newly discovered particle could shrink a laptop computer's hard drive to the size of a peanut and an iPod's drive to the size of a rice grain.

The particle, called a skyrmion, is more stable and less power-hungry than its conventional, magnetic cousin. Besides storing data in ultra compact media, skyrmions could lead to faster computers that combine storage with processing power and usher in smaller and smaller devices that have the same computing power as a desktop machine.

DNA Data Storage: Your Genetic Material Is A Hard Drive
Using DNA as a hard drive? Scientists at the European Bioinformatics Institute over in the UK, have actually done it. Anthony find out if you'll ever do this at home.
DCI
Kristen von Bergmann and her colleagues, led by Roland Wiesendanger at the University of Hamburg in Germany, report their findings in today's issue of Science.

While the name sounds like an evil creature from a fantasy novel – it comes from Tony Skyrme, a British physicist who first theorized the particle's existence in 1962 -- skyrmions are tiny magnetic fields that surround groups of atoms.

Magnetic fields are the basis for data storage. In an ordinary magnet, the spinning electrons inside the atoms all line up the same way, and that's what makes the magnetic field. Those fields embedded into a metal alloy are what make up the 1s and 0s, the bits, a computer data. But these bits must have some space between them in order to function well. Put them too close together and the magnetic fields start to "stick" to each other, messing up the data.

Inside a skyrmion particle, however, the spinning electrons point in different directions, making it more difficult for the magnetic fields to stick together when they get too close to each other. In fact, von Bergmann and her colleagues were able to space the skyrmion bits just six nanometers apart. The best magnetic drives have bits spaced about 25 nanometers apart. In the world of electronics, the more tightly packed bits could translate into a hard drive for an iPod Classic shrinking from about two inches across to length of a grain of rice.

To make the skyrmions, the researchers put a two-atom-thin film of palladium and iron into a magnetic field and cooled it to nearly absolute zero. Immediately, skyrmions appeared on the film. Next, the researchers fired a beam of electrons at the film. The electrons annihilated the skyrmions. Firing that same kind of current at the film again made the skyrmions reappear.

The action was similar to reading and writing data onto a magnetic film, with a skyrmion counting as a "1" and its absence counting as a "0."

Now that the scientists have shown it's possible to read and write data using skyrmions, the next step is making a practical data storage device. Von Bergmann said the challenge will be finding materials that can make skyrmions at room temperature. If they can do that the skyrmion-based bits should be more stable than their ordinary cousins. The same quality that enables them to come close together without interference also make them less affected by heat, a typical problem in magnetic drives.

Skyrmion-based electronics wouldn't just be smaller and more stable -- they'd use less power, noted Avadh Saxena, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In fact, the skyrmions require 100,000 times less power to manipulate than magnetic fields on a hard dive.

One factor that bodes well for building real drives is that the researchers didn't need to use any exotic substances for the magnetic film. "It's exciting that they used relatively conventional materials," said Ulrich Rössler, a physicist at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden, Germany.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/nanotechnology/mystery-particle-devices-tinier-130808.htm

TargeT

9th August 2013, 23:32

New “semi-floating” gate makes for fast, low-power circuitry
As well as a very compact image sensor.

After a long period during which the emphasis had been on building ever-faster computer circuits, things have shifted toward making them more energy-efficient. Some efficiency gains have come through small tweaks to the layout of the individual components, but most of the efficiency was a product of changes to the manufacturing process: new materials and ever-smaller features. Unfortunately, we're getting close to the point where shrinking the features of circuits any further will cause the inherent noise of quantum mechanics to start interfering with the chip's operations.

But that doesn't mean an end to potential improvements. A team of Chinese researchers have now described a new structure for the individual gates that control the flow of electrons within chips. Their design, which they're calling a semi-floating gate, switches states in as little as a nanosecond, and it requires very little power to operate.

The gates in electronics share a common design. They have a source of electrons and a drain for them connected by something that can be switched between two states: one that allows the current to flow between the source and drain and one where the current is blocked. Typically, the switch material has been a semiconductor that directly connects the source and the drain. A neighboring bit of material can switch the semiconductor between insulating and conducting, controlling the flow of electrons through the gate.

Flash memory uses a distinctive variant on this called a floating gate. In these structures, the material that bridges the source and sink is electrically isolated from them by a thin layer of insulator—in other words, it floats. This forces the electrons to transit through the gate by tunneling, with the rate of tunneling set by the control wire. A floating gate can stably trap charges, letting it be set in a semi-permanent on or off state, which is why flash can work as a long-term storage solution.

The semi-floating gate is like a hybrid of the two. On the source side, the gate is electrically isolated, forcing electrons to tunnel into the semiconductor that can transfer them to the drain. On the drain side, the semi-floating gate directly contacts the drain, allowing electrons to flow through. The control wiring that sets the state of the semiconductor is also slightly different. In addition to sitting above the semiconductor, it curves around to flank the junction between the semiconductor and the drain, forming a structure called a tunneling field-effect transistor. This provides finer control of the flow of electrons through the gate.

The end result is a device that can store its state, much like flash, but switches much more quickly. Changing between the on and off states took only 1.3 nanoseconds. All the switching also took place within a range of 3V and required very little current: less than one micro-Amp. The device was also very stable. Even after 1012 cycles of writing and erasing, it retained about 90 percent of its original performance. The researchers estimate it would still work out to 1015 cycles, which handily beats floating gate performance.

In effect, the authors say that the device has the speed of SRAM, but it only requires a single transistor to provide the equivalent behavior.

It's also remarkably flexible. The authors replaced the control gate with a photosensitive material that built up charge in response to light. The amount of current that flowed through the gate ended up being proportional to the amount of light the device was exposed to, meaning that each one of these gates could act as an incredibly compact photosensor.

The device doesn't hold its state without power, so it's not currently a replacement for flash. But the authors suggest it could eventually stand in for current forms of RAM (both SRAM and DRAM)—and there are obvious applications in digital imaging. The authors also note that by lowering the speed of operations, it's possible to use even less power, which could make the technology useful for mobile applications.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/08/new-semi-floating-gate-makes-for-fast-low-power-circuitry/

rgray222

10th August 2013, 03:33

These are technologies that are emerging out of Japan, primarily due to the tsunami and earthquake of 2011. BBC has a great video with much of the new technology. Some of these new items are pretty amazing.

To watch the video follow this link. (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120309-japan-earthquake-spurs-innovatio)

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:06

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:11

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/09/intel02.jpg

The hits keep coming from IDF. After showing off svelte new 14nm silicon built for laptops, CEO Brian Krzanich announced a brand new SoC series named Quark. It's the smallest SoC the company has ever built, with processor cores one-fifth the size of Atom's, and is built upon an open architecture meant so spur its use. Early on in his keynote, Krzanich said that Intel plans to "lead in every segment of computing," and Quark is positioned to put Intel in wearables -- and, in fact, he even showed off a prototype smartwatch platform Intel constructed to help drive wearable development. And, Intel President Renee James pointed out that Quark's designed for use in integrated systems, so we'll be seeing Quark in healthcare and municipal use cases, too.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/10/intel-quark-soc/

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Intel CEO says next-gen processors will improve battery life by 30 percent or more

Intel's Haswell processors have finally made all-day laptop battery life a reality, and the company's next-generation chips will introduce even greater gains. On stage at Intel's IDF 2013 keynote, CEO Brian Krzanich revealed that Broadwell, the successor to its current Haswell processor line, will improve battery longevity by about a third. 14-nanometer processors — one of which was demoed live on stage as a reference design — are already exhibiting "30 percent power improvement" the CEO said. "And we're not done yet. That's only what we've tested so far," Krzanich said.

If his figures hold up, Broadwell will mark another impressive leap over Haswell after years of so-so longevity offered by Intel's older processors. Intel is clearly putting a focus on extending productivity, and the company is also looking to eliminate another minor inconvenience for users: fan noise. Krzanich showed off a fanless HP laptop, highlighting that the hardware's low wattage (4.5 watts) allowed it to operate without a need for a whirring fan. Intel is reportedly planning to ship its Broadwell family of processors in the second half of 2014.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/10/4715430/intel-ceo-says-broadwell-processors-will-improve-battery-life-30-percent?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:15

This one may be a bit more than 2 years off, but it's VERY significant.

Programmable glue made of DNA directs tiny gel bricks to self-assemble

New method could help to reconnect injured organs or build functional human tissues from the ground up
http://wyss.harvard.edu/staticfiles/newsroom/pressreleases/DNA-Glue-625x219.jpg

Boston, Mass. -- A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has found a way to self-assemble complex structures out of bricks smaller than a grain of salt. The self-assembly method could help solve one of the major challenges in tissue engineering: regrowing human tissue by injecting tiny components into the body that then self-assemble into larger, intricately structured, biocompatible scaffolds at an injury site.

The key to self-assembly was developing the world's first programmable glue. The glue is made of DNA, and it directs specific bricks of a water-filled gel to stick only to each other, the scientists report in the September 9th online issue of Nature Communications.

"By using DNA glue to guide gel bricks to self-assemble, we're creating sophisticated programmable architecture," says Peng Yin, Ph.D., a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and senior coauthor of the study, who is also an Assistant Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. This novel self-assembly method worked for gel bricks from as small as a speck of silt (30 microns diameter) to as large as a grain of sand (1 millimeter diameter), underscoring the method's versatility.

The programmable DNA glue could also be used with other materials to create a variety of small, self-assembling devices, including lenses, reconfigurable microchips, and surgical glue that could knit together only the desired tissues, said Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., an Associate Faculty member at the Wyss Institute who is the other senior coauthor of the study.

"It could work for anything where you'd want a programmable glue to induce assembly of higher-order structures, with great control over their final architecture -- and that's very exciting," said Khademhosseini, who is also an Associate Professor at Harvard-MIT's Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School.

To fabricate devices or their component parts, manufacturers often start with a single piece of material, then modify it until it has the desired properties. In other cases, they employ the same strategy as auto manufacturers, making components with the desired properties, then assembling them to produce the final device. Living organisms fabricate their tissues using a similar strategy, in which different types of cells assemble into functional building blocks that generate the appropriate tissue function. In the liver, for example, the functional building blocks are small tissue units called lobules. In muscle tissue, the functional building blocks are muscle fibers.

Scientists have tried to mimic this manufacturing strategy by developing self-assembling systems to fabricate devices. For example, last year Yin and his team reported in Science that they had developed miniscule "DNA bricks" smaller than the tiniest virus that self-assemble into complex nanoscale 3D structures.

Now, he and Khademhosseini sought to create a similar programmable, self-assembling system for mesoscale components -- those with edge widths ranging from 30 microns to 1000 microns (1 millimeter). They focused first on creating a system in which bricks of biocompatible, biodegradable gels called hydrogels self-assemble into complex structures. For future applications, small hydrogel bricks containing human cells could potentially be injected into the body. The bricks would assemble, then the cells would knit together to form functional tissue as the hydrogels break down.

In previous attempts to self-assemble hydrogel bricks into complex structures, scientists faced a challenge: the bricks often glom onto one another rather than assembling into the desired architecture. Yin and Khademhosseini needed a way to help each component stick only to specific partners, but not to other components. In other words, they needed programmable glue.DNA was ideal for the task. It stores genetic information as a sequence of four chemical "letters," or nucleotides, that bind in a specific way to complementary nucleotides (A to T, and C to G). A single strand of DNA adheres tightly to a second strand, but only if the second strand has a sequence of nucleotides that is complementary to the first. And even a short piece of DNA can have a huge number of possible sequences, which makes the glue programmable.

The researchers used enzymes to multiply a snippet of DNA into long pieces of DNA called "giant DNA" that contained multiple copies of that snippet. When they coated hydrogel cubes with giant DNA, the cubes adhered only to partner cubes coated with matching giant DNA. Since scientists can synthesize snippets of DNA with any sequence they want, this meant that giant DNA functioned as programmable DNA glue.

To assemble hydrogel cubes into larger structures, they used smaller hydrogel cubes as connectors. They coated the connector cube with their DNA glue, then attached it to one of the six faces of a larger cube. A large cube outfitted this way adhered only to other large cubes whose connectors had matching DNA glue.

By placing connector cubes on various faces of the larger cubes, they programmed the larger cubes to self-assemble into specific shapes, including a matching pair of cubes, a linear chain, a square, and a T-shaped structure.

The method was so specific that when the researchers placed 25 pairs of matched cubes in a single pot, all the cubes located and adhered only to their partners. This ability to assemble multiple components simultaneously is called multiplexity, and the new system has the highest degree of multiplexity of all existing mesoscale self-assembly systems.

"Designing a strategy that leverages the power of self assembly used by living systems to direct construction of tissues from tiny component parts represents an entirely new approach for tissue engineering," said Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., the Wyss Institute's Founding Director. "Peng and Ali have created an elegant and straightforward method that could permit tissues to be reconstructed from within after a simple injection, rather than requiring major surgery."

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, by the Office of Naval Research, by the National Science Foundation, and by the Wyss Institute. In addition to Yin and Khademhosseini, the research team included: Hao Qi, a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute; Majid Ghodousi, a research assistant at the Wyss Institute; Yanan Du, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute who is now a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China; Casey Grun, an undergraduate researcher at the Wyss Institute, and Hojae Bae, a former Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School who is now an Assistant Professor of Bioindustrial Technologies at Konkuk University in South Korea

http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/123

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:21

Seagate to produce 5TB hard drive next year, 20TB by 2020

Seagate on Monday announced that it has sold more than 1 million drives using a new recording technology that will offer consumers 5TB hard drives next year and possibly 20TB drives by 2020.

The technology Seagate is touting -- shingled magnetic recording (SMR) - is needed more than ever.

Just as NAND flash is running up against a miniaturization wall, where the circuitry has little room to continue to shrink in size, hard drives face a similar density dilemma. The data tracks on a 1TB hard-drive platter cannot afford to shrink much more, according to Seagate.

The theoretical limit of magnetic storage, called the superparamagnetic limit -- about 1Tbit per square inch of storage density -- is fast approaching. Increasing the density beyond that will lead to data corruption issues. Currently, Seagate's drives store data at up to 625Gbits per square inch of storage areal density.

SMR is only one of several technology advancements pushing the limits of hard drive capacity. Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is expected to take disk drives to 5Tbits per square inch. Seagate rival Western Digital is expected to release helium filled disk drives later this year. The helium provides less resistance than air and so will allow more platters to be stacked closer together.

"With SMR technology, Seagate is on track to improve areal density by up to 25% or 1.25TB per disk, delivering hard drives with the lowest cost per gigabyte and reaching capacities of 5TB and beyond," Mark Re, Seagate's chief technology officer, said in a statement.

Seagate would not disclose which of its drive models today use SMR. It would only say that system makers that use them know they're using them.
http://www.computerworld.com/common/images/site/features/2013/09/Conventional%20writes%20graphic.jpg

The principle behind SMR is simple. With the technology, the tracks of a drive basically overlap like the shingles on a roof, thereby allowing Seagate to squeeze more tracks together.

The density problem came about when Seagate and other drive manufacturers pressed the limits of how close they could squeeze tracks together on a drive platter. For a mental picture of platter tracks, think of an LP vinyl record, except on a microscopic level.

The closer the tracks of a drive platter are squeezed together, the more data can fit in a disk drive. But, the closer together the tracks get squeezed, the greater risk of data corruption and read errors -- that is, the read/write head of a hard disk drive cannot discern the difference between tracks. In between the tracks are buffer areas to help the read/write heads track accurately.

Like stacking pancakes, more platters can be added to a drive, but that adds to the height of the drive.

Hard drive density
Hard drives today typically use perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), a method of laying down data on a platter that creates tracks that are about 75 nanometers wide, which is smaller than a flu virus. Seagate introduced its first PMR drive in 2007. The drive, the Barracuda, held 250GB of data per platter. That grew to 1TB per platter by this year.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9242268/Seagate_to_produce_5TB_hard_drive_next_year_20TB_by_2020

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:25

Did Tesla just roll over in his grave?

Cota By Ossia Aims To Drive A Wireless Power Revolution And Change How We Think About Charging
http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ossia-cota-technology.jpg?w=640

Wireless power. It’s less sci-fi sounding than it once was, thanks to induction charging like that based on the Qi standard, but that’s still a tech that essentially requires contact, if not incredibly close proximity. Magnetic resonance is another means to achieve wireless power, and perfect for much higher-demand applications, like charging cars. But there’s been very little work done in terms of building a solution that can power your everyday devices in a way that doesn’t require thought or changing the way we use our devices dramatically.

That’s where Cota by Ossia comes in. The startup is the brainchild of physicist Hatem Zeine, who decided to focus on delivering wireless power in a way that was commercially viable, both for large-scale industrial applications and for consumer use. Zeine has been hard at work developing his wireless power technology and refining its delivery for over a decade now, and has built Ossia under wraps, managing to raise an impressive $3.2 million along the way while also keeping the startup almost completely invisible to the outside world.

Today, however, Zeine is ready to show what Ossia can do, and he’s presenting the first public demo of the Cota wireless charging prototype on-stage at Disrupt and revealing his company Ossia publicly for the first time. Despite the fact that no one’s heard of Ossia, the Cota prototype in its current form already managed to deliver power wirelessly to devices over distances of around 10 feet, delivering around 10 percent of the total original source power to recipient devices using the same unlicensed spectrum that powers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and other wireless communication standards.

“I got fascinated by electromagnetic radiation, the way that light and optics and radio waves are the same thing,” Zeine said, explaining how he got interested in the subject while studying physics as a student. “And I got thinking about ‘what can you really do beyond this?’ there is something about the linearity of physics and the non-linearity of physics. most people are familiar with the linear version, which is the common sense version, where two apples are twice the weight of one, for instance.”

“In wave theory and electromagnetic systems, you don’t get linearities everywhere,” he added, describing the science behind Cota. “There are situations where double could mean for more, like double could mean square, or 3 plus 3 apples could result in a net total of 9 apples, so to speak. When you move from the linear version to the power version, things happen that were quite surprising.”Zeine started doing computer simulations to figure out what he was on to, but says unlike Thomas Edison, for example, who started with a problem and tried to solve it but came up with many failures before success, he started out with a solution and found many problems that it does solve, including questions around health, safety, interference with other wireless signals, delivering power to multiple devices, non-line of site, around and behind walls and more. “I was always thinking ‘What’s the catch?’,” he said, “But sometimes an invention just solves the problem and goes all the way. This was one of them, we had something here that was much, much different than what people expect.When Zeine then decided to turn Cota’s wireless charging into a company, he faced understandable and considerable skepticism. Naysayers suggested he couldn’t deliver wireless power safely, or with adequate efficiency to be useful, or consistently, or any number of objections you yourself are probably cycling through at this moment. Skepticism aside, Zeine stuck to his guns and set about commercializing his discovery. In 2007, Zeine filed his first patent for the tech, formed Ossia in 2008 and continued to file patents, and he says now the company has a much deeper understanding of how it works. They’ve built the prototype they’re demoing on stage, and have another in the works to debut later this year.

“What we’re doing uses the same frequencies as Wi-Fi,” he explained. “It’s the unlicensed spectrum that’s used by Wi-Fi, and many phones, Bluetooth and Zigbee devices and so on in our lives. The nice thing about this frequency is that it’s just the sweet spot for our technology for distance, safety, for the size of the antennas and the hardware that we use, it’s just a perfect level. Also it’s well understood, since people have had Wi-Fi in their homes for a long time now.”Obviously health and safety is going to be a foreground concern when it comes to new wireless tech of any kind, but something that’s designed to be able to provide enough energy to power up devices will definitely raise eyebrows. Aside from being at a late stage in terms of gaining FCC clearance, Zeine says Ossia also benefits from using the same kind of spectrum that Wi-Fi broadcasts at, and says Cota offers the same kind of health risks that Wi-Fi in-home does. Academic research on how much that actually is may differ, but consumers definitely seem willing to accept the risks associated with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other similar specifications.

“Cota is the only wireless power technology that can deliver one watt of power at a distance of 30 ft safely,” Zeine said on stage today at Disrupt, highlighting range as well as health and safety. During his presentation, Zeine showed an iPhone 5 being charged remotely from his version one prototype wireless power transmitter, which was greeted by plenty of applause from those in attendance.The next step for Cota is delivering a commercial-grade product capable of replacing the numerous wired power connections for sensors and monitors in sensitive facilities like oil and gas refineries with wirelessly powered devices, which decreases risk by minimizing the number of potential opportunities there are for generating sparks, since there are fewer live cables lying around. Commercialized versions should be ready to ship in the next couple of months, Zeine says, with consumerized versions following in 2015. Neither would’ve been possible in terms of cost alone 20 years ago, he adds, but advances in the tech of Cota system components have made it possible to do with thousands what would once have cost millions.

Long-term, the vision of Zeine and Ossia is one where you’re never out of wireless charging range – charging networks spanning home, public spaces and offices would make it possible to build devices like phones and remotes with only small batteries, that are constantly topped off and that never need to be plugged in. He says the aim is not just to disrupt the battery, but eventually even to eliminate the concept of “charging” as a conscious act altogether.

QUESTION & ANSWER FROM DISRUPT JUDGES
1. Do you want to license your tech to OEMs?

A: Cota will provide licensing of patents, hardware designs, and also its own hardware and patent licensing.

2. What is the cost of this for consumers, and size of household device?

A: The Cota will be over $100, and be about the size of a large tower PC once consumerized.

3. Can the transmitter be smaller?

A: The size of the current device is due to using off-the-shelf parts, so it can be reduced tremendously using custom parts.

4. Does it require line-of-sight?

A: No, it can go around walls and through walls just like a Wi-Fi signal.

5. Is there some sort of identification, can a device take power from a system unauthorized?

A: You can configure the system to recognize only a specific set of devices, or open if you want to power all Cota-tech enabled devices.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/09/cota-by-ossia-wireless-power/

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:36

again, a bit further off than 2 years... but very significant

STANFORD SCIENTISTS USE DNA TO ASSEMBLE A TRANSISTOR FROM GRAPHENE

Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms arrayed in a honeycomb pattern, just a single atom thick. It could be a better semiconductor than silicon – if we could fashion it into ribbons 20 to 50 atoms wide. Could DNA help?
Tom Abate | Stanford Engineering
DNA is the blueprint for life. Could it also become the template for making a new generation of computer chips based not on silicon, but on an experimental material known as graphene?

That’s the theory behind a process that Stanford chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao reveals in Nature Communications.

Bao and her co-authors, former post-doctoral fellows Anatoliy Sokolov and Fung Ling Yap, hope to solve a problem clouding the future of electronics: consumers expect silicon chips to continue getting smaller, faster and cheaper, but engineers fear that this virtuous cycle could grind to a halt.

Why has to do with how silicon chips work.

Everything starts with the notion of the semiconductor, a type of material that can be induced to either conduct or stop the flow of electricity. Silicon has long been the most popular semiconductor material used to make chips.

The basic working unit on a chip is the transistor. Transistors are tiny gates that switch electricity on or off, creating the zeroes and ones that run software.

To build more powerful chips, designers have done two things at the same time: they’ve shrunk transistors in size and also swung those gates open and shut faster and faster.

The net result of these actions has been to concentrate more electricity in a diminishing space. So far that has produced small, faster, cheaper chips. But at a certain point, heat and other forms of interference could disrupt the inner workings of silicon chips.

"We need a material that will let us build smaller transistors that operate faster using less power," Bao said.

Graphene has the physical and electrical properties to become a next-generation semiconductor material – if researchers can figure out how to mass-produce it.
http://engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/graphene_Cover_Image_0.jpg

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Visually it resembles chicken wire. Electrically this lattice of carbon atoms is an extremely efficient conductor.

Bao and other researchers believe that ribbons of graphene, laid side-by-side, could create semiconductor circuits. Given the material’s tiny dimensions and favorable electrical properties, graphene nano ribbons could create very fast chips that run on very low power, she said.

"However, as one might imagine, making something that is only one atom thick and 20 to 50 atoms wide is a significant challenge," said co-author Sokolov.

To handle this challenge, the Stanford team came up with the idea of using DNA as an assembly mechanism.

Physically, DNA strands are long and thin, and exist in roughly the same dimensions as the graphene ribbons that researchers wanted to assemble.

Chemically, DNA molecules contain carbon atoms, the material that forms graphene.

The real trick is how Bao and her team put DNA’s physical and chemical properties to work.

The researchers started with a tiny platter of silicon to provide a support (substrate) for their experimental transistor. They dipped the silicon platter into a solution of DNA derived from bacteria and used a known technique to comb the DNA strands into relatively straight lines.

Next, the DNA on the platter was exposed to a copper salt solution. The chemical properties of the solution allowed the copper ions to be absorbed into the DNA.

Next the platter was heated and bathed in methane gas, which contains carbon atoms. Once again chemical forces came into play to aid in the assembly process. The heat sparked a chemical reaction that freed some of the carbon atoms in the DNA and methane. These free carbon atoms quickly joined together to form stable honeycombs of graphene.

"The loose carbon atoms stayed close to where they broke free from the DNA strands, and so they formed ribbons that followed the structure of the DNA," Yap said.

So part one of the invention involved using DNA to assemble ribbons of carbon. But the researchers also wanted to show that these carbon ribbons could perform electronic tasks. So they made transistors on the ribbons.

"We demonstrated for the first time that you can use DNA to grow narrow ribbons and then make working transistors," Sokolov said.

The paper drew praise from UC Berkeley associate professor Ali Javey, an expert in the use of advanced materials and next-generation electronics.

"This technique is very unique and takes advantage of the use of DNA as an effective template for controlled growth of electronic materials,” Javey said. “In this regard the project addresses an important research need for the field."

Bao said the assembly process needs a lot of refinement. For instance, not all of the carbon atoms formed honeycombed ribbons a single atom thick. In some places they bunched up in irregular patterns, leading the researchers to label the material graphitic instead of graphene.

Even so, the process, about two years in the making, points toward a strategy for turning this carbon-based material from a curiosity into a serious contender to succeed silicon.

"Our DNA-based fabrication method is highly scalable, offers high resolution and low manufacturing cost," said co-author Yap. "All these advantages make the method very attractive for industrial adoption."

The experiment was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Program.
http://engineering.stanford.edu/news/stanford-scientists-use-dna-assemble-transistor-graphene?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hnycombinator+%28HN+-+hnycombinator%29

TargeT

11th September 2013, 01:47

Zinc-air Battery Company Claims Novel Electrolyte Will Do The Trick (CT Exclusive)

Move over, lithium-ion. A start-up company in northwestern Montana reports that it has solved the rechargeable problem that has dogged zinc-air battery development and will soon be in competition with the dominant lithium-ion technology.

Ron Brost, CTO and CEO of ZAF Energy Systems, reports his research team has developed a zinc-air prototype that produces two times the energy of a lithium-ion battery at a third of the cost, with applications ranging from powering cell phones to airplanes.

The technology, which has four (or pending) patents, was developed by an offshoot of four-year-old ViZn Energy Systems (formerly Zinc Air, Incorporated), which is beginning to commercialize its zinc-iron redox grid batteries.

Several other companies and research labs have reported breakthroughs in creating a zinc-air battery in the last few months, including Eos Systems and Fluidic Energy.

Advantages of zinc over lithium-ion are many and obvious: zinc is a readily available and cheap mineral, with resources totaling 1.9 billion tons worldwide; it costs about a third what lithium costs; it weighs about half what lithium weighs in comparable applications; and while lithium-ion batteries have caught fire under certain trials, zinc is environmentally benign, going to zinc oxide (the main component of baby powder) after playing out in a battery. And zinc oxide is easily recyclable; Brost claims the ZAF battery itself will be recyclable.
But let’s look at what ZAF scientists say their prototype can do. Brost wrote in a white paper that research institutes and industrial labs have verified the basic function of rechargeable zinc-air cells, but three basic problems have remained: the air catalyst must be stable and convert oxygen to hydroxide during discharge and evolve oxygen during charges; the zinc electrode must be protected against air oxidation in order to prevent self-discharge and must be able to be formed and reformed hundreds of times without loss of energy or shorting the cell; and the alkaline electrolyte cannot lose water as it is exposed to a continual stream of air, nor can it react with air contaminants such as carbon dioxide.

Brost says the ZAF prototype battery solves these problems.

First, they’ve achieved 400 Wh/kg when, previously, 180 Wh/kg was the norm with zinc-air batteries, which means that the prototype has achieved at least two times the energy output of currently used lithium-ion batteries. They’ve developed a highly efficient bi-directional air cathode and made all three components of the battery bi-directional. And they have developed the first solid-state electrolyte to be used in a battery. Instead of a typical liquid or paste alkaline electrolyte, the ZAF battery uses a solid polymer electrolyte that limits the amount of oxygen that can pass through, while allowing ions to pass freely. This substantially increases the number of recharges and extends the battery life.

Brost notes that problems of dendrites forming in zinc batteries are addressed through proprietary anode and electrolyte designs that both limit dendrite growth and prevent shorting.

Howard Wilkins, chairman emeritus at ViZn and holder of a patent on the ZAF battery, reports that ZAF licensed a fuel cell technology developed at Lawrence-Livermore National Labs. “The technology was a fuel cell that was mechanically rechargeable [it had to be rebuilt to recharge]. We found a way to make it electronically rechargeable. That increased the energy by 300 percent and then we made it rechargeable,” he says.

He says the electrolyte in the ZAF battery has been proven rechargeable at 500 charges and researchers are “trying to get beyond that.” When asked if 500 charges would be sufficient, Wilkens noted that a ZAF battery lasts almost three times as long as today’s batteries, so in a cell phone, for example, a ZAF battery might only need to be charged once a week rather than several times a week.
One of the main applications ZAF is aiming its research toward is the electric car battery. Brost has about 12 years of experience in leading battery teams at Ford Motors and Coda Automotive. He said one of ZAF’s challenges is to “get the cycle life up,” but added that the ZAF battery stores a lot more energy than other batteries. “If we build an electric vehicle with a 500-mile battery, with 500 recharges, that’s 250,000 road miles, so we’re looking at it that way. Five hundred cycles is a reasonable customer expectation,” he says.

Wilkins, a former medical researcher and one of the pioneers of the soft contact lens, says the ZAF technology is in some ways similar to contact lens chemistry. In doing research at Pennsylvania State University and Oak Ridge National Labs, Wilkins says researchers were looking for a material for the contact lens that didn’t let oxygen in. Somewhat similarly, with the zinc fuel battery, they were looking for a way to make the electrolyte ionically conductive, but oxygen limiting.

Another member of Brost’s team was discovered as a postdoc at Montana State University. Adam Weinstein had been researching compounds for catalysts for years at MSU. Weinstein became a member of the ZAF team and developed a special formula for the perovskite used in the battery catalyst, which was essential for the creation of an efficient bi-directional cathode. Today Weinstein is a senior scientist at ZAF.

That is part of the “serendipity” Brost refers to in the ZAF research that has led to today’s prototype. He says he’s been surprised at how fast their research has developed – a matter or a year or two as opposed to typically three to five years. “It evolved as a very simple but very elegant system,” he says. “The individual components are interesting enough, but putting them together in this trinity of technologies will give us a very superior commercial product.”

Thomas Zawodzinski, Governor’s Chair in Electrical Energy Storage at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, has verified the general claims made by Brost and Wilkins. “They’ve got something that works. They definitely have a rechargeable battery,” he said in an interview, adding, “It’s always a question of efficiency.”

Zawodzinski, who holds a chair at Oak Ridge National Labs, says he considers ZAF in the early prototyping stage — “a process of continual improvement of these materials.” He says he tested the ZAF battery in his lab and “we more or less validated the performance they’re showing.”

Zawodzinski is leading a team of researchers from Penn State, Case-Western University, and the University of Memphis to synthesize new materials for use in the ZAF electrolyte.

Brost reports that they are testing for conductivity and water chemistry and trying various materials developed by Zawodzinski’s team in their batteries. “We’re looking for a long-life battery that is robust at different temperatures, humidities, and latitudes,” he says.

ZAF’s commercialization model is to license its technology, and they are in talks with several companies. Brost predicted commercialization for small applications, such as hearing aides, will take about a year and EV batteries three to five years.

ZAF and ViZn Energy, located in Columbia Falls, Montana, have kept a low profile and operate through funds provided by investors. Together they employ about 70 people.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/09/09/zinc-air-battery-company-claims-novel-electrolyte-will-do-the-trick-ct-exclusive/

apokalypse

11th September 2013, 02:13

data storage? i hear somewhere you could use crystal to store unlimited of data.

TargeT

11th September 2013, 02:21

data storage? i hear somewhere you could use crystal to store unlimited of data.

theoretically, but I'm focusing a bit more in this thread on things we can use in the next 2 years (or there abouts)

TargeT

11th September 2013, 16:26

Did Tesla just roll over in his grave?

Cota By Ossia Aims To Drive A Wireless Power Revolution And Change How We Think About Charging

2. What is the cost of this for consumers, and size of household device?

A: The Cota will be over $100, and be about the size of a large tower PC once consumerized.

3. Can the transmitter be smaller?

A: The size of the current device is due to using off-the-shelf parts, so it can be reduced tremendously using custom parts.

4. Does it require line-of-sight?

A: No, it can go around walls and through walls just like a Wi-Fi signal.

5. Is there some sort of identification, can a device take power from a system unauthorized?

A: You can configure the system to recognize only a specific set of devices, or open if you want to power all Cota-tech enabled devices.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/09/cota-by-ossia-wireless-power/

I can't imagine what will happen with this once some electrical geeks get a hold of it... if they aren't too expensive I'll buy one and send it strait to Eric Dollard; I bet he could do some fantastic extrapolation with this device.

fifi

12th September 2013, 03:15

All these tech information are way over my head, but thank you very much for sharing. This forum is awesome.

TargeT

12th September 2013, 03:35

All these tech information are way over my head, but thank you very much for sharing. This forum is awesome.

anything you have questions on or need explanation of I am more than willing to help break down to a level of understanding :)

Bob

13th September 2013, 05:19

California firm unveils gigantic amphibious airship which could revolutionize air travel as we know it
The Aeroscraft can take off and land without an airstrip meaning it can operate even in war zones and disaster areas

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/09/10/article-2416809-1BBAF8EE000005DC-350_964x337.jpg

Zeppelins were once considered the future of air transport - but after the horror of the Hindenburg disaster, they disappeared from the skies for more than 75 years.
Now a pioneering aviation firm hopes to bring back the airships in a bid to revolutionise the global market in transporting freight.
The Aeroscraft is built using innovative technology which allows it to control its flight better than previous airships, so it should avoid the problems experienced by the first generation of zeppelins.
It requires only a third as much fuel as an aeroplane carrying cargo, and it can take off and land anywhere even without a formal airstrip - including on water - making it well suited to war zones and disaster areas.
The aircraft has been designed thanks to a $3million grant from the U.S. government, and it will soon be ready for its first test flight, according to Business Insider.
The Aeroscraft is designed by Worldwide Aeros Corp., who predict that it will change the way that goods are moved around the world by providing a mode of transport which is cheaper than planes but faster than ships.
The key technological breakthrough came when the firm's founder Igor Pasternak came up with a way to compress helium, which allows the airship to control its weight.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416809/Return-zeppelin-Firm-unveils-gigantic-airship-revolutionise-goods-carried-world.html#ixzz2eXeneM5j

These have also been suggested to be used to transport OIL out of remote wells across Africa. Such will become the "norm" to increase the oil company's bottom line cost effectively.

The division of Lockheed Martin who worked on Gravity gradiometers (sensors able to look for diamonds for DeBeers, and oil wells for Exxon-Mobil) has also felt that the lighter than air craft are the solution to exploration over jungles. These majors will increase finds, while releasing less energy to maintain 100-200 $ a barrel oil.

Despite the lighter than air-craft being used to find more OIL, there will be improvements in FUEL CELLS that will work on Natural Gas. There will be a bit of a scuffle as there are world wide surpluses of Natural Gas (a very clean energy source and used in FUEL CELLS, the output is ELECTRICITY, some pure water, and heat). Electric vehicles are possible if the politics can be solved.

Spike

13th September 2013, 23:21

Bloom Energy Server 60 minutes Segment Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRAh4YemS0k

This will change every thing

apokalypse

14th September 2013, 00:31

Future factories let workers build a car from home

Machines that can be controlled over the internet open up the possibility of factory workers joining the home-working revolution

THE factories of the future will look very different from those today, with not a person in sight. Instead, workers will log into robot-assisted manufacturing "cells" to make what they want from the comfort of their own home. You won't even need to be employed by the factory: people on online social networks will be able to log in and set laser cutters and 3D printers to work, bashing out gadgets to order.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929334.600-future-factories-let-workers-build-a-car-from-home.html

Bob

14th September 2013, 00:44

Machines that can be controlled over the internet open up the possibility of factory workers joining the home-working revolution

THE factories of the future will look very different from those today, with not a person in sight. Instead, workers will log into robot-assisted manufacturing "cells" to make what they want from the comfort of their own home. You won't even need to be employed by the factory: people on online social networks will be able to log in and set laser cutters and 3D printers to work, bashing out gadgets to order.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929334.600-future-factories-let-workers-build-a-car-from-home.html

This is interesting - with 3D printers now starting to get into the main-stream, between being able to print in plastics (of hard and soft plastics) - even replacement Tracheae (windpipes), I would suspect different body parts will be able to be synthesized. Also the 3D printers have successfully printed PROTEINS. (not quite like printing a pizza, but it's coming).

3D printers are printing complex structures in metal, such as a spring inside of a cavity where the holes are smaller than the spring. You can see the spring inside and wonder how it got in there. I saw this printed at a manufacturer's office as one of the model's his company produces, complex metal shapes, fully functional.

http://images.smh.com.au/2012/02/07/2943012/art-3D-art-420x0.jpg

http://www.3ders.org/images/3d-printing-liquid-metal-3D-structure-2.jpg

Octavusprime

13th November 2013, 01:22

Harvesting electricity from microwaves... With the advent of modern wireless, there is an abundance of microwaves just waiting to be caught and converted to electricity. The technology has made some large leaps in efficiency that are equivalent to solar. The nice part is you can add cells to the array very easily to increase output. Could be used in remote areas and in areas that don't get much sun.

I wonder if could help those that report brain washing and microwave assault by acting like a microwave sink...

http://www.gizmag.com/power-harvester-microwave-signals/29710/

oining the ranks of devices designed to harvest energy from ambient electromagnetic radiation comes an electrical circuit from researchers at Duke University that can be tuned to capture microwave energy from various sources, including satellite, sound or Wi-Fi signals. The researchers say the device converts otherwise lost energy into direct current voltage with efficiencies similar to that of current solar cells.

Duke University students Allen Hawkes and Alexander Katko, working with lead investigator and Duke professor of electrical and computer engineering Steven Cummer, built the device using five fiberglass and copper energy conductors wired up to a circuit board to form a five-cell metamaterial array. The team says the resulting electrical circuit is able to harvest microwaves and convert them into 7.3 V of electrical energy. They compare this to USB chargers for mobile devices that provide around 5 V of power.
Duke engineering students Alexander Katko (left) and Allen Hawkes show a waveguide contain...

“We were aiming for the highest energy efficiency we could achieve,” says Hawkes. “We had been getting energy efficiency around six to 10 percent, but with this design we were able to dramatically improve energy conversion to 37 percent, which is comparable to what is achieved in solar cells.”

In addition to microwaves, the researchers say the metamaterial array could be tuned to harvest power from a range of frequencies, as well as vibrations and sound waves.

“Until now, a lot of work with metamaterials has been theoretical,"says Katko. "We are showing that with a little work, these materials can be useful for consumer applications. The properties of metamaterials allow for design flexibility not possible with ordinary devices like antennas. When traditional antennas are close to each other in space they talk to each other and interfere with each other’s operation. The design process used to create our metamaterial array takes these effects into account, allowing the cells to work together.”

Katko also suggests that a metamaterial coating could be applied to the ceiling of a room to harvest Wi-Fi signals or recover otherwise lost power from home appliances to improve their energy efficiency. But one of the most attractive potential uses would be to embed the energy-harvesting metamaterial in a mobile phone. The researchers say this could be accomplished with some modifications to the technology and provide people in remote locations with the ability to harvest energy from a mobile phone tower.

“Our work demonstrates a simple and inexpensive approach to electromagnetic power harvesting,” says Cummer. “The beauty of the design is that the basic building blocks are self-contained and additive. One can simply assemble more blocks to increase the scavenged power.”

In this way, a series of blocks could be set up to harvest energy from satellites passing overhead. Although this wouldn't yield a large amount of power, the researchers say it could be enough to a remote sensor network used for infrequent data collection in remote locations.

The team's power-harvesting device is detailed in a paper in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

TargeT

10th January 2014, 14:59

advances in battery technology will change the world drastically, currently this is one of the biggest "hold ups" that we are experiencing in technology.

Organic battery hailed as cheap renewable energy solution
Harvard team uses material similar to molecules in rhubarb to store energy
http://i.cbc.ca/1.2489338.1389216832!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/hi-flow-battery-852-jpg.jpg
A cheap rechargeable battery that harnesses energy by using the electrochemistry of organic molecules rather than metals is being touted by Harvard researchers as a breakthrough for renewable energy.

The Harvard team reports that the battery, which they say can be applied on a power-grid scale, uses naturally abundant and small organic compounds called quinones rather than electrocatalysts from costly precious metals such as platinum.

Quinones would be inexpensive to obtain and can be found in green plants or synthesized from crude oil. The battery designed by Harvard scientists and engineers used a quinone molecule that's almost identical to one that's found in rhubarb.

The technology is outlined in the Jan. 9 edition of the journal Nature.

Unlike solid-electrode batteries, flow batteries are recharged by two chemical components dissolved in fluids that are kept in separate tanks.

The quinones in the Harvard team's battery are dissolved in water, which also prevents them from catching fire. These hydroquinones would perform a similar function to metal electrocatalysts such as platinum, because the molecules can store electrical energy efficiently.

10,000 quinone molecules screened

Flow batteries are well suited to storing large amounts of energy, but a major drawback to metal-based flow cells has been cost.

According to MIT Technology review, a conventional metal-reliant flow battery costs an estimated $700 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity, whereas the Harvard team's metal-free technology would bring those costs down to $27 per kilowatt-hour.

Roy G. Gordon, one of the researchers who helped screen more than 10,000 quinone molecules to find the best candidate for the novel battery, said the introduction of the quinones to flow batteries could be a renewable-energy game-changer.

"The whole world of electricity storage has been using metal ions in various charge states, but there is a limited number that you can put into solution and use to store energy, and none of them can economically store massive amounts of renewable energy," Gordon said.

"With organic molecules, we introduce a vast new set of possibilities. Some of them will be terrible and some will be really good. With these quinones we have the first ones that look really good."

The metal vanadium is used in most commercially advanced flow batteries. The Harvard battery performs just as well, the team said.

Could reduce reliance on fossil fuels

Lead researcher Michael J. Aziz said the storage of intermittent forms of renewable energy such as wind or solar power could be more economical if organic flow batteries were used to provide back-up power when the wind stops blowing and the sun isn't shining.

"The intermittent renewables storage problem is the biggest barrier to getting most of our power from the sun and the wind," Aziz said.

"A safe and economical flow battery could play a huge role in our transition off fossil fuels to renewable electricity. I'm excited that we have a good shot at it."

A 2011 review from the American Chemical Society states that globally, the total electricity from wind power reached 74.3 gigawatts in 2006 and 94 gigawatts in 2007. By 2020, the World Energy Council predicts worldwide wind capacity could reach 474 gigawatts.

The U.S. target is to generate 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2020.

The researchers are working with a Connecticut-based company called Sustainable Innovations to create a portable, organic flow battery inside a unit about the size of a horse trailer.

The flow battery would be hooked to solar panels on the roof of a commercial building. The energy stored in the battery could power the building or be used whenever there's a need for it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/organic-battery-hailed-as-cheap-renewable-energy-solution-1.2489300

TargeT

10th January 2014, 15:20

Long-range smart rifles now come in semi-automatic
"From difficult firing positions, such as kneeling, standing or even lying beneath an automobile," novice shooters can hit targets 500 yards away with Tracking Point's computerized semi-automatic rifles.

http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2014/01/09/ar_gallery_1-1024x550_610x328.jpg

What type of computerized rifle could make it even easier for novice shooters to hit targets several football fields away? A semi-automatic rifle that does the same thing.
Texas-based startup Tracking Point debuted its newest series of rifles this week and these guns are capable of shooting high-velocity rounds at distances of up to 500 yards, or five football fields. Dubbed the 500 Series ARs, these weapons are offered in 7.62, .300 BLK, and 5.56 calibers. They come with a high-powered digital scope with LCD display, laser range finder, and Wi-Fi.
What's different about these guns from typical semi-automatic rifles is they come with built-in computers that help shooters hit targets at long distances. This ease of shooting is possible through technology like a guided trigger and "Networked Tracking Scope" that can lock onto and track moving targets. Once the user pulls the trigger, the gun decides when to fire the round based on ballistics data like distance to the target, barometric pressure, wind, and more.
"With stabilized target selection, target tracking and guided firing the 500 Series semi-automatic AR products enable anyone to be an expert marksman out to the 500 yard effective range of the firearm, even from difficult firing positions, such as kneeling, standing or even lying beneath an automobile," Tracking Point said in a statement.
Last year, the company came out with its top-of-the-line series of "smart rifles" called the "XactSystem" that have the capability of hitting bull's-eyes up to 1,200 yards away. The 500 Series semi-automatic rifles start at $9,950 -- far cheaper than the XactSystem series, which starts at $22,500. Delivery for the 500 Series is expected to start in October 2014.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57617027-76/long-range-smart-rifles-now-come-in-semi-automatic/

TargeT

22nd January 2014, 16:51

A "3d" Graphene-like material, a room temperature super conductor; materials science is a very exciting field currently.

Material like '3D graphene' promises new electronics

http://www.ox.ac.uk/images/maincolumn/18048_3D_graphene_image.jpg
The discovery of a material that has a similar electronic structure to graphene but can exist in three dimensions, instead of a flat sheet like graphene, could lead to faster transistors and more compact hard drives.

An international team, led by scientists from Oxford University, Diamond Light Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Stanford University, and Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source, has discovered that sodium bismuthate can exist as a form of quantum matter called a three-dimensional topological Dirac semi-metal (3DTDS).

Scientists have long been searching for a natural 3D counterpart to 2D graphene (a one atom thick layer of carbon that is prized for its electronic properties). Whilst 3DTDS states had been predicted by theorists this is the first experimental confirmation that such a type of material exists and could lead to the discovery of many more exotic materials.

A report of the research is published in Science.

'The 3DTDS we have found has a lot in common with graphene and is likely to be as good or even better in terms of electron mobility – a measure of both how fast and how efficiently an electron can move through a material,' said Dr Yulin Chen of Oxford University's Department of Physics, lead author of the report.

'You can think of the electronic structure of the 3DTDS as being rather like that of the graphene – the so called ''Dirac cone'' where electrons collectively act as if they forget their mass – but instead of flowing masslessly within a single sheet of atoms, the electrons in a 3DTDS flow masslessly along all directions in the bulk.'

Moreover, unlike in graphene, electrons on the surface of the 3DTDS remember their 'spin' – a quantum property akin to the orientation of a tiny magnet that can be used to store and read data – so that the magnet information can be directly transferred by the electric current, which could enable faster and more efficient spintronic devices.

'An important property of this new type of material is its magnetoresistance – how its electrical resistance changes when a magnetic field is applied,' said Dr Chen. 'In typical Giant Magnetoresistance Materials (GMR) the resistance changes by a few tens of percent and then saturate but with 3DTDS it changes 100s or 1000s of percent without showing saturation with the external magnetic field. With this much larger effect we could make a hard drive that is higher intensity, higher speed, and lower energy consumption – for example turning a 1 terabyte hard drive into a drive that can store 10 terabytes within the same volume.'

Whilst sodium bismuthate is too unstable to be used in devices without proper packaging the discovery is likely to start a rush to find many other materials that can exist in the same quantum state.

Dr Chen said: 'Now that we have proved that this kind of material exists, and that such compounds can have one of the highest electron mobilities of any material so far discovered, the race is on to find more such materials and their applications, as well as other materials with unusual topology in their electronic structure.'
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2014/130120.html

TargeT

24th January 2014, 18:37

Designer hailed as next Dyson for compressor blade discovery
A British invention can cut energy costs by up to 20%, reports Rebecca Burn-Callander
The internal combustion engine has seen little innovation since Felix Wankel’s contentious rotary effort back in the 1950s. That is not for want of trying. According to Google’s patent library, which indexes data from the European Patent Office, the World Intellectual Property Organization and patent agencies in China, Germany, Canada, there are as many as 10m piston and compressor-related patents on record.
After more than half a century of stagnation, however, the engine is getting a makeover. Entrepreneur and technologist Steve Lindsey has spent the past 10 years testing a new invention that aims to make engines up to 20pc more efficient. “Most industries try to optimise for a 1pc to 2pc increase in efficiency – 20pc is unheard of,” he says.
His Blade Compressor replaces the old “up and down” piston technology with a circular widget that compresses the air – or gas – in front and induces the air behind in continuous motion, minimising wastage. The technology can be applied to any kind of engine, from the compressor in your fridge to a car engine, potentially revolutionising everything from coffee machines to battleships.
“Every compressor out there gets something wrong,” says Mr Lindsey. “Either the air is wasted, or it’s not compressed properly. But the beauty of this design is that it is so simple. There’s no magic in terms of material. If the Victorians had thought of it, they could have made it.”

b4J7LuoBpx8

http://www.lontra.co.uk/technologies/the_bladecompressor.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/10582833/Designer-hailed-as-next-Dyson-for-compressor-blade-discovery.html

Conchis

24th January 2014, 23:30

We're going to be using blimps to protect major cities from cruise missile attacks.....so very interesting.

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=39441&cpage=1

TargeT

29th January 2014, 18:07

This is pretty awesome, now actually useful parts can be created, things as strong as aluminum, but lighter; very good step in the direction of distributed manufacturing.

New 3D printer can print in carbon fiber
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/NE/markforged-0114-mdn.jpg
Gregory Mark co-owns Aeromotions, which builds computer-controlled racecar wings. To make those wings both strong and lightweight, they use carbon fiber. No surprise there—it's the material of choice for many advanced motorsports parts. The problem is that making custom racecar parts out of carbon fiber is daunting. The only real method available is the expensive and difficult process of laying up carbon fiber pieces by hand.

To improve the process, Mark looked to 3D printing. But nothing on the market could print the material, and no available materials could print pieces strong enough for his purposes. So Mark devised his own solution: the MarkForged Mark One, the world's first carbon fiber 3D printer.

Mark debuted his Boston area-based startup MarkForged at SolidWorks World 2014 in San Diego with a working prototype. The Mark One can print in carbon fiber, fiberglass, nylon and PLA (a thermoplastic).

"We took the idea of 3D printing, that process of laying things down strand by strand, and we used it as a manufacturing process to make composite parts," he told PopMech. "We say it's like regular 3D printers do the form. We do form and function."

What you notice first about MarkForged's printer is its amazing simplicity. With an anodized aluminum unibody and a translucent printing bed, it looks like the Mac of 3D printing. The Mark One employs kinematic coupling for consistent bed leveling, meaning you won't need to worry about making sure the bed is leveled correctly after each print. It's also compact, measuring 22.6 inches wide, 14.2 inches tall, and 12.7 inches deep—a good desktop size.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/1w/markforged-02-0114-de.jpg

The main advantage of the Mark One: It can print parts 20 times stiffer and five times stronger than ABS, according to the company. It even has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than CNC-machined aluminum. The racecar wing supports, for example, are printed with a nylon outershell and honeycomb structure, with a carbon fiber reinforced core. Mark says that he imagines this machine is for anybody who wants to print in a material as strong as aluminum. Beyond racecars, it could be useful to industries like prosthetics.

"There are a bunch of people who are interested in the prosthetics side," he says. "There's a whole fit component. It has to fit on your body. That's something that's more art than science, you want to print out a whole bunch of different versions and test them out," Mark says. "But then when you have your final version, you want to make exactly that, but really strong. [With] this printer‚ once you want to make it strong, you print it in composites."

The Mark One isn't limited to commercial use. With a price $5000, Mark wants to make sure printing in carbon fiber is available to consumers as well.

"It's a material that everybody knows, but probably most people haven't used. So we made the price low and you can start using it. We wanted to make it really easy for people to start printing with it, so they can explore prosthetics, custom bones, tools, and fixtures."

It's potentially a huge step for 3D printing, which has been limited mainly to plastics, limiting its real-world applications. The MarkForged also could help the prototyping phase for companies producing aluminum and carbon fiber products by providing an even more precise model.

The MarkForged Mark One will be available for pre-order starting in February. You can sign up for notifications at the company's website. Units will start shipping in the second half of 2014.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/new-3d-printer-by-markforged-can-print-with-carbon-fiber-16428727?click=pm_latest

TargeT

29th January 2014, 18:16

(not quite like printing a pizza, but it's coming).

It's actually already here!
http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2014-01-27/0127_3D_printer_pizza_.jpg
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-28/all-the-food-thats-fit-to-3d-print-from-chocolates-to-pizza

http://life.nationalpost.com/2014/01/15/3d-food-printers-hit-kitchens-and-restaurants-as-technology-and-edible-ingredients-combine-to-create-everything-from-cake-toppers-to-pizzas/

iZE0DYiExr8

Bob

29th January 2014, 18:37

:) multiple toppings, hold the anchovies.. :)

There are metal printers now too, using the same injector head, instead of sintering metal (solidifying) in a bed of dust.

Resolution issues still have to be dealt with, and in printing high temperature materials, will the parts warp or stress.

The methods to take it fully to low level molecular printing, weaving and layering nano-building blocks, printing protein sequences will really be exciting !

"would you like pepperoni, and olives with your printed pizza?

Thanks TargeT

TargeT

31st January 2014, 16:58

First graphene based technology I know of:

IBM's speedy graphene chip could lead to super-efficient mobile devices
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/e69b31be0b287e66c3c59de910356107/ibm-graphene-chip-2014.jpg

Chips with graphene inside are theoretically quicker than plain silicon designs, but they've been slow in practice; the manufacturing process often damages the graphene, stripping away its speed advantage. That won't be a big problem with IBM's prototype radio receiver, though. The company inserted graphene transistors into the new chip only after it finished assembling the mostly silicon design, keeping the more exotic material intact. The resulting integrated circuit is about 10,000 times more powerful than previous parts, IBM claims. The test unit hasn't done more than send a text message so far, but it could lead to future wireless radios that are both faster and consume less power. If you eventually get a graphene-powered smartphone with great data speeds and a long battery life, you'll know who to thank.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/30/speedy-ibm-graphene-chip/

Nanook

31st January 2014, 23:43

As I understand it, skyrmions aren't really a particle in the same sense an electron, proton, or neutron are particles, but some weird quantum superposition of baryons in a resonant state. The result though is kind of a magnetic vortex that is highly stable but much smaller than magnetic structures used to store information in hard drives today.

Here is an article that explains it a bit (http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/08/09/skyrmion/1).

TargeT

6th February 2014, 17:29

Interesting advance, Looks like Moore's law will hold true after all.

New form of graphene allows electrons to behave like photons
http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/interconnected_graphene_nanorobbons.jpg
This is a conceptual drawing of an electronic circuit comprised of interconnected graphene nanoribbons (black atoms) that are epitaxially grown on steps etched in silicon carbide (yellow atoms). Electrons (blue) travel ballistically along the ribbon and then from one ribbon to the next via the metal contacts. Electron flow is modulated by electrostatic gates. (Credit: John Hankinson)

Using electrons more like photons could provide the foundation for a new type of electronic device that would capitalize on the ability of graphene to carry electrons with almost no resistance even at room temperature — a property known as ballistic transport.

Research reported this week in the journal Nature shows that electrical resistance in nanoribbons of epitaxial graphene changes in discrete steps following quantum mechanical principles. The research shows that the graphene nanoribbons act more like optical waveguides or quantum dots, allowing electrons to flow smoothly along the edges of the material.

In ordinary conductors such as copper, resistance increases in proportion to the length as electrons encounter more and more impurities while moving through the conductor.

Over ten times more conductive

The ballistic transport properties, similar to those observed in cylindrical carbon nanotubes, exceed theoretical conductance predictions for graphene by a factor of 10. The properties were measured in graphene nanoribbons approximately 40 nanometers wide that had been grown on the edges of three-dimensional structures etched into silicon carbide wafers.

“This work shows that we can control graphene electrons in very different ways because the properties are really exceptional,” said Walt de Heer, a Regent’s professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “This could result in a new class of coherent electronic devices based on room temperature ballistic transport in graphene. Such devices would be very different from what we make today in silicon.”

The research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the W.M. Keck Foundation, was done through a collaboration of scientists from Georgia Tech in the U.S., Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S.

Ultra-fast computing with graphene

For nearly a decade, researchers have been trying to use the unique properties of graphene to create electronic devices that operate much like existing silicon semiconductor chips. But those efforts have met with limited success because graphene cannot be easily given the electronic bandgap that such devices need to operate.

De Heer argues that researchers should stop trying to use graphene like silicon, and instead use its unique electron transport properties to design new types of electronic devices that could allow ultra-fast computing — based on a new approach to switching. Electrons in the graphene nanoribbons can move tens or hundreds of microns without scattering.

“This constant resistance is related to one of the fundamental constants of physics, the conductance quantum,” de Heer said. “The resistance of this channel does not depend on temperature, and it does not depend on the amount of current you are putting through it.”

Nanoribbons of epitaxial graphene
http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/graphene-sheets-forming.jpg
Schematic showing well-aligned, single-crystal monolayer graphene sheets (all black) that form spontaneously on steps etched onto the surface of silicon carbide (SiC) wafers heated above 1,000 degrees C (credit: Jens Baringhaus et al./Nature)

The nanoribbons are grown epitaxially on silicon carbide (SiC) wafers into which patterns have been etched using standard microelectronics fabrication techniques.

When the wafers are heated to approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius, silicon is preferentially driven off along the edges, forming graphene nanoribbons whose structure is determined by the pattern of the three-dimensional surface.

Once grown, the nanoribbons require no further processing.

The advantage of fabricating graphene nanoribbons this way is that it produces edges that are perfectly smooth, annealed by the fabrication process.

Electrons that behave like photons

The smooth edges allow electrons to flow through the nanoribbons without disruption. (If traditional etching techniques are used to cut nanoribbons from graphene sheets, the resulting edges are too rough to allow ballistic transport.)

“It seems that the current is primarily flowing on the edges,” de Heer said. “There are other electrons in the bulk portion of the nanoribbons, but they do not interact with the electrons flowing at the edges.”

The electrons on the edge flow more like photons in optical fiber, helping them avoid scattering. “These electrons are really behaving more like light,” he said. “It is like light going through an optical fiber. Because of the way the fiber is made, the light transmits without scattering.”

The researchers measured ballistic conductance in the graphene nanoribbons for up to 16 microns. Electron mobility measurements surpassing one million correspond to a sheet resistance of one ohm per square that is two orders of magnitude lower than what is observed in two-dimensional graphene — and ten times smaller than the best theoretical predictions for graphene.A new type of graphene-based electronics

“This should enable a new way of doing electronics,” de Heer said. “We are already able to steer these electrons and we can switch them using rudimentary means. We can put a roadblock, and then open it up again. New kinds of switches for this material are now on the horizon.”

Theoretical explanations for what the researchers have measured are incomplete. De Heer speculates that the graphene nanoribbons may be producing a new type of electronic transport similar to what is observed in superconductors.

“There is a lot of fundamental physics that needs to be done to understand what we are seeing,” he added. “We believe this shows that there is a real possibility for a new type of graphene-based electronics.”

Georgia Tech researchers have pioneered graphene-based electronics since 2001, for which they hold a patent, filed in 2003. The technique involves etching patterns into electronics-grade silicon carbide wafers, then heating the wafers to drive off silicon, leaving patterns of graphene.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Georgia Tech; the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy, and the Partner University Fund from the Embassy of France.

Abstract of Nature paper

Graphene nanoribbons will be essential components in future graphene nanoelectronics. However, in typical nanoribbons produced from lithographically patterned exfoliated graphene, the charge carriers travel only about ten nanometres between scattering events, resulting in minimum sheet resistances of about one kilohm per square. Here we show that 40-nanometre-wide graphene nanoribbons epitaxially grown on silicon carbide are single-channel room-temperature ballistic conductors on a length scale greater than ten micrometres, which is similar to the performance of metallic carbon nanotubes. This is equivalent to sheet resistances below 1 ohm per square, surpassing theoretical predictions for perfect graphene by at least an order of magnitude. In neutral graphene ribbons, we show that transport is dominated by two modes. One is ballistic and temperature independent; the other is thermally activated. Transport is protected from back-scattering, possibly reflecting ground-state properties of neutral graphene. At room temperature, the resistance of both modes is found to increase abruptly at a particular length—the ballistic mode at 16 micrometres and the other at 160 nanometres. Our epitaxial graphene nanoribbons will be important not only in fundamental science, but also – because they can be readily produced in thousands – in advanced nanoelectronics, which can make use of their room-temperature ballistic transport properties.

TargeT

7th February 2014, 14:25

I didn't think China would be the first to do this... I see this as the endstate for 3d printing, or at least close to it.

China’s Huge 3D Printers, Soon Able to Print Automobile Sized Metal Objects
http://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/large-3d-printer.jpg
One of the biggest possible economic impacts of 3D printing to the U.S. economy is the fact that it may eventually allow corporations to bring jobs back onshore from China. The United States outsources a large number of jobs over to Asia as a way to cut labor costs. 3D printing and robotics promises to change some of this, as companies can utilize industrial scale 3D printers and automation to manufacture parts for their products, cheaper than even the labor force in China can produce them. That’s if, of course China lags behind in their adoption of these technologies.

It appears, however that China is investing heavily in 3D printing, just like those in the U.S. and Europe. Their corporate and government leaders clearly can identify an emerging technology and its possible economic impact on the future of China. In fact, back in June, China announced a gigantic 3D printer, which they claimed was the world’s largest at the time, with a 1.8 m build diameter. Basically the thing could print out a nice sized bathroom vanity if you wanted it to.

This isn’t where it ends though. 1.8 meters is nothing compared to what China has done since, and plans to do within the next month or so. Southern Fan Co. (As Translated from Chinese), a company also located in China, put out a press release in November of last year, indicating their plans to develop what would turn out to be, by far the largest 3D printer yet. The printer, once The printer, once complete, sometime this month, according to past releases large 3d printerby the company, will be able to print out metal objects approximately 6 meters, or 18 feet in diameter. Yes, if the printer works as it’s supposed to, the company will be able to print out the entire frame of just about any four wheeled automobile on Earth.

The implications for such a development would be huge for the company, but also for China, who in the last 12 months has really made it a priority to develop their laser sintering technologies. There are already several large scale industrial 3D printers in China, including the one in the image above, in which a team at Beihang University has been able to print out several complex titanium alloy structures. This includes parts used in satellites, rockets, and nuclear power plants. These are actual parts, and not prototypes for parts. Also larger parts such as titanium alloy landing gear for jets, as well as large main force bearing frames of air crafts have been, and continue to be produce by this printer.
http://3dprint.com/chinas-huge-3d-printers-soon-able-to-print-automobile-sized-metal-objects/

Mad Hatter

11th February 2014, 02:29

Brilliant thread TargeT !!

and its possible economic impact on the future the 'possible' bit made me laugh !!

IMNSHO if you are not old enough to really appreciate the truly enormous impact the technology known as "Personal computing' has had on the world ie you missed out on building your own 4004 or learning to program a bleeding edge 8080 or 6502 only to be left behind due to rate of change, then you actually have such an opportunity right now...

3D printing, to mind, will be come the next truly must have ubiquitous commodity. Watch for it's impact on the present manufacturing powerhouses no matter what country they are in as it will having a shattering impact on 'old skool thinkin' in that arena. There will be fortunes to be made and lost but NOW is the time to jump on the bandwagon.

When I first saw one of these I thought aha, it's 'sort of' like a reverse CNC milling machine which cuts out the injection molding process and goes straight to finished product. Given Moores law is still in full swing, it seems to me that it won't be very long at all (wink wink, nudge nudge to the universe in 'The Secret' thinking style') before some form of imaging scanner is parked at the front end of one of these thus producing almost instant replication of any shape or object required a la' photocopying style.

I have also ordered from the Universe spiritually aware entrepreneurial types who will figure out a way to use hemp as the input product as I'd dearly love a replica of Henry Fords car not only made of hemp, so stronger and lighter than steel, but actually running on hemp oil...

Watch this space. :cool:

TargeT

12th February 2014, 15:12

some form of imaging scanner is parked at the front end of one of these thus producing almost instant replication of any shape or object required a la' photocopying style.

I have also ordered from the Universe spiritually aware entrepreneurial types who will figure out a way to use hemp as the input product as I'd dearly love a replica of Henry Fords car not only made of hemp, so stronger and lighter than steel, but actually running on hemp oil...

Watch this space. :cool:

or, even better... a Laser external scan with an MRI component for complex objects (you get the inside, and out, and appropriate material density)

Quantum phisics is starting to reach actual devises, first the quantum computer, now a microscope that uses entangled photons for more accurate images.
http://www.technologyreview.com/sites/default/files/images/enhanced%20microscopy.png
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/524521/worlds-first-entanglement-enhanced-microscope/

it seems like we are on a steep curve for technology right now, I expect some major jumps at the consumer level in the next year or two.

TargeT

12th February 2014, 19:07

Griff

13th February 2014, 00:48

Great thread TargeT, thank you for this! While I was aware of some of these technologies, I was not aware of the state of their development in some cases. We are indeed on the cusp of another great technological revolution. 3D printing will take manufacturing in an entirely new direction with heretofore unheard of capabilities. New battery technology will finally enable us to displace fossil fuels for both transportation and energy generation and enable the distributed electrical grid. Computing power will soon have an exponential jump. While it's a little disturbing to realize that most of what I learned in engineering school is now obsolete (if it wasn't already) that is more than made up for by the excitement of the possibilities of what is to come!

Bring it on I say!

Griff

TargeT

2nd March 2014, 21:04

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2014/silicongerma.jpg

A research collaboration consisting of IHP-Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics in Germany and the Georgia Institute of Technology has demonstrated the world's fastest silicon-based device to date. The investigators operated a silicon-germanium (SiGe) transistor at 798 gigahertz (GHz) fMAX, exceeding the previous speed record for silicon-germanium chips by about 200 GHz.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-02-silicon-germanium-chip.html#jCpx

TargeT

6th March 2014, 20:30

This Gigantic 3-D Printer Can Create an Entire Table
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/design/2014/02/bigrep-01.jpg
Growing up under communist rule in East Germany, Lukas Oehmigen didn’t have much in the way of worldly possessions, but he did develop an intense interest in DIY. When art school beckoned he turned his attention to the world of 3-D printing and developed a giant-sized fabricator that can print objects larger than a La-Z-Boy recliner.

Its aluminum frame is just over five feet in every dimension and the build area is a robust 45x39x47 inches. Oehmigen named the original prototype “Le Big Rep” in honor of Pulp Fiction, though his new 440-pound, $39,000 printer has been anglicized to the simpler BigRep.
Technically, it compares favorably to more modestly sized fused filament fabrication (FFF) printers like the MakerBot. This prodigious 3-D printer features a 100 micron layer thickness, the ability to print PLA, ABS, and other experimental plastics, and a dual-extruder print head which allows the system to print in multiple colors or create more advanced geometries using a removable support material.

It takes approximately two spools of material, about $150 worth of plastic, and five days of print time to create a full-sized end table. Ikea won’t face competition on the cost front just yet, but before long it may be possible to print a stylish, inexpensive living room set without having to brave the crowds at the Swedish furniture superstore.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/design/2014/02/bigrep-c.jpg

For those concerned about sitting on a 3-D printed chair, have no fear. Oehmigen regularly stands atop the parts he’s fabricated to demonstrate their strength. “You can print usable structurally strong parts, which you can bend like a strongbow, at the same time being as hard as a bone,” he says.

http://www.wired.com/design/2014/03/gigantic-3-d-printer-replace-ikea/#x

Contact lens-based Google Glass competitor unveiled at CES 2014, iOptik
http://www.indiatvnews.com/upload/news/neweditor/Image/2013/businessindia/jan/inn3.jpg
A high-tech contact lens is set to run Facebook or Twitter right in front of your eyes - in floating virtual screens dotted with information.

Washington-based startup Innovega is coming up with a natural eyewear-based platform - called iOptik - that promises to transform how we share social media. The company demonstrated the new technology at the ongoing CES 2014 tradeshow.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/business/india/breaking-news-ces-2014-ioptik-contact-lens-based-google-glass-9599.html

The rechargeable revolution: A better battery

Chemists are reinventing rechargeable cells to drive down costs and boost capacity

The mobile world depends on lithium-ion batteries — today's ultimate rechargeable energy store. Last year, consumers bought five billion Li-ion cells to supply power-hungry laptops, cameras, mobile phones and electric cars. “It is the best battery technology anyone has ever seen,” says George Crabtree, director of the US Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), which is based at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois. But Crabtree wants to do much, much better.

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Modern Li-ion batteries hold more than twice as much energy by weight as the first commercial versions sold by Sony in 1991 — and are ten times cheaper. But they are nearing their limit. Most researchers think that improvements to Li-ion cells can squeeze in at most 30% more energy by weight (see 'Powering up'). That means that Li-ion cells will never give electric cars the 800-kilometre range of a petrol tank, or supply power-hungry smartphones with many days of juice.

In 2012, the JCESR hub won US$120 million from the US Department of Energy to take a leap beyond Li-ion technology. Its stated goal was to make cells that, when scaled up to the sort of commercial battery packs used in electric cars, would be five times more energy dense than the standard of the day, and five times cheaper, in just five years. That means hitting a target of 400 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh kg−1) by 2017.

Crabtree calls the goal “very aggressive”; veteran battery researcher Jeff Dahn at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, calls it “impossible”. The energy density of rechargeable batteries has risen only sixfold since the early lead–nickel rechargeables of the 1900s. But, says Dahn, the JCESR's target focuses attention on technologies that will be crucial in helping the world to switch to renewable energy sources — storing up solar energy for night-time or a rainy day, for example. And the US hub is far from alone. Many research teams and companies in Asia, the Americas and Europe are looking beyond Li-ion, and are pursuing strategies that may topple it from its throne.

http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.15872.1393944262!/image/batt2.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/batt2.jpg

http://www.nature.com/news/the-rechargeable-revolution-a-better-battery-1.14815?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

Engineering team increases power efficiency for future computer processors
http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2014/1-engineeringt.jpg
The UCLA researchers were able to demonstrate that using this multiferroic material to generate spin waves could reduce wasted heat and therefore increase power efficiency for processing by up to 1,000 times. Their research is published in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-03-team-power-efficiency-future-processors.html#jCp

TargeT

21st March 2014, 02:20

The more we delve into magnetics and magnetic fields the more amazing things we find.... this may not be the best timing with the current nuclear fear zeitgeist.

Magnetic behavior discovery could advance nuclear fusion
ANN ARBOR—Inspired by the space physics behind solar flares and the aurora, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and Princeton has uncovered a new kind of magnetic behavior that could help make nuclear fusion reactions easier to start.

Fusion is widely considered the ultimate goal of nuclear energy. While fission leaves behind radioactive waste that must be stored safely, fusion generates helium, a harmless element that is becoming scarce. Just 250 kilograms of fusion fuel can match the energy production of 2.7 million tons of coal.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get a fusion reaction going.

"We have to compress the fuel to a temperature and density similar to the core of a star," said Alexander Thomas, assistant professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences.

Once those conditions are reached, the hydrogen fuel begins to fuse into helium. This is how young stars burn, compressed by their own gravity.

On Earth, it takes so much power to push the fuel atoms together that researchers end up putting in more energy than they get out. But by understanding a newly discovered magnetic phenomenon, the team suggests that the ignition of nuclear fusion could be made more efficient.

Two methods dominate for confining the fuel, made of hydrogen atoms with extra neutrons, so that fusion can begin. Magnetic confinement fusion uses magnetic fields to trap the fuel in a magnetic 'bottle,' and inertial confinement fusion heats the surface of the fuel pellet until it blows off in a way that causes the remaining pellet to implode. The team explored an aspect of the latter method through computer simulations.

"One of the concerns with nuclear fusion is to squeeze this very spherical fuel pellet perfectly into a very small spherical pellet," said Archis Joglekar, a doctoral student in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences.

To avoid pushing the ball of fuel into an irregular shape that won't ignite, the fuel must be exposed to uniform heat that will cause its surface layer to evaporate all at once. As this layer pushes off at high speed, it applies equal pressure to all sides of the pellet and causes it to shrink to one thousandth of its original volume. When that happens, the fuel begins to fuse.

Joglekar calls even heating "the biggest concern in terms of achieving inertial confinement fusion."

The heat comes from about 200 laser beams hitting the inside of a hollow metal cylinder with the fuel pellet sitting at its heart. The trouble is that the light energy from the laser is converted to heat in the metal by way of electrons, and the electrons can get trapped in magnetic fields created by the laser spots.

When the laser light hits the metal, it turns some of the surface metal into plasma, or a soup of electrons and free atomic nuclei. The laser and the heat drive the electrons to move in a way that sets up a magnetic field circling the laser spot.

The magnetic field acts as a boundary for the electrons—they can't cross it. But until now, researchers didn't know that the hot electrons, in an effort to get to cooler areas, are able to push the magnetic fence outward.

The team showed that the flow of hot electrons could drive the magnetic fields around neighboring laser spots together, causing them to join up. Instead of forming a barrier between the laser spots, the joined fields open a channel between them.

"Now there's a clear path for the electrons to move into what would otherwise be the cold region," Joglekar said.

Designers of inertial fusion ignition systems may be able to use this newly discovered feature to place the laser spots so that they heat the cylinder more quickly and efficiently.

"Essentially, what we found is a completely new magnetic reconnection mechanism," Thomas said. "Though we're studying it in an inertial confinement fusion process, it might be relevant to the surface of the sun and magnetic confinement fusion."

For instance, knowing that the flow of hot, charged particles on the sun can push magnetic fields around could inspire new theories about how solar flares occur.

A paper on this work, titled "Magnetic reconnection in plasma under inertial confinement fusion conditions driven by heat flux effects in Ohm's law," is published in Physical Review Letters. It was carried out in collaboration with Amativa Bhattacharjee and William Fox of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/22060-magnetic-behavior-discovery-could-advance-nuclear-fusion#.Uys_PNNV9-4.reddit

TargeT

21st March 2014, 04:02

The Germans Have Figured Out How to 3-D Print Cars

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2014/03/EDAG-1-660x457.jpg

The assembly line isn’t going away, but 3-D printing is going to reshape how we make cars. The EDAG Genesis points the way, with an beautifully crafted frame made from a range of materials and inspired by a turtle’s skeleton.

The German engineering firm showed off the Genesis design concept at the Geneva Motor Show as proof that additive manufacturing–EDAG’s fancy term for 3-D printing–can be used to make full-size car components. It’s on an entirely different scale than the tiny, 3-D printed creations coming out of a desktop Makerbot, but it’s also just a frame–a stylized chassis that’s more art than reality.

Before settling on 3-D printing, EDAG tried a few different acronym-heavy options, including selective laser sintering (SLS), selective laser melting (SLM), and stereolithography (SLA). But after extensive tinkering, the final process they used was a modified version of fused-deposition modeling, or FDM.

EDAG’s robot built the Genesis concept by creating a thermoplastic model of the complex interior, although the company says they could use carbon fiber to make the structure both stronger and lighter. EDAG envisions the Genesis as being surrounded by an exterior frame–likely steel or aluminum–to provide a tough exterior to protect the lattice-like monocoque.
We’ve seen 3-D printing applied to cars before, but EDAG’s design is unique because it shows that with the right equipment you can produce a structure at a massively larger scale. Rather than printing out tiny parts and assembling them together to create a whole, the Genesis proposes that future cars could be produced in fewer steps by assembling large, exceptionally strong unibody parts.

Printing of this size is still years from reality due to both cost and scale, but the design is the opening salvo in an arms race for creating large objects with a single process.

“As for the target of using additive manufacturing to produce complete vehicle bodies, there is still a long way to go before this becomes an industrial application,” EDAG says in its announcement. “So for the time being, it remains a vision.”

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/edag-3-d-printed-car/

TargeT

7th April 2014, 13:05

So all the "graphene" buzz has been highly interesting, but ultimately useless for the "end consumer" (you and me) due to the lack of a viable manufacturing proccess.

It appears Samsung has made a breakthrough, battery 2.0 might be right around the corner; and this is the major shift that will change consumer electronics to an almost unrecognizable state.

Graphene battery research by Samsung experiences breakthrough in manufacturing process

Battery innovation has been stuck in the lithium ion age over the past few decades, and progress towards a better battery has hardly moved at all when compared to exponential jumps in storage space, memory capacity and processor computing speeds. However, in the recent past, graphene (similar to a pencil’s graphite) has enjoyed success in solving some of the roadblocks of lithium ion technology. In fact, the potential output of the material far outlasts and exceeds the capacity of traditional lithium ion in terms of volume and weight. On top of that, the material is flexible and can be adapted in new flexible displays. However, the reason we haven’t seen devices using graphene yet is due to difficulties in the implementation of the delicate processes involved in building graphene layers on a large manufacturing scale.

According to the post on Samsung’s blog, it seems Samsung has finally grasped the manufacturing process, and stated that in partnership with Sungkyunkwan University, SAIT (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) has become the first group of researchers to harness the benefits of graphene on a large scale manufacturing platform. The process is designed to overcome previous problems which included deteriorating electric properties. The breakthrough was accomplished by synthesizing “large area graphene onto a single crystal on a semiconductor, maintaining its electrical and mechanical properties.”

Samsung and Sungkyunkwan University have been working on graphene and other nano research since 2006, and the partnership has yielded the most awaited leap in efficient energy management. We will see the technology decrease the size of our phones and tablets further, as well as power smart watches and even allow tiny devices to achieve incredible battery life. As processors make the switch to 14 nanometer processes, and flexible devices are becoming popular, the world is finally ready for a revolutionary change in how often we charge our devices, and what types of efficiency we will expect from them in the future.

http://www.neowin.net/news/graphene-battery-research-by-samsung-experiences-breakthrough-in-manufacturing-process

A closer look at Samsung’s new graphene breakthrough: The holy grail of commercial graphene production?

http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/ibm-graphene-wafer-testing-hardware-header_contentfullwidth.jpg

Samsung appears to have stumbled across the holy grail of commercial graphene production: A new technique that can grow high-quality single-crystal graphene on silicon wafers – graphene that is suitable for the production of graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) – and afterward, once the graphene has been peeled off, the silicon wafers can even be reused!

Samsung is dressing this up as a breakthrough for flexible, wearable computers – which is fair enough, given the company's recent focus on curved smartphones and watches.

This work, carried out by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, is rather advanced – so stick with me while I try to explain it.

Basically, they start with a normal silicon wafer. They coat the wafer in a layer of germanium (Ge), and then dip the wafer in dilute hydrofluoric (HF) acid, which strips off the native (naturally forming) germanium oxide groups, leaving a "sea" of hydrogen atoms that are bonded to the germanium underneath (H-terminated germanium, in chemistry speak).

The wafer is then placed into furnace, where fairly normal chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is used to deposit a layer of graphene on top of the H-terminated Ge. Finally, after a bit more baking, and cooling under vacuum, the graphene is ready to be peeled off and used in the fabrication of graphene transistors and other such devices.

http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/graphene-growing-on-h-terminated-germanium-640x417_fullwidth.jpg

(The above image shows graphene growing on H-terminated germanium. The orange circles are germanium, the little blue dots are hydrogen, and the black dots are carbon (graphene)).

Importantly, the graphene monolayer monocrystals (yes, I enjoyed writing that) grown in this way are wrinkle-free – and because the graphene is removed from the germanium using a dry process, it is high quality and low in defects, too. [Research paper: DOI: 10.1126/science.1252268]. Also significant is the fact that the silicon wafers and germanium substrate can be reused and recycled (currently, the most popular method of producing graphene is on a copper substrate, which is then wastefully burnt away with acid).

So far, it seems Samsung has used this new process of growing graphene to create some field-effect transistors (GFETs), which performed quite well, but that's about it. Still, in a press release, Samsung pulls no punches: "This is one of the most significant breakthroughs in graphene research in history," said the SAIT researchers. This being Samsung, of course, the press release also talks about how graphene is "the perfect material for use in flexible displays, wearables and other next generation electronic devices."

These claims might sound hyperbolic, but to be fair this is probably the most exciting graphene breakthrough that I've written about in the last three years. This process gets us very close to commercial, large-scale production of high-quality, electronics-grade graphene. This doesn't mean that we'll suddenly see computer chips made out of graphene instead of silicon, though – we still haven't found a way of giving graphene a bandgap, which means it's actually fairly useless as far as digital computing goes. We might see some graphene-based wireless modems capable of ludicrous performance, though.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2014/04/06/a-closer-look-at-samsungs-new-graphene-breakthrough-the-holy-grail-of-commercial-graphene-production/#ixzz2yCmhS5Kt

Creative Lorraine

7th April 2014, 19:51

Wireless Electricity is Happening

http://myscienceacademy.org/2014/03/19/wireless-electricity-is-happening/

TargeT

19th May 2014, 19:55

IBM discovers new class of ultra-tough, self-healing, recyclable plastics that could redefine almost every industry
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/182583-ibm-discovers-new-class-of-ultra-tough-self-healing-recyclable-plastics-that-could-redefine-almost-every-industry

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one of my favorite topics:

New battery tech may lead to inexpensive, safer electric cars

Power Japan Plus announced its dual carbon battery technology, which promises longer-lasting and less expensive batteries for electric cars.
http://www.cnet.com/news/japanese-company-promises-revolutionary-new-electric-vehicle-battery/?ttag=fbwl
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pabranno

19th May 2014, 20:14

You guys do some amazing research, thank you for putting it all in one place.
We are indeed in revolutionary times... but, personally, I get goose bumps reading about where technology will be taking the human race.
I truly fear with each technological advance, we become further removed from the uniqueness of our "humanity".....
Now music is digitized, and rarely do we sing in the garden, or sitting on a hill sing to the sky..
We NEVER tell stories to each other, sharing deeper truths in that intimate way, heart to heart.
Heck, we cannot even talk to each other eye to eye, preferring texts even over voice to voice.
We no longer are able to "read" each other simply by being next to each other.
This is the cost of technology, and it is irretrievable and precious beyond rubies...
This is truly how I feel.

Pamela

TargeT

22nd May 2014, 14:06

World's Smallest And Fastest Nanomotor Built By University of Texas Engineers Runs The Longest
A team of engineers from the University of Texas at Austin has developed a new machine called 'The Nanomotor' that is the smallest (1/500th times the size of a grain of salt) synthetic motor built to date, and surprisingly enough, it is the fastest (ultra-high-speed) and is able to run the longest. What is now being called a significant step in the direction of manufacturing 'miniature machines', the Nanomotor's development has paved the way for coming up with a first-of-its-kind devices that can be used in applications that require unprecedented precision such as controlled biochemical drug delivery to live cells & cell-to-cell communication. For example - Treatment of cancer cells without affecting the good cells or Administering insulin in a diabetic patient's body as and when needed. All this could be possible because the 3-part nanomotor is capable of mixing and pumping biochemicals and moving through liquids.

Developed by a team of engineering researchers including graduate students - Kwanoh Kim, Xiaobin Xu and Jianhe Guo, led by Donglei “Emma” Fan, an assistant professor at the Mechanical Engineering department from the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University, the nanomotor is capable of converting electrical energy into mechanical motion. The team is responsible for the custom design and assembly as well as testing of this unique nanomotor that features large driving power (delivers 15 continuous hours of rotating speed at 18,000 RPMs, which equals the speed of a motor in a jet airplane engine). It is important to note here that, the other nanomotors in existence today run at the speed of just 14 to 500 RPMs and can last only for a few minutes.

http://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/worlds-smallest-and-fastest-nanomotor-built-by-university-of-texas-engineers-runs-the-longest.74930/

Plus

Wireless energy powers pacemaker in live rabbit
There's electricity in the air. A rabbit's beating heart has been regulated using a tiny pacemaker that beams in energy from outside its body. It is the first time this kind of wireless energy transfer has been demonstrated in a living animal. If such wirelessly powered medical implants can work in people too, it would reduce the seriousness of the procedures required to get them fitted.

"Our device is small, so it will be much easier to deliver into the body," says Ada Poon of Stanford University in California, who led the team that implanted the tiny pacemaker.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25590-wireless-energy-powers-pacemaker-in-live-rabbit.html#.U3yQonbcAWA

New Wireless Power Set Up Charges 40 Smartphones from Across the Room
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you never had to plug in your phone? Well, a team of Korean scientists say that they're one step closer to making that fantasy a reality with new wireless power transfer technology that works from over 15 feet away. And it works pretty damn well, too.

This new system isn't entirely new. It improves upon the basic idea for so-called Coupled Magnetic Resonance System (CMRS) developed by MIT scientists back in 2007. A team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, however, just announced a new option that both simplifies and improves the earlier design, extending the reach of the wireless power transfer from a little over five feet to over 15 feet. It does so with two 10-foot-long boxes made of up compact ferrite core rods with coils of wire in the middle. One of the boxes generates a magnetic field, while the other induces the voltage. They call the set up a Dipole Coil Resonant System (DCRS).

In plain English, anything between the two boxes can tap into the system's power. It effectively generates wireless electricity.

http://gizmodo.com/new-wireless-power-set-up-charges-40-smartphones-from-a-1565610545

so, nano-motors and wireless power.... ****'s about to get real wierd.

TargeT

24th May 2014, 19:52

already has 2 million views... in 6 days?!
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NancyV

24th May 2014, 21:09

Now THAT'S exciting! Hope big oil interests, politics and corruption don't stop it!

TargeT

8th June 2014, 12:23

A new way to make laser-like beams using 250x less power
With precarious particles called polaritons that straddle the worlds of light and matter, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a new, practical and potentially more efficient way to make a coherent laser-like beam.

They have made what's believed to be the first polariton laser that is fueled by electrical current as opposed to light, and also works at room temperature, rather than way below zero.

Those attributes make the device the most real-world ready of the handful of polariton lasers ever developed. It represents a milestone like none the field has seen since the invention of the most common type of laser – the semiconductor diode – in the early 1960s, the researchers say. While the first lasers were made in the 1950s, it wasn't until the semiconductor version, fueled by electricity rather than light, that the technology took off.

This work could advance efforts to put lasers on computer circuits to replace wire connections, leading to smaller and more powerful electronics. It may also have applications in medical devices and treatments and more.[/B]

http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/22218-a-new-way-to-make-laser-like-beams-using-250x-less-power?print=yes

Good post on this laser tech here (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?71360-What-is-REAL-SCIENCE&p=842021&viewfull=1#post842021)

This applies to the following thread, the two could make for a very interesting mix.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?71600-Making-Matter-Photons-can-be-used-to-create-solid-matter&highlight=fusion

TargeT

8th June 2014, 16:10

Focus Fusion: Has cheap, clean Earth-saving fusion power been right under our noses all along?

http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/focus-fusion-device-640x426.jpg
While the world’s only major fusion power effort — ITER — continues to trundle along, with an eventual first-fusion date of 2027 at a cost of more than $20 billion to taxpayers, there’s a small lab in New Jersey that says it can produce fusion power within a year, with a total spend of just a few million dollars. This lab uses a much cheaper and easier method to reach nuclear fusion — called Focus Fusion — with the massive added benefit that its fusion reactors are small enough and safe enough to deploy domestically. To be honest it sounds too good to be true — but rest assured that Focus Fusion, at least to my eyes, is the real deal. This isn’t some kind of magical, inexplicable witchcraft like cold fusion: Focus Fusion appears to be based on cold, hard science. This could actually be it.

The key to Focus Fusion is a dense plasma focus device and a form of fusion called aneutronic fusion. These are both completely unlike current controlled fusion systems — such as the American NIF, European JET, or international ITER — which use massive magnets or lasers to create magnetic and inertial confinement fusion. Both inertial and magnetic confinement fusion require massive, billion-dollar setups that are hard to build and tough to fund.

The following video neatly explains what a dense plasma focus device is.

see the video here:
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184280-focus-fusion-has-cheap-clean-earth-saving-fusion-power-been-right-under-our-noses-all-along

TargeT

13th June 2014, 12:45

This is a very interesting product, I hope the sensors and software go open source.. something like this is very valuable for the average consumer.. Imagine these at bars.. no more worrying about items slipped into your drink, your drink glass/container can tell you when it's been altered!

This Smart Cup Knows What’s Inside of It

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Vessyl, whose pre-sale began on Thursday, looks like most portable cups: plastic, handy and durable. But it’s far smarter than your average container.

Created by startup Mark One over seven years, Vessyl is sensor-equipped and immediately reports your drink’s nutrition facts, according to the product’s promotional video.

Once a liquid is poured into the Vessyl, a small digital display will tell you the caffeine, fat and calorie content, among other information. It also identifies the drink—it can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi, for example, by calculating differences in sugar content. It even works for alcoholic drinks and thicker fluids like milkshakes and yogurt.

Charged wirelessly, the Vessyl is linked via Bluetooth to your smartphone, where you can manually enter drinks you’ve consumed elsewhere on the Vessyl app. The app then collects data on your hydration level and chemical intake to facilitate a healthy lifestyle.

http://time.com/#2865590/smart-cup/

TargeT

23rd July 2014, 19:46

Welcome to the beggining stages of the "next big thing" that will change TVs, Phones, Ad displays, anything that is visually displayed......

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AxbHpXE4VM0

http://www.oled-info.com/lgs-18-flexible-and-transparent-oled-panels-video

TargeT

23rd July 2014, 19:53

This is very possibly the first step into space "for real" no longer just a government monopoly.

This will be very interesting, and could open a lot of doors (due to the afordability of reusable systems like this).

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/alexknapp/files/2014/07/orbcomm_engines_tight_0-e1406121421266-1940x1090.jpg

Last week, when SpaceX successfully launched six Orbcomm satellites on top of its Falcon 9 rocket, the company also tested out its system to attempt a “soft landing” of the first stage of the rocket. This was part of a series of tests that the company is doing in hopes of making the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket reusable. If it’s successful at this, SpaceX could potentially cut tens of millions of dollars of the cost of its launches.

Yesterday, the company announced that its test of the the Falcon 9′s first stage had been successful. This marks the second time that it has successfully “soft landed” a reusable Falcon 9 stage in the ocean. The first was in April of this year.

So what constitutes a successful test? according to SpaceX, the reusable rocket stage was able to “reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.”

As it was over the surface of the water, the rocket tipped itself horizontally in the hopes that it might survive intact to be recovered. However, the water breached the rocket hull, eliminating the recovery possibility. Despite this, SpaceX insists that it has enough data for further tests.

“At this point,” the company said in a statement. “we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment.”

SpaceX’s next several launches will require too much fuel to test the reusable stage again, but after that, it intends three launches to test the system. The first will be another water landing. The next two will involve landing the reusable first stage on a solid surface.

You can watch the footage of Falcon 9′s soft landing below:
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/07/23/spacex-successfully-tests-the-reusability-of-its-falcon-9-rocket/

TargeT

24th July 2014, 19:16

Thermal power: Use your body heat to power wearable technology
There’ll soon be no need to ever take off wearable technology as your body heat will be able to run a generator to keep it powered-up.

Thanks to a new invention by scientists in Korea heat that escapes the body can be converted into energy using the generator that can be curved along with the shape of the body.

The researchers developed the glass fabric-based thermoelectric generator to be light and flexible which could help to further commercialise wearable technology.

Byung Kin Cho, who led the team in creating the generator, said that with more development the technology could be used on a large-scale to stop heat energy not being used.
http://www.factor-tech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/kaist2.jpg
At present wearable technology, such as the activity tracking Fitbit Flex wrist band, is developed with long-lasting battery life – the Flex has a battery life which can last up to five days.

However the latest technology would remove the need to ever take wearable technology off, which can cause some users to stop using their gadgets.

It also comes with the benefit that using thermal energy to power and recharge wearables would not need to use any energy created by non-renewable forms.

The small generator was created and tested on small bracelet and it is said it can be able to provide power in a stable and reliable way.

Cho further described how the generator could be used, he said: “Our technology presents an easy and simple way of fabricating an extremely flexible, light, and high-performance TE generator.

“We expect that this technology will find further applications in scale-up systems such as automobiles, factories, aircrafts, and vessels where we see abundant thermal energy being wasted.”
http://www.factor-tech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/kaist1.jpg

So far only two types of thermal energy generators have been developed, these have been based on either organic or inorganic materials.

Until now the organic generators have been able to work with human skin but have not been able to generate enough power to be put to practical use.

While those made of inorganic materials have been able to generate enough power but have been too bulky to be able to be used with wearable technology.

Cho came up with the a concept and design technique to build a flexible TE generator that minimizes thermal energy loss but maximizes power output.

The new concept uses liquid like pastes of thermal electronic materials printed on to a glass fabric.

When using the generator, with a size of 10cm by 10cm, for a wearable wristband device, it will produce around 40 mW electric power based on the temperature difference of 31 °F between human skin and the surrounding air.

http://www.factor-tech.com/wearable-technology/thermal-power-use-your-body-heat-to-power-wearable-technology/

TargeT

28th July 2014, 18:27

LARGE SCALE:

Frieght shipping revolution.... benefiting 3rd world economies most.... this is very interesting.

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And of course the military probably was the first to drive this... (so unfortunate that it happens that way)
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SMALL SCALE:
YRSyOp-nTLs

Welcome to a sneak-peek tour of Lit Motors' vehicle lab!
This special bonus will be added to the TWIST premiering 7/21, when Jason sits down with CEO and inventor Daniel Kim to talk about Lit Motors' C1 electric motorcycle and other cool stuff. Stay tuned!

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K4LXV7-RNEE

HaulinBananas

28th July 2014, 19:28

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/keyme-let-me-break-in/

excerpt from article about how smartphones can make it easy to make copies of keys - and not just your own keys

. . . Less than an hour later, I owned a key to his front door.

What I didn’t tell my neighbor was that I spent about 30 seconds in the stairwell scanning his keys with software that would let me reproduce them with no specialized skills whatsoever. The iPhone app I used wasn’t intended for anything so nefarious: KeyMe was designed to let anyone photograph their keys and upload them to the company’s servers. From there, they can be 3-D printed and mail-ordered in a variety of novelty shapes, from a bottle opener to Kanye West’s head. Or they can be cut from blanks at one of KeyMe’s five kiosks in the New York City area.

{Parking valets suddenly require a ludicrous level of trust.}

I copied my neighbor’s keys at a KeyMe kiosk about a mile from his house, inside a Rite Aid drugstore. After logging in on a fingerprint scanner and choosing my neighbor’s keys from all the keys I’d uploaded, I watched on the machine’s screen as a grandfatherly cartoon figure with a white mustache and spectacles cut them. Seconds later the keys dropped into a box at the front of the kiosk, still warm to the touch. The next morning I let myself into my neighbor’s apartment and interrupted him reading a book about the German battleship Bismarck.

{Unintended Consequences}

Services like KeyMe, along with competitors like KeysDuplicated and the Belgian Keysave, promise to forever solve the problem of lockouts and lost keys using clever combinations of smartphone scans, automated key-cutting machines and 3D-printing. Like a “forgot my password” function for physical security, they let you upload your coded chunks of metal to the cloud, where you can access and duplicate them, or even email them to a friend staying at your place.
A KeyMe kiosk shown in the company's marketing materials.

{A KeyMe kiosk shown in the company’s marketing materials. KeyMe}

Such services also enable jerks like me to steal your keys any time they get a moment alone with them. . .

click link for entire article with accompanying embedded links and photos

TargeT

28th July 2014, 23:33

well, the idea is novel, but I expect that metal "keys" for doors will be replaced easily with some of the newer entry systems much like cars require an RFID chip coded to your vehicle AND a cut key (two factor authentication).
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there are several ways to authenticate

the knowledge factors: Something the user knows (e.g., a password, pass phrase, or personal identification number (PIN), challenge response (the user must answer a question), pattern)
the ownership factors: Something the user has (e.g., wrist band, ID card, security token, cell phone with built-in hardware token, software token, or cell phone holding a software token)
the inherence factors: Something the user is or does (e.g., fingerprint, retinal pattern, DNA sequence (there are assorted definitions of what is sufficient), signature, face, voice, unique bio-electric signals, or other biometric identifier) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authentication)

I can see two factor authentication replacing "lock and key" almost everywhere soon, since as 3d printing scales up manufacturing will get extremely cheap...

TargeT

30th July 2014, 14:21

Man-made 'breathing' leaf is an oxygen factory for space travel
An artificial leaf converts water and light to oxygen, and that's good news for road-tripping to places beyond Earth.
http://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2014/07/29/6c4afcab-bee7-4543-b80c-eac75260dd03/resize/770x578/528554e2520a1468489edc683a1dd5ea/silk-leaf-by-julian-melchiorridezeen01644.jpg
One of the persistent challenges of manned space exploration is that pesky lack of oxygen throughout much of the universe. Here on Earth, trees and other plant life do us a real solid by taking in our bad breath and changing it back to clean, sweet O2.

So what if we could take those biological oxygen factories into space with us, but without all the land, sun, water, soil, and gravity that forests tend to require? This is the point where NASA and Elon Musk should probably start paying attention.

Royal College of Art graduate Julian Melchiorri has created the first man-made, biologically functional leaf that takes in carbon dioxide, water, and light and releases oxygen. The leaf consists of chloroplasts -- the part of a plant cell where photosynthesis happens -- suspended in body made of silk protein.
"This material has an amazing property of stabilizing (the chloroplast) organelles," Melchiorri says in the video below. "As an outcome I have the first photosynthetic material that is living and breathing as a leaf does."

In addition to its potential value to space travel, Melchiorri also imagines the technology literally providing a breath of fresh air to indoor and outdoor spaces here on Earth. The facades of buildings and lampshades could be made to exhale fresh air with just a thin coating of the leaf material.

But perhaps best of all, a man-made breathing leaf could be the key to not just space travel but space colonization. No need to figure out how to till that dry, red Martian dirt to get some nice leafy trees to grow; we could just slap them on the inside of the colony's dome and puff away.

Cjay

31st July 2014, 01:40

Brilliant thread TargeT !!

I second that.

I have also ordered from the Universe spiritually aware entrepreneurial types who will figure out a way to use hemp as the input product

Done. Check out Australian company http://www.zeoform.com/
And more exciting advances are coming soon.

Cjay

31st July 2014, 03:34

Wood pulp extract [cellulose nanocrystals] stronger than carbon fiber or Kevlar.

"The only reinforcing material that is stronger than cellulose nanocrystals is a carbon nanotube, which costs about 100 times as much."
http://www.gizmag.com/cellulose-nanocrystals-stronger-carbon-fiber-kevlar/23959/

Cellulose nanocrystals seem very promising but consider where we get cellulose.

The source of that report is US Forest Service, which is biased towards exploiting forests rather than protecting them, it should be clear why they did not explain the following:

Trees contain approximately 30% cellulose. Tree crop maturity in 20 to 60 years. Old-growth forest maturity in 200 to 1,000+ years.
70% of the tree is considered waste.

Industrial extraction of the cellulose from tree wood is one of the worst polluting endeavours on earth - think dioxins... and while you're at it, think of deforestation.

Hemp contains approximately 70% cellulose. Maturity in 90 to 120 days.
No dioxins. Zero waste. 100% of the hemp plant is usable.

One acre of one crop of hemp can produce four times as much cellulose as one acre of trees. Two or three hemp crops can be grown each year in some locations.

1 hemp crop produces 4 times as much cellulose as trees, which equates to:
80 times as much cellulose in 20 years (compared with fast-growing tress)
or 240 times as much cellulose in 60 years (slower-growing trees)

2 hemp crops per year can produce 8 times as much cellulose as trees, or:
160 times as much cellulose in 20 years (fast-growing trees)
or 480 times as much cellulose in 60 years (slower-growing trees)

3 hemp crops per year can produce 12 times as much cellulose as trees, or:
240 times as much cellulose in 20 years (fast-growing trees)
or 720 times as much cellulose in 60 years (slower-growing trees)

Cjay

31st July 2014, 03:46

SObzNdyRTBs

...input hempcrete. We are almost there.

TargeT

31st July 2014, 12:49

Wood pulp extract [cellulose nanocrystals] stronger than carbon fiber or Kevlar.

"The only reinforcing material that is stronger than cellulose nanocrystals is a carbon nanotube, which costs about 100 times as much."
http://www.gizmag.com/cellulose-nanocrystals-stronger-carbon-fiber-kevlar/23959/

Cellulose nanocrystals seem very promising but consider where we get cellulose.

The source of that report is US Forest Service, which is biased towards exploiting forests rather than protecting them, it should be clear why they did not explain the following:

Trees contain approximately 30% cellulose. Tree crop maturity in 20 to 60 years. Old-growth forest maturity in 200 to 1,000+ years.
70% of the tree is considered waste.

Hemp contains approximately 70% cellulose. Maturity in 90 to 120 days.
No dioxins. Zero waste. 100% of the hemp plant is usable.

One acre of one crop of hemp can produce four times as much cellulose as one acre of trees. Two or three hemp crops can be grown each year in some locations.

Sounds like the perfect companion industry for Colorado, I doubt that anyone has tapped into the "waste" material from medical & recreational plant growth.. I bet you could buy it in bulk for very attractive prices.

this single law change has a lot of economic implications, there is room for entrepreneurship but you have to "act fast"

TargeT

5th August 2014, 17:06

Holographic Augmented Reality
A team of UK engineers is advertising the development of a first-of-its-kind wearable display device using properly holographic, interactive imagery. The group is part of the recently-launched TruLife Optics firm, and the new advances, described in this week's edition of Physics World, are part of its collaboration with the UK's National Physical Laboratory. The system is so-far being marketed to augmented reality-geared developers, who can purchase a set-up for £360, and TruLife already has a "developer's corner" live on its website. This is hardly a distant future, and it would appear that today's version of Google Glass is poised to become the Microsoft Zune of tomorrow's augmentation wearables.

Here's the full pitch:
UbPucZX5Smo

An introduction to TruLife Optics and a description of its first commercially available product - a revolutionary optic for the augmented reality industry that incorporates patented holographic technology. Visit www.trulifeoptics.com for more details.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-satellite-based-tour-of-the-pacifics-typhoon?trk_source=nav

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Robotic suit gives shipyard workers super strength
Workers building the world’s biggest ships could soon don robotic exoskeletons to lug around 100-kilogram hunks of metal as if they’re nothing

AT A sprawling shipyard in South Korea, workers dressed in wearable robotics were hefting large hunks of metal, pipes and other objects as if they were nothing.

It was all part of a test last year by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, at their facility in Okpo-dong. The company, one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, wants to take production to the next level by outfitting staff with robot exoskeletons that give them superhuman strength.

Gilwhoan Chu, the lead engineer for the firm's research and development arm, says the pilot showed that the exoskeleton does help workers perform their tasks. His team is working to improve the prototypes so that they can go into regular use in the shipyard, where robots already run a large portion of a hugely complex assembly system.

The exoskeleton fits anyone between 160 and 185 centimetres tall. Workers do not feel the weight of its 28-kilogram frame of carbon, aluminium alloy and steel, as the suit supports itself and is engineered to follow the wearer's movements. With a 3-hour battery life, the exoskeleton allows users to walk at a normal pace and, in its prototype form, it can lift objects with a mass of up to 30 kilograms.
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg22329803.900/mg22329803.900-1_1200.jpg
To don the exoskeleton, workers start by strapping their feet on to foot pads at the base of the robot. Padded straps at the thigh, waist and across the chest connect the user to the suit, allowing the robot to move with their bodies as it bears loads for them. A system of hydraulic joints and electric motors running up the outside of the legs links to a backpack, which powers and controls the rig.

Frames designed for individual tasks can be attached to the backpack, with some arcing over a person's head like a small crane. As well as boosting raw lifting ability, the suit helps workers manipulate heavy components precisely: it takes most of the weight, so the user is effectively handling light objects.

Chu says worker feedback from the trial has been mostly positive. Testers were pleased that the exoskeleton let them lift heavy objects repeatedly without strain, but everyone also wanted it to move faster and be able to cope with heavier loads. Chu is working on it. "Our current research target of the lifting capacity is about 100 kilograms," he says.

The world's top three shipbuilding firms are South Korean – Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries – and their shipyards are already renowned for their level of automation. In a study of the firms' facilities in 2012, US Navy personnel found that five out of the six yards they visited used robots in some capacity. At one shipyard, robots did 68 per cent of all welding as well as carrying out jobs from cutting and grinding steel to polishing freshly assembled hulls, with minimal human oversight.

"At the time, most of the yards we toured were significantly more advanced in robotic welding than the US yards performing naval ship construction, and had been for a long time," Gene Mitchell, the retired US Navy officer who led the research told New Scientist.

All this automation goes into building truly gargantuan vessels. Daewoo has a $1.9 billion contract from shipping giant Maersk to build 10 55,000-tonne container ships. Each 400 metres in length, with space for 18,000 containers, they will be the largest of their kind ever built.

As the industry grows, so too will the need for automation, including robotic suits of the kind Daewoo is experimenting with. The prototypes still have several important kinks to be worked out, though. In tests, workers had a hard time negotiating sloping or slippery surfaces. And the prototypes cannot yet cope with twisting motions, so workers making turns while carrying heavy objects could tire out easily.

Still, Chu is committed. "We've been developing and applying robots and automation in shipbuilding for more than a decade," he says. And if he has his way, humans will soon be effortlessly wielding ship parts that weigh more than they do.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329803.900-robotic-suit-gives-shipyard-workers-super-strength.html#.U-EOm7FCx6O

TargeT

7th August 2014, 20:13

This appears to be a GIGANTIC computing breakthrough...... in many, many ways.

Is Light-speed Computing Only Months Away?
Though it’s only at proof-of-concept stage, the processor is expected to run at over 340 gigaFLOPS – enabling it to analyze large data sets, and produce complex model simulations, in a laboratory environment.
T2yQ9xFshuc

http://insidehpc.com/2014/08/light-speed-computing-months-away/

TargeT

8th August 2014, 02:47

10 questions about Nasa's 'impossible' space drive answered
Wired.co.uk's piece last week about Nasa's test of a new type of space drive triggered a tsunami of responses online. Many were understandably sceptical, others were unsure how it would advance space travel. In fact, the paper produced on the day gave much more detail than the advance abstract we linked to then. The actual paper reveals details of tests in early 2014 as well as those in summer 2013 -- and the results are even more astounding.

DON'T MISS
Nasa validates 'impossible' space driveNasa validates 'impossible' space drive
Here we answer many of your questions, quibbles and criticisms.
http://www.nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/EmDrive.jpg
1. Isn't such a tiny force likely to be experimental error?

The equipment can measure forces of less than ten micronewtons, and the thrust was several times that high.

The test rig is carefully designed to remove any possible sources of error. Even the lapping of waves in the Gulf of Mexico 25 miles away every three to four seconds would have showed up on the sensors, so the apparatus was floated pneumatically to avoid any influence. The apparatus is completely sealed, with power and signals going through liquid metal contacts to prevent any force being transmitted through cables.

Similar consideration was given to any other possible factors that could influence the result, for example shielding everything from electromagnetic effects. There may be a gap somewhere, but the Nasa experimenters appear to have been scrupulous.

2. Thrust was also measured from the 'Null Drive', doesn't that mean the experiment failed?

Lots of commenters jumped on this, assuming incorrectly that this was a control test and that thrust was measured when there was no drive.

In fact, the 'Null Drive' was a modified version of the Cannae Drive, a flying-saucer-shaped device with slots engraved in one face only. The underlying theory is that the slots create a force imbalance in resonating microwaves; the 'Null Drive' was unslotted, but still produced thrust when filled with microwaves. This may challenge the theory -- it is probably no coincidence that Cannae inventor Guido Fetta is patenting a new version which works differently -- but not the results.

The true 'null test' was when a load was used with no resonant cavity, and as expected this produced no thrust:

"Finally, a 50 ohm RF resistive load was used in place of the test article to verify no significant systemic effects that would cause apparent or real torsion pendulum displacements. The RF load was energised twice at an amplifier output power of approximately 28 watts and no significant pendulum arm displacements were observed."

Equally significantly, reversing the orientation of the drive reversed the thrust.

3. They didn't do it in a vacuum, so how do we know the result is valid in space?

While the original abstract says that tests were run "within a stainless steel vacuum chamber with the door closed but at ambient atmospheric pressure", the full report describes tests in which turbo vacuum pumps were used to evacuate the test chamber to a pressure of five millionths of a Torr, or about a hundred-millionth of normal atmospheric pressure.

4. Why didn't they test Shawyer's EmDrive design as well as the Cannae drive?

It turns out that in January this year they did test the EmDrive design.

The test results for this were also positive, and in fact their tapered-cavity drive, derived from the Chinese drive which is in turn based on Shawyer's EmDrive, produced 91 micronewtons of thrust for 17 watts of power, compared to the 40 micronewtons of thrust from 28 watts for the Cannae drive.

5. Even if it works, how can such a small thrust push a spacecraft?

The thrust was low because this is a very low-powered apparatus. The Chinese have demonstrated a system using kilowatts rather than watts of power that produces a push of 720 millinewtons. This is enough to lift a couple of ounces, making it competitive with modern space drives. The difference is that this drive doesn't require any propellant, which usually takes up a lot of launch weight and places a limit on how long other drives can operate for.

The Nasa paper says "the expected thrust to power for initial flight applications is expected to be in the 0.4 newton per kilowatt electric (N/kWe) range, which is about seven times higher than the current state of the art Hall thruster in use on orbit today."

6. How does this get us to Mars?

The small but steady push of the EmDrive is a winner for space missions, gradually accelerating spacecraft to high speed.

The Nasa paper projects a 'conservative' manned mission to Mars from Earth orbit, with a 90-ton spacecraft driven by the new technology. Using a 2-megawatt nuclear power source, it can develop 800 newtons (180 pounds) of thrust. The entire mission would take eight months, including a 70-day stay on Mars.

This compares with Nasa's plans using conventional technology which takes six months just to get there, and requires several hundred tons to be put into Earth's orbit to start with. You also have to stay there for at least 18 months while you wait for the planets to align again for the journey back. The new drive provides enough thrust to overcome the gravitational attraction of the Sun at these distances, which makes manoeuvring much easier.

A less conservative projection has an advanced drive developing ten times as much thrust for the same power -- this cuts the transit time to Mars to 28 days, and can generally fly around the solar system at will, a true Nasa dream machine.

7. What's this about hoverboards and flying cars?

A superconducting version of the EmDrive, would, in principle, generate thousands of times more thrust. And because it does not require energy just to hold things up (just as a chair does not require power to keep you off the ground), in theory you could have a hoverboard which does not require energy to float in the air.

You'll have to provide the lateral thrust yourself though, or expend energy pushing the thing along by other means --- and in any case, superconducting electronics are rather bulky and expensive, so the super-EmDrive is likely to be a few years away.

8. Surely a single result by one lab is likely to be an error?
The Nasa work builds on previous results by Roger Shawyer in Britain and Prof Yang Juan at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an as well as Guido Fetta's work at Cannae. This is more of a confirmation.

9. Why isn't there a simple explanation of how it's supposed to work without violating the laws of physics?

Different research groups all seem to have their own theories -- Shawyer's is based on relativity, the Chinese one is based on Maxwell's Law and Nasa is now talking about pushing against "quantum vacuum virtual particles" and saying that this is "similar to the way a naval submarine interacts with the water which surrounds it." The Nasa report deliberately avoids any theoretical discussion on this point, with good reason.

None of these explanations has gone unchallenged by theoreticians, and it might be fair to say that there is no accepted explanation as to how a close system of resonating microwaves can produce a thrust. There is no accepted theoretical explanation of how high-temperature superconductors work either, but because the effect has been replicated so many times, nobody doubts that it happens.

If the new drive results continue to be replicated, then theory may have to catch up.

10. What happens next?

The next stage will be more tests and more validation. An improved version of the tapered drive based on the EmDrive has been designed, and this will be built and sent out to other facilities so they can confirm the initials results.

The current plan is for IV&V (Independent Verification and Validation) tests at the Glenn Research Center using their low thrust torsion pendulum, similar to the one used, followed by another one at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) using their low thrust torsion pendulum. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory may also test the device using a different type of apparatus known as a Cavendish Balance.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-08/07/10-qs-about-nasa-impossible-drive

:rockon:

sheme

8th August 2014, 11:49

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11017069/Origami-robot-folds-itself-up-then-crawls-away.html

Octavusprime

9th August 2014, 20:15

IBM builds neuron like microchips. Which can be tethered together in order to compute vast amounts of information. What happens when we mimic the human brain with computer technology? Looks like we will find out sooner than later.

BBC News:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28688781

Wall Street Journal:

LuKFZDPkt8U

TargeT

13th August 2014, 19:42

Could hemp nanosheets topple graphene for making the ideal supercapacitor?
As hemp makes a comeback in the U.S. after a decades-long ban on its cultivation, scientists are reporting that fibers from the plant can pack as much energy and power as graphene, long-touted as the model material for supercapacitors. They're presenting their research, which a Canadian start-up company is working on scaling up, at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2014/graphene.jpg
David Mitlin, Ph.D., explains that supercapacitors are energy storage devices that have huge potential to transform the way future electronics are powered. Unlike today's rechargeable batteries, which sip up energy over several hours, supercapacitors can charge and discharge within seconds. But they normally can't store nearly as much energy as batteries, an important property known as energy density. One approach researchers are taking to boost supercapacitors' energy density is to design better electrodes. Mitlin's team has figured out how to make them from certain hemp fibers—and they can hold as much energy as the current top contender: graphene.

"Our device's electrochemical performance is on par with or better than graphene-based devices," Mitlin says. "The key advantage is that our electrodes are made from biowaste using a simple process, and therefore, are much cheaper than graphene."

The race toward the ideal supercapacitor has largely focused on graphene—a strong, light material made of atom-thick layers of carbon, which when stacked, can be made into electrodes. Scientists are investigating how they can take advantage of graphene's unique properties to build better solar cells, water filtration systems, touch-screen technology, as well as batteries and supercapacitors. The problem is it's expensive.

Mitlin's group decided to see if they could make graphene-like carbons from hemp bast fibers. The fibers come from the inner bark of the plant and often are discarded from Canada's fast-growing industries that use hemp for clothing, construction materials and other products. The U.S. could soon become another supplier of bast. It now allows limited cultivation of hemp, which unlike its close cousin, does not induce highs.

Scientists had long suspected there was more value to the hemp bast—it was just a matter of finding the right way to process the material.

"We've pretty much figured out the secret sauce of it," says Mitlin, who's now with Clarkson University in New York. "The trick is to really understand the structure of a starter material and to tune how it's processed to give you what would rightfully be called amazing properties."

His team found that if they heated the fibers for 24 hours at a little over 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and then blasted the resulting material with more intense heat, it would exfoliate into carbon nanosheets.

Mitlin's team built their supercapacitors using the hemp-derived carbons as electrodes and an ionic liquid as the electrolyte. Fully assembled, the devices performed far better than commercial supercapacitors in both energy density and the range of temperatures over which they can work. The hemp-based devices yielded energy densities as high as 12 Watt-hours per kilogram, two to three times higher than commercial counterparts. They also operate over an impressive temperature range, from freezing to more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

"We're past the proof-of-principle stage for the fully functional supercapacitor," he says. "Now we're gearing up for small-scale manufacturing."

Explore further: New graphene framework bridges gap between traditional capacitors, batteries

More information: Title: Interconnected carbon nanosheets derived from hemp for ultrafast supercapacitors with high energy

Abstract
We created unique interconnected partially graphitic carbon nanosheets (10-30 nm in thickness) with high specific surface area (up to 2287 m2 g-1), significant volume fraction of mesoporosity (up to 58%), and good electrical conductivity (211-226 S/m) from hemp bast fiber. The nanosheets are ideally suited for low (down to 0°C) through high (100°C) temperature ionic liquid-based supercapacitor applications: At 0°C and a current density of 10 A g-1, the electrode maintains a remarkable capacitance of 106 F g-1. At 20,60, and 100 oC and an extreme current density of 100 A g-1, there is excellent capacitance retention (72-92%) with the specific capacitances being 113, 144 and 142 F g-1, respectively. These characteristics favorably place the materials on a Ragone Chart providing among the best power - energy characteristics (on an active mass normalized basis) ever reported for an electrochemical capacitor: At a very high power density of 20 kW kg-1 and 20, 60 and 100 °C, the energy densities are 19, 34 and 40 Wh kg-1, respectively. Moreover the assembled supercapacitor device yields a maximum energy density of 12 Wh kg-1, which is higher than commercially available supercapacitors. By taking advantage of the complex multi-layered structure of a hemp bast fiber precursor, such exquisite carbons were able to be achieved by simple hydrothermal carbonization combined with activation. This novel precursor-synthesis route presents a great potential for facile large-scale production of high-performance carbons for a variety of diverse applications including energy storage.
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-hemp-nanosheets-topple-graphene-ideal.html

TargeT

21st August 2014, 00:52

http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/8913825c53d9d1bbb7d4103269034981/200607121/lockheedmartin.jpg

While it may not be a full suit of high-tech gadgetry like Iron Man dons, the US Navy is set to test exoskeletons from Lockheed Martin. In the first contract to employs the company's strength-boosting garb for industrial use, two FORTIS exoskeletons will help carry heavy loads for the trial period. The lightweight unpowered option lends endurance by using the ground to help bear the mass. During the testing phase, the company hopes to further develop the tech for use at Navy shipyards where a smattering of heavy tools are needed for maintenance. "By wearing the FORTIS exoskeleton, operators can hold the weight of those heavy tools for extended periods of time with reduced fatigue," said Adam Mill, director of new initiatives at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/19/navy-exoskeleton-test/

TargeT

26th August 2014, 18:41

Watch A Robot Ride A Hovercycle
Drones riding drones to finance even bigger drones.
http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/article_image_large/public/1_3rd_Grass_2.jpg
A white plastic robot zooms a hoverbike over the English countryside, grains blowing beneath the bike's four fans. The robot's 3-D printed body is lightweight, and where its face would be there’s a GoPro camera instead, filming the flight. This isn't a scene from a dystopian science fiction movie; The bike is less than four feet long, and combined robot and bike weighs a maximum of 15.4 pounds. Created by Malloy Aeronautics, the Drone 3 hoverbike is a 1/3rd scale model of the version ultimately intended for human pilots and passengers.

The hoverbike is available as a reward for Kickstarter backers pledging just shy of $1000 USD. The campaign, which concludes on August 31st has already surpassed its goal. Making and selling Drone 3 is just the first part of the plan for Malloy Aeronautics. The company, founded in Australia and transplanted to England, envisions hoverbikes using the sky alongside helicopters the same way cars and motorcycles share the same roads. In particular, and in strikingly Australian fashion, the hoverbike makers say it could be used for "one man operational areas like cattle mustering and survey," replacing the more conventional helicopters that presently perform this role.

Malloy Aeronautics’s first hoverbike used two large ducted fans for lift, something it had in common with other hoverbike designs. The new version, as seen in Drone 3, is instead a quadcopter, using four rotors in a sleeker, more balanced fashion. The fans partially overlap, and the whole drone can fold up to fit within a special backpack carrying case. Drone 3 is remotely piloted, but the hoverbikes it finances will fly both manned and unmanned.

http://fw.to/4aNIWNU
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/watch-robot-ride-hovercycle

TargeT

3rd September 2014, 19:33

New Chips Could Heal Soldiers Without Surgery
Minimally invasive injectable chips could treat everything from wounds and arthritis to post-traumatic stress and epilepsy.
1:29pm UK, Monday 01 September 2014
Darpa
http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2014/9/1/332943/default/v2/electrxconceptimage-1-942x530.png
Darpa has been working on the technology for over two years

Email

Miniature devices implanted into the body could heal soldiers' wounds without medication or surgery.

The US military's $80m (£48m) ElectRx research programme is devising minimally invasive neurotechnologies to treat a range of conditions from wounds and arthritis, to post-traumatic stress disorder and epilepsy.

The tiny chips would be injected and "modulate nerve circuits to restore and maintain human health".

Project manager Doug Weber, from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), said the chips "would continually assess conditions and provide stimulus patterns tailored to help maintain healthy organ function".

This would "help patients get healthy and stay healthy using their body's own systems", he added.

The technology is not new, but the potential size of the ElectRx devices is what is unique.

Current devices can be around the size of a cigarette packet and require invasive surgery to be implanted.

The ElectRx chips will be the size of nerve endings and could be injected relatively easily.

The money comes from the White House's Brain Initiative, which supports projects related to the understanding of neuropsychological illnesses.

Darpa has been examining the possibilities of nanosensors for diagnostics since at least 2012.

It is unclear when the chips could be designed and ready for use.
http://news.sky.com/story/1328197/new-chips-could-heal-soldiers-without-surgery

TargeT

3rd September 2014, 19:41

I see big changes coming to entertainment based on these two items.

Half The World Now Has A Mobile Phone
by Simon Kemp in News on 3 September 2014 at 11:11
http://was-sg.wascdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/We-Are-Social-20140903-Global-Mobile-Stats1-500x375.png

The number of unique mobile phone users around the world has just passed 50% of the world’s total population.

The usage figures – provided by GSMA Intelligence – suggest that 100 million more people started using a mobile device since April of this year.

To put those figures in context, that’s more than 750,000 new mobile users every day – or 9 new users every second.

Changing Usage Patterns
Meanwhile, the average mobile user still maintains roughly 2 active contracts per phone, with the total number of active mobile connections almost equal to the number of people living on earth.

The average of 1.97 connections per user indicates a slight drop since April though, when the figure was 1.99.

This fall may in part be fuelled by an increasing move to smartphones; as more people gain access to mobile data plans and start to use ‘chat apps’ like WhatsApp and WeChat, the need to maintain multiple mobile contracts across different networks in order to benefit from cost efficiencies will diminish:

http://was-sg.wascdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/We-Are-Social-Global-Chat-App-Figures-2014-08-251-500x375.png

Getting Smarter?
On that note, it’s worth noting that smartphone adoption is continuing apace; Ericsson reports that more than one-third of all active mobile contracts now run on smartphones, while smart devices accounted for 65% of the 300 million new handset sold between April and June of this year.

Critically, this 300 million figure – when compared to the growth in overall mobile users outlined above – suggests that many existing mobile users are upgrading to smart devices.

However, more than 4.6 billion mobile connections around the world still run on more basic, ‘feature phone’ handsets.

Connecting On The Go
Despite the continued dominance of feature phones though, the use of data-powered services is becoming more widespread: in the past quarter, Ericsson report that mobile broadband subscriptions exceeded 2.4 billion, while more than 1.5 billion social media users around the world accessed their accounts via mobile devices in the past 30 days:

http://was-sg.wascdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/We-Are-Social-20140903-Global-DIGITAL-Stats-500x375.png

http://wearesocial.net/blog/2014/09/world-mobile-phone/

+

Samsung Gear VR: Rivals Oculus Rift
http://news.tigerdirect.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/P9030260-e1409757639914-730x402-720x396.jpg
We had months in advance to prep for the launch of Samsung’s latest Note device, but when the Gear VR headset popped up on the radar last month, it actually did something we hadn’t felt about Samsung in a while. It got us curious, excited and even more intrigued by the partnership with Oculus.

The Samsung Gear VR is a stripped down version of the Oculus Rift, relying on the Galaxy Note 4 as the screen to power your virtual realm. All you have to do is insert the phone into the dedicated slot up front, strap the headset on and select whether to play the sound off its speakers or via headphones. Behind the front pocket are two lenses that converts the Note’s screen into a 3D display.
http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/09/P9030301-730x547.jpg
The right side of the Gear VR is where all the controls take place. A square, touch-sensitive pad lets you tap to confirm action, while a return button right above it lets you cancel commands or move back to the main screen. To navigate, you just move your head around to explore the screen, which feels as awkward as it sounds.

In the demo we got to play with today, we were immersed into an Avengers game that puts us in Tony Stark’s control room. Although the Gear VR comes with a separate hand controller, the demo only allowed us to look around and check out Iron Man’s gadgets (which includes a bunch of Samsung devices, naturally).

The headset lets us turn 360 degree to explore the 3D environment, which moved quite smoothly. You can also use a dial located between your eyes to focus the graphics. Admittedly, I have a hard time imagining how a person who wears glasses can do this comfortably.

Unfortunately, the game did not allow us to interact with any of the objects in the room, but the graphics did look bright and crisp. The weight of the headset is also not bothersome, but I wouldn’t recommend wearing the device for longer than an hour unless you’re craving a headache from the combination of the Gear VR’s weight, the strap around your head and 3D effects.

With the original Oculus Rift development kit already starting at $350, it’s hard to say how Samsung will price the Gear VR. Our best bet is that it will offer a bundle with the Note 4 or Note Edge, with the gaming controller as an extra cost.

The idea is definitely still novelty, but it’s cool to know that all it takes to power virtual reality is a strange headset and a giant smartphone. Whether or not the Gear VR will take off with the general market will depend on the pricing, though it is certainly more accessible now that it’s associated with a popular gadget brand.

http://news.tigerdirect.com/2014/09/03/samsung-gear-vr-rivals-oculus-rift/

TargeT

5th September 2014, 15:49

This brings Graphene out of the theoretical sphere and into reality, things are rapidly developing now.

First graphene-based flexible display produced
http://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/news/140905-graphene-plastic-logic.gif
A flexible display incorporating graphene in its pixels’ electronics has been successfully demonstrated by the Cambridge Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic, the first time graphene has been used in a transistor-based flexible device.
The partnership between the two organisations combines the graphene expertise of the Cambridge Graphene Centre (CGC), with the transistor and display processing steps that Plastic Logic has already developed for flexible electronics. This prototype is a first example of how the partnership will accelerate the commercial development of graphene, and is a first step towards the wider implementation of graphene and graphene-like materials into flexible electronics.

Graphene is a two-dimensional material made up of sheets of carbon atoms. It is among the strongest, most lightweight and flexible materials known, and has the potential to revolutionise industries from healthcare to electronics.

The new prototype is an active matrix electrophoretic display, similar to the screens used in today’s e-readers, except it is made of flexible plastic instead of glass. In contrast to conventional displays, the pixel electronics, or backplane, of this display includes a solution-processed graphene electrode, which replaces the sputtered metal electrode layer within Plastic Logic’s conventional devices, bringing product and process benefits.

Graphene is more flexible than conventional ceramic alternatives like indium-tin oxide (ITO) and more transparent than metal films. The ultra-flexible graphene layer may enable a wide range of products, including foldable electronics. Graphene can also be processed from solution bringing inherent benefits of using more efficient printed and roll-to-roll manufacturing approaches.

The new 150 pixel per inch (150 ppi) backplane was made at low temperatures (less than 100°C) using Plastic Logic’s Organic Thin Film Transistor (OTFT) technology. The graphene electrode was deposited from solution and subsequently patterned with micron-scale features to complete the backplane.

For this prototype, the backplane was combined with an electrophoretic imaging film to create an ultra-low power and durable display. Future demonstrations may incorporate liquid crystal (LCD) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED) technology to achieve full colour and video functionality. Lightweight flexible active-matrix backplanes may also be used for sensors, with novel digital medical imaging and gesture recognition applications already in development.

“We are happy to see our collaboration with Plastic Logic resulting in the first graphene-based electrophoretic display exploiting graphene in its pixels’ electronics,” said Professor Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre. “This is a significant step forward to enable fully wearable and flexible devices. This cements the Cambridge graphene-technology cluster and shows how an effective academic-industrial partnership is key to help move graphene from the lab to the factory floor.”

“The potential of graphene is well-known, but industrial process engineering is now required to transition graphene from laboratories to industry,” said Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Plastic Logic. “This demonstration puts Plastic Logic at the forefront of this development, which will soon enable a new generation of ultra-flexible and even foldable electronics”

This joint effort between Plastic Logic and the CGC was also recently boosted by a grant from the UK Technology Strategy Board, within the ‘realising the graphene revolution’ initiative. This will target the realisation of an advanced, full colour, OELD based display within the next 12 months.

The project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the EU’s Graphene Flagship.

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How about a solar Tarps,, flexible, mobile easy to put up... this will be a very interesting development if they can get the efficiency of sunlight conversion above 20% (even modern pannels struggle to do this currently)... Graphene use will do this... these stories are very related.

Scientists develop flexible solar cell that can be woven into fabric
http://pda.sciencealert.com.au/images/stories/Resized/solar-cells-fabric_240x160.jpg
Chinese scientists have developed a solar cell ‘textile’ that can be woven into clothes. It’s flexible enough to be bent more than 200 times, and can collect light on both sides.

Scientists have been trying for decades to develop functional, flexible solar cells, because they could be integrated into fabrics and used to coat irregular shapes and surfaces. And now scientists at Fudan University in Shanghai have developed polymer solar cells that are light, flexible, cheap to produce, and thin enough to be used in fabrics.

According to Jon Cartwright at Chemistry World, to create these new solar cells, they figured out that they could interweave microscopic metal wires - coated in an active polymer designed to absorb sunlight - with titanium dioxide nanotubes and a second type of active polymer to form a textile. Together these components work by having the metal wires absorb sunlight and generate electrons and their positive counterparts, known as 'electron holes'. The electrons are then conducted by the titanium dioxide nanotubes, and the electron holes are conducted by the second active polymer. To complete the circuit, says Cartwright, the team painted each side of the textile with transparent, conductive sheets of carbon nanotubes.

Publishing their design in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the team report that the textile has been made to be symmetrical so it can absorb light from either side. It’s also extremely flexible, able to be bent more than 200 times with barely any effect on its overall efficiency. The one downside? It’s only the size of your fingernail. ‘The main difficulties encountered are how to scale up the solar-cell textile while maintaining high energy-conversion efficiencies,” lead researcher Huisheng Peng told Chemistry World.

Independent expert and materials scientist Anyuan Cao from the Department of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Peking University in Beijing commented that while there is certainly potential in the technology, it will not hit the market until it can be upscaled and made more efficient. And that's exactly what Peng and his team are working on now.
http://pda.sciencealert.com.au/news/20140309-26118.html

TargeT

5th September 2014, 16:24

This isn't so much a technology, more like a synergy of technologies... and its very important and highly impactfull to what we consider our current "life patterns".

Humans Need Not Apply
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TargeT

5th September 2014, 18:53

Vasalgel (reversible, long term male birth control) preclinical studies making great progress!
The last few months have been incredibly active preparing for the next phases of the baboon preclinical studies. The short version: We think we're back on track, and we could use your help!

Three baboon subjects from the original study have now had Vasalgel for 6 months. (Want to know why we had to do a second round? Read all about it here.) To make sure that it is still working prior to reversal, we decided to give all of the males an opportunity to mate with females to ensure that no pregnancies occur. Each of the three male baboons was moved into enclosures with 10-15 females (yes, that's 10-15 each!) a month ago. And the good news? So far no pregnancies. But they will remain with the females for at least a few more weeks just to be sure. We are planning to flush out the Vasalgel - to attempt to reverse it, like was done in the rabbit study - early next month. Then we will check to see whether sperm start to flow once again.

The newer baboon study has also just started. After a health check, five males got Vasalgel last week. Three more are planned. The baboons will rest for a bit while we monitor them closely, then will be moved to breeding enclosures with fertile females. Half of the baboons will be able to mate with females for three months, and half of them will be with females for six months. After this, they will all undergo reversal and additional testing.

By the time the year ends, we will have a lot more information on the efficacy of Vasalgel - and, if all goes well, will be planning for clinical trials with humans to start next year.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Vasalgel-preclinical-studies-making-great-progress-.html?soid=1109766611768&aid=Wt_qWj4Sr-M

TargeT

11th September 2014, 16:56

Nanotechnology aids in cooling electrons without external sources
A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to -228 °C without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy.

http://www.uta.edu/news/_images/releases/2014/thumbnails/koh-electroncooling-transistor.jpeg
A chip, which contains nanoscale structures that enable electron cooling at room temperature, is pictured.

The process involves passing electrons through a quantum well to cool them and keep them from heating.

The team details its research in “Energy-filtered cold electron transport at room temperature,” which is published in Nature Communications on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

“We are the first to effectively cool electrons at room temperature. Researchers have done electron cooling before, but only when the entire device is immersed into an extremely cold cooling bath,” said Seong Jin Koh, an associate professor at UT Arlington in the Materials Science & Engineering Department, who has led the research. “Obtaining cold electrons at room temperature has enormous technical benefits. For example, the requirement of using liquid helium or liquid nitrogen for cooling electrons in various electron systems can be lifted.”

Electrons are thermally excited even at room temperature, which is a natural phenomenon. If that electron excitation could be suppressed, then the temperature of those electrons could be effectively lowered without external cooling, Koh said.

The team used a nanoscale structure – which consists of a sequential array of a source electrode, a quantum well, a tunneling barrier, a quantum dot, another tunneling barrier, and a drain electrode – to suppress electron excitation and to make electrons cold.

Cold electrons promise a new type of transistor that can operate at extremely low-energy consumption. “Implementing our findings to fabricating energy-efficient transistors is currently under way,” Koh added.

Khosrow Behbehani, dean of the UT Arlington College of Engineering, said this research is representative of the University’s role in fostering innovations that benefit the society, such as creating energy-efficient green technologies for current and future generations.

“Dr. Koh and his research team are developing real-world solutions to a critical global challenge of utilizing the energy efficiently and developing energy-efficient electronic technology that will benefit us all every day,” Behbehani said. “We applaud Dr. Koh for the results of this research and look forward to future innovations he will lead.”

Usha Varshney, program director in the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Engineering, which funded the research, said the research findings could be vast.

“When implemented in transistors, these research findings could potentially reduce energy consumption of electronic devices by more than 10 times compared to the present technology,” Varshney said. “Personal electronic devices such as smart phones, iPads, etc., can last much longer before recharging.”

http://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2014/09/koh-electroncooling-nature.php

TargeT

11th September 2014, 19:11

First shot fired!

Software sort of counts as technology right? This will be momentous.

Overstock.com Becomes First Major Retailer to Accept Bitcoin Worldwide
http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/8ed8c96dfa.jpeg
Overstock.com was the first major online retailer to embrace bitcoin, accepting payments in the digital currency here in the U.S. beginning in early January. And now, it’s the first to accommodate bitcoin across the globe.

Early this morning, the Salt Lake City-based company started accepting bitcoin payments in all foreign countries. Anyone anywhere can now use the digital currency to purchase anything offered by Overstock, from phone accessories to lawn furniture—though there are certain countries where the company doesn’t ship purchases. “As long as you can get on the internet, you can order and pay in bitcoin,” says Overstock founder and CEO Patrick Byrne. “You can order in North Korea if you want—as long as you’re having things delivered to, say, Singapore.”

Online retailers Newegg and TigerDirect already accept bitcoin in both the U.S. and Canada, and smaller operations use bitcoin for international transactions, but Overstock, a company with $1.3 billion in annual sales, is stretching the reach of the digital currency still farther. Many questions hover over the future of bitcoin, a new type of money overseen by software running on across a vast network of machines. It’s still unclear how the governments of the world will regulate use of the currency. But it continues to evolve.

Today, even bitcoin’s biggest supporters tend to hoard their bitcoin rather than spend them, seeing the digital currency, whose price is volatile, as more of an investment than anything else. But with Overstock expanding globally—and companies such as Dell considering similar arrangements—it’s getting easier to actually pay for stuff with bitcoin. “This seems to be great news,” says Roger Ver, one of bitcoin’s biggest supporters, whose computer-parts site, Memory Dealers, has accepted the digital currency for years.
The Byrne Crusade

Overstock’s move into the world of bitcoin is driven by Byrne. A libertarian with a PhD in philosophy, Byrne, like many others, sees bitcoin as a way to free our money system from the sometimes onerous and expensive control of big banks and big government. He recently vowed to take 4 percent of all Overstock bitcoin sales and donate it to non-profits working to further the cause of the digital currency, and he’s exploring ways the technology behind bitcoin could be used to issue stock in his company—without the help of traditional stock exchanges like the NASDAQ or the NYSE.

“We swim in assumptions about how things should work, and we don’t understand the assumptions,” Byrne says, in his typically highfalutin way. “We don’t understand the functions of governments, our legal and financial institutions. We don’t need them. We can use internet.”

http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/overstock-ceo-inline.jpg

Bitcoin is already an international technology. Part of the attraction has always been that the open source bitcoin network lets anyone transfer money across borders without paying hefty fees to traditional operations like Western Union. But in order to achieve mainstream acceptance, it must spread to a new breed of online service—easy-to-use services run by trusted businesses, as opposed to rather amateur operations run by the likes of the bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox. Overstock’s move into bitcoin is a step along this road, and other notable businesses are helping to legitimize the digital currency in other ways.

As Overstock began accepting international payments in bitcoin, Coinbase—the San Francisco-based startup whose technology drives these payments for Byrne and company—expanded its operation into 13 countries in Europe, and this could spark greater bitcoin adoption among merchants based there. Backed by $25 million in funding from big-name Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andressen Horowitz, Coinbase already drives bitcoin payments for eight American retailers that boast over a billion dollars a year in sales. Another notable bitcoin payments processor, BitPay, is offering its own services in Europe, and according to Moe Levin, the company’s director of European business development, about 200 new merchants are adopting the company’s service each week, compared to 200 a month as of April.

At the sane time, Coinbase is now offering Europe a consumer service that lets individuals easily send, receive, and store their bitcoin. This can help drive bitcoin purchases from the other side of the equation, and as Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong points, that’s just as important to the evolution of the currency.
The Bottom Line

Bitcoin can potentially help consumers more easily and more cheaply store and spend money, but it can also provide a shot in the arm for merchants like Overstock. As Byrne points out, accepting credit card payments—particularly from foreign countries—is rather expensive, due to steep fees from third-party processors. “International credit cards are a real mess,” Byrne says. “If you’re taking cards from a place like Russia, there is a monster surcharge tacked on because so much credit card fraud comes from there.” Overstock still pays Coinbase to handle these transactions, but according to Byrne, these fees are significantly lower.

Bitcoin payments have accounted for about one quarter of one percent of Overstock’s sales since January, or between $12,000 and $15,000 a day. Byrne calls this “a little bit more than I expected,” and he believes that with the company opening up bitcoin payments worldwide, the digital currency could drive a total of $8 million in sales by the end of the year. That’s not exactly a huge portion of the company’s revenues, but Byrne also believes bitcoin can become a way to expand the reach of his site. “We’ve never had a strong international business,” Byrne says, “and this is a good first step towards building one.”

The rub is that government regulations—or just the threat of government regulations—could stunt the growth of bitcoin. Although the open source bitcoin system operates outside the control of governments and banks, some governments are working to strictly regulate the digital currency in their jurisdictions. New York state recently proposed the creation of a bitcoin license for businesses that would require them to report enormous amounts of information if operating in the state, and many believe this will prove too onerous for companies looking to deal in the digital currency. But Byrne is among those who believe regulators will find a way to accommodate the greater bitcoin movement. “Bitcoin has already become too big to fail,” he says. “This is not a genie they can put back into the bottle.”
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/overstock-com-becomes-first-major-retailer-accept-bitcoin-worldwide/

TargeT

11th September 2014, 19:29

The end of RUST? 'Wonder' paint made from graphene will stop any object from corroding, scientists say
A 'wonder' paint made from graphene could banish rust forever, scientists claim.

By combining it with oxygen they say they can create graphene oxide that, when applied as paint, provides an ultra-strong and non-corrosive coating.

And the breakthrough could apparently revolutionise the medical, nuclear and even transport industries.

raphene is a one atom thick sheet of carbon that has often been heralded as a 'miracle material'.

This latest study by scientists from Manchester University created coatings for metals or even bricks that behave like graphite in terms of chemical and thermal stability.

But they also become mechanically nearly as tough as graphene, the strongest material known to be in existence today.

The team led by Dr Rahul Nair and Nobel laureate Sir Andre Geim demonstrated previously that multilayer films made from graphene oxide are vacuum tight under dry conditions.
If exposed to water or its vapour however they act as molecular sieves, allowing passage of small molecules below a certain size.

The findings could also have huge implications for water purification.

This contrasting property is due to the structure of graphene oxide films that consist of millions of small flakes stacked randomly on top of each other but leave nano-sized capillaries between them.

Water molecules inside these nanocapillaries and can drag small atoms and molecules along.

In an article published in Nature Communications, the team showed it was possible to tightly close those nanocapillaries using simple chemical treatments, which makes graphene films even stronger mechanically as well as completely impermeable to everything: gases, liquids or strong chemicals.

For example, they demonstrated that glassware or copper plates covered with graphene paint can be used as containers for strongly corrosive acids.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/11/1410431820213_wps_2_image002_png.jpg
The exceptional barrier properties of graphene paint have already attracted interest from many companies who now collaborate with The University of Manchester on development of new protective and anticorrosion coatings.

Dr Nair said: 'Graphene paint has a good chance to become a truly revolutionary product for industries that deal with any kind of protection either from air, weather elements or corrosive chemicals.

'Those include, for example, medical, electronics and nuclear industry or even shipbuilding, to name but the few.'

Another author on the research Dr Yang Su added: 'Graphene paint can be applied to practically any material, independently of whether it's plastic, metal or even sand.

'For example, plastic films coated with graphene could be of interest for medical packaging to improve shelf life because they are less permeable to air and water vapour than conventional coatings. In addition, thin layers of graphene paint are optically transparent.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2751901/The-end-RUST-Wonder-paint-graphene-stop-object-corroding-scientists-say.html#ixzz3D2MHKzeP
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

TargeT

15th September 2014, 12:44

Witricity is a wireless magnetic resonance induction system with some pretty impressive results, it's not Tesla's idea of wireless power but it works and is a pretty cool application.

Power cords might be extinct soon.
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This is closer to what Tesla envisioned, but apparently it's not as refined as Witricity above & has some limitations that will hurt the technology if they cannot be overcome:

The WattUp transmitter works much like a wireless router, sending radio frequency signals that can be received by enabled mobile devices, such as wearables and mobile phones. A small RF antenna in the form of PCB board, an ASIC and software makes up the wireless power receivers.

The Bluetooth wireless communication specification is used between WattUp transmitters and receivers.

Because the amount of wattage it can send is limited, Energous is focused on small mobile devices rather than laptops or batteries that require higher capacities.

A single WattUp transmitter can charge up to 24 devices, all under software control that enables or disables charging. The maximum amount of power -- four watts -- can only be delivered to four devices simultaneously. So as more enabled and "authorized" devices enter a room, the charge to each device is reduced.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2606004/a-wireless-router-may-someday-charge-your-mobile-devices.html

e0LAzFB0Qh8

TargeT

3rd October 2014, 19:33

Batteries Included: A Solar Cell that Stores its Own Power
World’s first “solar battery” runs on light and air
“The state of the art is to use a solar panel to capture the light, and then use a cheap battery to store the energy,” Wu said. “We’ve integrated both functions into one device. Any time you can do that, you reduce cost.”

He and his students believe that their device brings down costs by 25 percent.

The invention also solves a longstanding problem in solar energy efficiency, by eliminating the loss of electricity that normally occurs when electrons have to travel between a solar cell and an external battery. Typically, only 80 percent of electrons emerging from a solar cell make it into a battery.

With this new design, light is converted to electrons inside the battery, so nearly 100 percent of the electrons are saved.
The design takes some cues from a battery previously developed by Wu and doctoral student Xiaodi Ren. They invented a high-efficiency air-powered battery that discharges by chemically reacting potassium with oxygen. The design won the $100,000 clean energy prize from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2014, and the researchers formed a technology spinoff called KAir Energy Systems, LLC to develop it.

“Basically, it’s a breathing battery,” Wu said. “It breathes in air when it discharges, and breathes out when it charges.”
http://news.osu.edu/news/2014/10/03/batteries-included-a-solar-cell-that-stores-its-own-power/

An Australian researcher has worked out how to store 1000TB on a CD

A young Victorian researcher has made a breakthrough in optical formatting that could significantly increase our data storage capacity.

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/images/stories/t5gbpxcm-1371621655.jpg

Every day, humans are producing more data than ever before - around 90% of the world’s data was generated in the past two years alone - and there will come a point when our data storage centres and the cloud can no longer keep up.

But Dr Zongsong Gan, a researcher at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, has found a revolutionary way we can fit a whole lot more data onto traditional optical storage devices, such as CDs, and is now using that technology to help data storage keep up with demand.

In 2013, Gan and his colleagues found out how to fit 1,000 terabytes (TB), or 50,000 high-definition movies, onto a DVD - an increase from the 4.07 gigabytes they’re currently capable of storing. And he’s now been awarded one of 12 Victoria Fellowships in 2014, which will help incorporate his research into practical, mass storage devices.

Gan and his colleagues managed to increase DVD storage so significantly by using light to create extra small dots or ‘bits’ - the unit used to store information. This means they could write far more information than ever before onto discs the same size.

This advance required them breaking a physical barrier known as the diffraction limit of light. Light cannot be split any smaller than around 500 nanometres, and before their work it was thought that, because of this, light wasn't capable of writing bits of information smaller than 500 nanometres across.

But by using two-light-beams with different abilities, the scientists managed to whittle down the point of light writing the data to just nine nanometres across, or one ten thousandth the diameter of a human hair.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/images/stories/npmycqrs-1371621965.jpg
Both the beams used were 500-nanometres-wide, but one was for writing information (red), and the other beam (purple) blocked the first from writing information. By making the second one doughnut-shaped, they created only a small space that the first beam could write information through, as shown in the image above.

With the $18,000 fellowship, Gan will collaborate with industry and researchers around the world to work on new breakthroughs for data storage devices, and also see how his existing research can be used on a larger scale to rapidly improve the capacity of optics-based information technologies.

“The successful development of our technology will result in possible Victorian owned long-term patents and create a global role for Victoria, reinforcing the state’s profile of fostering high-tech industry and an innovative research environment, in particular in optics-based information technologies,”
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20140309-26116.html

TargeT

11th October 2014, 18:16

Around 10% of all diabetes is Type 1, & 29 million people in the United States have diabetes; so 2.9 million people could be cured by this.

Cure for Type 1 diabetes imminent after Harvard stem-cell breakthrough
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02936/diabetes_2936249b.jpg
A cure for diabetes could be imminent after scientists discovered how to make huge quantities of insulin-producing cells, in a breakthrough hailed as significant as antibiotics.
Harvard University has, for the first time, managed to manufacture the millions of beta cells required for transplantation.
It could mean the end of daily insulin injections for the 400,000 people in Britain living with Type 1 diabetes.
And it marks the culmination of 23-years of research for Harvard professor Doug Melton who has been trying to find a cure for the disease since his son Sam was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a baby.“We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line,” said Prof Melton.
Asked about his children’s reaction he said: "I think like all kids, they always assumed that if I said I'd do this, I'd do it,
"It was gratifying to know that we can do something that we always thought was possible.”
The stem cell-derived beta cells are presently undergoing trials in animal models, including non-human primates, where they are still producing insulin after several months, Prof Melton said.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the pancreas to stop producing insulin - the hormone that regulates blood glucose levels.
If the amount of glucose in the blood is too high it can seriously damage the body's organs over time.
While diabetics can keep their glucose levels under general control by injecting insulin, that does not provide the fine tuning necessary to properly control metabolism, which can lead to devastating complications such as blindness or loss of limbs.Around 10 per cent of all diabetes is Type 1, but it is the most common type of childhood diabetes. 29,000 youngsters suffer in Britain.
The team at Harvard used embryonic stem cells to produce human insulin-producing cells equivalent in almost every way to normally functioning cells in vast quantities.
Chris Mason, Professor of Regenerative Medicine, University College London, said it was ‘potentially a major medical breakthrough.’
“If this scalable technology is proven to work in both the clinic and in the manufacturing facility, the impact on the treatment of diabetes will be a medical game-changer on a par with antibiotics and bacterial infections,” he said.
Professor Anthony Hollander, Head of Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool, added:“This is very exciting fundamental research that solves a major roadblock in the development of a stem cell treatment for diabetes.
“The study provides a very elegant and convincing method for generating functional insulin-producing cells in large numbers.”
Professor Mark Dunne, at Manchester University, added: Overall this is an important advance for the field of diabetes and people with Type 1 diabetes.”
Professor Elaine Fuchs, of Rockefeller University, described the findings as "one of the most important advances to date in the stem cell field".
"For decades, researchers have tried to generate human pancreatic beta cells that could be cultured and passaged long term under conditions where they produce insulin.”

TargeT

11th October 2014, 21:46

This Device Could Detect Dozens of Cancers With a Single Blood Test
http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cancer-test-inline-660x396.jpg
Early detection, we’re often told, is the surest way to beat cancer. It’s the reason why, year after year, men and women of a certain age dutifully visit their doctors and undergo uncomfortable tests to screen for things like prostate and breast cancer.

But what about the other hundred or so types of cancer out there—the brain cancers, the ovarian cancers, the leukemias and lymphomas? And what of the millions of young people who never get tested at all, even though they’ve been found to have worse outcomes than adults?

Current diagnostic methods for other cancers are invasive and expensive, so the vast majority of cancer patients never realize they might have cancer until something goes wrong with their health. By that point, in many cases, it’s already too late.

MIROCULUS COULD MAKE REGULAR CANCER SCREENINGS AS SIMPLE AS GETTING BLOOD DRAWN.
That’s why a new startup, dubbed Miroculus, is building a device that could easily and affordably check for dozens of cancers using a single blood sample. Known as Miriam, this low-cost, open source device made its public debut at the TEDGlobal conference in Rio De Janeiro on Thursday, with TED curator Chris Anderson calling it “one of the most thrilling demos in TED history.”

For the company’s founders—a global team of entrepreneurs, microbiologists, and data scientists—the goal is to make Miriam so simple that even untrained workers in clinics around the world could use it. The project is still in the early stages, but if the early trials of Miriam are to be believed, Miroculus could make regular cancer screenings as simple as getting blood drawn.

A Biological Warning Sign
The Miroculus technology is based on microRNA, a class of small molecules that can act as a type of biological warning sign, appearing and disappearing based on what is happening in our bodies at that moment. As a result, they’ve become effective indicators of diseases—including cancer—ever since they were first discovered in 1993. They can reveal not just whether a person may have cancer, but what specific type of cancer that person might have.

For years, however, researchers believed microRNA could only be found inside of cells, making these biomarkers less accessible. But in 2008, a group of researchers discovered microRNA circulating in blood, spawning a wave of interest from other scientists, who viewed microRNA as the key to early cancer detection.

Fay Christodoulou was one such researcher. After spending years studying microRNA’s effects on evolution, Christodoulou, a Greek molecular biologist, shifted her focus to study the connection between microRNA and thyroid cancer. Last year, she decided to take some time off to enter a graduate studies program at Singularity University, a Silicon Valley incubator that challenges people to spend 10 weeks developing a business idea with the power to impact one billion people or more.

It was there that she met Alejandro Tocigl, a Chilean entrepreneur; Gilad Gome, an Israeli biotechnologist; Pablo Olivares, a Chilean doctor; Ferrán Galindo, a serial entrepreneur from Panama; and Jorge Soto, a Mexican electronic engineer and former general director of civic innovation for the Mexican government. Together, they formed a team and developed the bones of what would eventually become Miriam.

“In 10 weeks, to make something from nothing is practically impossible. But what they teach you—in my personal case, for the first time in my life—was in order to disrupt, you don’t need to do 10 years of research,” Christodoulou says. “You’re capable of using pre-existing tools but combining them in a way no one had thought of before.”
Not Reinventing the Wheel
Miriam capitalizes on much of the research and science that already exists around microRNA and cancer. You can prepare the blood sample, for instance, using a standard off-the-shelf RNA extraction kit, as well as a Miroculus “master mix” (another means of preparing the raw sample for the test). Then, once the sample is prepared, you pipette the blood into a 96-well plate, which Christodoulou refers to as the company’s “secret sauce.”

That’s because each well has been pre-treated with Miroculus’s patented biochemistry to act as a sort of trap for various types of microRNA, most commonly associated with cancer. When Miroculus goes to market, it will be these plates—and not the $500 devices themselves—that will generate the most revenue.
http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_20140923_115538-660x890.jpg
After the wells are full, the plate goes into the device, and the reaction begins. When microRNA is present, the wells start to glow. The stronger the glow, the stronger the presence of microRNA. In an hour, the reaction is complete, and the results get sent to a cloud server. There, the system reads the luminosity of the various wells, determines which microRNA is present in the sample, and compares that result to a database of information on which microRNA patterns are associated with which cancers. Then the system is able to make a judgment.

While at Singularity, the team completed a proof of principle experiment, in which they successfully detected liver cancer in mice. But that, says Christodoulou, is just the first step in a long process of proving the technology works. “We’re talking about a decentralized system; the main challenge is to make it robust enough so it can be done by an untrained person anywhere in the world in not-so-optimal laboratory conditions,” she says.

Data, Data, and More Data
The company—which is now run full-time by Tocigl, Christodoulou, and Soto—must also build its database to ensure the system can read the results accurately. According to Muneesh Tewari, who heads up his own research lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and was part of the team that first discovered microRNA in blood, that will take some doing.

The challenge with microRNA, he says, is that it doesn’t only show up in the case of cancer. Something as simple as taking aspirin or having a respiratory infection could affect which microRNA gets expressed in blood. To guarantee accuracy, Miroculus’s technology must know not only which results mean cancer, but also how other health conditions, medications, and environmental factors can alter or inhibit those results.

“There are so many stories of biomarkers that get discovered, and then there are things you didn’t know that basically kill the marker,” Tewari says. “Bringing the device to the point where, in fact, it is robust and reliable when you put it in the hands of a large number of people who are truly untrained, that’s always the next barrier to be overcome.”

SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS TAKING ASPIRIN OR HAVING A RESPIRATORY INFECTION COULD AFFECT WHICH MICRORNA GETS EXPRESSED IN BLOOD.
The Miroculus team understands that data is, in some ways, just as important to Miriam’s success as the science behind it. “We’re a data-driven company, and we believe our value will be in the information we gather, how we correlate the information, and the conclusions we’re able to make,” says Tocigl.

That’s one reason why Miroculus is launching the product not with the doctors and clinics—it would require FDA approval for that, anyway—but with pharmaceutical companies, who will use the tool to track how patients react to new drugs. As these companies track results, Miroculus will, in turn, be able to collect mountains of microRNA related data. Once that trove of information is robust enough, and that could take a number of years, then and only then will Miroculus begin to seek FDA approval to market Miriam as a diagnostic tool. Until then, Miroculus will continue tweaking the device and running its own studies out of the European Molecular Biology Lab in Heidelberg, Germany.

A New Definition of Cancer
Tewari says this method is a smart one, and he credits Miroculus for taking a Silicon Valley approach to the problem, forging ahead with the technology, even while the research that powers it is ongoing. “I think these tracks need to move in parallel,” he says. “I think you need both before we change the world.”

And yet, he brings up an interesting point, and that is the fact that early detection, long considered the only real cure for cancer, is now the subject of heated debate in the medical community. It’s become so pointed that last year, a group of experts at the National Cancer Institute went as far as to call for a new definition of the word “cancer.”

Their argument was that science has come so far that some conditions we still refer to as cancer are basically harmless, such as ductal carcinoma in situ, a non-invasive type of breast cancer. In continuing to call them cancer, they say, society is only causing patients undue stress, and that leads, in many cases to undue surgeries and treatments, as well. Routine cancer screenings like the one Miroculus suggests could, theoretically, create the problem of over-diagnosis of indolent cancers, Tewari says.

“Early detection can have a massive impact on mortality in the world,” he says, “but one can’t be too naïve about the real issues related to the problem of early detection, either.”

Still, he says, it’s important not to allow this fear to inhibit the development of novel new ways of catching cancer early. “The idea of having a system, that really performs well, that’s very robust and can be done at the point of care, without an expert,” Tewari says, pausing. “Well, that idea is very powerful, and important, and could really be potentially transformative.”
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/miroculus/?mbid=social_fb

TargeT

14th October 2014, 20:31

We have seen this before, it appears to be more refined now, perhaps MUCH closer to production:

Heat scavengers promise energy bonanza
A new breed of structures called skutterudites could finally tap the floods of energy our machines waste as heat
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg22429901.100/mg22429901.100-1_1200.jpg
Thermodynamics will always take its pound of flesh. Its laws ultimately dictate that more than half of the energy we use in cars, dishwashers, factories and elsewhere is lost as waste heat. That's just an average: for car engines, the proportion is more like two-thirds.
Reclaim even a small amount of that lost heat as electricity, and that would massively boost energy efficiency. Thermoelectric materials allow us to do just that, by coaxing a current from a temperature difference. Wrap a thermoelectric substance around your car's exhaust, and its waste heat could power the electrics. Incorporate thermoelectric elements into a refrigerator, and heat extracted from its interior could power it.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429901.100-wonder-stuff-heat-scavengers-promise-energy-bonanza.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC|NSNS|2013-GLOBAL-hoot

http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.184304

MIT's Self-Assembly Lab has developed materials that can be programmed to transform their shape autonomously -- from flexible carbon fibre and hybrid plastics to wood grains and textiles.
http://cdni.wired.co.uk/1240x826/s_v/Sky3.jpg
Skylar Tibbits, director of Self-Assembly Lab and research scientist at MIT -- as well as one of the WIRED2014 Innovation Fellows -- spoke to WIRED.co.uk exclusively about his research lab's latest discoveries with these programmable materials.

"The idea here is to take existing material systems like fibres, sheets, strands and three-dimensional objects and program them to change shape and property on demand," Tibbits explains. "It's sort of like a vision of a robots without wire, motors or batteries."

Tibbits spoke at TED in 2013 about the emergence of 4D printing, where he demonstrated materials that reacted to passive energy sources like water, folding twisting to a programmed shape. "We released it at TED the response totally blew us away," Tibbits says. "A lot of people wanted to write about it, and a lot of people were excited about it. More importantly a lot of companies came to us, and saw applications that we never would've expected."
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-10/14/skylar-tibbits-exclusive-interview

Fast-charging batteries will power your gadgets for 20 years
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Fast-charging batteries are all nice and good, but the lifespan matters, too -- why should you have to replace power packs (or entire devices) every couple of years ? You may not have to give up performance or longevity if researchers at Nanyang Technology University have their way. They've developed new lithium ion batteries that can reach a 70 percent charge in two minutes, but should also last for over 20 years -- several times longer than the cells in your current laptop or smartphone. The trick is using titanium dioxide nanotubes for the anode (the negative pole) instead of graphite; they both speed up the battery's chemical reactions while offering 10,000 charging cycles instead of the usual 500.
There's no definite timetable for when upgraded batteries could reach shipping products, but the mini titanium tubes are both easy to make and relatively inexpensive. They could make a big impact on the technology world when they arrive, though. On a basic level, they could eliminate forced obsolescence for some devices -- you might only replace them when they no longer meet your needs, not because they can't hold a charge. They could have a particularly large impact on electric cars -- you could top up your battery in minutes, not hours, and avoid replacing a very expensive component before you're ready to replace the vehicle itself.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/13/fast-long-lived-lithium-ion-batteries/?ncid=rss_truncated

Samsung achieves Wi-Fi data travel feats for 60GHZ band
Samsung Electronics has announced advances in Wi-Fi technology. Samsung said it found a way to make Wi-Fi data travel faster than it does currently. Specifically, Samsung said the new technology enables data transmission speeds of up to 4.6Gbps, or 575MB per second, a fivefold increase from 866Mbps, or 108MB per second, which the company said was the maximum speed possible with existing consumer electronics devices. Eventually, consumers will see the results of these efforts within various connected devices.
BBC News said the faster Wi-Fi could make it fast to stream movies from phones to TVs and other displays. A 1GB movie will take less than three seconds to transfer between devices, said Samsung. Samsung Electronics refers to the development as its "60GHz Wi-Fi technology." The company's engineers worked on Wi-Fi that operated in the 60GHz band, whereas current Wi-Fi systems use 2.4 and 5GHz bands, said the BBC. This is news in itself, as Samsung has successfully overcome some barriers to the commercialization of the 60GHz millimeter-wave band Wi-Fi technology, said Kim Chang Yong, Head of DMC R&D Center of Samsung Electronics. In the press release, the company said, "Unlike the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi technologies, Samsung's 802.11ad standard 60GHz Wi-Fi technology maintains maximum speed by eliminating co-channel interference, regardless of the number of devices using the same network."

"Samsung has Invented a No-Interference, 60GHz Wi-Fi," said the Windows IT Pro headline on Monday. Rod Trent of Windows IT Pro wrote that "the 802.11ad technology also maintains maximum speed by eliminating co-channel interference. If you've worked with Wi-Fi for very long, you know that speeds can vary because the signal is constantly negotiating with other technologies in the near area that are utilizing the same channels."

http://phys.org/news/2014-10-samsung-wi-fi-feats-60ghz-band.html#jCp

TargeT

15th October 2014, 20:10

Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details
Lockheed Martin aims to develop compact reactor prototype in five years, production unit in 10

Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world’s insatiable demand for power.

Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.

Yet the idea of nuclear fusion, in which atoms combine into more stable forms and release excess energy in the process, is not new. Ever since the 1920s, when it was postulated that fusion powers the stars, scientists have struggled to develop a truly practical means of harnessing this form of energy. Other research institutions, laboratories and companies around the world are also pursuing ideas for fusion power, but none have gone beyond the experimental stage. With just such a “Holy Grail” breakthrough seemingly within its grasp, and to help achieve a potentially paradigm-shifting development in global energy, Lockheed has made public its project with the aim of attracting partners, resources and additional researchers.
http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2014/10/Compact%20Fusion%20Reactor%20Diagram_0.png
Although the company released limited information on the CFR in 2013, Lockheed is now providing new details of its invention. Aviation Week was given exclusive access to view the Skunk Works experiment, dubbed “T4,” first hand. Led by Thomas McGuire, an aeronautical engineer in the Skunk Work’s aptly named Revolutionary Technology Programs unit, the current experiments are focused on a containment vessel roughly the size of a business-jet engine. Connected to sensors, injectors, a turbopump to generate an internal vacuum and a huge array of batteries, the stainless steel container seems an unlikely first step toward solving a conundrum that has defeated generations of nuclear physicists—namely finding an effective way to control the fusion reaction.

“I studied this in graduate school where, under a NASA study, I was charged with how we could get to Mars quickly,” says McGuire, who earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scanning the literature for fusion-based space propulsion concepts proved disappointing. “That started me on the road and [in the early 2000s], I started looking at all the ideas that had been published. I basically took those ideas and melded them into something new by taking the problems in one and trying to replace them with the benefits of others. So we have evolved it here at Lockheed into something totally new, and that’s what we are testing,” he adds.

To understand the breakthroughs of the Lockheed concept, it is useful to know how fusion works and how methods for controlling the reaction have a fundamental impact on both the amount of energy produced and the scale of the reactor. Fusion fuel, made up of hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, starts as a gas injected into an evacuated containment vessel. Energy is added, usually by radio-frequency heating, and the gas breaks into ions and electrons, forming plasma.

The superhot plasma is controlled by strong magnetic fields that prevent it from touching the sides of the vessel and, if the confinement is sufficiently constrained, the ions overcome their mutual repulsion, collide and fuse. The process creates helium-4, freeing neutrons that carry the released energy kinetically through the confining magnetic fields. These neutrons heat the reactor wall which, through conventional heat exchangers, can then be used to drive turbine generators.

Until now, the majority of fusion reactor systems have used a plasma control device called a tokamak, invented in the 1950s by physicists in the Soviet Union. The tokamak uses a magnetic field to hold the plasma in the shape of a torus, or ring, and maintains the reaction by inducing a current inside the plasma itself with a second set of electromagnets. The challenge with this approach is that the resulting energy generated is almost the same as the amount required to maintain the self-sustaining fusion reaction.
http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2014/10/AW_10_20_2014_3719.jpg
An advanced fusion reactor version, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), being built in Cadarache, France, is expected to generate 500 MW. However, plasma is not due to be generated until the late 2020s, and derivatives are not likely to be producing significant power until at least the 2040s.

The problem with tokamaks is that “they can only hold so much plasma, and we call that the beta limit,” McGuire says. Measured as the ratio of plasma pressure to the magnetic pressure, the beta limit of the average tokamak is low, or about “5% or so of the confining pressure,” he says. Comparing the torus to a bicycle tire, McGuire adds, “if they put too much in, eventually their confining tire will fail and burst—so to operate safely, they don’t go too close to that.” Aside from this inefficiency, the physics of the tokamak dictate huge dimensions and massive cost. The ITER, for example, will cost an estimated $50 billion and when complete will measure around 100 ft. high and weigh 23,000 tons.

The CFR will avoid these issues by tackling plasma confinement in a radically different way. Instead of constraining the plasma within tubular rings, a series of superconducting coils will generate a new magnetic-field geometry in which the plasma is held within the broader confines of the entire reaction chamber. Superconducting magnets within the coils will generate a magnetic field around the outer border of the chamber. “So for us, instead of a bike tire expanding into air, we have something more like a tube that expands into an ever-stronger wall,” McGuire says. The system is therefore regulated by a self-tuning feedback mechanism, whereby the farther out the plasma goes, the stronger the magnetic field pushes back to contain it. The CFR is expected to have a beta limit ratio of one. “We should be able to go to 100% or beyond,” he adds.

This crucial difference means that for the same size, the CFR generates more power than a tokamak by a factor of 10. This in turn means, for the same power output, the CFR can be 10 times smaller. The change in scale is a game-changer in terms of producibility and cost, explains McGuire. “It’s one of the reasons we think it is feasible for development and future economics,” he says. “Ten times smaller is the key. But on the physics side, it still has to work, and one of the reasons we think our physics will work is that we’ve been able to make an inherently stable configuration.” One of the main reasons for this stability is the positioning of the superconductor coils and shape of the magnetic field lines. “In our case, it is always in balance. So if you have less pressure, the plasma will be smaller and will always sit in this magnetic well,” he notes.

Overall, McGuire says the Lockheed design “takes the good parts of a lot of designs.” It includes the high beta configuration, the use of magnetic field lines arranged into linear ring “cusps” to confine the plasma and “the engineering simplicity of an axisymmetric mirror,” he says. The “axisymmetric mirror” is created by positioning zones of high magnetic field near each end of the vessel so that they reflect a significant fraction of plasma particles escaping along the axis of the CFR. “We also have a recirculation that is very similar to a Polywell concept,” he adds, referring to another promising avenue of fusion power research. A Polywell fusion reactor uses electromagnets to generate a magnetic field that traps electrons, creating a negative voltage, which then attract positive ions. The resulting acceleration of the ions toward the negative center results in a collision and fusion.

The team acknowledges that the project is in its earliest stages, and many key challenges remain before a viable prototype can be built. However, McGuire expects swift progress. The Skunk Works mind-set and “the pace that people work at here is ridiculously fast,” he says. “We would like to get to a prototype in five generations. If we can meet our plan of doing a design-build-test generation every year, that will put us at about five years, and we’ve already shown we can do that in the lab.” The prototype would demonstrate ignition conditions and the ability to run for upward of 10 sec. in a steady state after the injectors, which will be used to ignite the plasma, are turned off. “So it wouldn’t be at full power, like a working concept reactor, but basically just showing that all the physics works,” McGuire says.

An initial production version could follow five years after that. “That will be a much bigger effort,” he says, suggesting that transition to full-scale manufacturing will necessarily involve materials and heat-transfer specialists as well as gas-turbine makers. The early reactors will be designed to generate around 100 MW and fit into transportable units measuring 23 X 43 ft. “That’s the size we are thinking of now. You could put it on a semi-trailer, similar to a small gas turbine, put it on a pad, hook it up and can be running in a few weeks,” McGuire says. The concept makes use of the existing power infrastructures to enable the CFR to be easily adapted into the current grid. The 100-MW unit would provide sufficient power for up to 80,000 homes in a power-hungry U.S. city and is also “enough to run a ship,” he notes.

Lockheed estimates that less than 25 kg (55 lb.) of fuel would be required to run an entire year of operations. The fuel itself is also plentiful. Deuterium is produced from sea water and is therefore considered unlimited, while tritium is “bred” from lithium. “We already mine enough lithium to supply a worldwide fleet of reactors, so with tritium you never have too much built up, and that’s what keeps it safe. Tritium would be a health risk if there were enough released, but it is safe enough in small quantities. You don’t need very much to run a reactor because it is a million times more powerful than a chemical reaction,” McGuire notes.

Although the first-generation reactors will have radioactive parts at the ends of their lives, such as some steel elements in the shell, McGuire says the contamination situation “is an order of magnitude better” than that of contemporary fission systems. “There is no long-lived radiation. Fission reactors’ stuff will be there forever, but with fusion materials, after 100 years then you are good.” Contamination levels for fusion will improve with additional materials research, he believes. “It’s been a chicken-and-egg situation. Until we’ve had a good working fusion system, there has not been money to go off and do the hard-core materials research,” McGuire says. “So we believe the first generation is good enough to go out and do, and then it will only improve in time.” Old CFR steel shell parts can be disposed of with “a shallow burial in the desert, similar to medical waste today. That’s a major difference to today’s fission systems.”

Operational benefits include no risks of suffering a meltdown. “There is a very minimal amount of radioactive tritium—it’s on the order of grams—so the potential release is very minimal. In addition, there is not enough to be a risk of proliferation. Tritium is used in nuclear weapons but in a much larger inventory than would be involved here, and that’s because you are continually making just enough to feed back in [to maintain the reaction],” he adds.

Preliminary simulations and experimental results “have been very promising and positive,” McGuire says. “The latest is a magnetized ion confinement experiment, and preliminary measurements show the behavior looks like it is working correctly. We are starting with the plasma confinement, and that’s where we are putting most of our effort. One of the reasons we are becoming more vocal with our project is that we are building up our team as we start to tackle the other big problems. We need help and we want other people involved. It’s a global enterprise, and we are happy to be leaders in it.”
UlYClniDFkM
http://aviationweek.com/technology/skunk-works-reveals-compact-fusion-reactor-details
http://aviationweek.com/blog/high-hopes-can-compact-fusion-unlock-new-power-space-and-air-transport

Report: Samsung's Made Rollable Batteries That Bend Into a Hoop
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--yEl3XIGh--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/myxnos32gllfxgpybagf.jpg
Wearables: great, apart from the fact that batteries last about five minutes. Samsung, though, may have a solution: it's just announced a new type of battery which is so flexible that it can be rolled up into a hoop.

The announcement, made at InterBattery 2014 in Seoul—how about that for an expo name?—claims that the new style of battery can work even when it's rolled up into the shape of a paper cup. While details are scant according to a report by G for Games, the new flexibility apparently stems from changes in structural design and improved materials.

It may be a little early to get too excited though: these things certainly aren't ready for the masses yet. Indeed, the reliability of the cells is apparently still low, which suggests that, even if they do work when deformed, that performance doesn't last for long.

G for Games claims that "reports claim that the units will be commercially available within the next three years." But, even if that's accurate, three years is quite a long time; flying cars might exist in three year's time, to be honest. Still, it's a leap forwards in terms of battery design—let's just hope it arrives, from Samsung or anyone else for that matter, sooner than those reports suggest. [G for Games]
http://gizmodo.com/report-samsungs-made-rollable-batteries-that-can-fit-i-1646539094

TargeT

17th October 2014, 20:14

Researchers develop world's thinnest electric generator
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MeP9hfqS-cI/VD64ZFgPBWI/AAAAAAAAgzg/Pr_xvzFs-xE/s1600/80856_web.jpg
IMAGE: This is a cartoon showing positive and negative polarized charges are squeezed from a single layer of atoms of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), as it is being stretched. Click here for more information.
First experimental observation of piezoelectricity in an atomically thin material -- MoS2 -- could lead to wearable devices.

Researchers from Columbia Engineering and the Georgia Institute of Technology report today that they have made the first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), resulting in a unique electric generator and mechanosensation devices that are optically transparent, extremely light, and very bendable and stretchable.

In a paper published online October 15, 2014, in Nature, research groups from the two institutions demonstrate the mechanical generation of electricity from the two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 material. The piezoelectric effect in this material had previously been predicted theoretically.
Piezoelectricity is a well-known effect in which stretching or compressing a material causes it to generate an electrical voltage (or the reverse, in which an applied voltage causes it to expand or contract). But for materials of only a few atomic thicknesses, no experimental observation of piezoelectricity has been made, until now. The observation reported today provides a new property for two-dimensional materials such as molybdenum disulfide, opening the potential for new types of mechanically controlled electronic devices.

"This material—just a single layer of atoms—could be made as a wearable device, perhaps integrated into clothing, to convert energy from your body movement to electricity and power wearable sensors or medical devices, or perhaps supply enough energy to charge your cell phone in your pocket," says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia and co-leader of the research.

"Proof of the piezoelectric effect and piezotronic effect adds new functionalities to these two-dimensional materials," says Zhong Lin Wang, Regents' Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering and a co-leader of the research. "The materials community is excited about molybdenum disulfide, and demonstrating the piezoelectric effect in it adds a new facet to the material."

Hone and his research group demonstrated in 2008 that graphene, a 2D form of carbon, is the strongest material. He and Lei Wang, a postdoctoral fellow in Hone's group, have been actively exploring the novel properties of 2D materials like graphene and MoS2 as they are stretched and compressed.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JuDaqkL-dGU/VD64w8Zf2HI/AAAAAAAAgzo/1HekvRnN1v8/s1600/80857_web.jpg
IMAGE: Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Columbia Engineering have made the first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)....Click here for more information.
Zhong Lin Wang and his research group pioneered the field of piezoelectric nanogenerators for converting mechanical energy into electricity. He and postdoctoral fellow Wenzhuo Wu are also developing piezotronic devices, which use piezoelectric charges to control the flow of current through the material just as gate voltages do in conventional three-terminal transistors.

There are two keys to using molybdenum disulfide for generating current: using an odd number of layers and flexing it in the proper direction. The material is highly polar, but, Zhong Lin Wang notes, so an even number of layers cancels out the piezoelectric effect. The material's crystalline structure also is piezoelectric in only certain crystalline orientations.

For the Nature study, Hone's team placed thin flakes of MoS2 on flexible plastic substrates and determined how their crystal lattices were oriented using optical techniques. They then patterned metal electrodes onto the flakes. In research done at Georgia Tech, Wang's group installed measurement electrodes on samples provided by Hone's group, then measured current flows as the samples were mechanically deformed. They monitored the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy, and observed voltage and current outputs.

The researchers also noted that the output voltage reversed sign when they changed the direction of applied strain, and that it disappeared in samples with an even number of atomic layers, confirming theoretical predictions published last year. The presence of piezotronic effect in odd layer MoS2 was also observed for the first time.

"What's really interesting is we've now found that a material like MoS2, which is not piezoelectric in bulk form, can become piezoelectric when it is thinned down to a single atomic layer," says Lei Wang.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ViJSo9oSjYA/VD65BdtCALI/AAAAAAAAgzw/UlibPB7CsvA/s1600/80858_web.jpg
IMAGE: Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Columbia Engineering have made the first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2).... Click here for more information.
To be piezoelectric, a material must break central symmetry. A single atomic layer of MoS2 has such a structure, and should be piezoelectric. However, in bulk MoS2, successive layers are oriented in opposite directions, and generate positive and negative voltages that cancel each other out and give zero net piezoelectric effect.

"This adds another member to the family of piezoelectric materials for functional devices," says Wenzhuo Wu.

In fact, MoS2 is just one of a group of 2D semiconducting materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides, all of which are predicted to have similar piezoelectric properties. These are part of an even larger family of 2D materials whose piezoelectric materials remain unexplored. Importantly, as has been shown by Hone and his colleagues, 2D materials can be stretched much farther than conventional materials, particularly traditional ceramic piezoelectrics, which are quite brittle.

The research could open the door to development of new applications for the material and its unique properties.

"This is the first experimental work in this area and is an elegant example of how the world becomes different when the size of material shrinks to the scale of a single atom," Hone adds. "With what we're learning, we're eager to build useful devices for all kinds of applications."

Ultimately, Zhong Lin Wang notes, the research could lead to complete atomic-thick nanosystems that are self-powered by harvesting mechanical energy from the environment. This study also reveals the piezotronic effect in two-dimensional materials for the first time, which greatly expands the application of layered materials for human-machine interfacing, robotics, MEMS, and active flexible electronics.
http://www.techswarm.com/2014/10/researchers-develop-worlds-thinnest.html

This giant 3D printer can build houses from mud in the poorest regions
A six-metre-tall 3D printer has been developed that can build cheap, sustainable houses using a clay-like paste.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/images/stories/new2014/wasp-house-printer_web.jpg
Created by Italian 3D printer company WASP, the giant, three-armed printer was demonstrated at Maker Faire Rome last week.

While there are already 3D printers out there that can rapidly build houses, this model is unique as it can be assembled on site within two hours, and then filled with mud and fibre to construct extremely cheap dwellings in some of the most remote places on Earth.

WASP CEO Massimo Moretti explained to Make:, the magazine that produces the faire, that this allows developers to work more closely with natural forms, rather than the square-shaped block homes that common brick dwellings are made from.

The mud that goes inside the printer first needs to be mixed with another natural fibre, such as wool, to help bind it together, creating a grainy paste that can then be squeezed out into the desired shape, sort of as though you were icing a cake.

Although they may not look like much, these homes can be up to three metres high, and when dry create a tough and sustainable shelter for people in rural or impoverished areas. Instead of traditional foundations, the ones created by the WASP printer at the Maker Faire Rome used cleverly designed layers of the mud mixture to make the walls strong.

“While no plans are officially in place, Moretti states that the first WASP house may occur next year in Sardinia, due to the availability of wool, used as a fibrous binder in the printer’s mud, for the project,” writes Mike Sense for Make:.

Check out the video of Moretti describing the printer and see it in action below:
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http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141510-26336.html

Zap&Go portable charger fuels up in just 5 minutes
http://images.gizmag.com/hero/zap-and-go.jpg
An Oxford-based startup has turned to crowdfunding to help develop Zap&Go, a phone charger with an emphasis on speed and portability. Thanks to a graphene supercapacitor and an ad-hoc power supply, the device will reportedly charge to its 1,500-mAh capacity – enough to fully charge an iPhone 5s – in only five minutes and promises to be a much more practical solution than current alternatives, particularly when traveling.
Our smartphones and tablets keep getting thinner, while displays keep getting more pixel-dense and power-hungry. As a consequence, the battery life of our portable devices rarely exceeds one day of heavy usage. In addition, the limitations of lithium-ion batteries mean that these devices can take hours to fully charge. For those who need more juice on the go, one solution is to use an external battery that can recharge our electronics when needed, even when we're miles away from a plug.

Plenty of fast external batteries are already either on the market or on the horizon. Perhaps two of the most interesting projects currently in the works are the 2,600-mAh Petalite Flux and the Power Practical Pronto, which according to its inventors will also come in a 13,500-mAh version.

But for all their capacity and convenience, these external batteries require bulky adapters that add to the clutter, making them unpractical to pack in your suitcase while you're traveling; and while they charge significantly faster than your typical smartphone, they still take 30 to 60 minutes to fully load up.
http://images.gizmag.com/inline/zap-and-go-2.jpg
By contrast, Zap&Go is designed specifically for speed and portability, as it can charge in just five minutes and doesn't require extra adapters, since the specially-developed power supply is embedded in the device itself. According to the product's Indiegogo campaign page, the device can charge any type of phone or tablet that comes with a standard 5-volt USB port.

You can use the Zap&Go as a normal charger, plugging it into an electrical socket while your phone or tablet is charging normally and the device is completing its fast five-minute charge cycle; or, if you're pressed for time, you can just plug in the device for a quick and full charge-up, and only later, while you're on the go, connect the Zap&Go to your device and have it charge (either way, the phone or tablet itself will still charge at normal speed).

The product, currently at a working prototype stage according to company founder Stephen Voller, required two major innovations: the first was to replace aluminum foils in supercapacitors with the much more conductive graphene, allowing the device to significantly shrink in size; the second was a new power supply to allow the charger to take in enough power in a limited amount of time.

According to the product's Indiegogo campaign, the Zap&Go is set to be delivered in October 2015 for a pledge of US$99 and will ship with a US plug as standard, but will also include international plug adapters for the UK, Japan and the EU. At the time of writing, the Indiegogo campaign is one third of the way toward reaching its funding goal of $30,000, with 30 days still to go.

The video below shows the Zap&Go in action.
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http://www.gizmag.com/zap-and-go-supercapacitor-charger/34228/

TargeT

5th November 2014, 16:13

This is pretty amazing, the first step to real 3d displays is finally here.

Pulse laser used to create 3D display in mid-air
http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/3d-590x330.jpg
ou’ve probably seen projectors that can create images that seem to float in mid-air by painting light onto fog or water, but Japanese firm Aerial Burton has created something much more impressive. The recently demoed Aerial Burton display can create moving 3D images in mid-air using laser plasma technology.

The Aerial Burton display isn’t currently capable of creating detailed images like you’d see on a screen projector, but it’s still a big leap when you consider there’s nothing up there off which to bounce light. That’s really the basis of most projection technologies — the light reflects off something to your eyes. The aerial display shown here uses lasers to ionize molecules in the air, so the source of the light is actually floating in mid-air where you see it.
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The images are produced by a 1kHz infrared pulse laser, which is directed into a 3D scanner. This apparatus reflects the pulses up into the air while focusing them on pre-defined points. By ionizing molecules in very localized areas, the device is essentially producing pockets of plasma that give off energy as photons. The flashes of light are short-lived, so the system has to constantly pulse new beams to keep the image alive.

The next step is to increase the resolution of the images. Right now it can be a little hard to tell what each image is as it’s rotating around. This is more of a concern with busy backgrounds behind it. There are a few demos of this same technology in water, and the overall quality of the image is much higher. Air is obviously much less dense, so there may be fundamental limits to this kind of pulsed plasma laser tech.

The designers believe the Aerial Burton display could be used in emergency situations to help people find evacuation routes and emergency supplies. It’s also portable and can be mounted in a car. You might not be able to render Princess Leia in full holographic detail, but a giant floating arrow that points to safety during an emergency seems doable.
http://www.geek.com/science/pulse-laser-used-to-create-3d-display-in-mid-air-1608487/

TargeT

15th November 2014, 04:50

I'm not sure if I'm excited about this or scared ****less.... click the source link for a good short video explaining pro/con's of the system... it costs 1$ to fire... 0_o

U.S. Navy Deploys Its First Laser Weapon in the Persian Gulf
The U.S. Navy has deployed on a command ship in the Persian Gulf its first laser weapon capable of destroying a target.

The amphibious transport ship USS Ponce has been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can be fired in several modes -- from a dazzling warning flash to a destructive beam -- and can set a drone or small boat on fire.

The Ponce “provides a unique platform” to deploy the new capability “in an operationally relevant region,” Vice Admiral John Miller, the 5th Fleet commander, said in an e-mailed statement. The ship is the 5th Fleet’s primary command and control afloat staging base for operations
http://www.bloomberg.com/image/iv3SVhdwKpg0.jpg
Since 2011, the Navy has boosted its presence in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil flows. Equipped with naval mines and small vessels that practice swarming tactics to attack larger warships, Iranian officials have periodically threatened to close the waterway.

The Navy laser wasn’t specifically designed or deployed to counter Iran’s arsenal of small armed vessels, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert said in an interview earlier this year.

“I wouldn’t target a country for a weapon, nor would I preclude putting together a weapons system for a country by itself,” he said.

The laser deployment is “a worthwhile experiment” because “it’ll help us feel out the operational limitations” such as power constraints, Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer said at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in April.

Testing the Weapon

However, he said, “I still think we have some work to do on the technology side.”

“What am I looking for? How does it operate in that environment -- heat, humidity, dust and at sea,” Greenert said in the interview. “It’s got to roll, move around, how much power does it take to sustain it?”

“I have to take it out and get it wet, and the Arabian Gulf’s a pretty tough environment,” he said.

Naval Sea Systems Command technicians developed the prototype over seven years at a cost of about $40 million. The Ponce crew was authorized to deploy the weapon after it passed a series of at-sea tests, including lasing static surface targets, the 5th Fleet spokesman Commander Kevin Stephens said in an e-mail statement.

The prototype focuses the light from six solid-state commercial welding lasers on a single spot, according to a July 31 Congressional Research Service report. It “can effectively counter surface and airborne threats, to include small boats” and drones, Miller said, and firing it costs about a dollar a shot, according to the Navy.
Adjustable Strength

The device can emit progressively stronger beams, first to warn an adversary, and then destroy it if necessary, Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder said at a Bloomberg Government session this year.

The laser can be adjusted to fire a non-lethal dazzling flash at an incoming vessel so they know it’s there “all the way to lethal,” Klunder said. The laser’s range is classified.

New York-based L-3 Communications Holdings LLC (LLL) and Pennsylvania State University’s Electro Optics Center have provided components and engineering support.

The lessons from the one-year Ponce deployment will feed Navy laser development by industry teams led by BAE Systems Plc (BAESY), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) and Raytheon Co. (RTN), to field a more powerful weapon, possibly by 2021.

Those efforts are separate from military laser designators to guide precision munitions, non-lethal crowd control devices or discontinued instruments intended to blind enemy electro-optical sensors.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/u-s-navy-deploys-its-first-laser-weapon-in-the-persian-gulf.html

TargeT

15th November 2014, 04:53

Controlling medication with your mind: Thought-regulation of genes made possible
Scientists have created the first device which allows people to turn genes in mice on and off at will using only their brainwaves.

In humans, the ability to regulate the expression of genes through thoughts alone could open up an entirely new avenue for medicine. A monitoring system that could pick up early neurological signs of an impending epileptic fit or a migraine, for example, could automatically trigger the manufacture and release of protein-based medication within the body.

“Being able to control gene expression via the power of thought is a dream that we’ve been chasing for over a decade,” said Dr Martin Fussenegger from ETH Zurich, who led the research.

The study made use of a human gene implanted in mice. A tiny chamber containing human cells and an LED light was inserted under each mouse’s skin. The genes had been genetically modified to be sensitive to light, which made it possible to trigger and manage their protein production through shining the near-infrared light from the LED on them.

The human test subjects were divided into three groups, and asked to either meditate, play a game of Minecraft, or watch the light coming from the mouse’s body. Their brain activity was captured by a headset and analysed to establish their state of mind. The resulting signal was transmitted to the mice in the form of an electromagnetic field, which was able to light up the LED.

The quantity of protein created by the guest genes depended on whether the human wearing the headset was relaxing or concentrating on playing Minecraft.

Those who were asked to keep their eye on the mouse were able to see the effect their brain activity had on the red-coloured light, and thus on the genes within the implant. After some practice, this group learnt to exert conscious control over the amount of protein produced. They were able to alter their state of mind in order to change the output of the genes; a finding which gives the researchers hope that similar techniques could be used to influence implants within a person's own body.

Fussenegger believes that the type of protein-based pharmaceuticals that can be produced in this way match the natural workings of the body more closely than currently used drugs, and may overcome some of the limitations imposed by traditional medicine.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/controlling-your-medication-with-your-mind-is-thoughtregulated-gene-expression-the-future-of-medicine-9854874.html

thepainterdoug

16th November 2014, 03:06

our tech getting smaller, faster , smarter as our collective species gets fatter, slower and dumber . we are living in the dark ages with the lights on.

TargeT

16th November 2014, 18:34

our tech getting smaller, faster , smarter as our collective species gets fatter, slower and dumber . we are living in the dark ages with the lights on.

it almost seems like a natural trend to transhumanism when you look at it that way.

However I do not agree, I think there are some who are "fatter, slower and dumber" but over all average intelect has increased, obesity is an issue but not a pervasive one, and if anything we have humans that are "faster" now than ever.

I see humanity improving greatly, but these improvements are far eclipsed by technology; which can be very dis-empowering when you compare the two.

we are just now moving into the steep part of the exponential curve of technology development; it's going to get REALLY interesting in the next few years.
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this gives you a hint at what I"m talking about (from a metadata standpoint)
http://whathappensontheinternetin60seconds.com/

thepainterdoug

17th November 2014, 03:54

target/ some amazing advancements for sure. my comment and your response could be debated for some time regarding their respective truths. both are correct to differing degrees.
i just spoke at a college in my area and was again amazed on how strangely unfit and un healthy the class room looked, gobbling fast food and soda and only a few fitting within their weight class . and this was not an unusual case as i have seen it all over. added to this a certain lack of people skills etc.
i am concerned we cannot digest the exponential acceleration of our tech. when i was a kid, i didn't have to digest the idea that my phone was changing every 6 months. it was one of many things i could take for granted as being there while was going thru all other adolescent changes.
today its all in flux all the time. are we up to it?
perhaps the people here at avalon are but not the general public who watch standard tv programs and msm as a daily diet. well , i guess it will go where its going to go regardless of my thoughts etc! thanks for the great post!

TargeT

19th November 2014, 18:44

One of my favorite topics: energy storage! this one is a bit further out than 2 years however...

Tiny Batteries Could Revolutionize Green Energy
Nanotechnology could dramatically improve energy storage for electronics, cars, and buildings.
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/859/cache/nanopore-battery_85974_990x742.jpg
Nanosize batteries that are 80,000 times thinner than a human hair represent a promising new front. They could advance the use of electric vehicles, now limited by short driving ranges, and of renewable energy, which needs storage for times when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine.

The latest breakthrough: a "nanopore" that's the ultimate in miniaturization. It's a hole in a ceramic sheet, no thicker than a grain of salt, that contains all the components a battery needs to produce electric current. One billion of these holes, connected in a honeycomb fashion, could fit on a postage stamp.

The itty-bitty battery delivers. It fully charges in 12 minutes and recharges thousands of times, according to University of Maryland researchers, who published their findings last week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"We were blown away by the performance," says co-author Eleanor Gillette, a doctoral candidate in chemistry. She attributes its quick charging to the short distances needed to carry the electric current. She says the nanosizing could enable manufacturers to squeeze many batteries into a tight space.

"It looks like a major advance," says George Crabtree, director of Argonne National Laboratory's Joint Center for Energy Storage Research. He says nanopores offer multiple advantages. Because they're identical, researchers-once they identify the optimal size-will be guaranteed consistent results that will make grid-scale use more promising, he says.

Crabtree says this battery, like other recent advances in nanotechnology, would not have been possible even a decade ago. Though the field has been evolving for the past 15 years, it wasn't applied to energy storage until more recently. He says it could open the door to the transformative change that's needed in the battery world.
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-content/photos/000/859/cache/85981_990x742-cb1415996555.jpg

Push for Better Batteries Expands

The stakes are immense. Electric vehicles and renewable energy, hailed as climate change solutions, need cheaper and better batteries to achieve widespread use. For utilities to rely on intermittent power sources such wind or solar for a large share of their electricity, they will need back-up energy storage. (Related: "Seven Ingredients for Better Car Batteries")

So the race is on-at universities, start-ups, and major companies like GE, IBM, and Toyota-to build a battery that goes beyond the incremental changes that have improved the performance of the lithium-ion battery, the industry standard-bearer developed in the 1970s and brought to market 20 years later.

Researchers, some with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, are working to develop or improve several types of batteries, which produce electricity by creating chemical reactions. Most batteries have three basic parts: the electrolyte to provide electrons, the anode to discharge them, and the cathode to receive them.

By nanosizing materials and structures, scientists are trying to identify the optimal combinations at the molecular level.

Last year, for example, University of Southern California researchers developed a new lithium-ion battery that uses porous silicon nanoparticles rather than traditional graphite anodes. The team, led by Chongwu Zhou, says the battery holds three times as much energy as comparable graphite-based designs and recharges within ten minutes.

"The way to get high power is to nanosize it," says Gary Rubloff, an engineering professor who directs the University of Maryland's NanoCenter. "The world of nanoscaled batteries opens up a lot of different alternatives for how to manufacture them."

Challenges Loom in Bringing Ideas to Market

Commercializing the research won't be easy or quick. Many of the materials or assemblies in nanoscale batteries are currently too expensive for use beyond niche applications.

"Developing such batteries will be a significant challenge for the field, and questions remain," write Paul Braun and Ralph Nuzzo of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in a commentary that accompanies the University of Maryland study and applauds its results.

Also, low oil and natural gas prices have dampened demand for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, which require grid-scale backup batteries.

"It's hard to compete with oil and gas right now. Part of the problem is economics," says James Tour, professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His team of researchers created a material consisting of forests of carbon nanotubes grown on sheets of graphene that could dramatically improve energy storage.

Two companies, Texas-based Xidex and Israel-based Graphite Corporation, are developing a battery based on the Rice technology that could fully charge a smartphone in a few minutes. "It might be on the market in three years," Tour says.

Stanford University professor Yi Cui says it could take three to five years to commercialize a new type of battery built by his team, which includes former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Their battery, touted as a "pure lithium," uses lithium not only in the electrolyte but also in the anode, which is commonly graphite or silicon.

Cui's lab found a solution to a common problem: Lithium, when put in the anode, can expand more than other materials during charging and even eat up the electrolyte. To prevent this, it built "nanospheres," a honeycomb-like microscopic layer that creates a flexible nonreactive film to shield the lithium.

The team's battery, Chu said in an announcement in July, holds the potential to triple a cell phone's battery life and give electric vehicles a 300-mile driving range.

Cui has experience commercializing his research. He founded Amprius, a Silicon Valley start-up whose board members includes Chu, to sell a new type of long-lasting lithium-ion battery.

While it took two decades to bring the initial lithium-ion battery to the market, Crabtree says the current focus on energy storage-combined with the benefits of nanoscience-may expedite that process to between five and 10 years.

"It's really a moment of opportunity right now," he says. "There's an opportunity to accelerate the pace of innovation."

TargeT

26th November 2014, 18:22

This is a very clever and awesome discovery:

Jackie Chan Blu-ray disc boosts solar panel efficiency by a massive 22%
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bluraycloseup-640x353.jpg
This one’s a bit crazy, but stick with me. Blu-ray discs, like CDs and DVDs before them, consist of a thin layer — or layers — of recording medium sandwiched between two bits of plastic. Data is stored on this medium in a series of pits — small indentations — that are about 75nm long. To read the data, a laser is bounced off the recording medium — where the medium is smooth and untouched (usually referred to as islands), the laser light bounces straight back into a sensor; where the pits are, the laser is reflected differently. Thus, binary data can be stored and read.
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cd-dvd-blu-ray-diagram-recording-laser-300x194.jpg
n the case of Blu-ray, the binary data isn’t just burnt directly to the disc — compression is applied, and error control codes are added so that data can be recovered in the case of light scratches. Because the error control codes are applied every few bytes, the end result is a disc covered in quasi-random pits and islands that have a recurring pattern every 150 to 525 nanometers. (The iridescence — rainbow effect — of optical discs is caused by this repeating pattern, in case you wondered.)
As it turns out, these two characteristics — a quasi-random pattern, repeating every 150 to 525nm — are almost perfectly tuned for trapping photons in the visible light and near-infrared spectrum. One of the main reasons that current solar cells aren’t that efficient is because many photons simply reflect off the panel, rather than being converted into electrons. You can probably see where this is going.
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2-3-640x268.jpg

http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/3-3-640x509.jpg

To increase the efficiency of a solar panel by 22%, the researchers at Northwestern bought a copy of Police Story 3: Supercop on Blu-ray; removed the top plastic layer, exposing the recording medium beneath; cast a mold of the quasi-random pattern; and then used the mold to create a photovoltaic cell with the same pattern. As you can see in the image above, this process actually makes the nanopatterned solar cell have the same iridescence as a Blu-ray disc. [Research paper: doi:10.1038/ncomms6517]

The end result is a solar panel that has a quantum efficiency of around 40% — up about 22% from the non-patterned solar panel. As you can see in the graph above, the nanopatterning increases the solar panel’s absorption and efficiency across the entire range of 400-700nm wavelengths (visible to near infrared).

Moving forward, can we expect the price of mediocre Jackie Chan movies to soar? Probably not. Any Blu-ray disc should work — and anyway, the more important takeaway here is that we should start nanopatterning our solar panels immediately. It just so happens that taking a mold of a Blu-ray disc is a cheap and easy way to get your hands on a good quasi-random nanopattern — but in the future, the patterning could be produced directly, without the Blu-ray intermediate.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/194938-jackie-chan-blu-ray-disc-boosts-solar-panel-efficiency-by-a-massive-22

I wonder how long this will take to come to market

TargeT

30th January 2015, 19:06

Silicone Based Moores Law, does it need to be re-written for a Diamond based technology exponential increase in speed/power?

Diamond can replace silicon for computer chips for faster, lighter and simpler devices
Diamond can run 5 times hotter than Silicon without degrading in performance and is more easily cooled (with 22 times the heat transfer efficiency of silicon), can tolerate higher voltages before breaking down, and electrons (and electron-holes) can move faster through them. Already, semiconductor devices with diamond material are available that deliver one million times more electrical current than silicon or previous attempts using diamond.

Diamond-based semiconductors are capable of increasing power density as well as create faster, lighter, and simpler devices.

Akhan Semi, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, has developed a series of advancements that allows us to manufacture standalone diamond materials, deposit diamond directly on processed silicon, fabricate complete diamond semiconductor devices, as well as attach diamond material to other electronics materials.

Diamond wafer technology is producing thinner and cheaper devices already in use in information technology, the military and aerospace applications. In addition, diamond semiconductor will have a major impact on the consumer electronics, telecommunications and health industries, among many others, starting as early as 2015.

Thin diamond film materials are able to alter the electronic properties and form device structures that are over a thousand times thinner than the leading silicon counterpart in addition to the previous state-of-the-art in diamond but with also increased performance, allowing the trend of smaller, faster, and more functional to continue.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo64KSriK9E/VMtIplsnqXI/AAAAAAAA6f0/9-j85K0REuo/s1600/diamondwafer.png
The Miraj Diamond™ platform resulted from the marriage of two scientific breakthroughs: the ability to deposit nanocrystalline diamond films at relatively low temperatures and a doping process that makes NCD into a good semiconducting materia

Akhan Technologies are described at their website

Practical Bipolar devices fabricated for the first time on Low cost Nanocrystalline Diamond (NCD) and polycrystalline diamond (Diamond-on-Silicon and Diamond-on-Insulator) wafers. Increased processing efficiency has rendered ultra-smooth, high yield, high uniformity film-quality.High precision (small feature size) architecture, allowing submicron (nm) control and microelectronic device fabrication, coupled with unrivaled material characteristics, allow for diamond to dramatically impact the global semiconductor market with:

-Faster devices (no degraded performance under high heat or high power drive conditions with ultra-high electron mobility)
* Lower material cost (30x to 1000x thinner material required to accomplish the same device function)
* Lower system level cost (no added heat sinking needed, slower system temperature rise, less cooling equipment required)
* Unbridled efficiency (highest power handling capability, power switching capability, switching speed, lowest On-state resistance, and ultimate high frequency capability)
* Extreme Environment Capability (High Heat, High Power, High Pressure, Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, etc.)
* Superior Scalability (nm to mm device feature size capability on 100, 200, and 300 mm commercial wafers)

SOURCE - Wired, Akhan Semiconductor

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/01/diamond-can-replace-silicon-for.html

TargeT

5th March 2015, 18:41

TargeT

26th March 2015, 17:10

This is pretty cool.....

A Team of Biohackers Has Figured Out How to Inject Your Eyeballs With Night Vision
In "people becoming superhuman" news, a small independent research group has figured out how to give humans night vision, allowing them to see over 50 meters in the dark for a short time.

Science for the Masses, a group of biohackers based a couple hours north of Los Angeles in Tehachapi, California, theorized they could enhance healthy eyesight enough that it would induce night vision. To do this, the group used a kind of chlorophyll analog called Chlorin e6 (or Ce6), which is found in some deep-sea fish and is used as an occasional method to treat night blindness.

"Going off that research, we thought this would be something to move ahead with," the lab's medical officer, Jeffrey Tibbetts, told Mic. "There are a fair amount of papers talking about having it injected in models like rats, and it's been used intravenously since the '60s as a treatment for different cancers. After doing the research, you have to take the next step."

To do so, team biochem researcher Gabriel Licina became a guinea pig.

How it happened: With what's basically a really fine turkey baster, Tibbetts slowly dripped 50 microliters of Ce6, an extremely low dose, into Licina's speculum-stretched eyes, aiming for the conjunctival sac, which carried the chemical to the retina.
http://media3.policymic.com/YmZjZDFkN2JjZiMvRUVMM1M3TGRqTU1qRjV0ekhfWXlMR2d2SG00PS8xNDJ4MjM6MTc3OHgxMDU3Lzg0MHg1MzAvZmlsdGVyczpx dWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL2FxOGFqZTR3ZTJ3cXNvYWJlZmZheWxv YXBjcXZjdWpkc3Fudmp1N3V4dXZ4bm9oZ2VvN296Z3ZwZzZzcW1reXguanBn.jpg
"To me, it was a quick, greenish-black blur across my vision, and then it dissolved into my eyes," Licina told Mic.

And then they waited. From the patent they read, the effects start kicking in within an hour. Licina and Tibbetts had done their research, going so far as to post a paper called "A Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6." But they are, after all, a bunch of guys working out of a garage. So they went out to a dark field and tested Licina's new superpowers.

Did it work? Yes. It started with shapes, hung about 10 meters away. "I'm talking like the size of my hand," Licina says. Before long, they were able to do longer distances, recognizing symbols and identifying moving subjects against different backgrounds.

"The other test, we had people go stand in the woods," he says. "At 50 meters, we could figure out where they were, even if they were standing up against a tree." Each time, Licina had a 100% success rate. The control group, without being dosed with Ce6, only got them right a third of the time.
http://media3.policymic.com/NWJmNTFlNzEwYyMveThxVUlvOUtBaDdyNHd3c3RwM2twOFBZcDZvPS8zMDF4NDI6NDAxOXgyMzkwLzg0MHg1MzAvZmlsdGVyczpx dWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzLzBzaTY3cGZnMnh0YXhjejVnbHRpdWo0 eGxibHo3OTVzYTN6MGNxeTZ6dXh1dWh5eGZkb2ZtdzR4cG9oOHRjbHEuanBn.jpg
Hacking the human body: Biohacks like these are a perfect example of where science and biology can go, and something like providing temporary night vision could be used for more than just a really serious Doctor Mid-Nite costume. Imagine search-and-rescue teams being able to see in the dark in forested areas or hostage situations.

It doesn't have to be done with a colossal budget, either. With the amount of information freely available, pursuing science can be more about curiosity than resources.

"For us, it comes down to pursuing things that are doable but won't be pursued by major corporations," Tibbetts says. "There are rules to be followed and don't go crazy, but science isn't a mystical language that only a few elite people can speak."

What's next? For the lab's night vision experiment, there are other tests they need to do, with hard science with actual lab equipment and getting real numbers on the electrical stimulation in the eye. But for now, it's fair to say it worked.

"Once you get the hard numbers, that's it," Licina says. "You take it and quantify it and write it down, and release it. ... This is how science works. It isn't flashy. But it makes it more accessible. It shows it can be done. If we can do it in our garage, other people can, too."
http://mic.com/articles/113740/a-team-of-biohackers-has-figured-out-how-to-inject-your-eyeballs-with-night-vision

TargeT

17th April 2015, 14:48

The Fibonacci sequence applied to a common use item, and magic happens.

DI0FuCJEgC4

Hermes Award 2015: The “Oscar for engineers” goes to WITTENSTEIN AG
WITTENSTEIN AG of Igersheim, south-west Germany, is the winner of this year’s HERMES AWARD. The technology leader for mechatronic drive systems was shortlisted from a field of almost seventy entrants from ten different countries with its revolutionary Galaxie Drive System and subsequently made the most convincing impression out of the five finalists.

“The high performance Galaxie Drive System is an outstanding development and a prime example of Germany’s innovative drive. WITTENSTEIN has proved that with courage, creativity and determination a completely new kind of gearhead can be created. The company has also succeeded in embodying the future of industry – the networking of production and services – in its gearbox”, said Professor Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister of Education and Research, in her address at the award ceremony in Hanover on Sunday evening.

Deutsche Messe’s annual HERMES AWARD technology prize is open to all companies and institutions exhibiting at the Hannover Messe and is the world’s most important industrial award. Professor Johanna Wanka (Federal Minister of Education and Research) and Professor Wolfgang Wahlster, jury chairman and scientific director of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), presented the award to Dr. Manfred Wittenstein, chairman of the supervisory board of WITTENSTEIN AG, and Thomas Bayer, head of Galaxie Drive Systems at WITTENSTEIN AG, on Sunday evening (April 12, 2015) when the Hannover Messe was officially opened in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel. “The Galaxie Drive System will open more new doors for development engineers than any invention during the last several decades”, explained Bayer, Galaxie’s inventor, with pride. “The first customer projects have already confirmed Galaxie’s standing as the enabler for the next generation in high performance engineering.” The Galaxie Drive System presented by WITTENSTEIN introduces a brand new gearhead generation. The gearhead has been fused with a newly developed high performance motor to obtain an ultra-compact, hollow-shaft drive system with integrated Industry 4.0 connectivity.
http://www.designworldonline.com/hermes-award-2015-the-oscar-for-engineers-goes-to-wittenstein-ag/#_

TargeT

4th May 2015, 13:37

YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF MOORE's LAW (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law), WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY AGAIN?

a 3 atom thick transistor is about as small as we are capable of creating right now, this effectively ends the MOORES LAW (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law) race until we find a way to over come this physical limitation.

This is a good thing, until now the focus has been on faster and faster hardware with less focus on more efficient coding; as this physical limitation is felt more and more we should see improvements in coding become more focused on.

Chemists cook up three atom-thick electronic sheets
http://www.news.cornell.edu/sites/chronicle.cornell/files/figure-4c_460.jpg
Making thin films out of semiconducting materials is analogous to how ice grows on a windowpane: When the conditions are just right, the semiconductor grows in flat crystals that slowly fuse together, eventually forming a continuous film.

This process of film deposition is common for traditional semiconductors like silicon or gallium arsenide – the basis of modern electronics – but Cornell scientists are pushing the limits for how thin they can go. They have demonstrated a way to create a new kind of semiconductor thin film that retains its electrical properties even when it is just atoms thick.

Three atom-thick layers of molybdenum disulfide were cooked up in the lab of Jiwoong Park, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology and member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science. The films were designed and grown by postdoctoral associate Kibum Kang and graduate student Saien Xie. Their work is published online in Nature, April 30.

“The electrical performance of our materials was comparable to that of reported results from single crystals of molybdenum disulfide, but instead of a tiny crystal, here we have a 4-inch wafer,” Park said.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/sites/chronicle.cornell/files/semiconductor460.jpg
Molybdenum disulfide, which is garnering worldwide interest for its excellent electrical properties, has previously been grown only in disjointed, “archipelago”-like single crystal formations, Park said. But making smooth, flat, ultrathin sheets, like paper, is the ultimate goal, and the bridge to actual devices.

The researchers pulled off the feat by tuning the growth conditions of their films using a technique called metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Already used widely in industry, but with different materials, it starts with a powdery precursor, forms a gas and sprinkles single atoms onto a substrate, one layer at a time.

Park’s group systematically optimized the technique to make the films, tweaking conditions and temperatures not unlike experimenting in the kitchen. They found that their crystals grew perfectly stitched together, but only with a little bit of hydrogen and in completely dry conditions, for example. In addition to advanced optical imaging techniques, researchers led by co-author David Muller, professor of applied and engineering physics and director of Cornell’s Kavli Institute, contributed advanced transmission electron microscopy to test and characterize the quality of the films as they went along.

The team also demonstrated their films’ efficacy when stacked layer by layer alternating with silicon dioxide and employing standard photolithography. This effectively proved that these three-atom-thick semiconducting films can be made into multi-level electronic devices of unsurpassed thinness.

The MOCVD method for thin film generation is seemingly generic. The researchers showed the ability to simply change the precursor to make other films; for example, they also grew a tungsten disulfide film with different electrical properties and color. They envision perfecting the process to make atomically thin films of all varieties, like a packet of colored paper, from which new, exciting electronic and optoelectronic devices can be derived.

“These were only the first two materials, but we want to make a whole palette of materials,” Park said.

The paper is titled “High-mobility three-atom-thick semiconducting films with wafer scale homogeneity.” The work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Cornell Center for Materials Research funded by the National Science Foundation, as well as the Samsung Advanced Institute for Technology. Devices were fabricated at the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility, also supported by NSF.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/04/chemists-cook-three-atom-thick-electronic-sheets

and of course, these batteries are nothing really new but their price point is HIGHLY competitive.

I've been slowly planning to convert my house to solar and these batteries are almost half the cost of systems I was looking at.

Late Thursday, the glitzy electric car company Tesla Motors, run by billionaire Elon Musk, ceased to be just a car company. As was widely expected, Tesla announced that it is offering a home battery product, which people can use to store energy from their solar panels or to backstop their homes against blackouts, and also larger scale versions that could perform similar roles for companies or even parts of the grid.

For homeowners, the Tesla Powerwall will have a power capacity of either 10 kilowatt hours or 7 kilowatt hours, at a cost of either $ 3,500 or $ 3,000. The company says these are the costs for suppliers and don’t include the cost of installation and a power inverter, so customers could pay considerably more than that.....
http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/tesla_powerwall_spec.png
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/30/why-teslas-announcement-could-be-such-a-big-deal/

TargeT

7th May 2015, 15:56

About one of every 15 workers in the country is employed in the trucking business, according to the ATA (http://www.alltrucking.com/faq/truck-drivers-in-the-usa/)

Here is the beginning of the end for an industry... automated shipping will hit the US job market so hard we will likely not recover (as moving "stuff" around is one of the few things we actually still do mostly by hand)

The first self-driving 18-wheeler hits the highways
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/05/screen-shot-2015-05-06-at-1.46.09-pm-100583732-primary.idge.png
Daimler Trucks this week unveiled what it said is the world's first licensed 18-wheel semi-tractor trailer that can drive itself.

Daimler unveiled the new 18-wheeler yesterday during a ceremony at the Hoover Dam.

The Freightliner Inspiration Truck, a concept truck, underwent extensive testing, Daimler said, before the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles granted it a license to operate on public roads in the state. This past year, the truck was driven more than 10,000 miles during a test in Germany.

Daimler said its new self-driving rig "promises to unlock autonomous vehicle advancements that reduce accidents, improve fuel consumption, cut highway congestion, and safeguard the environment."
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2919094/telematics/the-first-self-driving-18-wheeler-hits-the-highways.html

TargeT

13th October 2015, 18:56

This will change the battle field dramatically, wars are still "won" by "boots on ground" (aka Infantry) and most gunfights involve cover; hiding behind something and shooting over or around it.... This weapon removes cover from the equation.

Army’s first shoulder-fired “smart weapon” close to final test
"Anti-defilade" XM25 lets soldiers set range for shells to blow up beyond cover.

http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/xm25.jpg
Early next year, the US Army will begin acceptance testing of a weapon that seems like it's straight out of Call of Duty Advanced Warfare: the XM25 Counter Defilade Engagement System, a "smart" grenade launcher from Orbital Sciences subsidiary Orbital ATK. The XM25 is designed to be an "anti-defilade" weapon—its purpose is to allow soldiers to hit targets shielded by cover.

The XM25 has a built-in "target acquisition and fire control system" that allows any soldier with basic rifleman skills to operate it effectively—the soldier points the weapon's target selector down range, and a laser rangefinder determines how far away it is. The soldier can add additional distance to clear obstacles, and the fire control computer gives the soldier a new aiming point to put the round on target, as well as setting the fusing of the grenade in the chamber. The grenade doesn't have to strike anything to explode, so it can detonate in the air over whatever or whoever might be hiding behind a vehicle, wall, or entrenchment.

The XM25 has been in development since the middle of the last decade. It was originally developed by Alliant TechSystems, which was acquired by Orbital Sciences. In 2010, the Army's PEO Soldier program office sent prototypes of the XM25 to Afghanistan for "forward operational assessment"—use in actual combat to see how it performed. PEO Soldier's Lt. Colonel Chris Lehner said in a post about the field tests that the "introduction of the XM25 is akin to other revolutionary systems such as the machine gun, the airplane, and the tank, all of which changed battlefield tactics. No longer will our Soldiers have to expose themselves by firing and maneuvering to eliminate an enemy behind cover. Our Soldiers can remain covered/protected and use their XM25 to neutralize an enemy in his covered position. This will significantly reduce the risk of U.S. casualties and change the way we fight."
http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/XM25-shells.jpg
According to Orbital ATK, the XM25 can accurately hit a "point target" at 500 meters and hit targets with area airbursts at up to 700 meters. The semi-automatic grenade launcher, built by Heckler & Koch, is a semi-automatic that carries five 25 millimeter shells per clip. Non-lethal, armor-piercing, and door-breaching rounds are under development in addition to the high-explosive airburst shell currently in production.

The Army is also testing a smart grenade to work with existing rifle-mounted 40 millimeter grenade launchers. Called the Small Arms Grade Munition, the grenade round can detect when it passes over an obstacle and explode once it has cleared it.
HjD8LIOSYRc

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/army-to-test-smart-grenade-launcher-that-can-hit-targets-behind-things/

TargeT

16th October 2015, 22:49

An interesting and, now that I think about it, obvious use of 3d printing

3D printed teeth to keep your mouth free of bacteria

https://d1o50x50snmhul.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/dn28353-1_800.jpg
Lost a tooth? Soon your dentist could print you another – and it’ll help keep your mouth clean, too.

Getting fitted for a false tooth or other dental treatment tends to involve a mouthful of foul-tasting gunk and plaster casts. But now dentists are moving to high-tech digital scanning and 3D printing. That switch opens the door to more advanced materials that could improve your oral hygiene.

Andreas Herrmann of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and his colleagues have developed an antimicrobial plastic, allowing them to 3D print teeth that also kill bacteria. It’s an important issue, say the team, because bacterial damage to existing implants costs patients millions of dollars in the US alone.

The team embedded antimicrobial quaternary ammonium salts inside existing dental resin polymers. The salts are positively charged and so disrupt the negatively charged bacterial membranes, causing them to burst and die. “The material can kill bacteria on contact, but on the other hand it’s not harmful to human cells,” says Hermann.

Then they put this mix in a 3D printer, hardened it with ultraviolet light and printed out a range of dental objects such as replacement teeth and orthodontic braces. To test its antimicrobial properties, they coated samples of the material in mix of saliva and Streptococcus mutans, the bacterium that causes tooth decay. They found the material killed over 99 per cent of the bacteria, compared to less than 1 per cent for a control sample without the added salts.

Further tests will have to be done before the material can be rolled out to patients, as the team only left the samples in the saliva and bacteria mix for six days. “For clinical used we need to extend this, and investigate the compatibility with toothpaste,” says Herrmann.

They also need to confirm the plastic is strong enough to use as a tooth, but he thinks it shouldn’t take too long. “It’s a medical product with a foreseeable application in the near future, much less time than developing a new drug.”
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28353-3d-printed-teeth-to-keep-your-mouth-free-of-bacteria/

TargeT

18th October 2015, 18:27

It has begun.... once vehicles are automated the loss of jobs will be staggering; moves like this are the canary in the coal mine falling over in its cage. (adapt or be left behind)

Driverless trucks move all iron ore at Rio Tinto's Pilbara mines, in world first
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/6864148-3x2-340x227.jpg

The first two mines in the world to start moving all of their iron ore using fully remote-controlled trucks have just gone online in Western Australia's Pilbara.

Mining giant Rio Tinto is running pits at its Yandicoogina and Nammuldi mine sites, with workers controlling the driverless trucks largely from an operations centre in Perth, 1,200 kilometres away.

Josh Bennett manages the mining operations at Yandicoogina mine north west of Newman and is closely involved with running 22 driverless trucks on the site.

Mr Bennett said the two pits are the largest of their kind in the world.

"To the naked eye it looks like conventional mining methods. I guess the key change for us is the work that employees and our team members are doing now," he said.

"What we have done is map out our entire mine and put that into a system and the system then works out how to manoeuvre the trucks through the mine."

The company is now operating 69 driverless trucks across its mines at Yandicoogina, Nammuldi and Hope Downs 4.

The trucks can run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without a driver who needs bathroom or lunch breaks, which has industry insiders estimating each truck can save around 500 work hours a year.

Mr Bennett said the technology takes away dangerous jobs while also slashing operating costs.

"We have taken away a very high risk role, where employees are exposed to fatigue," he said.

More here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-18/rio-tinto-opens-worlds-first-automated-mine/6863814

TargeT

20th October 2015, 15:11

The implications of this are almost as large as the above (automated vehicles) soon the concept of "100% employment" will be a bewildering joke as everything becomes automated.

MIT’s AI machine removes humans from big-data analysis
http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/datacenter-800x420.jpg
he spread of the Internet and prevalence of mobile devices have put data front and center today more than any age in the past. But with volumes of data comes the need to make sense of that data. Called big-data analysis, the process has mostly relied on human intuition. As any artificial intelligence scientist will tell you, intuition is one of the hardest parts of the human thinking process to replicate. Researchers from MIT, however, might be on the verge of a breakthrough, with a Data Science Machine capable of performing just as well or even better than humans.

The Data Science Machine was designed and built specifically for big-data analysis. To test just how far they've come, the researchers signed up the AI into three data science contests. In one competition that had 906 teams it finished ahead of 615. In two out of three competitions, it was 94 and 96 as accurate as human players. And while it was only 87 percent accurate in the third, it only worked on the data for a maximum of 12 hours. Humans took months to finish their analysis.

Max Kanter, whose masters' thesis was the basis of the machine, and his thesis adviser Kalyan Veeramachaneni uses several techniques to give the Data Science Machine the semblance of intuition. For example, it uses the structural relationships in databases as hints. All major databases these days have these relationships, making it easier to implement.

Rather than worrying yet again about the dark cataclysmic future filled with robotic overlords, the Data Science Machine is, at least for now, being employed for somewhat more mundane tasks. In particular, the machine is being used to help determine which students are likely to drop out from MIT's online courses. The machine tries to gain that insight by analyzing how early or late a students starts an assignment and how much time he or she spends online on the course.

Kantar says that there is so much data out there in the world. Just ask Google. However, most of those are just sitting there, underused and underutilized. The Data Science Machine could, in the future, reduce the time needed to sift through that data to produce something more useful. Or maybe even something more dangerous.

http://www.slashgear.com/mits-ai-machine-removes-humans-from-big-data-analysis-19410327/

And, on a why-did-this-take-so-long note:

FINALLY!

A machine that folds your laundry is finally here
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LP15eJrwGsw/maxresdefault.jpg
obots can do amazing things, but many would be scuppered by the simplest of tasks – it’s a common complaint that they can’t even fold laundry.

Well, not any more. In the video above, LJ Rich of BBC Click reports on Laundroid, a Japanese clothes-folding machine created by Seven Dreamers, in partnership with Panasonic and Daiwa House.

Ok, folding takes four minutes per garment, but hey, this is progress.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151016-a-machine-that-folds-your-laundry-is-finally-here

The writing is on the wall (internet?)

How Not to Be Replaced by Robots: Better Brush Up on Your Social Skills
http://assets.bwbx.io/images/ixmBfRUFoeIY/v2/-1x-1.jpg
ennis Mortensen, the founder of a technology startup, had a simple request for Amy Ingram: set up a meeting with a journalist.

Within minutes, Amy sent an e-mail with a preferred date and time and two alternatives. She reached out again in the middle of the night about nine hours later after getting no response: “I wanted to follow up with you about this meeting with Dennis.” Four hours after that, she fired off another e-mail: “I haven’t heard back from you yet about this meeting. Is this time convenient?”

Some would call Amy persistent, others might say she’s overly aggressive or even annoying. What can’t be argued is that she got the job done. A meeting was scheduled less than 24 hours after the initial request.

Amy Ingram is a virtual personal assistant created by New York-based Mortensen and his team at x.ai. Her initials are also those of artificial intelligence, and her last name refers to a model used in helping machines understand human speech.

Her single-mindedness is an example of the need to imbue such programs with social skills, so Amy remains a work in progress, Mortensen said in the interview arranged by her.
Job Polarization

Efforts to make agents of artificial intelligence more sentient threaten to erode one of the biggest competitive advantages humans have over robots: the ability to summon social skills, including reading a person’s feelings, managing emotions, working in teams and communicating effectively, to complete a task. Machines’ capacity to do routine jobs that don’t require a personal touch -- think assembly-line workers, bank tellers or grocery store checkout clerks -- has been behind the so-called labor-market polarization that has contributed to the hollowing out of middle-class professions.
http://assets.bwbx.io/images/ixQEDqhebHuY/v2/-1x-1.png
David Deming, an associate professor of education and economics at Harvard University, has found that jobs requiring social interaction are growing relative to work that doesn’t, and such skills may offer some protection from robotic takeover. Certain high-level professions that demand technical expertise and low-skill work that can be done by a greater share of the population often have in common a need for language, creativity, flexibility and physical dexterity, all things humans currently can do better than machines.

Almost all job growth since 1980 has been in work that is social-skill intensive, according to research from Deming published in August. Occupations that require high levels of analytical and mathematical reasoning but little social interface -- for example statistical clerks and machinists -- have “fared especially poorly,” he wrote. Meanwhile real wage growth has been strongest in jobs that require workers to have both math and social skills, such as registered nurses, designers and financial managers.
‘Unconscious Process’

Social interaction is “an unconscious process” for people, Deming said in an interview. “It’s really hard to write a program that does that as well.”

While true for now, it’s only a matter of time before robots catch up to humans in this area too, argues Pedro Domingos at the University of Washington in Seattle. He says machines are already making impressive headway on at least mimicking social skills. One day that computer on the other end of the customer service line will be so good you won’t need to keep pressing zero to reach a human operator.

In Domingos’s labor market of the future, having a person do something a robot can do for less -- tend bar, wait tables -- will be a luxury. Jobs like that “will remain, but they’re going to be comparatively very highly paid jobs and there are going to be fewer,” he said. Even technical workers such as computer scientists will be out of work eventually, as machines become more nimble at understanding natural language, said Domingos, who is the author of "The Master Algorithm," a book on machine learning published last month.
Brighter Future

For David Autor, an economics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge who is considered a leading expert in the field of job polarization, the future is brighter, although there is likely to be some hardship in the form of lost jobs along the way. Automation has put people out of some type of work -- agriculture, manufacturing, dishwashing -- for the past 200 years, and mankind always bounces back, he said.

“People tend to underestimate that, as we mechanize one set of things, we think of all kinds of new things to do,” Autor said in an interview. The way we respond “is through our creativity and also through educating ourselves. We continue to make ourselves relevant.”

In the meantime, women may have the upper hand. Jobs that require social skills have become more female-dominated, and women consistently score higher on tests of emotional intelligence, according to Anita Williams Woolley, an associate professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh.

That may help explain why labor force participation for men in their prime working years is hovering at an unprecedented low near 88 percent, she said.
http://assets.bwbx.io/images/i_KoEPZbcrD8/v2/-1x-1.png

more here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-19/social-skills-are-last-line-of-defense-for-humans-seeking-work

TargeT

27th October 2015, 19:38

Lots of nails being pounded into Big Oil's coffin.....

Honda's New Hydrogen-Powered Vehicle Feels More Like A Real Car
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/joannmuller/files/2015/10/FCV-01-e1445958356365-1940x1090.jpg
TOKYO — The most notable thing about Honda Motor new hydrogen-powered FCV, to be unveiled Wednesday at the Tokyo Motor Show, is not the silent burst of acceleration it provides when your foot touches the pedal, or the fact that it emits nothing but water vapor from the tailpipe. It’s not even that the FCV can go more than 400 miles between three-minute hydrogen fillings - assuming you have access to a hydrogen station.

No, the most important thing is that Honda’s new fuel cell system is one-tenth the cost of previous versions and — for the first time — fits neatly under the car’s hood, taking up no more space than a typical V-6 engine. That means two things: 1) there’s more space for passengers and cargo, and 2) the compact fuel cell power train can be used in a variety of other Honda vehicles.

This really does feel like a real leap forward in the shift toward fuel cell vehicles and a so-called “hydrogen society.”

Of course, getting the hydrogen remains a sticking point. In California and the Northeast, companies like First Element and Air Liquide are installing hydrogen stations with support from government grants as well as loans from Toyota and Honda, but the rollout to date has been slow.

Honda might have a solution, though: it’s developing a compact Smart Hydrogen Station, enabling you to use high-pressure electrolysis to produce your own hydrogen at home. There’s no word on when that might be available, but if it’s affordable, it could be a huge breakthrough in speeding the adoption of fuel cell vehicles.

Honda’s new fuel cell goes on sale next spring (about six months behind Toyota Motor's ‘s recently introduced Mirai fuel cell) and the automaker expects to sell far more than the 72 units sold of its previous-generation fuel cell, the FCX Clarity. Honda said the same platform will also underpin a new plug-in hybrid vehicle, coming shortly after the fuel cell vehicle’s launch. Honda said it sees plug-in hybrids as an important bridge toward hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

“Compared to 10 years ago, I think fuel cell vehicles have developed significantly in terms of the technology,” said Takahiro Hachigo, who took over as Honda’s president and chief executive in June. “Ten years ago, we said fuel cells could not be driven in cold weather, for example, and that the hardware was too heavy. Today – fuel cells are equal to gasoline engine cars.” The next step, he said, is figuring out how to mass produce them affordably. Honda is partnering with General Motors GM -2.94% to develop next-generation fuel cell systems and lower-cost hydrogen storage tanks.
More details about Honda FCV — including its real name — will likely be disclosed at Wednesday’s press conference, but Honda gave journalists a preview of the car at an advanced technology presentation at its Research and Development Center outside Tokyo.

Despite its compact size, the new fuel cell system gets a 30 percent increase in power, to 130 kilowatts, with a 700-kilometer (435 mile) range. It’s paired with a flat lithium-ion battery pack that fits under the front seats. There are two hydrogen tanks: a large one that fits behind the rear bulkhead, with a smaller one under the rear seat. The larger tank clearly cuts into trunk space, but there’s still a decent amount of room for golf bags or luggage.

Virtually every automaker is working on fuel cell vehicles; it’ll be interesting to see how they develop. Just as with hybrid vehicles a generation ago, it’s Honda and Toyota leading the way.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2015/10/27/hondas-new-hydrogen-powered-vehicle-feels-more-like-a-real-car/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix

Cidersomerset

27th October 2015, 19:56

I just saw this article which brings in subjects we constantly
speculate in the alternate and scy - fy world. Moving things
with Sound waves, beam holding pea sized object under
cardboard UFO in short clip. This just shows that engineers
are developing the concept which is the starting point to
most innovations.
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http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.91.2/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

'Tractor beam' grabs beads with sound waves

By Jonathan Webb
Science reporter, BBC News

2 hours ago

From the section Science & Environment

Short vid on link...http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34647921

This video shows how the holograms work, ending with a "cardboard UFO"
wrapped around the speaker grid to demonstrate its "tractor beam" function
(footage: Asier Marzo/Bruce Drinkwater/Sriram Subramanian)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34647921

====================================================

Another article from the link .....

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.91.2/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Tractor beam breaks distance record

21 October 2014
From the section Science & Environment

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/78427000/jpg/_78427426_78427425.jpg
Drs Shvedov (L) and Hnatovsky used a doughnut-shaped laser beam to push and
pull small glass spheres

Scientists have created a tractor beam that can drag objects for distances of up to
20cm - around 100 times further than in previous experiments. The doughnut-
shaped laser is also reversible - so it can either repel or attract objects.In future,
these beams could be used to study atmospheric pollutants, or to retrieve delicate
particles of material for examination.

The research is published in the journal Nature Photonics.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29708358

Cidersomerset

28th October 2015, 19:36

Loads more US tax $ for the mil ind complex and share holders.....

The U.S. Government Is Spending 400,000 Dollars On A Single Helmet

By David Icke on 28th October 2015

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/F-35_Helmet_Mounted_Display_System.jpg
F-35_Helmet_Mounted_Display_System

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InvestmentWatch

Spreading the truth. Empowering the people.
Submitted by IWB, on October 27th, 2015
By Michael Snyder

The U.S. Government Is Spending 400,000 Dollars On A Single Helmet

‘Would you pay $400,000 for a single helmet? Of course you wouldn’t – but that is precisely
what the U.S. government is doing. Just the helmet for the pilot of the new F-35 Lightning II
is going to cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. And since we are going to need 2,400
of those helmets, the total bill is going to end up approaching a billion dollars. But what is a
billion dollars between friends, eh?’

Read more: The U.S. Government Is Spending 400,000 Dollars On A Single Helmet

http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-u-s-government-is-spending-400000-dollars-on-a-single-helmet/

TargeT

23rd November 2015, 13:29

Hopefully the internet doesn't get locked down due to the Paris Attacks; 'cause it's about to get a WHOLE lot faster.... (all the existing fiber connections can easily be upgraded with this)

ASU's white laser technology one of year's top breakthroughs
https://asunow.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_article_hero/public/article_heros/white_lasers_0.jpg
Engineering professor's invention promises a bright future according to Popular Science magazine

The invention of the world’s first white laser, which could revolutionize communications, lighting and displays, is being recognized as one of the top 100 breakthroughs of the year by Popular Science magazine.

Arizona State University electrical engineering professor Cun-Zheng Ning worked on the problem for 10 years until he and his team of graduate students cracked it.

The white laser will eventually produce computer and TV displays with 70 percent more colors than current technology.Laser TVs exist now, but they are bulky, heavy and extremely expensive. And, without the white laser, they haven’t reached their full potential.

Ning saw the first laser TV eight years ago in Japan.

“When you see a laser TV, you want to throw away the best other TVs immediately,” said NingThe School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering is in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Ning is also graduate faculty in the Department of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and in Material Science and Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering., a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. “There’s just no comparison. It can cover much wider color ranges. … You get many, many more colors.”

https://asunow.asu.edu/20151117-discoveries-asus-white-laser-technology-one-years-top-breakthroughs

'Power Over Wi-Fi' named one of the year's game-changing technologies
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2015/poweringthen.jpg
University of Washington engineers have developed a novel technology that uses a Wi-Fi router—a source of ubiquitous but untapped energy in indoor environments—to power devices.
The Power Over Wi-Fi (PoWiFi) system is one of the most innovative and game-changing technologies of the year, according to Popular Science, which included it in the magazine's annual "Best of What's New" awards announced Wednesday.

The technology attracted attention earlier this year when researchers published an online paper showing how they harvested energy from Wi-Fi signals to power a simple temperature sensor, a low-resolution grayscale camera and a charger for a Jawbone activity tracking bracelet.

The final paper will be presented next month at the Association for Computing Machinery's CoNEXT 2015 conference in Heidelberg, Germany, on emerging networking experiments and technologies.

"For the first time we've shown that you can use Wi-Fi devices to power the sensors in cameras and other devices," said lead author Vamsi Talla, a UW electrical engineering doctoral student. "We also made a system that can co-exist as a Wi-Fi router and a power source—it doesn't degrade the quality of your Wi-Fi signals while it's powering devices."

PoWiFi could help enable development of the Internet of Things, where small computing sensors are embedded in everyday objects like cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, air conditioners, mobile devices, allowing those devices to "talk" to each other. But one major challenge is how to energize those low-power sensors and actuators without needing to plug them into a power source as they become smaller and more numerous.

The team of UW computer science and electrical engineers found that the peak energy contained in untapped, ambient Wi-Fi signals often came close to meeting the operating requirements for some low-power devices. But because the signals are sent intermittently, energy "leaked" out of the system during silent periods.

The team fixed that problem by optimizing a router to send out superfluous "power packets" on Wi-Fi channels not currently in use—essentially beefing up the Wi-Fi signal for power delivery—without affecting the quality and speed of data transmission. The team also developed sensors that can be integrated in devices to harvest the power.

In their proof-of-concept experiments, the team demonstrated that the PoWiFi system could wirelessly power a grayscale, low-power Omnivision VGA camera from 17 feet away, allowing it to store enough energy to capture an image every 35 minutes.

It also re-charged the battery of a Jawbone Up24 wearable fitness tracker from zero to 41 percent in 2.5 hours.

The researchers also tested the PoWiFi system in six homes. Users typically didn't notice deterioration in web page loading or video streaming experiences, showing the technology could successfully deliver power via Wi-Fi in real-world conditions without degrading network performance.

Although initial experiments harvested relatively small amounts of power, the UW team believes there's opportunity for make the PoWiFi system more efficient and robust.

"In the future, PoWi-Fi could leverage technology power scaling to further improve the efficiency of the system to enable operation at larger distances and power numerous more sensors and applications," said co-author Shyam Gollakota, assistant professor of computer science and engineering.
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-power-wi-fi-year-game-changing-technologies.html#jCp

TargeT

25th November 2015, 14:03

first functional "free" energy device!

Freevolt generates power from thin air
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/c62ae001aed1131010f2a5679bdbb971/202728898/freevolt.jpg
What you see above may look like an unremarkable slice of electronics, but it can theoretically power a low-energy device forever, and for free. If that sounds like a big deal, well... that's because it is. Drayson Technologies today announced Freevolt, a system that harvests energy from radio frequency (RF) signals bouncing around in the ether and turns it into usable, "perpetual power." Drayson isn't exactly a household name, but the research and development company has a particular interest in energy, especially where all-electric racing is concerned. And now it's developed the first commercial technology that literally creates electricity out of thin air.

We're constantly surrounded by an ever-denser cloud of RF signals. They're the reason your smartphone gets 2G, 3G and 4G coverage, your laptop gets WiFi, and your TV receives digital broadcasts. Capturing energy from this background noise is nothing new, but most proof-of-concept scenarios have employed dedicated transmitters that power devices at short ranges. Furthermore, research into the field has never really left the lab, though a company called Nikola Labs is hoping to release an iPhone case that's said to extend battery life using RF energy harvesting.

According to Drayson, Freevolt is the first commercially available technology that powers devices using ambient RF energy, no dedicated transmitter required. The key to Freevolt is said to be the efficiency of its three constituent parts. A multi-band antenna scavenges RF energy from any source within the 0.5-5GHz range, which is then fed through an "ultra-efficient" rectifier that turns this energy into DC electricity. A power management module boosts, stores and outputs this electricity -- and that's all there is to it.
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/84d55102a4ceb41f0514128bcd643fa6/202728944/freevolt2.jpg
Freevolt may well be the most efficient system of its kind, but it's still only viable for devices that require very little power. In a location where lots of RF signals are flying around, like in an office, a standard Freevolt unit can produce around 100 microwatts of power. That's nowhere near enough to say, run your smartphone, but Drayson has some specific use cases in mind. The company thinks Freevolt can be the backbone of the connected home, and in a broader sense, the internet of things. Sensor-based devices, such as a smart smoke alarm, can be powered by Freevolt indefinitely. Beacons that provide indoor mapping and targeted advertising are also perfect candidates.

While it's easy to visualize specific examples -- a smoke alarm that never needs a new battery, or a low-power security camera that isn't bound to a mains outlet -- the true potential of Freevolt is hard to grasp. We're talking about free energy here: devices that never need charging, cost nothing to run, and aren't limited by the location of an external power source. An entire smart city -- where roads know when they're busy and bins know when they're full -- could be devised using countless sensors that require no upkeep, and have no overheads beyond the price of the hardware itself. It's a powerful idea, and beyond sensors, Drayson imagines Freevolt being used to trickle-charge all kinds of hardware, significantly extending the battery life of a wearable, for instance.

What's more, Freevolt can be scaled up for applications that require higher power outputs, and Drayson is currently working on miniaturizing its initial reference design and creating a flexible version that can be integrated into clothing, among other things. There are limitations to the technology, of course. The amount of power Freevolt can harness depends on the density of ambient RF signals, which are way more prevalent in urban areas than the countryside. A sensor-based product could still operate in these lower-yield environments, though, by monitoring a value every five minutes instead of every five seconds, for example.
more here:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/30/freevolt-free-energy/

TargeT

25th November 2015, 21:45

Instant communication is coming, soon...

Physicists set quantum record by using photons to carry messages from electrons almost 2 kilometers apart
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2015/physicistsus.jpg
Their work is described in the online edition of Nature Communications.
Scientists and engineers are interested in the practical application of this technology to make quantum networks that can send highly secure information over long distances – a capability that also makes the technology appealing to governments, banks and militaries.
Quantum entanglement is the observed phenomenon of two or more particles that are connected, even over thousands of miles. If it sounds strange, take comfort knowing that Albert Einstein described this behavior as "spooky action."
Consider, for instance, entangled electrons. Electrons spin in one of two characteristic directions, and if they are entangled, those two electrons' spins are linked. It's as if you spun a quarter in New York clockwise, an entangled second coin in Los Angeles would start to spin clockwise. And likewise, if you spun that quarter counter-clockwise, the second coin would shift its spin as well.
Electrons are trapped inside atoms, so entangled electrons can't talk directly at long distance. But photons – tiny particles of light – can move. Scientists can establish a necessary condition of entanglement, called quantum correlation, to correlate photons to electrons, so that the photons can act as the messengers of an electron's spin.
In his previous work, Stanford physicist Leo Yu has entangled photons with electrons through fiber optic cables over a distance of several feet. Now, he and a team of scientists, including Professor Emeritus Yoshihisa Yamamoto, have correlated photons with electron spin over a record distance of 1.2 miles (1.93 kilometers).
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2015/1-physicistsus.jpg
"Electron spin is the basic unit of a quantum computer," Yu said. "This work can pave the way for future quantum networks that can send highly secure data around the world."
To do this, Yu and his team had to make sure that the correlation could be preserved over long distances – a key challenge given that photons have a tendency to change orientation while traveling in optical fibers.
Photons can have a vertical or horizontal orientation (known as polarization), which can be referenced as a 0 or a 1, as in digital computer programming. But if they change en route, the connection to the correlated electron is lost.
This information can be preserved in another way, Yu said. He created a time-stamp to correlate arrival time of the photon with the electron spin, which provided a sort of reference key for each photon to confirm its correlation to the source electron.
To eventually entangle two electrons that had never met over great distances, two photons, each correlated with a unique source electron, had to be sent through fiber optic cables to meet in the middle at a "beam splitter" and interact. Photons do not normally interact, just two flashlights beams passing through one another, so the researchers had to mediate this interaction called the "two-photon interference."
To ensure the two-photon interference, they had another issue to overcome. Photons from two different sources have different characteristics, like color and wavelength. If they have different wavelengths, they cannot interfere, Yu said. Before traveling along the fiber optic cable, the photons passed through a "quantum down-converter," which matched their wavelengths. The down-converter also shifted both photons to a wavelength that can travel farther within the fiber optic cables designed for telecommunications.
Quantum supercomputers promise to be exponentially faster and more powerful than traditional computers, Yu said, and can communicate with immunity to hacking or spying. With this work, the team has brought the quantum networks one step closer to reality.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-physicists-quantum-photons-messages-electrons.html#jCp

TargeT

2nd December 2015, 14:19

Well, replicating objects might be as easy as a quick scan with your smart phone then a trip to a 3d printer soon.... very interesting advancement here.

MIT Figured Out How to Make Cheap 3D Scanners 1,000 Times Better
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--2KfHf3k4--/eu1xlcevlsyizsnyvept.jpg
Scientists developed pretty good 3D-imaging technology a while ago. They’ve also developed cheap 3D-imaging technology. Good and cheap has always been tough, but researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough using old fashioned polarization. The quality isn’t just good either–it’s great.

To be more specific, the new polarization technique can increase the resolution of any cheap, conventional 3D-imaging device by a factor of 1,000. That not only makes it leaps and bounds better than your grainy old Microsoft Kinect, it makes it better than high-precision and not-at-all portable laser scanners. This advance could be a game changer for the world of computer imaging, and enable anything from a cellphone camera that doubles as a super accurate 3D-scanner to self-driving cars that aren’t phased by snow or rain.
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--gFmWXDtV--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/bqgx0layuv7jafwyoz4t.jpg
“Today, they can miniaturize 3-D cameras to fit on cellphones,” says MIT graduate student Achuta Kadambi who helped develop the technology. “But they make compromises to the 3-D sensing, leading to very coarse recovery of geometry. That’s a natural application for polarization, because you can still use a low-quality sensor, and adding a polarizing filter gives you something that’s better than many machine-shop laser scanners.”

In other words, the 3D scanners of the future will look less like the eyeborg that is Google’s Project Tango (see above) and more like the camera on the back of any old smartphone. The image quality will also far surpass existing portable 3D scanning technology. The extent to which the breakthrough hinges upon existing technology is well expressed by the fact that the MIT researchers used a Kinect to come up with it.

The trick boils down to measuring the exact orientation of light that bounces off of an object. The new technique blends existing depth estimates used by technology like the Kinect with readings taken through three different polarization filters. A standard graphics chip like the one in a video game console helps the scientists calculate the orientation of light signals in a range of hundreds of micrometers.

Well, there’s a little bit more to it than that, but luckily, the MIT Media Lab is offering up the full paper for free.

http://gizmodo.com/mit-figured-out-how-to-make-cheap-3d-scanners-1-000-tim-1745454853?trending_test_two_f&utm_expid=66866090-68.hhyw_lmCRuCTCg0I2RHHtw.5&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Ftechnology%2F%3Fcount%3D25%26after%3Dt3_3v4yxs

Cidersomerset

2nd December 2015, 16:54

An interesting and, now that I think about it, obvious use of 3d printing

Quote 3D printed teeth to keep your mouth free of bacteria

I just seen this article suggesting that 3 D printers will soon be used widespread.
Particularly in the medical field.

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.2.4/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

'Most firms will be using 3D printing'

By Adam Easton
BBC News, Olsztyn, Poland
2 December 2015

Short vid on link....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34977335

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction - machines that can "print" solid objects
- but 3D printing isn't really printing at all, at least not in the traditional sense.

It is the process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
Successive layers of material are formed under computer control to create
objects ranging from plastic bottles to aircraft parts and prosthetic limbs.

A 3D printer is essentially a type of industrial robot.

It's a growing market worth an estimated $5.2bn (£3.4bn) this year, according
to market analysts canalys.Now, there are those who believe we're standing on
the cusp of a new industrial revolution - with 3D printers destined to become as
common in our homes as mobiles and tablets are today. You might expect the
boss of one of Europe's youngest players in the market, to agree. But you'd be wrong.

Rafal Tomasiak is the chief executive of the Polish 3D printer company Zortrax,
which is less than two years' old. His firm is based in Olsztyn, a mid-sized city in
Poland's beautiful Masurian lake district.

All the design and programming is done here. But the printers are actually made
on the other side of the world in China; lower manufacturing and labour costs
makes that an attractive proposition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34977335

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/17456/production/_86981359_pzortrax_inventure-01.jpg
Zortrax plans a stock market launch next year

TargeT

2nd December 2015, 17:02

I just seen this article suggesting that 3 D printers will soon be used widespread.
Particularly in the medical field.

we haven't even scratched the surface of what this tech will do... printed E V E R Y thing is not far from now... especially as material science and 3d printers intersect (there are already several printers that can print different "substances" at the same time, like electrically conductive ink and plastic (embedded wiring))

the next few years will be a decentralization rush as manufacturing becomes reasonable for "the average Joe".

Cidersomerset

2nd December 2015, 18:07

When they can do this .....LOL....I expect it is not far off.

R2IJdfxWtPM

TargeT

2nd December 2015, 18:17

When they can do this .....LOL

R2IJdfxWtPM

My guess? 20-30years or less, we are at the exponential advancement stage right now, small discoveries trickle into every other tech and improve them all..

"There is no such thing as science fiction, there is only science eventuality. " - S. Spielberg

Cidersomerset

2nd December 2015, 18:33

"There is no such thing as science fiction, there is only science eventuality. " - S. Spielberg

I have watched Science fiction the first star trek and others and I say it regularly
that science and science fiction drive each other. There was also a science/inventions
TV show tomorrows world that was on the BBC in the 1960's . So sub consciously
it has been with me since then and I see it all the time now.

The Ion material spelt it out for a few years ago as well when ' they ' explained
how creation works, thru the frequency of the word. 3. 2. 1. of creation
http://ionandbob.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/dyi-create-whatever-you-want.html

It sounds simple , and it is more complex ,but the more I find out, everything
seems more and more connected in unexpected ways.

They don't always get the details right , but the concept is there....I would have
been around six when this was aired and as we only had one TV , in the one heated
room ( fire place) You tended to watch whatever was on. In one way we were more
MK Ultra'd than to day , as that was the heyday of the cold war , and it was the
start of the great social experiment, though it did not seem like it. Uhm I'm starting
to sound like my parents.... LOL

aJ6SbvrjxZA

====================================================

I expect you have already posted this idea....

Working gun made with 3D printer

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?58928-Working-gun-made-with-3D-printer&p=671099#post671099

PurpleLama

2nd December 2015, 18:39

https://www.rt.com/news/323494-russian-3d-printed-thyroid/

TargeT

24th December 2015, 15:09

THIS will be amazing.... get ready for INSANE computing power in the near future.

Breakthrough light-based microprocessor chip could lead to more powerful computers, network infrastructure
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have developed a groundbreaking microprocessor chip that uses light, rather than electricity, to transfer data at rapid speeds while consuming minute amounts of energy.

Details of the new technology, which could pave the way for faster, more powerful computing systems and network infrastructure, were published today in the journal Nature.

“Light based integrated circuits could lead to radical changes in computing and network chip architecture in applications ranging from smartphones to supercomputers to large data centers, something computer architects have already begun work on in anticipation of the arrival of this technology,” said Miloš Popović, an assistant professor in CU-Boulder’s Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering and a co-corresponding author of the study.

Traditional microprocessor chips—the ones found in everything from laptops to supercomputers—use electrical circuits to communicate with one another and transfer information. In recent years, however, the sheer amount of electricity needed to power the ever-increasing speed and volume of these data transfers has proven to be a limiting factor.

To overcome this obstacle, the researchers turned to photonics, or light-based, technology. Sending information using light rather than electricity reduces a microchip’s energy burden because light can be sent across longer distances using the same amount of power.

“One advantage of light based communication is that multiple parallel data streams encoded on different colors of light can be sent over one and the same medium – in this case, an optical wire waveguide on a chip, or an off-chip optical fiber of the same kind that as those that form the Internet backbone,” said Popović, whose CU-Boulder-based team developed the photonic device technology in collaboration with a team led by Rajeev Ram, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT.

“Another advantage is that the infrared light that we use – and that also TV remotes use – has a physical wavelength shorter than 1 micron, about one hundredth of the thickness of a human hair," said Popović. "This enables very dense packing of light communication ports on a chip, enabling huge total bandwidth.”

The new chip has a bandwidth density of 300 gigabits per second per square millimeter, about 10 to 50 times greater than packaged electrical-only microprocessors currently on the market.
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2015/12/23/breakthrough-light-based-microprocessor-chip-could-lead-more-powerful-computers

Engineers demo first processor that uses light for ultrafast communications
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2015/engineersdem.jpg
Engineers have successfully married electrons and photons within a single-chip microprocessor, a landmark development that opens the door to ultrafast, low-power data crunching.
The researchers packed two processor cores with more than 70 million transistors and 850 photonic components onto a 3-by-6-millimeter chip. They fabricated the microprocessor in a foundry that mass-produces high-performance computer chips, proving that their design can be easily and quickly scaled up for commercial production.

The new chip, described in a paper to be published Dec. 24 in the print issue of the journal Nature, marks the next step in the evolution of fiber optic communication technology by integrating into a microprocessor the photonic interconnects, or inputs and outputs (I/O), needed to talk to other chips.

"This is a milestone. It's the first processor that can use light to communicate with the external world," said Vladimir Stojanović, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the development of the chip. "No other processor has the photonic I/O in the chip."

Stojanović and fellow UC Berkeley professor Krste Asanović teamed up with Rajeev Ram at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Milos Popović at the University of Colorado, Boulder, to develop the new microprocessor.

"This is the first time we've put a system together at such scale, and have it actually do something useful, like run a program," said Asanović, who helped develop the free and open architecture called RISC-V (reduced instruction set computer), used by the processor.
http://phys.org/news/2015-12-demo-processor-ultrafast.html#jCp

TargeT

29th December 2015, 19:34

http://rlv.zcache.co.nz/i_love_materials_science_digital_design_laptop_sleeve-r643652534de244d28eab407c2514453c_arp6m_8byvr_324.jpg

Scientists Create the Superman of Metals
A group of scientists say they have created the Superman of metals, a material so strong and lightweight it could lead to the creation of faster vehicles and revolutionize the airline and automotive industries.

Engineers at the University of California, Los Angeles, used a combination of ceramic silicon carbide nanoparticles and magnesium. The new metal boasts a stiffness-to-weight ratio that far surpasses other strong metals that engineers have reliably used for generations. The metal is also capable of absorbing and withstanding high heat without having its integrity altered.
http://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/shutterstock_206908987-800x430.jpg
Nanoparticles are a tiny speck of any material, just 1 to 100 nanometer in size, or a billionth of a meter—which is barely visible to the naked eye. When the material is scaled down to such a small size, its physical and chemical properties change. In this case, the silicon carbide nanoparticles were infused into a molten magnesium zinc. Silicon carbide is the hard ceramic material used for cutting blades. This “nanocomposite” metal is made up of approximately 14 percent silicon carbide and 86 percent magnesium by weight.

“It's been proposed that nanoparticles could really enhance the strength of metals without damaging their plasticity, especially light metals like magnesium,” said Xiaochun Li, a professor of manufacturing and engineering at UCLA, in a press statement. “But no groups have been able to disperse ceramic nanoparticles in molten metals until now.”

Magnesium is available in large quantities, meaning it would be easy to produce the material without damage to the environment. It is considered a type of load-bearing metal that is already used to make cars, albeit a weaker version.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/california-scientists-create-superman-of-metals/

TargeT

1st January 2016, 15:26

http://rlv.zcache.co.nz/i_love_materials_science_digital_design_laptop_sleeve-r643652534de244d28eab407c2514453c_arp6m_8byvr_324.jpg

3D-Printed Wonder Ceramics Are Flawless And Super-Strong
http://pop.h-cdn.co/assets/15/53/980x490/landscape-1451586187-spiral.jpg
There's a reason they're used in everything from jet engines to Formula 1 race car brakes: Ceramics are tough. They can withstand an absurd amount of heat and pressure without warping or breaking, all while brushing off many of the physical and chemical assaults that would rust metals and wear away plastics.

"The problem is that ceramics are just notoriously difficult to process," says Zak Eckel, an engineer at HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California.

Heat-resistant ceramics require crazy-high temperatures to melt, so it's been a struggle to develop methods to 3D-print them. Today, there are just a few 3D printing techniques on the market that use any ceramics (developed by companies like 3DCERAM and Lithoz), but the approaches are severely limited in the types of ceramics they can print, as well as the end quality of their materials. Eckel and his team have just developed an altogether new way to 3D print practically flawless ceramics—including fantastically heat-resistant varieties that've so far been beyond our reach. Their research is announced today in the journal Science.
18MrsJ0bjAY
To understand why Eckel's new printing process creates such interesting ceramics, it helps to understand why today's 3D printing approaches are so limited. To put it simply, they use clever techniques that basically print consecutive layers of ceramic particles that are suspended with a glue-like binding resin. (Imagine sand particles suspended in glue and you've got the idea). Once you're done printing a part this way, you can heat it up in a furnace to fuze the individual ceramic particles together into one big ceramic piece, and dissolve away the binding glue.

So what's the problem? With this approach, "you're limited by the ceramics you can use" says Tobias Schaedler, a materials engineer with Eckel's team. Because you're fusing together individual particles of ceramics in a furnace, you can only use ceramics that melt at lower temperatures. According to Richard Gaignon, the president of 3DCERAM, today's printers can only work with a class of ceramics called "oxide ceramic materials." The second issue is that such ceramics can contain pores and other tiny flaws that are inherent byproducts of the messy process of creating one material by fusing millions of various small grains together.

Eckel's approach is different in a crucial way, and avoids both these issues. Instead of fusing together particles, his team creates ceramics by printing materials that look a lot like plastics—but transform into ceramics when heated in a furnace. "It's actually a pretty simple, straightforward idea," Eckel says.
http://pop.h-cdn.co/assets/15/53/768x576/gallery-1451587861-3d-a.jpg
The team uses a $3,000 printer to print 100 micron thick layers of a plastic-like material out of a resin. That resin contains all the molecules you need to form a tough ceramic. The printing process is done by carefully etching layers of the resin with a UV light, which fuses small molecular clumps (called monomers) into long plastic-like chains (called polymers). Once the plastic-like pre-ceramic part is printed, it's forged in an oven, where it's slowly cooked to 1,000 degrees Celsius in the presence of argon gas. That heating basically tears away all the unnecessary chemical groups attached to the plastic-like material, leaving nothing behind but the strong ceramic framework underneath.

In their first tests, Eckle's group formed silicon carbide ceramics, which have never before been 3D printed. The team also believes the same approach could be used to print a menagerie of various different ceramics, by adjusting the makeup of the ceramic-plastic resin. And because you're forming a ceramic from the ground up, rather than fuzing together individuals grains "you're left with a virtually flawless ceramic," says Schaedler, one with no pores and is remarkably uniform across the entire material.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a18801/3d-printed-wonder-ceramics-wont-shatter/

TargeT

7th January 2016, 17:30

Dunno how I missed this one... VERY cool, though I don't know if we will see this before 5+ years or so at the consumer level....

Scientists have discovered a new state of matter, called 'Jahn-Teller metals'

And it could be the key to understanding one of the biggest mysteries in physics today - high-temperature superconductors.

http://www.sciencealert.com/images/articles/processed/Levitating_superconductor_1024.jpg
n international team of scientists has announced the discovery of a new state of matter in a material that appears to be an insulator, superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one, saying that it could lead to the development of more effective high-temperature superconductors.

Why is this so exciting? Well, if these properties are confirmed, this new state of matter will allow scientists to better understand why some materials have the potential to achieve superconductivity at a relativity high critical temperature (Tc) - "high" as in −135 °C as opposed to −243.2 °C. Because superconductivity allows a material to conduct electricity without resistance, which means no heat, sound, or any other form of energy release, achieving this would revolutionise how we use and produce energy, but it’s only feasible if we can achieve it at so-called high temperatures.As Michael Byrne explains at Motherboard, when we talk about states of matter, it’s not just solids, liquids, gases, and maybe plasmas that we have to think about. We also have to consider the more obscure states that don’t occur in nature, but are rather created in the lab - Bose–Einstein condensate, degenerate matter, supersolids and superfluids, and quark-gluon plasma, for example.

By introducing rubidium into carbon-60 molecules - more commonly known as 'buckyballs' - a team led by chemist Kosmas Prassides from Tokohu University in Japan was able to change the distance between them, which forced them into a new, crystalline structure. When put through an array of tests, this structure displayed a combination of insulating, superconducting, metallic, and magnetic phases, including a brand new one, which the researchers have named 'Jahn-Teller metals'.

Named after the Jahn-Teller effect, which is used in chemistry to describe how at low pressures, the geometric arrangement of molecules and ions in an electronic state can become distorted, this new state of matter allows scientists to transform an insulator - which can’t conduct electricity - into a conductor by simply applying pressure. Byrne explains at Motherboard:

"This is what the rubidium atoms do: apply pressure. Usually when we think about adding pressure, we think in terms of squeezing something, forcing its molecules closer together by brute force. But it's possible to do the same thing chemically, tweaking the distances between molecules by adding or subtracting some sort of barrier between them - sneaking in some extra atoms, perhaps.

What happens in a Jahn-Teller metal is that as pressure is applied, and as what was previously an insulator - thanks to the electrically-distorting Jahn-Teller effect - becomes a metal, the effect persists for a while. The molecules hang on to their old shapes. So, there is an overlap of sorts, where the material still looks an awful lot like an insulator, but the electrons also manage to hop around as freely as if the material were a conductor."

And it’s this transition phase between insulator and conductor that, until now, scientists have never seen before, and hints at the possibility of transforming insulating materials into super-valuable superconducting materials. And this buckyball crystalline structure appears to be able to do it at a relatively high TC. "The relationship between the parent insulator, the normal metallic state above Tc, and the superconducting pairing mechanism is a key question in understanding all unconventional superconductors," the team writes in Science Advances.

There’s a whole lot of lab-work to be done before this discovery will mean anything for practical energy production in the real world, but that’s science for you. And it’s got people excited already, as chemist Elisabeth Nicol from the University of Guelph in Canada told Hamish Johnston at PhysicsWorld: "Understanding the mechanisms at play and how they can be manipulated to change the Tc surely will inspire the development of new [superconducting] materials".
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered-a-new-state-of-matter-the-jahn-teller-effect

TargeT

9th February 2016, 14:32

So between "renewables" and fusion it looks like we might be rapidly approaching a "free energy" type of situation.. or at least very inexpensive energy.

End of fossil fuels? China close to creating 'ARTIFICIAL STAR' three times hotter than sun
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/78/590x/nuclear-641884.jpg
Chinese experts last week successfully produced hydrogen gas more than three times hotter than the core of the Sun.

Crucially, the scientists were able to maintain that temperature - 50 million°C - for 102 seconds.

The experiment means nuclear fusion experts are a step nearer to replacing depleting fossil fuels with limitless nuclear energy powered by the ultra-high temperature gas.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/641884/China-heats-hyrdogen-gas-three-times-hotter-than-sun-limitless-energy

http://www.sciencealert.com/images/articles/processed/east_1024.jpg
Just last week, we reported that Germany’s revolutionary nuclear fusion machine managed to heat hydrogen gas to 80 million degrees Celsius, and sustain a cloud of hydrogen plasma for a quarter of a second. This was a huge milestone in the decades-long pursuit of controlled nuclear fusion, because if we can produce and hold onto hydrogen plasma for a certain period, we can harness the clean, practically limitless energy that fuels our Sun.

Now physicists in China have announced that their own nuclear fusion machine, called the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), has produced hydrogen plasma at 49.999 million degrees Celsius, and held onto it for an impressive 102 seconds.

http://www.sciencealert.com/china-s-nuclear-fusion-machine-just-smashed-germany-s-hydrogen-plasma-record

TargeT

16th February 2016, 19:35

Eternal 5D data storage could record the history of humankind
Scientists at the University of Southampton have made a major step forward in the development of digital data storage that is capable of surviving for billions of years.

Using nanostructured glass, scientists from the University’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) have developed the recording and retrieval processes of five dimensional (5D) digital data by femtosecond laser writing.

The storage allows unprecedented properties including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1,000°C and virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature (13.8 billion years at 190°C ) opening a new era of eternal data archiving. As a very stable and safe form of portable memory, the technology could be highly useful for organisations with big archives, such as national archives, museums and libraries, to preserve their information and records.
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/site/news-release/PageThumbnail/F7F61620DE3C4A6F99AA1866C6AC3EA7/5D%20data%20storage.jpg_SIA_JPG_fit_to_width_INLINE.jpg
The technology was first experimentally demonstrated in 2013 when a 300 kb digital copy of a text file was successfully recorded in 5D.

Now, major documents from human history such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Newton’s Opticks, Magna Carta and Kings James Bible, have been saved as digital copies that could survive the human race. A copy of the UDHR encoded to 5D data storage was recently presented to UNESCO by the ORC at the International Year of Light (IYL) closing ceremony in Mexico.http://www.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/content-block/CB_RImg/8CE8C5B1F7A04C619AA9F53E101D5FA8/16_23%20UN_UDoHR.png_SIA_JPG_fit_to_width_INLINE.jpg
The documents were recorded using ultrafast laser, producing extremely short and intense pulses of light. The file is written in three layers of nanostructured dots separated by five micrometres (one millionth of a metre).

The self-assembled nanostructures change the way light travels through glass, modifying polarisation of light that can then be read by combination of optical microscope and a polariser, similar to that found in Polaroid sunglasses.

Coined as the ‘Superman memory crystal’, as the glass memory has been compared to the “memory crystals” used in the Superman films, the data is recorded via self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz. The information encoding is realised in five dimensions: the size and orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these nanostructures.

Professor Peter Kazansky, from the ORC, says: “It is thrilling to think that we have created the technology to preserve documents and information and store it in space for future generations. This technology can secure the last evidence of our civilisation: all we’ve learnt will not be forgotten.”

The researchers will present their research at the photonics industry's renowned SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering Conference in San Francisco, USA this week. The invited paper, ‘5D Data Storage by Ultrafast Laser Writing in Glass’ will be presented on Wednesday 17 February.

The team are now looking for industry partners to further develop and commercialise this ground-breaking new technology.
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-storage-update.page

AND

Super flat material could extend life of Moore's Law
Researchers could be fending off the demise of Moore's Law with the help of a new material that allows electrons to move from point A to point B faster. Engineers at the University of Utah discovered a new kind of flat semiconducting material made of tin monoxide that is only one-atom thick, allowing electrical charges to pass through it faster than silicon or other 3D materials.

Charges traveling through conventional electronic devices bounce around in all directions when traveling through transistors and other components consisting of layers of silicon on a glass substrate. Engineers have only recently begun to work with 2D materials like graphene, molybdenum disulfide and borophene, which force electrons to "only move in one layer so it's much faster," says professor Ashutosh Tiwari, who led the research.
http://img.gizmag.com/2d-tin-monoxide-semiconductor-1.jpg

Tiwari says the new material fills an important gap in speeding up electronics because, unlike graphene and other near atom-thin materials, it allows both negative electrons and positive charges – or "holes" – to move through it. This has led the team to describe the material as the first stable P-type 2D semiconductor material in existence.

"Now we have everything," he says. "Now things will move forward much more quickly."

The team believes the material will enable the manufacture of transistors that are smaller and faster than those currently in use, leading to computers and mobile devices that are 100 times faster than current devices and run cooler and more efficiently, thereby extending battery life.

"The field is very hot right now, and people are very interested in it," Tiwari says. "So in two or three years we should see at least some prototype device."
http://www.gizmag.com/2d-semiconductor-tin-monoxide/41843/

quasi unrelated improvement:

A New Technique Makes GPS Accurate to an Inch
a team from the University of California, Riverside, has developed a technique that augments the regular GPS data with on-board inertial measurements from a sensor
http://gizmodo.com/a-new-technique-makes-gps-accurate-to-an-inch-1758457807

TargeT

22nd February 2016, 18:12

https://wwcdn.weddingwire.com/wedding/3205001_3210000/3205626/thumbnails/400x400_1412692015028-brace-yourselves-it-has-begun.jpg

This image of Mark Zuckerberg says so much about our future
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cbw_bXzWAAIt_ap.jpg
The image above looks like concept art for a new dystopian sci-fi film. A billionaire superman with a rictus grin, striding straight past human drones, tethered to machines and blinded to reality by blinking plastic masks. Golden light shines down on the man as he strides past his subjects, cast in gloom, toward a stage where he will accept their adulation. Later that night, he will pore across his vast network and read their praise, heaped upon him in superlatives, as he drives what remains of humanity forward to his singular vision.

Except it's not from a sci-fi movie — it's from Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, and the man is Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg. The picture trips all of our "horrible cyberpunk future" alarms, carefully put in place by everything from The Matrix to Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. The former uses evil squid-bodied robots, the latter privileged human elites, but both works see humanity too distracted and preoccupied — by a full-scale replica of late-90s reality, or just sports on TV — to even be aware of the actions of those in charge. Zuckerberg's picture acts this out: MWC attendees plugged into Samsung's Gear VR headset literally can't see the Facebook boss as he breezes past them.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/22/11087890/mark-zuckerberg-mwc-picture-future-samsung

Cidersomerset

22nd February 2016, 18:31

I am a little wary about some of these technologies that interfere with
EMF's and can be open to abuse like everything , remember the game
on Star Trek next generation..LOL Maybe its because I just posted a
thread about them.....Or I'm getting old ...LOL

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?89026-Wi-Fi-Smart-Meters---Wireless-Wake-Up-Call---health-dangers-of-Electromagnetic-Fields&p=1048319#post1048319

ilIhdTG_UmQ

------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuckerberg promotes virtual reality as ‘most social platform’

By David on 22nd February 2016

HiMyK-DoPHw

‘Virtual reality is “the most social platform” of the future, the Facebook founder said
at a presentation of Samsung’s new 360-degree camera. According to Zuckerberg,
when powered by his company’s software it will revolutionize social media experience.

The new Gear 360 degree camera and the Gear VR headset, powered by Oculus, which
has been on the market since November, has been promoted at Mobile World Congress
in Barcelona, where Zuckerberg assured the crowd that virtual reality is “going to be the
most social platform.”’

Read more: Zuckerberg promotes virtual reality as ‘most social platform’
https://www.rt.com/news/333216-zuckerberg-virtual-reality-platform/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

TargeT

23rd February 2016, 15:31

Looks like we are going to have some healthy mice in the future.... ( :sherlock: )

Neuroscientists reverse autism symptoms
http://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/upload/en/0/research_hu/researchnow/no17/02fig.1.jpg
Turning on a gene later in life can restore typical behavior in mice.
Autism has diverse genetic causes, most of which are still unknown. About 1 percent of people with autism are missing a gene called Shank3, which is critical for brain development. Without this gene, individuals develop typical autism symptoms including repetitive behavior and avoidance of social interactions.

In a study of mice, MIT researchers have now shown that they can reverse some of those behavioral symptoms by turning the gene back on later in life, allowing the brain to properly rewire itself.

“This suggests that even in the adult brain we have profound plasticity to some degree,” says Guoping Feng, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences. “There is more and more evidence showing that some of the defects are indeed reversible, giving hope that we can develop treatment for autistic patients in the future.”

Feng, who is the James W. and Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience and a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute, is the senior author of the study, which appears in the Feb. 17 issue of Nature. The paper’s lead authors are former MIT graduate student Yuan Mei and former Broad Institute visiting graduate student Patricia Monteiro, now at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.

Boosting communication

The Shank3 protein is found in synapses — the connections that allow neurons to communicate with each other. As a scaffold protein, Shank3 helps to organize the hundreds of other proteins that are necessary to coordinate a neuron’s response to incoming signals.

Studying rare cases of defective Shank3 can help scientists gain insight into the neurobiological mechanisms of autism. Missing or defective Shank3 leads to synaptic disruptions that can produce autism-like symptoms in mice, including compulsive behavior, avoidance of social interaction, and anxiety, Feng has previously found. He has also shown that some synapses in these mice, especially in a part of the brain called the striatum, have a greatly reduced density of dendritic spines — small buds on neurons’ surfaces that help with the transmission of synaptic signals.

In the new study, Feng and colleagues genetically engineered mice so that their Shank3 gene was turned off during embryonic development but could be turned back on by adding tamoxifen to the mice’s diet.

When the researchers turned on Shank3 in young adult mice (two to four and a half months after birth), they were able to eliminate the mice’s repetitive behavior and their tendency to avoid social interaction. At the cellular level, the team found that the density of dendritic spines dramatically increased in the striatum of treated mice, demonstrating the structural plasticity in the adult brain.

However, the mice’s anxiety and some motor coordination symptoms did not disappear. Feng suspects that these behaviors probably rely on circuits that were irreversibly formed during early development.

When the researchers turned on Shank3 earlier in life, only 20 days after birth, the mice’s anxiety and motor coordination did improve. The researchers are now working on defining the critical periods for the formation of these circuits, which could help them determine the best time to try to intervene.

“Some circuits are more plastic than others,” Feng says. “Once we understand which circuits control each behavior and understand what exactly changed at the structural level, we can study what leads to these permanent defects, and how we can prevent them from happening.”

Gordon Fishell, a professor of neuroscience at New York University School of Medicine, praises the study’s “elegant approach” and says it represents a major advance in understanding the circuitry and cellular physiology that underlie autism. “The combination of behavior, circuits, physiology, and genetics is state-of-the art,” says Fishell, who was not involved in the research. "Moreover, Dr. Feng's demonstration that restoration of Shank3 function reverses autism symptoms in adult mice suggests that gene therapy may ultimately prove an effective therapy for this disease."

Early intervention

For the small population of people with Shank3 mutations, the findings suggest that new genome-editing techniques could in theory be used to repair the defective Shank3 gene and improve these individuals’ symptoms, even later in life. These techniques are not yet ready for use in humans, however.

Feng believes that scientists may also be able to develop more general approaches that would apply to a larger population. For example, if the researchers can identify defective circuits that are specific for certain behavioral abnormalities in some autism patients, and figure out how to modulate those circuits’ activity, that could also help other people who may have defects in the same circuits even though the problem arose from a different genetic mutation.

“That’s why it’s important in the future to identify what subtype of neurons are defective and what genes are expressed in these neurons, so we can use them as a target without affecting the whole brain,” Feng says.

http://news.mit.edu/2016/neuroscientists-reverse-autism-symptoms-0217

And

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function

Of the mice that received the treatment, 75 percent got their memory function back.
Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques - structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.
http://www.sciencealert.com/images/articles/processed/brain-tangles_1024.jpg
If a person has Alzheimer’s disease, it’s usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions - amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms plaques.
Neurofibrillary tangles are found inside the neurons of the brain, and they’re caused by defective tau proteins that clump up into a thick, insoluble mass. This causes tiny filaments called microtubules to get all twisted, which disrupts the transportation of essential materials such as nutrients and organelles along them, just like when you twist up the vacuum cleaner tube.

As we don’t have any kind of vaccine or preventative measure for Alzheimer’s - a disease that affects 343,000 people in Australia, and 50 million worldwide - it’s been a race to figure out how best to treat it, starting with how to clear the build-up of defective beta-amyloid and tau proteins from a patient’s brain. Now a team from the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at the University of Queensland have come up with a pretty promising solution for removing the former.

Publishing in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes the technique as using a particular type of ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound, which non-invasively beams sound waves into the brain tissue. By oscillating super-fast, these sound waves are able to gently open up the blood-brain barrier, which is a layer that protects the brain against bacteria, and stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to activate. Microglila cells are basically waste-removal cells, so they’re able to clear out the toxic beta-amyloid clumps that are responsible for the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

The team reports fully restoring the memory function of 75 percent of the mice they tested it on, with zero damage to the surrounding brain tissue. They found that the treated mice displayed improved performance in three memory tasks - a maze, a test to get them to recognise new objects, and one to get them to remember the places they should avoid.

"We’re extremely excited by this innovation of treating Alzheimer’s without using drug therapeutics," one of the team, Jürgen Götz, said in a press release. "The word ‘breakthrough’ is often misused, but in this case I think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach."

The team says they’re planning on starting trials with higher animal models, such as sheep, and hope to get their human trials underway in 2017.

http://www.sciencealert.com/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function

Cidersomerset

24th February 2016, 11:55

On the subject of games that are embracing new concepts......

The Video Game That Made Elon Musk Question If Our Reality Is A Simulation

By David on 24th February 2016 What is Reality?

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Untitled-2-21.jpg

In June, a team of programmers will release a ground-breaking new video game called
No Man’s Sky, which uses artificial intelligence and procedural generation to self-create
an entire cosmos full of planets. Running off 600,000 lines of code, the game creates an
artificial galaxy populated by 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 unique planets that you can
travel to and explore.

Though this artificial universe is realistic down to the dimensions of a blade of grass, faster
than light-speed travel is available in order for players to bridge the unfathomable distances
between stars.Chief architect Sean Murray says No Man’s Sky is different than most games
because the landscapes and distances aren’t faked. While most space-based games utilize a
skybox that simply rotates between different modalities, No Man’s Sky is virtually limitless
and employs real physics.’

Read more: The Video Game That Made Elon Musk Question If Our Reality Is A Simulation

http://www.activistpost.com/2016/02/the-video-game-that-made-elon-musk-question-if-our-reality-is-a-simulation.html

Cidersomerset

25th February 2016, 21:42

This is a scary an inevitable conclusion I think , probably
a bit further than 2 years but they are getting more stable.....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ATLAS: Next Generation Of DARPA Humanoid Robot Released

By David on 25th February 2016

http://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Untitled-2-22.jpg

The evolution of humanoid robots is happening at an ever-quickening pace. These
advancements are occurring not only in their mechanics but also with the
incorporation of artificial intelligence.

One of the humanoid robots that has garnered the most attention is ATLAS,
developed for DARPA by Boston Dynamics. ATLAS has been through several
incarnations since its inception in 2013 as part of the DARPA Robotics Challenge
and, as you’ll see in the videos below, if a truly Terminator-like killer robot ever
does come to fruition, ATLAS very well could be the one.’

http://www.activistpost.com/2016/02/atlas-next-generation-of-darpa-humanoid-robot-released.html

rVlhMGQgDkY

Published on 23 Feb 2016

A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is
specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically
actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo
sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and
manipulate objects. This version of Atlas is about 5' 9" tall (about a head shorter
than the DRC Atlas) and weighs 180 lbs.

TargeT

27th February 2016, 12:23

Ultra accurate magnetic induction based cooking system by.... Bose?

Bose didn't have a comment at the time we ran the article, but when we went to visit Bose recently, it gave CNET an exclusive demo of the system -- code-named Project Vortex and in development for 10 years -- with Bose Senior Research Engineer Ken Jacob cooking the perfect crepe for us in one try.
http://cnet2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/01/30/830b72d6-45ea-4c6a-8307-1c24e84fd190/thumbnail/670x503/4bd64522977eb016b69cd73da88c325f/040-bose-carnoy.jpg
Bose won't make the stovetops itself. In the coming months, Jacob says, it will announce a partnership with a major appliance company to manufacture the system.
http://www.cnet.com/videos/hands-on-with-boses-new-super-high-tech-cooking-system/

Ewan

27th February 2016, 14:25

But do we discover in 10 years that the ultra high magnetic frequency alters DNA whilst the inbuilt wireless system continues to sterilise everything within a 2 feet radius, aka your groin. :D

TargeT

27th February 2016, 15:54

But do we discover in 10 years that the ultra high magnetic frequency alters DNA whilst the inbuilt wireless system continues to sterilise everything within a 2 feet radius, aka your groin. :D

if magnetic fields do that then we are screwed (see LeyLines etc...) I'd like to think that we are pretty tolerant to magnetic fields, since we are bathed in them all the time... I think that using a magnetic field to excite a piece of metal (via resonance) is a MUCH less intrusive way of heating than using a microwave to heat the water inside an object.

This is an important breakthrough, getting economy of scale into the nano-world will rapidly increase it's proliferation in every day life.

A practical solution to mass-producing low-cost nanoparticles
http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/Nanoparticles1.jpg
USC researchers have created an automated method of manufacturing nanoparticles that may transform the process from an expensive, painstaking, batch-by-batch process by a technician in a chemistry lab, mixing up a batch of chemicals by hand in traditional lab flasks and beakers.

Consider, for example, gold nanoparticles. Their ability to slip through the cell’s membrane makes them ideal delivery devices for medications to healthy cells, or fatal doses of radiation to cancer cells. But the price of gold nanoparticles at $80,000 per gram, compared to about $50 for pure raw gold goes.

The solution, published in an open access paper in Nature Communications on Feb. 23, is microfluidics — manipulating tiny droplets of fluid in narrow channels. The team 3D-printed tubes about 250 micrometers in diameter, possibly the smallest, fully enclosed 3D printed tubes anywhere.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/droplet-formation.jpg
Then they built a parallel network of four of these tubes, side-by-side, and ran a combination of two non-mixing fluids (like oil and water) through them. As the two fluids fought to get out through the openings, they squeezed off tiny droplets. Each of these droplets acted as a microscale chemical reactor in which materials were mixed and nanoparticles were generated. Each microfluidic tube can create millions of identical droplets that perform the same reaction.

This sort of exotic process has been envisioned in the past, but its hasn’t been able to be scaled up because the parallel structure meant that if one tube got jammed, it would cause a ripple effect of changing pressures along its neighbors, knocking out the entire system.

The researchers bypassed this problem by altering the geometry of the tubes themselves, shaping the junction between the tubes such that the particles come out a uniform size and the system is immune to pressure changes.

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation.
K5rFL4MIfac
http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-practical-solution-to-mass-producing-low-cost-nanoparticles

The effect this finding will have on science is going to be huge since most things behave like waves (at least part of the time)...

A mathematical advance in describing waves
http://www.buffalo.edu/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2016/02/042/jcr%3acontent/par/image.img.447.auto.jpg/1456324551638.jpg
New development builds on centuries of research devoted to using math to describe the physical world

BUFFALO, N.Y. — One of the great joys in mathematics is the ability to use it to describe phenomena seen in the physical world, says University at Buffalo mathematician Gino Biondini.
With UB postdoctoral researcher Dionyssios Mantzavinos, Biondini has published a new paper that advances the art — or shall we say, the math — of describing a wave. The findings, published Jan. 27 in Physical Review Letters, are thought to apply to wave forms ranging from light waves in optical fibers to water waves in the sea.
The study explores what happens when a regular wave pattern has small irregularities, a question that scientists have been trying to answer for the last 50 years.
Researchers have long known that in many cases such minor imperfections grow and eventually completely distort the original wave as it travels over long distances, a phenomenon known as “modulational instability.” But the UB team has added to this story by showing, mathematically, that many different kinds of disturbances evolve to produce wave forms belonging to a single class, denoted by their identical asymptotic state.
“Ever since Isaac Newton used math to describe gravity, applied mathematicians have been inventing new mathematics or using existing forms to describe natural phenomena,” says Biondini, a professor of mathematics in the UB College of Arts and Sciences and an adjunct faculty member in the UB physics department. “Our research is, in a way, an extension of all the work that’s come before.”
He says the first great success in using math to represent waves came in the 1700s. The so-called wave equation, used to describe the propagation of waves such as light, sound and water waves, was discovered by Jean le Rond d'Alembert in the middle of that century. But the model has limitations.
“The wave equation is a great first approximation, but it breaks down when the waves are very large — or, in technical parlance — 'nonlinear,'” Biondini said. “So, for example, in optical fibers, the wave equation is great for moderate distances, but if you send a laser pulse (which is an electromagnetic wave) through an optical fiber across the ocean or the continental U.S., the wave equation is not a good approximation anymore. “Similarly, when a water wave whitecaps and overturns, the wave equation is not a good description of the physics anymore.”
Over the next 250 years, scientists and mathematicians continued to develop new and better ways to describe waves. One of the models that researchers derived in the middle of the 20th century is the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which helps to characterize wave trains in a variety of physical contexts, including in nonlinear optics and in deep water.
But many questions remained unanswered, including what happens when a wave has small imperfections at its origin.
This is the topic of Biondini and Mantzavinos’ new paper.
“Modulational instability has been known since the 1960s. When you have small perturbations at the input, you’ll have big changes at the output. But is there a way to describe precisely what happens?” Biondini said. “After laying out the foundations in two earlier papers, it took us a year of work to obtain a mathematical description of the solutions. We then used computers to test whether our math was correct, and the simulation results were pretty good — it appears that we have captured the essence of the phenomenon.”
The next step, Biondini said, is to partner with experimental researchers to see if the theoretical findings hold when applied to tangible, physical waves. He has started to collaborate with research groups in optics as well as water waves, and he hopes that it will soon be possible to test the theoretical predictions with real experiments.
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2016/02/042.html#sthash.5jMJthbX.dpuf

Practical application:

MIT Invents a Way To Warn Sailors of Rogue Waves
MIT researchers have developed a new way for ships to predict unexpected rogue waves.

ogue waves, killer waves, monster waves, freak waves—whatever you call them, these deadly oscillations of the sea can rise up eight feet out of seemingly calm waters to come crashing down onto an unwary vessel. Researchers at MIT developed an algorithm that they believe can give sailors 2 to 3 minutes warning before a rogue wave strikes. The program works by identifying groups of waves rather than considering every single one.

The open ocean contains many waves moving in seemingly random directions. Amongst that chaos, waves will occasionally flow close together and in the same direction. Researchers realized that these groups of waves are the telltale sign of a forming rogue wave.

Previous simulations tried to map every single wave surrounding a ship, but accounting for all those data points simply requires too much computing power for a laptop set up at sea. The new MIT algorithm searches for just groups of waves flowing in the same direction and then measures the height and length of the group. The team found that certain height and length combinations are more likely to form a rogue wave, and their program estimates the probability that a wave group will ultimately grow into a towering monster wave.
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"It's precise in the sense that it's telling us very accurately the location and the time that this rare event will happen," says Themis Sapsis, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. "We have a range of possibilities, and we can say that this will be a dangerous wave, and you'd better do something. That's really all you need."

Vessels will need to incorporate high-resolution scanning technologies such as radar and LIDAR to measure surrounding waves, allowing the algorithm to give them adequate warning of destructive waves. But these technologies are steadily becoming more and more available—self-driving cars use LIDAR, for example—and the algorithm does not require much computing power.

Once the technology finds its way onto commercial vessels, it can give you a 2- to 3-minute heads-up prior to a rare rogue wave. But it won't protect you from a raging storm, and you still have to scramble to prepare for the blow.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a19618/saliors-best-defense-against-deadly-rogue-waves/

TargeT

1st March 2016, 14:23

This will be a bit further than 2 years... but the fact that it looks like it's actually moving forward is awesome... power produced @ $.01kw/h is amazing.

Disruptive advanced nuclear design is in pre-licensing design review
Terrestrial Energy announced that it is submitting its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) design to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for Phase I of its pre-licensing Vendor Design Review. During the course of this review, which is an optional feedback process offered by the CNSC, Terrestrial Energy will be demonstrating that the design meets Canadian regulatory requirements in a number of technical topic areas. This is seen as the first step towards an eventual license application to build its first commercial demonstration IMSR power plant.

Terrestrial Energy CEO, Simon Irish, made the following comment regarding the engagement:

“Terrestrial Energy is entering a new phase of its development – moving ahead from reactor research and design, to engineering and regulatory compliance. This new chapter takes the Company towards the submission of a formal license application to build and operate the first commercial demonstration Integral Molten Salt Reactor plant in the 2020s.

Terrestrial Energy is developing a next-generation nuclear reactor based on its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology. The IMSR represents true innovation in safety, cost and functionality. It will offer safe and reliable power solutions for electricity production, both on- and off-grid, and also energy for industrial process heat generation. These together extend the applicability of nuclear energy far beyond its current footprint. With this profile, the IMSR is capable of driving the rapid global decarbonization of the primary energy system by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad front. It is complementary to renewable power sources and ideal for distributed power systems on existing grids. Using an innovative design and proven Molten Salt Reactor technology, the IMSR can be brought to global markets in the 2020s. Terrestrial Energy is currently developing its IMSR commercial demonstration power plant for deployment in Canada.

Why is Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor a big deal ?

A molten salt 7.4 MWth test reactor was operated at Oak Ridge from 1965-1969. So no question about technical feasability
A conservative first IMSR design should be competitive with established power at about 3 cents per kWh
Later designs should be able to get lower than 1 cent per kWh
Design is walk away safe with passive safety systems
First designs would produce 6 times less nuclear waste and later designs can close the fuel cycle
Canada can use the first several hundred reactors to directly produce steam to profitably produce oil from the oilsands
Canada and Terrestrial Energy can thus use the oilsand reactors to profitably climb the learning curve before factory mass production of supersafe, super efficient and disruptively lower cost reactors
These system could provide 100% of global electricity demand without any emissions

In 2015, Terrestrial Energy had secured CAD$10 million ($7 million) in Series A funding to support its program to bring its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology to industrial markets in the 2020s.

Terrestrial Energy CEO Simon Irish said that the funds will be used to support pre-construction and pre-licensing engineering, and to support further engagement with industry and nuclear regulators. "These programs allow the Company to demonstrate to industry the commercial merits of the IMSR design," he said.

Series A funding is a term used to describe a company's first round of funding secured by selling preferred stock to investors, typically venture capitalists. Details on the source of Terrestrial Energy's funding have not been revealed.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-o8g8s0_zk/UWj5Mfb1-hI/AAAAAAAAj8k/YRMWvMG3rCg/s1600/DIAGRAM-IMSRvsModularsvsBeetle2-2.jpg
Terrestrial Energy in January 2015 announced a collaboration with ORNL to develop its IMSR design to the engineering blueprint stage.

The conceptual design stage is anticipated to be completed in 2017.
Canadian David LeBlanc is developing the Integral Molten Salt Reactor, or IMSR. The goal is to commercialize the Terrestrial reactor by 2021.

Molten Salt and Oilsands
* Using nuclear produced steam for Oil Sands production long studied
* Vast majority of oil only accessible by In-Situ methods
* No turbine island needed so 30% to 40% the capital cost saved (instead of steam to turbine for electricity just send it underground to produce oil from oilsands)
* Oil sands producers expected to pay 200 Billion$ on carbon taxes over the next 35 years, funds mandated to be spent on cleantech initiatives
* Canada Oil Sands in ground reserves of 2 trillion barrels, current estimate 10% recoverable (likely much higher with cheaper steam)
* 64 GWth nuclear to add 6.4 million bbls/day (200B$/year revenue)
* 64 GWth needed as about 200 small 300MWth MSRs
* Oil Sands a bridge to MSRs then with time, MSRs a bridge to not needing oil

So each 300 MW thermal MSR would generate $1 billion per year in oil revenue from the oilsands.
A 300 MW thermal reactor would be the same as a 100 MW electrical reactor. Even if costs were as much proportionally as a $10 billion 1 GWe conventional nuclear reactor (the high costs of the most expensive european or US projects.) the $1 billion cost would be recovered in about 2-4 years. Also, they indicated that there is no turbine to produce electricity since only steam is used. So the costs should be $700 million max.

This profitability means that the first 200 units should easily be profitable. Usually making more units has a improvement rate in lowering costs by a few percentage points for each later unit. The oilsand units would also generate the money to help payoff research and development costs, which would initial come from oilsand taxes and oilsand partners.

In previous design discussions about a similar Denatured Molten Salt Reactor , David LeBlanc believed that capital costs could be 25% to 50% less for a simple DMSR converter design than for modern LWRs (light water reactors).

More:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/02/disruptive-advanced-nuclear-design-is.html

ThePythonicCow

5th March 2016, 05:53

Wide-Eyed

7th March 2016, 03:01

Ray Kurzweil's future talk effects of open source technologies, 3-D printing, virtual reality today and in next 5-10 years. Kinda of bland thought since he has been hired by Google his insight is along the cutting edge... YVfHCSJ9GSE

TargeT

7th March 2016, 14:10

This will make medical diagnosis much more accurate, better displays (lower energy, more dynamic colors) and is teaching us how different materials are at the nano scale; plus it's cheap! (And I can only imagine that Tattoos... haha)

The nanolight revolution is coming
Virus-sized particles that fluoresce in every colour could revolutionize applications from television displays to cancer treatment.
http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.34542.1456941924!/image/C0132611-Quantum_dot_samples_for%20WEB.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/C0132611-Quantum_dot_samples_for%20WEB.jpg

At Biopolis, a sprawling research complex in Singapore, Chi Ching Goh leans over an anaesthetized mouse lying on the table in front of her, and carefully injects it with a bright yellow solution. She then gently positions the mouse's ear underneath a microscope, and flips a switch to bathe the ear in ultraviolet light. Seen through the microscope's eyepiece, the illumination makes the blood underneath the skin glow green, tracing the delicate vessels that carry the solution through the creature's body.Ultimately, Goh, a PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore, hopes that the method will help her to find blood vessels that are leaking owing to inflammation, perhaps helping to detect malaria or predict strokes. Crucial to her technique are the virus-sized particles that give the solution its colour. Just a few tens of nanometres across, they are among a growing array of 'nanolights' that researchers are tailoring to specific types of fluorescence: the ability to absorb light at one wavelength and re-emit it at another.

Many naturally occurring compounds can do this, from jellyfish proteins to some rare-earth compounds. But nanolights tend to be much more stable, versatile and easier to prepare — which makes them attractive for users in both industry and academia.

The best-established examples are quantum dots: tiny flecks of semiconductor that are prized for their beautiful, crisp colours. Now, however, other types of nanolight are on the rise. Some have a rare ability to absorb lots of low-energy photons and combine the energy into a handful of high-energy photons — a trick that opens up opportunities such as producing multiple colours at once. Others are made from polymers or small organic molecules. These are less toxic than quantum dots and often outshine them — much to the amazement of chemists, who are used to carbon-based compounds simply degrading in the presence of ultraviolet light.

“I was kind of surprised to find that we can make organic particles much brighter than inorganic particles,” says Bin Liu, a chemical engineer at the National University of Singapore and the designer of the fluorescent nanoparticles that Goh is using.Nanolights have already begun to find application in areas ranging from flat-screen displays to biochemical tests. And researchers are working towards even more ambitious uses in fields such as solar energy, DNA mapping, motion sensing and even surgery. “The research is certainly fast-paced,” says Daniel Chiu, who studies fluorescent nanoparticles at the University of Washington in Seattle.

It is also increasingly wide ranging, adds Paul Alivisatos, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-founder of the first quantum-dot technology companies. “It's so much fun now.”
Size matters

The nanolight era began with the discovery of quantum dots in 1981. Russian physicists were growing tiny crystals of the semiconductor cuprous chloride in silicate glass and observed that the colour of the glass depended on the size of the particles1. The crystals were so small that quantum effects were kicking in and they were behaving somewhat like atoms: they could absorb or emit light only as specific colours, with the exact frequencies depending on the size or shape of the particles (see 'Bridge the gap').
http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.34543.1456845242!/image/nanolights-graphic-RGB.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/nanolights-graphic-RGB.jpg

The quantum dots were bright and beautiful, says Yin Thai Chan, who studies them at the National University of Singapore, but “there were no obvious applications”. By the early 2000s, however, the pure colours had begun to attract television manufacturers, as well as biomedical researchers, who saw their potential for labelling specific proteins and DNA segments.“Everything is good about quantum dots,” says Liu — except for one thing: their toxicity. The best-performing dots contain cadmium, which can poison cells. This limits their usefulness in biology and in applications such as household electronics, because some countries do not allow use of the element in such devices. To some extent, this problem can be overcome by replacing cadmium with zinc or indium, which are considerably less toxic, or by wrapping cadmium-based quantum dots in polymers that are biocompatible. But the toxicity is still a drawback for researchers who are pursuing ambitious applications such as fluoresence-guided surgery, in which nanoparticles are injected into a tumour, for instance, to make it glow and help surgeons to remove all traces of it.
Going organic

Partly in response to this challenge, researchers have begun to develop nanoparticles from materials that fluoresce naturally. Because the light-emitting properties of these nanolights come from their composition rather than their size or shape, they are easier to make with specific colours. “Practically, this is useful because of the difficulties to synthesize everything in the same size,” says Chiu.

It also frees up nanolight researchers to explore alternative materials, such as semiconducting polymers. Studied for their potential in electronics since the 1950s, these polymers consist of simple compounds linked into a long chain in which electrons are free to move, but only at certain energies determined by the chain's composition.

Light is emitted when electrons are kicked up to higher energy levels by some outside source, such as ultraviolet light, then fall back down to lower levels. The polymers can also be decorated with side groups to give them specific properties — for example, targeting them to cancer cells, or helping them to dissolve in water. And when chains are aggregated into polymer nanoparticles, or 'P-dots', they can be as much as 30 times brighter than a quantum dot of comparable size2Semiconducting polymers do tend to be less stable than the inorganic semiconductors used in quantum dots. But because they are based on carbon, and contain no metals, they are much more likely to be biocompatible. P-dots have been used to stain and image cells, and also as sensors to detect oxygen, enzymes or metal ions such as copper.

In 2013, for example, Chiu and his collaborators reported that a P-dot bound to a terbium ion can detect biomolecules produced by bacterial spores3. Under an ultraviolet lamp, the P-dots glow dark blue and the terbium ions emit a faint neon green colour. But when passing biomolecules attach themselves to terbium, the ions' light strengthens to a bright green. The P-dots' light remains unchanged, so it serves as an internal standard.

Unfortunately, P-dots also have a fundamental problem: the polymer molecules are packed together so closely that they can be affected by 'quenching' — a phenomenon in which most of the energy coming from the original light source is quickly dissipated and fails to trigger fluorescence.

Quenching has a huge impact on efficiency, says Yang-Hsiang Chan, a chemist at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. One way to tackle it is to add bulky groups onto the polymer backbone to prevent the polymers from getting too close to each other. But this can be self-defeating: the resulting nanoparticles tend to be too fat to get into cells, say, or too dim to be useful. “It is very hard to get the right balance,” says Chan, who is working to solve the problem by designing new polymers.
Together we shine

A more fundamental solution was pioneered in 2001, when Ben Zhong Tang at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Clear Water Bay found that a class of small organic molecules would fluoresce only when they aggregate together4. These molecules are shaped like propellers or pinwheels, and they fluoresce when packed because they can no longer move and waste their energy. Instead, they release their energy as light — a phenomenon Tang has named aggregation-induced emission (AIE). He called the molecules AIE-gens.

Over the next few years, Tang and his students changed the side groups and introduced elements such as nitrogen or oxygen, and AIE-gens can now glow in the entire spectrum of colours from ultraviolet to near-infrared. “My students quickly made a lot,” says Tang. “We can change the colour at will.”In 2011, Tang met Liu through a collaboration at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore, part of the government-backed Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR). At that time, AIE-gens were performing well, except that they could not dissolve in water, which made them difficult to use in biological applications. Liu was an expert in making things water-soluble, so Tang gave her some of his best AIE-gens to work with.

Liu solved the problem by experimenting with polymers that are oil-loving on one end and water-loving on the other. The AIE-gens crowd within the polymer's oil-loving ends, and its water-loving ends point outwards to form a protective shell, resulting in a water-soluble capsule with a dense core full of AIE-gens. Liu designed a protective shell for the resulting nanoparticles, called AIE-dots, such that it could be decorated with various chemical groups that are tailored to specific applications. The shell can easily accommodate a wide variety of AIE-gens, says Liu, “so that we can screen a lot of molecules very quickly to find out which one is the best.”AIE-dots have been used to stain various tissues, from blood vessels to cancer cells to intracellular organelles such as mitochondria. Last year, Liu, Tang and their colleagues reported an AIE-dot that could be useful in a type of light-activated treatment known as photodynamic therapy5. It carries two molecules on its surface: one to get the dot into a cancer cell, and another to make it stick to the mitochondria. Once excited by an external light source, the AIE-dot produces red light that generates oxygen radicals near the mitochondria and kills the cancer cells.

The best AIE-dots can be 40 times brighter than quantum dots6. “With AIE, high density in constrained space produces high brightness,” says Guangxue Feng, a research assistant in Liu's lab. That is particularly useful for applications such as visualization of tissues or long-term tracking of cancer cells, which halve the number of nanoparticles per cell every time they divide.

But the brightness comes at a cost: AIE-dots produce a much broader, more-muted spectrum than the pure, brilliant colours of quantum dots. But that hasn't kept Liu from starting LuminiCell, a spin-off company in Singapore that produces AIE-dots in three colours and three sizes for research such as Goh's at A∗STAR. Tang is also trying to start a company; both he and Liu are now hoping to gain approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to test AIE-dots for human use in applications such as fluorescence-guided surgery.
Into the infrared

Another thing that limits the biological use of nanolights is that most of them absorb ultraviolet or visible light, which can penetrate only a few millimetres into tissue. Longer-wavelength near-infrared radiation can penetrate up to three centimetres — a much better depth for uses such as releasing drugs. But infrared light does not have enough energy to break the bonds that hold drugs on the nanoparticle, so many researchers are turning to a process called upconversion. This involves making material that can absorb multiple low-energy infrared photons, accumulate the energy and then re-emit it as higher-energy ultraviolet or visible photons.

The group of heavy-metal elements known as lanthanides are particularly good at this trick. In 2011, Xiaogang Liu at the National University of Singapore reported that his laboratory had created a particularly versatile type of nanoparticle7 with a Russian doll-like structure. It consists of a series of concentric shells that each contains a different combination of lanthanides. The energy from infrared light is absorbed by the core, then migrates outwards layer by layer, snowballing from lanthanide to lanthanide before finally emerging as high-energy light near the surface.

More here: http://www.nature.com/news/the-nanolight-revolution-is-coming-1.19482

TargeT

7th March 2016, 15:12

And on the opposite side of the spectrum:

The darkest material on Earth has become even darker
There is none more black than the new Vantablack.
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/a50e93f8948f269cfd112ee165dac0f5/203504036/vantablack2.gif

When Surrey NanoSystems introduced the original Vantablack, the company said the carbon nanotube material is capable of absorbing 99.96 percent of light that touches it. It's so dark, it can fool your eyes into seeing a smooth surface even when the nanotubes were actually grown on crumpled foil (seriously -- watch the video below the fold). Well, the new version of Vantablack is darker than that. In fact, Surrey can't even give us the percentage of light that gets absorbed, because its spectrometers can't measure it.

In this video below (and the GIF above), you can see the material engulf the laser pointer in darkness when it moves across:
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..........
Vantablack has a lot of potential applications, especially in the military and space sector. It could, for instance, be used to coat stealth vehicles. A team of Utah State University researchers found a rather novel use for it, though. They used the material to create an extremely absorbent urinal cake -- a black hole that sucks in your pee.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/05/vantablack-2/

I want a full body suit made out of this... it would be fun to be a shadow.

TargeT

10th March 2016, 15:35

I think it's going to be hard to get used to how fast technology will be changing soon... a 1000x improvement in memory storage is a pretty big jump..

Hard disk drive and SSD makers are about to wow the storage market again
Hard disk drive (HDD) and solid-state drive (SSD) makers are about to wow the storage market again.

This year, Intel and Micron will introduce 3D XPoint memory, also known as Optane, which will increase performance and durability 1,000-fold over today's NAND flash.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/03/3d_xpoint_die_1000-100649165-large.idge.jpg
Don't count NAND flash out. While the Optane chip and other resistive memory technologies coming down the pike may result in storage-class memory that could replace costly DRAM for many applications, it won't be cheap for a long while. That leaves the door open for continued NAND flash advances.

Enter 3D NAND flash, which Samsung, Intel/Micron, Toshiba and others believe will continue to grow capacity and tamp down prices. Eventually, 3D NAND will even convince consumers that SSDs can be as affordable as HDDs.

"Very soon flash will be cheaper than rotating media," said Siva Sivaram, executive vice president of memory at SanDisk.

Meanwhile, Seagate has demonstrated its heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) for HDDs, which will enable data densities of more than 10 trillion (10Tbits) per square inch. That's 10 times higher than the areal density in today's highest density HDDs. Seagate expects to work with equipment makers in 2017 to demonstrate HAMR products for data center applications, and in 2018 the company expects to begin shipping HAMR drives to broader markets.

These recent technology advances are just the latest chapter in the long story of ever-growing storage needs forcing innovations to meet the new demand.
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Storage is always up against a wall

When HDD companies faced capacity limits in the early 2000s, Toshiba and Seagate flipped data bits from lying flat on a platter to standing up side-by-side. The change from longitudinal to perpendicular magnetic recording increased HDD capacity by as much as 10 times.

When the HDD industry again faced capacity limits in 2013, Seagate overlapped data tracks like roof shingles, increasing capacity by 25%; then in 2014, HGST introduced helium filled drives, boosting capacity by 50%.

In the non-volatile memory industry, the same kind of advances have occurred to blow past capacity limits. Single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash became mult-level (MLC) NAND, where instead of one bit per transistor, two and three bits were stored. When MLC NAND faced its limits with the sub-10 nanometer (nm) lithography process, Samsung introduced 3D NAND flash, a move quickly followed by Intel/Micron and Toshiba, which stacked NAND cells up to 48-layers high. Flash manufacturers believe there's no limit in sight to how high they may climb.
NAND flash skyscrapers to grow beyond 100 stories

From the first iteration, 3D NAND flash technology offered from two to 10 times higher reliability and twice the write performance of planar NAND.

Most importantly, however, 3D NAND removed the lithography barrier planar (single-level NAND flash) faced as manufacturers shrunk transistors below 15 nanometers in size. The smaller lithography process led to data errors as bits (electrons) leaked between thin-walled cells.

"The big deal is you're not building these [3D NAND] skyscrapers one floor at a time. We know how to go from 24 layers to 36 layers to 48 layers to 64 layers and so on," said Sivaram. "There are no physics limitations to this. What we now have in 3D NAND is a predictable scaling for three and four generations -- something we never had before."

Currently, Samsung, SanDisk and its partner Toshiba and Intel and its partner Micron have been able to create 48-layer 3D NAND, which can store 256Gbits (32GB) in a single chip. While Samsung is the only company mass producing the 48-layer chips, all of the others are planning product launches soon.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/03/fms-sandisk-keynote-2015-kevin-conley-3d-nand-slide-100649162-large.idge.jpg
anDisk, Sivaram said, is already planning for 3D NAND chips with more than 100 layers.

"We don't see a natural limit to how high we can go. If I went around and asked how high can we go, [NAND manufacturers] won't tell me we can take it to 96 or 126 layers, and there's a physical limit there," Sivaram said. "This has been our dream for a long time."

While factories to build 3D NAND are vastly more expensive than plants that produce planar NAND or HDDs -- a single plant can cost $10 billion -- Sivaram argued that over time they'll scale down in cost as adoption ramps up.
Pricing is key

While enterprises and consumers alike love capacity -- more is better -- price most often determines adoption.

Intel and its development partner Micron are working on what may be a game changer in the non-volatile flash industry: the Optane chip -- known internally at Intel as 3D XPoint.

While Intel has released little information about what Optane will be, most industry experts believe it is a form of resistive RAM.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/03/cross_point_image_for_photo_capsule-100649161-large.idge.jpg
A two-layer depiction of Intel's and Micron's 3D XPoint (also known as Optane) chip resistive RAM architecture. It removes the need for bit-storing transistors and instead uses a latticework of wires that use electrical resistance to signify a 1 or a 0.
Resistive RAM (ReRAM) is able to perform read and write operations using 50 to 100 times less power than NOR flash, which makes it perfect for mobile devices -- even wearables.

ReRAM is based on the "memory resistor" concept, also called memristor. The term memristor was coined by University of California-Berkeley scientist Leon Chua in the early 1970s.

Until memristor, researchers knew of only three basic circuit elements -- the resistor, the capacitor and the inductor. Memristor, which consumed far less energy and offered far greater performance than previous technologies, was the fourth.

Currently, the only company shipping ReRAM products is Adesto Technologies. It recently introduced a new conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM) memory chip for battery-operated or energy-harvesting electronics used in the Internet of Things (IoT) market.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/03/crossbar-simple-cmos-integration-080213-100535774-large.idge-100620792-orig-100646372-large.idge-100649220-large.idge.jpg
A microscopic sideview photo of a Resistive RAM circuit where tiny conductive filaments crisscross and connect silicon layers to represent a bit of data.
In contrast, Intel plans to ship its Optane drives for enthusiast PC users this year. Jointly developed with Micron, the new Optane drives are expected to be 10 times denser than DRAM, and on paper are 1,000 times faster and more durable than NAND flash-based SSDs.

With one thousand times the endurance of NAND, Optane drives will offer one million erase-write cycles, meaning the new memory would last pretty much forever.

"It's not as fast as DRAM, so it's not going to replace it in the most latency-valued applications, but it's much higher density and much lower latency than NAND," Russ Meyer, Micron's director of process integration, said in an earlier interview with Computerworld. "If you compare how much faster SSDs are to hard drives and how much faster 3D XPoint is to conventional NAND, it's kind of the same order of improvement," Meyer said.

Intel has demonstrated Optane drives operating at about seven times the speed of its current SSDs.

This year, Intel also plans on releasing Optane drives for servers based on its new Skylake processor.

Along with Optane SSDs, the ReRAM technology is expected to come as DIMMs that plug into memory slots.

Alan Chen, a senior research manager at DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, said that even if Intel's Xpoint ReRAM technology enters the consumer PC marketplace this year, its use will be limited to the highest-end products due to cost.

"Optane's impact on the SSD market will be determined by its pricing. Currently, Optane products are still more expensive than the mainstream NAND flash-based counterparts. Hence, they will initially affect just the high-end SSD market," Chen said.

Last year, Hewlett-Packard and SanDisk also announced an agreement to jointly develop "Storage Class Memory" (SCM) ReRAM that could replace DRAM and would be 1,000 times faster than NAND flash.Knowm's memristors are designed to mimic human brains, in which a synapse connects two neurons. Those neurons get stronger the more often a signal is passed between them. Similarly, the learning and retention of information on Knowm memristor circuits are determined by data flow characteristics and the current.

Chen revealed that Samsung is also working on a product similar to Intel's Optane that will incorporate DRAM and NAND flash manufacturing. Samsung, however, declined comment.
A 20TB hard drive by 2020

As SSD prices continue to drop following the adoption of denser flash memory technology like 3D NAND, HDD makers are planning their own technology upgrades. Case in point: HAMR, which uses a laser on the hard drive read/write head to set smaller bits more securely in place on a drive's spinning platter.

Both Western Digital and Seagate are working on HAMR HDDs.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/03/23368_large_perphamr2-100649166-large.idge.gif
HAMR (heat assisted magnetic recording), uses a laser on the hard drive read/write head to set smaller bits more securely in place on a drive's spinning platter compared to traditional perpendicular magnetic recording.
"HAMR is our next technology that will keep our march along areal density curve going," said Mark Re, Seagate's chief technology officer. "We seem to go through these transitions every 10 years or so."

As disk drive densities increase, the potential for data errors also increases due to a phenomenon known as superparamagnetism effect. That's where the magnetic pull between bits close together on a platter's surface can randomly flip, resulting in their value changing from one to zero or vice versa. Random bit flips result in data errors.

HAMR uses a special aperture on the HDD's read/write head called a near-field transducer that concentrates a large quantity of photons onto the spinning disk in as small a size as possible.
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/03/screen-shot-2015-07-10-at-5.10.40-pm-100649150-large.idge.png
A close up look at a near field transducer on a read/write head that concentrates a large quantity of photons onto the spinning disk.
HAMR technology, created by Seagate, uses a laser to briefly heat a hard drive's disk surface during magnetic head recording. The heat shrinks a platter's data bits and tightens the concentric circles, known as tracks, to increase density. HAMR also uses nanotube-based lubrication to allow the read/write head of a disk to get closer to the surface in order to be better able to read and write data.

HAMR technology will eventually allow Seagate to achieve a linear bit density of around 10 trillion (10Tbits) per square inch -- 10 times higher than today's best HDD areal density of about 1Tbit per square inch, according to Re.

Seagate has already demonstrated HAMR HDDs with 1.4Tbits per square inch -- still 40% higher than today's best HDDs.
"We don't see others out there ahead of us. We have a pretty long history with HAMR. We've been working on it for about 10 years," Re said. "We're a bit more aggressive on when we'll ship it."

Seagate plans to begin shipping HAMR HDDs next year.

Using HAMR, the theoretical density for hard drives skyrockets, yielding a 3.5-in. server or desktop drive with up to 60TB of storage, and a single-platter 2.5-in. laptop drive with up to 20TB of capacity.

The marketing campaign Seagate has used is "20TB by 2020," but Seagate CTO Mark Re told Computerworld that's just a target.

Even beyond HAMR, the HDD industry has plans for greater drive density. Bit patterned media (BPM) recording would use nanolithography to down predefined bits of data on a drive platter, as opposed to current HDD technology where each bit is stored in 20 to 30 magnetic grains.

BPM could increase HDD density up to 200Tbits per square inch.

"Considering the latest 4TB external drive is 5 platters, that's pretty insane," said Nathan Papadopulos, Seagate's corporate communications manager.

"It's clearly still a ways out," Re added. "We're looking at this technology for middle of the next decade."
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3041947/data-storage/how-these-technologies-will-blow-the-lid-off-data-storage.html

apokalypse

11th March 2016, 05:39

this is great thread...we are 3 month in from 2016 and already seeing or hearing some of the stuff that blow my mind away how fast are we going especially with VR. many of you and include my self expected hard push for VR which it did.

TargeT

14th March 2016, 19:46

Beware the drone swarms... this will be a "thing" in the future

Modeled After Ants, Teams of Tiny Robots Can Move 2-Ton Car
Archimedes pointed out that with a lever he could move the world.

He most likely would have been surprised to learn that a team of six microrobots, weighing just 3.5 ounces in total, could pull a car weighing 3,900 pounds.
wU8Q7gIdiMI
A group of researchers at the Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory at Stanford University has been exploring the limits of friction in the design of tiny robots that have the ability to pull thousands of times their weight, wander like gecko lizards on vertical surfaces or mimic bats.

Now they have pushed biomimicry in a new direction. They have taken their inspiration from tiny ants that work as teams to move massive objects. In this case, they are not just taking ideas from nature — the movie “Big Hero 6” made a great deal of what swarms of microrobots could do, including tossing cars.

The researchers’ approach is counterintuitive. Rather than striking powerful blows like a football player making a tackle or a jackhammer, they have focused on synchronizing the smooth application of very tiny forces. The microrobots work in concert, if slowly.

The researchers observed that the ants get great cooperative force by each using three of their six legs simultaneously.

“By considering the dynamics of the team, not just the individual, we are able to build a team of our ‘microTug’ robots that, like ants, are superstrong individually, but then also work together as a team,” said David Christensen, a graduate student who is one of the authors of a research paper describing the feat. The paper will be presented this May at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm.

Their new demonstration is the functional equivalent of a team of six humans moving a weight equivalent to that of an Eiffel Tower and three Statues of Liberty, Mr. Christensen said. The car is the one he uses for commuting to campus. Part of the magic is the use of a special adhesive that was inspired by gecko toes.

Last month, Mr. Christensen and Srinivasan Suresh, another graduate student, the researcher Katie Hahm and the mechanical engineering professor Mark Cutkosky published “Let’s All Pull Together: Principles for Sharing Large Loads in Microrobot Teams.”

In an accompanying video, they show that the microrobots, when they are carefully synchronized, can do astounding things.
[/YOUTUBE]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/14/technology/modeled-after-ants-teams-of-tiny-robots-can-move-2-ton-car.html?_r=0

TargeT

15th March 2016, 16:22

Of course the military found out a way to use quantum entangled pairs of photons for war....

US Navy replaces SONAR with quantum photonic imaging device (quantum entangled photons)
A recent patent from US Navy reveals details of their awesome quantum photonic imaging device to detect of underwater objects. The patented invention would provide complete stealth during operation.

The invention uses quantum entanglement as a means to achieve detection of reflected radiation at levels that are below the noise level.

In a way, this is similar to how CDMA works by spreading information under the noise floor making it virtually indistinguishable from noise until it’s correlated with the correct code sequence. Just like that, the patented device generates a pair of entangled photons one of which (call it “probe photon”) is transmitted towards a target. The probe photon is reflected by the target. The reflected radiation which includes noise is then correlated with the other photon of the pair. Only when the reflected radiation includes a reflection of the probe photon, the correlation with the other photon is high, which indicates presence of an object. Multiple pairs of entangled photons are used to determine range and geometry of the target object.
wcu8dSnvXV4
The target object can be an Arctic ice canopy, ocean bottom, and another natural or artificial obstacle in the water that can obstruct under-ice passage of the vehicle in Arctic waters.

The patented device is particularly useful under Arctic sea-ice canopy, where conventional current underwater navigation systems fail.

Conventional arctic underwater vehicles use an (detection systems employ) active sonar array to avoid an accidental collision with the ice canopy. However, in the case of Arctic military operations, active sonar will give away the position of the submarine.
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2016/03/12/new-patent-us-navy-achieves-unprecedented-level-of-stealth/

TargeT

17th March 2016, 20:52

This is a real time rendering of the Unity engine.... Video games and even movies are about to become VERY hard to tell if they are real or not (especially with VR immersion)

This product will be released this year... CGI has never looked more amazing.

Today the folks at Unity have revealed a shirt film called "Adam" to demonstrate the abilities of their Unity engine. This clip is part of a longer film that'll be released (in full) by the Unity Demo team at Unite Europe 2016 in Amsterdam. Until then, you have this - a masterpiece in its own right. This demonstrates not only the power of Unity for games, but for the future of film, too. Unity announced this week the availability of both Unity 5.4 and Unity 5.3.4 (stable), as well as the availability of beta releases to personal edition users. In Unity 5.4 this means big things not only for flat, 2D rendering, but for virtual reality rendering as well.

According to Unity, this is a real-time rendered short film. "Adam" shows exactly what it'll mean to work with the Unity engine in the year 2016 and beyond. If this is what videos in video games are going to look like, can you imagine how realistic full-size Hollywood movies are going to look? There'll be no telling the difference between special effects and reality.
44M7JsKqwow

http://www.slashgear.com/unity-engine-2016-demo-is-terrifyingly-realistic-paving-way-for-vr-15431782/

TargeT

18th March 2016, 17:35

AI + drones + new battery tech.... anyone else see where this is headed?

When you hear the word "drone," you probably think of something either very useful or very scary. But could they have aesthetic value? Autonomous systems expert Raffaello D'Andrea develops flying machines, and his latest projects are pushing the boundaries of autonomous flight — from a flying wing that can hover and recover from disturbance to an eight-propeller craft that's ambivalent to orientation ... to a swarm of tiny coordinated micro-quadcopters. Prepare to be dazzled by a dreamy, swirling array of flying machines as they dance like fireflies above the TED stage.
RCXGpEmFbOw

Ernie Nemeth

18th March 2016, 18:35

TargeT

18th March 2016, 18:40

As in applications for dubious deeds?

I see a tech that is fairly low cost that could have a variety of personal uses. A swarm of mini drones could be very useful in lots of ways, from defense to detection screening, to mobile signage. They could be used to find your missing cat!

If they could be made small enough and adaptable enough, and cheap enough, I could use one to run a string through enclosed walls for circuit installations in existing structures.

Of course, if they can build a drone they can also build a stable flying car...they can already carry packages

(dubious? I don't think so)

Exactly my thoughts, though more focused on personal transportation.

If you can coordinate swarms of drones with out mid air collision...... This becomes a VERY viable thing once a decent battery comes out.

http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/5747cccda1d69789119b92a00e83a76/203221891/ehang184Hero.jpg

The 184 doesn't just look like a drone; it acts like one. Passengers will only have minimal controls: take off, pause flight and land. The drone's autonomous flight controls do the rest. All you need to do is push a button -- that's if you can pry your white knuckles off the seat long enough to press them. Naturally, you have to tell it where you want to go (via a smartphone app, of course), but once you do, it'll fly you there automatically.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/06/184-delivery-drone-for-people/

TargeT

23rd March 2016, 17:59

Never trust video again....This is the :target:ATOMIC BOMB:target: of Disinformation.

Face2Face: Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videos

Abstract

We present a novel approach for real-time facial reenactment of a monocular target video sequence (e.g., Youtube video). The source sequence is also a monocular video stream, captured live with a commodity webcam. Our goal is to animate the facial expressions of the target video by a source actor and re-render the manipulated output video in a photo-realistic fashion. To this end, we first address the under-constrained problem of facial identity recovery from monocular video by non-rigid model-based bundling. At run time, we track facial expressions of both source and target video using a dense photometric consistency measure. Reenactment is then achieved by fast and efficient deformation transfer between source and target. The mouth interior that best matches the re-targeted expression is retrieved from the target sequence and warped to produce an accurate fit. Finally, we convincingly re-render the synthesized target face on top of the corresponding video stream such that it seamlessly blends with the real-world illumination. We demonstrate our method in a live setup, where Youtube videos are reenacted in real time.
ohmajJTcpNk
http://www.graphics.stanford.edu/~niessner/thies2016face.html

TargeT

23rd March 2016, 18:48

Wow, this really opens the doors up for a lot of cool advancements, especially in friction-less joints and micro machines.

PRINTABLE MAGNETS!
IANBoybVApQ
The future of magnets is here

If you’re anything like me, you were probably fascinated by magnets when you were younger. But the new “smart magnets” in this video just made my jaw drop.

I just saw a video (above) on a new innovation which is a completely new way to not only manufacture magnets, but design them so that they have completely new properties.

In the video above from Smarter Every Day, (the same guy who did the Backwards Brain Bicycle), he goes to see a company called Polymagnet, who can design metals to have specific magnetic patterns so that they can both attract and repel at the same time on the same surface. They can even control the strength of the field over distance.

The part of the video at 5:45 shows how this can produce a “Smart Magnet” hinge which provides smooth closing, but locks in place when rotated.

It blew me away.

This opens up all sorts of ways that companies can produce truly new innovations in the future.
https://www.ideatovalue.com/curi/nickskillicorn/2016/03/the-future-of-magnets/

TargeT

23rd March 2016, 19:21

Sign me up... I'll download kung-fu and re-create that matrix scene (with out the gravity defying jumps... maybe?)!

Education of the future? Scientists figure out how to UPLOAD knowledge to the brain
A GROUP of scientists claim to have created a simulator which can upload knowledge directly to your brain.
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/brain-1-654714.jpg
In a breakthrough which promises new technology like that from The Matrix, researchers at HRL Laboratories have developed a programme which they say can upload new skills and knowledge directly to your brain.

The California-based institution analysed electrical signals in the brain of a pilot and fed the data to people who didn’t have the knowledge to fly planes via electrode-embedded head caps which stimulated the correct regions of the brain.
The participants who were fed the information via electrodes were then pitted against a placebo group on a realistic flight simulation test, which found that the former performed an average of 33 per cent better than the latter, according to the results published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Lead author Dr Matthew Phillips explained: “Our system is one of the first of its kind. It's a brain stimulation system."It sounds kind of sci-fi, but there's large scientific basis for the development of our system.

"The specific task we were looking at was piloting an aircraft, which requires a synergy of both cognitive and motor performance.
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/secondary/brain-4-495211.jpg
"When you learn something, your brain physically changes. Connections are made and strengthened in a process called neuro-plasticity.

“It turns out that certain functions of the brain, like speech and memory, are located in very specific regions of the brain, about the size of your pinky.”

He added that this could be the future of learning: “What our system does is it actually targets those changes to specific regions of the brain as you learn.
“The method itself is actually quite old. In fact, the ancient Egyptians 4000 years ago used electric fish to stimulate and reduce pain.

“Even Ben Franklin applied currents to his head, but the rigorous, scientific investigation of these methods started in the early 2000s and we're building on that research to target and personalise a stimulation in the most effective way possible.
“Your brain is going to be very different to my brain when we perform a task.

"What we found is … brain stimulation seems to be particularly effective at actually improving learning.”

While scientists may have figured out how to upload knowledge to a brain, a Russian billionaire is working on uploading his brain to a computer.

Dmitry Itskov has said he will make it possible for humans to live forever in the next 30 years by connecting human brains to computers.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/654714/Education-of-the-future-Scientists-figure-out-how-to-UPLOAD-knowledge-to-the-brain

TargeT

1st April 2016, 16:34

The crap you can get "at home"now is pretty insane... with this you can analyse your DNA, is there a home version of CRISPR? Will the new fad be personal genetic modification (why not?)?

Citizen scientists, you can now DIY your own DNA analysis with Bento Lab
https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/bento-lab-compact-portable-affordable-dna-testing-lab-1200x630-c.jpg?w=738
Want to know if you have the “athlete gene” or if you’re actually related to the weirdos who claim you as a family member? Get your collection tubes ready, citizen scientists, Bento Lab’s DIY DNA analysis kit is here and ready for the in-home lab.

Normally you’d order a kit somewhere like 23andMe, spit in a tube and mail it off for results in six to eight weeks. However, the London-based Bento Lab claims to be the first DIY DNA lab you can use to test anywhere. It’s small enough to fit in a backpack and can analyze DNA from saliva, hair, animal tissue and even beer or wine.
https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/f2a49c288aaa8e0516abf03ec001915f_original.gif
You collect a sample and place into the centrifuge in the middle of the product for DNA extraction. A PCR machine on the right-hand side then copies the genes and a gel unit allows you to then visualize the DNA.

The type of equipment needed is usually very expensive and requires DNA experts to run the various machines, but the Bento Lab is roughly the cost of a PC at $793 USD — affordable enough to test a variety of products that could cost hundreds of thousands to farm out to a lab service.

Bento Lab is on Kickstarter and has already more than doubled its crowdfunding goal, with 22 days to go, and the team behind it has support from the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering, Makerversity, Imperial College SynbiCITE and UCL Advances.

The lab includes the Bento Lab kit, as well as pipettes, reagents, cotton swabs for collection, an instruction booklet and a connected community. Bento Lab also mentioned creating an app to connect citizen scientists and allow the sharing of research and discoveries in the future.

Some of the suggested experiments you can run on Bento Lab include:

Test a hamburger to see if it contains horse meat
Identify genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
Find out if your taste buds detect bitter flavors by testing your variation of the PTC gene
Check if you are built for endurance by testing your variation of the “athlete” gene ACTN3
Explore how blood group genotyping works
Identify poisonous and non-poisonous types of mushrooms
Typify the genetic code of your homemade beer

The personalized lab has already been used in beta testing all across the world. Find out a bit more about this cool DIY genetics lab by watching the video below:
G2KTnE0x-H4
http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/30/citizen-scientists-you-can-now-diy-your-own-dna-analysis/

TargeT

6th April 2016, 17:19

Uhhhhhhh...... Well this is just terrifying...

Mind-control MICROSCOPE changes the behaviour of mice in an instant: Scientists make the animals do whatever they want by tweaking the brain's 'code' in real time

Approach combines cutting-edge techniques to manipulate brain cells
It uses lasers to create a holographic template which alters cell activity
So far the tool has been used to alter the behaviour in live mice
Researchers said it could provide insight how the regions of the brain communicate and even shed new light on brain disorders

In a breakthrough that wouldn't look out of place in a science fiction film, researchers said they have been able to control the minds of living animals by tweaking the activity of their brain cells.

Using a specialised microscope to tweak activity of brain circuits, they were able to control the behaviour of mice, leading to hopes that we could one day selectively stimulate cells in the brain, like hitting keys on a piano.

While mind control may seem like the stuff of dystopian sci-fi nightmares, the team said the findings could provide insight how the different regions of the brain communicate with one another and even shed new light on brain disorders.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/06/11/32E53D1D00000578-3526125-image-a-5_1459937811272.jpg
The brain is an incredibly complex organ, made up of interconnected clusters of cells which form neural circuits for different functions.

Cells within circuits may fire in response to a given task, but deciphering which combination of on-off signals within the circuits achieves the desired effect has remained unclear.
In experiments with mice, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, combined cutting edge neurobiology techniques to develop a microscope which is able to zoom in on a relatively small patch of thousands of brain cells and alter their activity using laser light.

By targeting an area of just a few thousand cells with the tool, they were able to change the electrical signals passed between them, so altering the activity of the animal's brain circuitry.

The findings were presented at the Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology in San Diego.

'With this new microscope, we believe we will soon be able to treat the brain as the keyboard of a piano, so to speak, and write in a sequence of activity that is needed to understand or correct brain function,' said Dr Hillel Adesnik, a neurobiologist at UCB, who led the research.

'After more refinements, this instrument may be able to function as a sort of Rosetta Stone to help us crack the neural code.'

According to Dr Adesnik, the researchers hope their approach will help to better understand how the brain's cellular machinery works and the 'language' being used by the cells to communicate.

He explained: 'We wanted to develop a technology that can offer a general approach to understand the basic syntax of neural signals, so that we can begin to understand what a given brain circuit is doing and perhaps what's gone wrong with that in the case of a disease.'

Mice were prepped by fitting glass windows into their skulls so the light could penetrate into their brains.

The brain cells were also genetically modified to make them responsive to light, using a technique called optogenetics.

Once in position on the animal's head, the tool shines two beams of infrared lasers through one of these windows in order to create a 3D holographic pattern within the brain.

The light-responsive brain cells then alter their electrical signals to any pattern the team choose, using the holographic pattern as a template.

'We're adapting holographic display technology, optogenetics and sensory biology and behaviour into one complete system that allows an all-optical approach to image and manipulate the nervous system,' said Adesnik.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/06/11/32E53D1700000578-3526125-image-a-2_1459937716059.jpg
The brain is incredibly complex, made up of interconnected clusters of cells which form neural circuits for different functions (pictured). Cells within circuits may fire in response to a given task, but deciphering which combination of on-off signals within the circuits achieves the desired effect has remained unclear

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/06/11/32E53D0E00000578-3526125-image-a-3_1459937719052.jpg
The team believes that their findings could provide insight how the different regions of the brain communicate with one another and even shed new light on brain disorders. In future, it may be possible to selectively stimulate cells in the brain by targeting them with light (stock image), like hitting keys on a piano.
'We've essentially put a lot of disparate existing pieces together to achieve something nobody had yet achieved,' explained Dr Adesnik.

Initial tests in live mice used the tool to record the activity of cells during small movements, such as a mouse moving its whiskers.

The activity was mapped to a hologram, which could be used as a template to trigger the same network of neurons to fire.

But the group is also developing the technology to trick mice into seeing things that aren't there.

In animals trained to push a lever in response to seeing a shape, they are using the approach to stimulate brain cells so the animal will think it has seen the shape, which could eventually be applied to memories.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3526125/Mind-control-MICROSCOPE-changes-behaviour-mice-instant-Scientists-make-animals-want-tweaking-brain-s-code-real-time.html

Cidersomerset

6th April 2016, 19:05

Well we had computors beating Chinese masters
at there game which I have forgot the name ?
and Chess masters before that and now they
are becoming artistic ?

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.11.2/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Computer paints 'new Rembrandt' after old works analysis

By Chris Baraniuk
Technology reporter

4 hours ago
From the section Technology

The painting was produced by a computer that had analysed existing Rembrandt works
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/4B28/production/_89104291_rembrandt.jpg
Image copyright The Next Rembrandt

The painting was produced by a computer that had analysed existing Rembrandt works

A team of technologists working with Microsoft and others have produced a 3D-printed
painting in the style of Dutch master Rembrandt.

The portrait was created after existing works by the artist were analysed by a computer.

A new work was then designed to look as much like a Rembrandt as possible - while
remaining an original portrait.

It was then 3D-printed to give it the same texture as an oil painting.

"We really wanted to understand what makes a face look like a Rembrandt," Emmanuel
Flores, director of technology for the project, told the BBC.

After they had been digitally tagged by humans, data on Rembrandt's paintings was
gathered by computers which discovered patterns in how the Dutch master would, for
example, characteristically shape a subject's eyes in his portraits.

Then, machine-learning algorithms were developed which could output a new portrait
mirroring Rembrandt's style.

To limit the many possible results to a specific type of individual, the computer was
asked to produce a portrait of a Caucasian male between the ages of 30 and 40, with
facial hair, wearing black clothes with a white collar and a hat, facing to the right.

Algorithm artist

"We found that with certain variations in the algorithm, for example, the hair might be
distributed in different ways," explained Mr Flores.But humans didn't decide the final
look and feel of the final portrait - they simply chose algorithms based on their efficiency
and let the computer come up with the finished result.Finally, a 3D texture for the
painting was applied based on the height and depth of paint
applied to Rembrandt's works.

As this was 3D-printed, artists's brushstrokes themselves could be mimicked in the final product.

"Our goal was to make a machine that works like Rembrandt," said Mr Flores. "We will
understand better what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece."

However, he added, "I don't think we can substitute Rembrandt - Rembrandt is unique."

The two-year project, entitled "The Next Rembrandt", was a collaboration between Microsoft,
financial firm ING, Delft University of Technology and two Dutch art museums - Mauritshuis
and Rembrandthuis.

A public exhibition of the portrait is planned and details of the display will be released at a later date.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35977315

Cidersomerset

6th April 2016, 19:25

Citizen scientists, you can now DIY your own DNA analysis with Bento Lab

would this be any good for testing the Star Child scull and other
alternate mysteries I wonder ? or is it not designed for that ?

The main delay there before Lloyd passed was funds for
DNA testing, though they did finally get some results...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uNa_Pz9--uc/TeoawJ6wbfI/AAAAAAAABaY/FpQ7nY8-sEc/s1600/03.jpg

INCREDIBLE STARCHILD DNA RESULTS *HD* ORIGINAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moEYqLdupIA
Uploaded on 8 Aug 2010

Preliminary new DNA results from the 900 year old Starchild Skull, providing
information that a percentage of the DNA in the bone may not be from Earth.

TargeT

6th April 2016, 19:25

Well we had computors beating Chinese masters
at there game which I have forgot the name ?

the name is "go" and it's insanely complex I'm a very poor player..

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/13_by_13_game_finished.jpg

As this was 3D-printed, artists's brushstrokes themselves could be mimicked in the final product.

"Our goal was to make a machine that works like Rembrandt," said Mr Flores. "We will
understand better what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece."

However, he added, "I don't think we can substitute Rembrandt - Rembrandt is unique."

He might not think a Rembrandt can be substituted, but 99.99999% of the people out there wont know the difference... I bet that GAULS the elites that soon even their coveted rare-art can be had by the common man.

Cidersomerset

6th April 2016, 19:29

the name is "go" and it's insanely complex I'm a very poor player..

I put down 'Go' then thought that can't be right and I was going to look
it up but got distracted with the helicopter drone vid and the DNA machine..LOL

===================================================

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.11.2/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Liquid-pumped robots made by 3D printer

37 minutes ago

Short vid on link.....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35981694

Robotics researchers in the US have developed a new technique to build working
robots using a 3D printer.

The work was carried out by at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Lab and involves printing solid and liquid materials simultaneously.

The engineers believe their method could one day be used by disaster relief
organisations to deploy customised bots in dangerous environments.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35981694

TargeT

6th April 2016, 19:39

Citizen scientists, you can now DIY your own DNA analysis with Bento Lab

would this be any good for testing the Star Child scull and other
alternate mysteries I wonder ? or is it not designed for that ?

The main delay there before Lloyd passed was funds for
DNA testing, though they did finally get some results...
.

yes, and mostly no...

That particular kit just compares DNA against known signatures.. you'd be missing out on any unknowns (not sure how they'd show up).

DNA sequencing is very inexpensive now however.... previously this wasn't the case.
https://www.genome.gov/images/content/costpergenome2015_4.jpg

as of 2014 it was $1000 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$1,000_genome), probably much cheaper now.....

TargeT

19th April 2016, 14:59

This seems like the first step to easy nano manufacturing.. manipulation via electromagnetic fields is not new, but THIS is amazing.

Modified Tesla Coil Makes Carbon Nanotubes Self-Assemble Into Wires
http://www.iflscience.com/sites/www.iflscience.com/files/styles/ifls_large/public/blog/2016-04/Tesla%20coil.JPG
Electromagnetism has fascinated and confused people for hundreds of years. It brought light to our nights, and allowed for the development of the world. It would look like magic to a person living 200 years ago and, to top all that, we now have a new trick up our sleeves: constructing structures at a distance.

Researchers from Rice University in Texas have used the strong electric field emitted by a redesigned Tesla coil to assemble carbon nanotubes (cylindrical carbon molecules) into long wires. The amazing process lines up the positive and negative charges of the nanotubes, forcing them to join up in chains. The researchers called this phenomenon Teslaphoresis.

"Electric fields have been used to move small objects, but only over ultrashort distances," Paul Cherukuri, leader of the team of researchers, said in a statement. "With Teslaphoresis, we have the ability to massively scale up force fields to move matter remotely."

The Tesla coil was designed by Nikola Tesla in 1891 as a way to transmit electrical energy without wires, and the researchers used this property in combination with Teslaphoresis to create self-assembly circuits. In one experiment, the nanotubes formed an electrical circuit with two LEDs, structured in a way that it could absorb the energy from the Tesla coil and use it to light up the LEDs.

"It is such a stunning thing to watch these nanotubes come alive and stitch themselves into wires on the other side of the room," Cherukuri added. Their results are presented in a paper published in ACS Nano.
http://www.iflscience.com/sites/www.iflscience.com/files/blog/2016-04/animation%20%2814%29.gif
Lead author Lindsey Bornhoeft described that while nanotubes were used in this instance, Teslaphoresis could potentially be used for many different materials.

"These nanotube wires grow and act like nerves, and controlled assembly of nanomaterials from the bottom up may be used as a template for applications in regenerative medicine," he said.

And the researchers also think there could be many more applications for these "force fields," allowing for matter in both biological and artificial systems to be controlled.

"And even more exciting is how much fundamental physics and chemistry we are discovering as we move along. This really is just the first act in an amazing story," said Cherukuri
w1d0Lg6wuvc

http://www.mywebroom.com/room/pokemaster/content/3/reads/0/explore/297279/modified-tesla-coil-makes-carbon-nanotubes-self-assemble-into-wires

TargeT

21st April 2016, 16:42

So many discoveries in batteries....

I still maintain: a good battery will change the world... this is a great step in that direction.

All powered up
UCI chemists create battery technology with off-the-charts charging capacity

ON APRIL 20, 2016
Irvine, Calif., April 20, 2016 — University of California, Irvine researchers have invented nanowire-based battery material that can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times, moving us closer to a battery that would never require replacement. The breakthrough work could lead to commercial batteries with greatly lengthened lifespans for computers, smartphones, appliances, cars and spacecraft.
https://news.uci.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Penner_01_daa-1080x720.jpg
Scientists have long sought to use nanowires in batteries. Thousands of times thinner than a human hair, they’re highly conductive and feature a large surface area for the storage and transfer of electrons. However, these filaments are extremely fragile and don’t hold up well to repeated discharging and recharging, or cycling. In a typical lithium-ion battery, they expand and grow brittle, which leads to cracking.

UCI researchers have solved this problem by coating a gold nanowire in a manganese dioxide shell and encasing the assembly in an electrolyte made of a Plexiglas-like gel. The combination is reliable and resistant to failure.

The study leader, UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai, cycled the testing electrode up to 200,000 times over three months without detecting any loss of capacity or power and without fracturing any nanowires. The findings were published today in the American Chemical Society’s Energy Letters.

Hard work combined with serendipity paid off in this case, according to senior author Reginald Penner.

“Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it,” said Penner, chair of UCI’s chemistry department. “She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity.”

“That was crazy,” he added, “because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5,000 or 6,000 or 7,000 cycles at most.”

The researchers think the goo plasticizes the metal oxide in the battery and gives it flexibility, preventing cracking.

“The coated electrode holds its shape much better, making it a more reliable option,” Thai said. “This research proves that a nanowire-based battery electrode can have a long lifetime and that we can make these kinds of batteries a reality.”

The study was conducted in coordination with the Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of Maryland, with funding from the Basic Energy Sciences division of the U.S. Department of Energy.

About the University of California, Irvine: Currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $4.8 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.
https://news.uci.edu/research/all-powered-up/

TargeT

22nd April 2016, 15:55

A shame this is buried on page 9... this is a H U G E advancement.... the first real step to biological immortality.

FIRST GENE THERAPY SUCCESSFUL AGAINST HUMAN AGING
http://i2.wp.com/bioviva-science.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/telomeres.jpg?resize=653%2C435
American woman gets biologically younger after gene therapies

Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of Bioviva USA Inc. has become the first human being to be successfully rejuvenated by gene therapy, after her own company’s experimental therapies reversed 20 years of normal telomere shortening.

Telomere score is calculated according to telomere length of white blood cells (T-lymphocytes). This result is based on the average T-lymphocyte telomere length compared to the American population at the same age range. The higher the telomere score, the “younger” the cells.

In September 2015, then 44 year-old CEO of BioViva USA Inc. Elizabeth Parrish received two of her own company’s experimental gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age, another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities.

The treatment was originally intended to demonstrate the safety of the latest generation of the therapies. But if early data is accurate, it is already the world’s first successful example of telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual. Gene therapy has been used to lengthen telomeres before in cultured cells and in mice, but never in a human patient.

Telomeres are short segments of DNA which cap the ends of every chromosome, acting as ‘buffers’ against wear and tear. They shorten with every cell division, eventually getting too short to protect the chromosome, causing the cell to malfunction and the body to age.

In September 2015, telomere data taken from Parrish’s white blood cells by SpectraCell‘s specialised clinical testing laboratory in Houston, Texas, immediately before therapies were administered, revealed that Parrish’s telomeres were unusually short for her age, leaving her vulnerable to age-associated diseases earlier in life.

In March 2016, the same tests were taken again by SpectraCell revealed that her telomeres had lengthened by approximately 20 years, from 6.71kb to 7.33kb. This implies that Parrish’s white blood cells (leukocytes) have become biologically younger. These findings were independently verified by the Brussels-based non-profit HEALES (HEalthy Life Extension Company), and the Biogerontology Research Foundation, a UK-based charity committed to combating age-related diseases.

Parrish’s reaction: “Current therapeutics offer only marginal benefits for people suffering from diseases of aging. Additionally, lifestyle modification has limited impact for treating these diseases. Advances in biotechnology is the best solution, and if these results are anywhere near accurate, we’ve made history”, Parrish said.

Bioviva will continue to monitor Parrish’s blood for months and years to come. Meanwhile, BioViva will be testing new gene therapies and combination gene therapies to restore age related damage. It remains to be seen whether the success in leukocytes can expanded to other tissues and organs, and repeated in future patients. For now all the answers lie in the cells of Elizabeth Parrish, ‘patient zero’ of restorative gene therapy.

Since her first gene therapy injections BioViva has received global interest from both the scientific and investment communities. Earlier this month BioViva became a portfolio company of Deep Knowledge Life Sciences (DKLS), a London-based investment fund which aims to accelerate the development of biotechnologies for healthy longevity.

Dmitry Kaminskiy, founding partner of DKLS, said “BioViva has the potential to create breakthroughs in human gene therapy research, while leapfrogging companies in the biotech market.”
http://bioviva-science.com/2016/04/21/first-gene-therapy-successful-against-human-aging/

Cidersomerset

12th July 2016, 11:11

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.20.0/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Artificial stingray is 'living robot'
8 July 2016

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/340B/production/_90332331_park3hr.jpg
Scientists have designed a robotic stingray that could help our understanding of the
human heart.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36748076

Introducing robo-ray: part animal, part machine

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/introducing-robo-ray-part-animal-part-machine

TargeT

12th July 2016, 13:10

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.20.0/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Artificial stingray is 'living robot'
8 July 2016

Sounds like a transhumanists wet dream... kind of creepy.

Fillings that heal your teeth – how regenerative medicine could change your visit to the dentist

01 Jul 2016 10:43:38.107
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/News/pressreleases/2016/July/Dental-xray-000062392724-Large-1-Cropped-445x124.jpg
A team behind regenerative dental fillings that could help heal teeth have been awarded a Royal Society of Chemistry prize.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University have developed therapeutic synthetic, light-curable, biomaterials for dental treatments that support native dental stem cells inside teeth to repair and regenerate dentin.

The approach could significantly impact millions of dental patients each year by dental fillings that help heal teeth when they are injured from dental disease or dental surgery.

The research won second prize in the materials category of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2016.

Dr Adam Celiz, Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, said: “Existing dental fillings are toxic to cells and are therefore incompatible with pulp tissue inside the tooth. In cases of dental pulp disease and injury a root canal is typically performed to remove the infected tissues.

“We have designed synthetic biomaterials that can be used similarly to dental fillings but can be placed in direct contact with pulp tissue to stimulate the native stem cell population for repair and regeneration of pulp tissue and the surrounding dentin. Our approach has great promise to impact the dental field and this prize provides a great platform to develop this technology further with industrial partners.”
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2016/july/fillings-that-heal-your-teeth.aspx

Using fillings that aren't toxic and promote healing? why did this take so long...

PurpleLama

22nd July 2016, 12:18

TargeT

22nd July 2016, 13:38

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/187416-high-efficiency-spray-on-solar-power-tech-can-turn-any-surface-into-a-cheap-solar-cell

Solar cell spray paint is coming soon. I can totally see maglev train systems that are high speed and generate more power than they use. From what I am gathering, once this tech is workable, it will be way cheaper than solar cells.

I think the solar systems we have now will be looked on as very primitive.. we are finding so many ways to improve

Temperature effects them, something was found for that (http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/stanford-solar-panel-heat/)

the raw materials used have been improved,when we thought they were at their limit (http://phys.org/news/2016-04-solar-cell-mystery-greatly-efficiency.html)

there are now ways to capture even MORE of the light spectrum for around 30% more efficency (http://inhabitat.com/new-solar-panel-coating-could-improve-efficiency-by-more-than-30-percent/)

Novels ways of making heat, as well as power have been discovered (very large scale implementations) (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160609064749.htm)

we are making ORGANIC solar panels (http://technologylicensing.research.ufl.edu/technologies/13955_organic-solar-cells-with-improved-solar-energy-conversion-efficiency)

We are even genetically modifying viruses to take advantage of quantum weirdness that is photosynthesis (which is nearly 100% conversion from light to energy) (http://www.techtimes.com/articles/95985/20151016/genetically-engineered-virus-improves-efficiency-of-solar-cells.htm)

Pretty amazing field to work in I imagine.

TargeT

26th July 2016, 13:24

we are in for an interesting world in the near future....

7-Eleven delivers by drone in Reno including, yes, Slurpees
https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/7-eleven_flirtey.png?w=738

7-Eleven Inc. and a tech startup called Flirtey have beaten Amazon to the punch in making the first drone delivery to a customer’s home in the U.S.

Most already know 7-Eleven, the convenience store retail chain that boasts about 10,800 stores in North America and 59,500 in total around the world.

Flirtey is a privately held company based in Reno, Nevada, which builds and operates drones to make deliveries that are needed in humanitarian and health work, retail and food industries.

Rather than adapting existing unmanned aerial vehicles, Flirtey builds its own, develops the software to run them, and creates proprietary packaging and containers to keep items secure during delivery, according to CEO Matt Sweeney.

During the 7-Eleven delivery, which took place in Reno, Nevada on July 10th, Flirtey successfully transported: Slurpees, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee and candy to the home of the family who placed the order.

While 7-Eleven is thought of as a brick and mortar franchise, the company does actually allow online ordering and delivery through services like Postmates, Tapingo and others. Drones would comprise a futuristic expansion of 7-Eleven’s delivery business.

And delivery by drone is something 7-Eleven intends to offer widely in the future, according to 7-Eleven EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer Jesus H. Delgado-Jenkins. He declined to put a specific date on the launch of such a service, citing a shifting regulatory environment.

Drone delivery could prove especially useful to families with children who cannot easily leave the house when they have an urgent need for items like over the counter medicines or milk, Delgado-Jenkins said.

To find customers willing to have their order handled by a flying robot, the companies surveyed households within a one-mile radius of the store from which they planned to deliver.

Flirtey’s CEO Matt Sweeney said, “When I moved to the U.S. two years ago, only one company had a 333 exemption to do this and that was in the Arctic!”

He sees the milestone delivery as a sign of “rapid progress” not just for his company but the drone industry.

Indeed, broad changes are ahead for the drones industry in the U.S.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is expected to put new rules into effect in late August that allow the operation of small, unmanned aircraft in the national airspace.

And the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016, which passed both houses this month, requires the FAA to develop drone delivery rules, and to conduct research on “BVOS” or beyond the visual line of sight flying of drones.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/22/7-eleven-delivers-by-drone-in-reno-including-yes-slurpees/

TargeT

11th August 2016, 02:31

Great breakdown on crisper & how it will dramatically change our society.

If you were fuzzy on it before, this should clear things up:
jAhjPd4uNFY

TargeT

25th August 2016, 15:04

Well that didn't take long... any one care to speculate on how long it is until it's nearly illegal to drive your self? (my guess 15+ years... though maybe sooner)

World's first self-driving taxis debut in Singapore
http://binaryapi.ap.org/dd27699ed68d4dd18dd450b7f98724ad/460x.jpg
The world's first self-driving taxis will be picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday.

Select members of the public will be able to hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup. While multiple companies, including Google and Volvo, have been testing self-driving cars on public roads for several years, nuTonomy says it will be the first to offer rides to the public. It will beat ride-hailing service Uber, which plans to offer rides in autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, by a few weeks.

The service will start small — six cars now, growing to a dozen by the end of the year. The ultimate goal, say nuTonomy officials, is to have a fully self-driving taxi fleet in Singapore by 2018, which will help sharply cut the number of cars on Singapore's congested roads. Eventually, the model could be adopted in cities around the world, nuTonomy says.

For now, the taxis only will run in a 2.5-square-mile business and residential district called "one-north," and pick-ups and drop-offs will be limited to specified locations. And riders must have an invitation from nuTonomy to use the service. The company says dozens have signed up for the launch, and it plans to expand that list to thousands of people within a few months.

The cars — modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics — have a driver in front who is prepared to take back the wheel and a researcher in back who watches the car's computers. Each car is fitted with six sets of Lidar — a detection system that uses lasers to operate like radar — including one that constantly spins on the roof. There are also two cameras on the dashboard to scan for obstacles and detect changes in traffic lights.

The testing time-frame is open-ended, said nuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma. Eventually, riders may start paying for the service, and more pick-up and drop-off points will be added. NuTonomy also is working on testing similar taxi services in other Asian cities as well as in the U.S. and Europe, but he wouldn't say when.

"I don't expect there to be a time where we say, 'We've learned enough,'" Iagnemma said.

Doug Parker, nuTonomy's chief operating officer, said autonomous taxis could ultimately reduce the number of cars on Singapore's roads from 900,000 to 300,000.

"When you are able to take that many cars off the road, it creates a lot of possibilities. You can create smaller roads, you can create much smaller car parks," Parker said. "I think it will change how people interact with the city going forward."

NuTonomy, a 50-person company with offices in Massachusetts and Singapore, was formed in 2013 by Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who were studying robotics and developing autonomous vehicles for the Defense Department. Earlier this year, the company was the first to win approval from Singapore's government to test self-driving cars in one-north. NuTonomy announced a research partnership with Singapore's Land Transport Authority earlier this month.

Singapore is ideal because it has good weather, great infrastructure and drivers who tend to obey traffic rules, Iagnemma says. As a land-locked island, Singapore is looking for non-traditional ways to grow its economy, so it's been supportive of autonomous vehicle research.

Auto supplier Delphi Corp., which is also working on autonomous vehicle software, was recently selected to test autonomous vehicles on the island and plans to start next year.

"We face constraints in land and manpower. We want to take advantage of self-driving technology to overcome such constraints, and in particular to introduce new mobility concepts which could bring about transformational improvements to public transport in Singapore," said Pang Kin Keong, Singapore's Permanent Secretary for Transport and the chairman of its committee on autonomous driving.

Olivia Seow, 25, who does work in startup partnerships in one-north and is one of the riders nuTonomy selected, took a test ride of just less than a mile on Monday. She acknowledged she was nervous when she got into the car, and then surprised as she watched the steering wheel turn by itself.

"It felt like there was a ghost or something," she said.

But she quickly grew more comfortable. The ride was smooth and controlled, she said, and she was relieved to see that the car recognized even small obstacles like birds and motorcycles parked in the distance.

"I couldn't see them with my human eye, but the car could, so I knew that I could trust the car," she said. She said she is excited because the technology could free up her time during commutes or help her father by driving him around as he grows older.

An Associated Press reporter taking a ride Wednesday observed that the safety driver had to step on the brakes once, when a car was obstructing the test car's lane and another vehicle, which appeared to be parked, suddenly began moving in the oncoming lane.

Iagnemma said the company is confident that its software can make good decisions. The company hopes its leadership in autonomous driving will eventually lead to partnerships with automakers, tech companies, logistics companies and others.

"What we're finding is the number of interested parties is really overwhelming," he said
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/615568b7668b452bbc8d2e2f3e5148e6/worlds-first-self-driving-taxis-debut-singapore

Cidersomerset

25th August 2016, 21:28

Not new tech but this came up on U'tube link I was on
and I clicked on for curiosity , and if its genuine could
save on metals especially if the paper could be coated
with something.

Can Paper Cut Wood?

rYfkhdKcEiE

Published on 21 Aug 2016
Thought I'd give this a try, just to see what would happen.
Kind of gives a new meaning to thin kerf blade!

=========================================
=========================================
On the other hand !!

Australians embracing super-human microchip technology

By David on 25 August 2016 GMT Microchipping

https://www.davidicke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Untitled-185-4.jpg

‘It may sound like sci-fi, but hundreds of Australians are turning themselves
into super-humans who can unlock doors, turn on lights and log into computers
with a wave of the hand.Shanti Korporaal, from Sydney, is at the centre of the
phenomenon after having two implants inserted under her skin.

Now she can get into work and her car without carrying a card or keys, and says
ultimate goal is to completely do away with her wallet and cards.’

cUQbh7Rj8Ug

TPEqLbuwXdI

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/wearables/australians-embracing-superhuman-microchip-technology/news-story/536a08003cb07cba23336f83278a5003

TargeT

26th August 2016, 21:16

Well that didn't take long... any one care to speculate on how long it is until it's nearly illegal to drive your self? (my guess 15+ years... though maybe sooner)

Already in the US... that was quicker than I thought it would be... this could be a HUGE thing in the next 2 years... I used UBR for the first time in Dallas recently, it was amazing and less than half the price of a taxi.

Spotted: A Self-Driving Uber in Pittsburgh
Hey, look! Pictures of self-driving Ubers are starting to emerge from Pittsburgh. Uber announced the launch earlier this month. While the cars do indeed drive themselves, there’s still going to be a human at the wheel. Which is probably a good idea!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CqyiWAgWAAA1Ku8.jpg
Uber is partnering with Volvo to roll out these self-driving cars. This is it folks. This is a glimpse of our future dystopian hellscape. Soak it up. Enjoy it.

http://gizmodo.com/spotted-a-self-driving-uber-in-pittsburgh-1785791976

Cidersomerset

27th August 2016, 10:28

You will know this has been brewing for decades but seems to be
ramping up recently in the current world . ( who knows how far
they have got in the black world ? ). The best way to accelerate
anything is a arms race.....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Terminators’ will be built by our enemies, says top US military chief

By David on 27 August 2016 GMT

https://img.rt.com/files/2016.08/original/57c05b5ec4618861148b4579.jpg

‘The future of war will involve autonomous robots instead of humans, according to Air
Force General and Vice Chair of the Joint of Chiefs of Staff Paul Selva, who warned
enemies could build “Terminator”-like machines to fight in battlefields.

Speaking at the think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in
Washington, Selva said the technology could be developed in 10 years – and that the
world’s biggest military should punish anyone who pursues such weapons.

“This is about an entirely robotic system, completely autonomous, [that is] not dependent
on the human decision,” Selva said. “We’re told by the technologists that we’re a decade
or so away from that capability.”’

Read more: ‘Terminators’ will be built by our enemies, says top US military chief

https://www.rt.com/usa/357315-terminators-enemies-us-military/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

====================================================
====================================================

The Emerging ‘Mark of the Beast’ System

By David on 27 August 2016 GMT

http://www.wakingtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/WT-Logo-Color-Orange-Red-Fade-1.png

The Emerging ‘Mark of the Beast’ System

http://www.wakingtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Mark-of-the-beast.jpg

Mark of the beast Steven Tritton, New Dawn
Waking Times

“Sleepwalking into the Surveillance Society”

Modern technology has created a brave new electronic and borderless world.
Surveillance and biometric capturing technologies have advanced significantly in
recent years. ID programs have modernised with the likes of ID smartcards linked
to huge databases enabling fast and secure electronic authentication among other
surveillance functions.

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/08/26/the-emerging-mark-of-the-beast-system/

bluestflame

27th August 2016, 10:54

drones tuned to hunt
rfid chips

TargeT

27th August 2016, 20:37

drones tuned to hunt
rfid chips

luckily, for now; RFID is super super short range.

Cidersomerset

30th August 2016, 06:30

NATURAL NEWS...

Doctors make history by 'jump-starting' coma patient's brain with new technology

Monday, August 29, 2016 by: Vicki Batts

http://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/640/Medical/Man-Hospital-Bed-Coma-ER-Intensive-Care.jpg

(NaturalNews) Scientists from UCLA recently performed a groundbreaking procedure
that brought a 25-year-old man back to life. The anonymous man is the first coma
patient to regain consciousness without having to undergo a dangerous and
life-threatening surgery.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/055126_coma_patients_medical_technology_ultrasound.html#ixzz4InJvyZr2

TargeT

1st September 2016, 04:29

Now the cat videos will come even faster to our personal tracking devices!

New digital antenna could revolutionize the future of mobile phones
Combining several antenna elements into a single antenna speeds up data transfer and improves reception and efficiency
http://media.eurekalert.org/multimedia_prod/pub/web/122954_web.jpg
Aalto University's Radio Science and Engineering researchers have developed a method that allows antennas to make the shift from the analogue to the digital world. The antennas currently in use are mostly based on technology developed half a century ago.

'Traditionally one antenna works with either one or a few different frequencies. Now we can take advantage of advanced digital electronics and combine several small antenna elements to work together as one antenna that can be made to operate digitally with any frequency. In this way, many smartphone applications like GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will no longer need their own antennas. Instead, all of the phone's data transfer can take place through one digitally controlled antenna. This in turn makes phone design easier and enables a larger screen size relative to phone size as the antenna does not require so much space', explains doctoral candidate Jari-Matti Hannula.

The new antenna also makes it possible to reach the data transfer speed set as the objective for the next generation of phones, which is 100 to 1000 times faster than that of current phones. In addition, battery life will be improved owing to the greater efficiency of the new method.

Antenna control requires new technology

Thanks to the new method, the antenna can have even greater bandwidth, which leads to a higher data transfer speed and improved efficiency. These new antennas may also dispose of the analogue components that traditional antennas use to tune into the desired frequency. This facilitates antenna design and enables the creation of more compact antennas with better radiation efficiency.

With antennas designed using the standard technology, it is possible to obtain either a broad frequency range or high efficiency, but not both at the same time. Antennas' radiation efficiency has in recent times been falling because the frequency range used by mobile phones has been continuously increasing. Poor radiation efficiency leads to a short transmission range, for which network operators are then forced to compensate with a denser network of base stations. Energy is wasted in both the phone and the base station. In addition, increasing the network density is expensive.

Professor of Radio Engineering Ville Viikari believes that the new method will revolutionise the fifth generation of mobile phones and maintain Finland as one of the leading countries in the development of mobile phone antennas. For example, the antenna type developed by the Department of Radio Science and Engineering at the beginning of the 21st century is the main type in use in current phones. Now is the time to forge the solutions for a new generation of mobile devices.

'The next step in the development process is under way with the commencement of tests in cooperation with Huawei using fifth generation mobile phone devices. We are also developing together with Aalto University researchers digital electronic systems for controlling the antennas', Mr Viikari adds.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-08/au-nda083116.php

TargeT

15th September 2016, 16:28

Spa day at the plasma baths anyone?

Cold plasma will heal non-healing wounds
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2016/coldplasmawi.jpg
Russian scientists have found that treating cells with cold plasma leads to their regeneration and rejuvenation. This result can be used to develop a plasma therapy program for patients with non-healing wounds. The paper has been published in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.
Non-healing wounds make it more difficult to provide effective treatment to patients and are therefore a serious problem faced by doctors. These wounds can be caused by damage to blood vessels in the case of diabetes, failure of the immune system resulting from an HIV infection or cancers, or slow cell division in elderly people. Treatment of non-healing wounds by conventional methods is very difficult, and in some cases impossible.

Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma refers to a partially ionized gas—the proportion of charged particles in the gas is close to 1 percent, with a temperature below 100,000 K. Its application in biology and medicine is possible through the advent of plasma sources generating jets at 30-40?°C.

An earlier study established the bactericidal properties of low-temperature plasma, as well as the relatively high resistance of cells and tissues to its influence. The results of plasma treatment of patients with non-healing wounds varied from positive to neutral. The authors' previous work prompted them to investigate the possibility that the effect of plasma treatment on wound healing could depend on application pattern (the interval between applications and the total number of applications).

Two types of cells were used in this study: fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) and keratinocytes (epithelial cells). Both play a central role in wound healing.

http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2016/1-coldplasmawi.jpg
The effect of plasma treatment on cells was measured. In fibroblast samples, the number of cells increased by 42.6 percent after one application (A) and by 32 percent after two applications (B), as compared to the untreated controls. While no signs of DNA breaks were detected following plasma application, an accumulation of cells in the active phases of the cell cycle was observed, alongside a prolonged growth phase (30 hours). This means that the effect of plasma could be characterized as regenerative, as opposed to harmful.
The proliferation of cells that had been treated daily over a period of three days (group C) was reduced by 29 percent relative to the controls. Keratinocytes did not show noticeable changes in proliferation.

The researchers also performed an assay of the senescence-associated β-galactosidase, which is measured at pH 6.0. The concentration of this enzyme in a cell increases with age. Plasma treatment significantly reduced the content of this substance in the samples. This, together with a prolonged exponential growth phase of the culture, suggests a functional activation of cells—their rejuvenation.

"The positive response to plasma treatment that we observed could be linked to the activation of a natural destructive mechanism called autophagy, which removes damaged organelles from the cell and reactivates cellular metabolic processes," says Elena Petersen, a co-author of the paper and the head of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Technologies at MIPT.

The scientists are planning additional research into the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of plasma on cells. They also aim to determine the influence of a patient's age on the effectiveness of plasma therapy.

http://phys.org/news/2016-09-cold-plasma-non-healing-wounds.html

TargeT

24th September 2016, 21:14

Uhh, yeah creeeeeeeepy tech...

But hey, adaptive ads that know to change music to manipulate you are cool, right?

New Tech Uses WiFi to Read Your Inner Emotions – Accurately, and From Afar
http://assets3.bigthink.com/system/idea_thumbnails/61625/size_896/shutterstock_113091667.jpg
You may have the best poker face in the world. You may choose to keep your feelings close because you consider your emotions nobody’s business but your own. Or maybe you don’t think it’s smart to give too much away. No matter — a team of researchers has developed a system that can read your hidden excitement, happiness, anger, or sadness. With or without your cooperation.

It’s called “EQ-Radio,” and it’s the creation of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). They claim it’s accurate 87% of the time. It reads your feelings by bouncing ordinary WiFi signals off of you that can track your heart rate. There are no on-skin sensors involved with EQ-Radio.
nmcDnEhZTJM
WiFi is a two-way form of communication: Your router carries internet data to your laptop, which then transmits data back to the router en route to the internet. An EQ-Radio measures the speed at which data completes a round trip to its target — for example, you — and analyzes fluctuations in that speed to measure your heart rate. It’s your heart rate that gives away your emotional state.

http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/new-tech-can-accurately-read-the-emotions-you-may-be-hiding

Clear Light

24th September 2016, 22:05

Uhh, yeah creeeeeeeepy tech...

But hey, adaptive ads that know to change music to manipulate you are cool, right?

New Tech Uses WiFi to Read Your Inner Emotions – Accurately, and From Afar

You may have the best poker face in the world. You may choose to keep your feelings close because you consider your emotions nobody’s business but your own. Or maybe you don’t think it’s smart to give too much away. No matter — a team of researchers has developed a system that can read your hidden excitement, happiness, anger, or sadness. With or without your cooperation.

Oh, now putting their claims to one side for the moment, if the information in the video is correct then they are only able to "accurately" test for a TINY proportion of Human Emotions eh ?

34251

Source : Contrasting and categorization of emotions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrasting_and_categorization_of_emotions)

But I suppose, given more time with each test subject, their "Machine Learning Algo" will possibly be able to differentiate Emotions more precisely eh ? Though I suspect having each test subject speak is likely to be even more revealing of their fluctuating "inner state" :idea:

TargeT

28th September 2016, 03:04

I wasn't sure how the "super bug" thing was going to be fixed... that alone could have put us back into the dark ages... but this... wow, nice!

The science world is freaking out over this 25-year-old's answer to antibiotic resistance
Could this be the end of superbugs?
A 25-year-old student has just come up with a way to fight drug-resistant superbugs without antibiotics.

The new approach has so far only been tested in the lab and on mice, but it could offer a potential solution to antibiotic resistance, which is now getting so bad that the United Nations recently declared it a "fundamental threat" to global health.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria already kill around 700,000 people each year, but a recent study suggests that number could rise to around 10 million by 2050.

In addition to common hospital superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), scientists are now also concerned that gonorrhoea is about to become resistant to all remaining drugs.

But Shu Lam, a 25-year-old PhD student at the University of Melbourne in Australia, has developed a star-shaped polymer that can kill six different superbug strains without antibiotics, simply by ripping apart their cell walls.

"We’ve discovered that [the polymers] actually target the bacteria and kill it in multiple ways," Lam told Nicola Smith from The Telegraph. "One method is by physically disrupting or breaking apart the cell wall of the bacteria. This creates a lot of stress on the bacteria and causes it to start killing itself."

The research has been published in Nature Microbiology, and according to Smith, it's already being hailed by scientists in the field as "a breakthrough that could change the face of modern medicine".

Before we get too carried away, it's still very early days. So far, Lam has only tested her star-shaped polymers on six strains of drug-resistant bacteria in the lab, and on one superbug in live mice.
But in all experiments, they've been able to kill their targeted bacteria - and generation after generation don't seem to develop resistance to the polymers.

The polymers - which they call SNAPPs, or structurally nanoengineered antimicrobial peptide polymers - work by directly attacking, penetrating, and then destabilising the cell membrane of bacteria.

Unlike antibiotics, which 'poison' bacteria, and can also affect healthy cells in the area, the SNAPPs that Lam has designed are so large that they don't seem to affect healthy cells at all.

"With this polymerised peptide we are talking the difference in scale between a mouse and an elephant," Lam's supervisor, Greg Qiao, told Marcus Strom from the Sydney Morning Herald. "The large peptide molecules can't enter the [healthy] cells."

You can see the SNAPPs (green) surrounding and ripping apart bacterial cells below:
http://www.sciencealert.com/images/57d7b2081300002a0039b9da.jpeg
While the results are positive so far, it's too early to get excited about what this could mean for humans, says Cyrille Boyer from the University of New South Wales in Australia, who wasn't involved in the research.

"The main advantage seems to be they can kill bacteria more effectively and selectively [than other peptides]" Boyer told Strom, before adding that the team is a long way off clinical applications.

But what's awesome about the new project is that, while other teams are looking for new antibiotics, Lam has found a completely different approach. And it could make all the different in the coming 'post-antibiotic world'.

That's what she's hoping, anyway.

"For a time, I had to come in at 4am in the morning to look after my mice and my cells," she told The Telegraph. "I wanted to be involved in some kind of research that would help solve problems ... I really hope that the polymers we are trying to develop here could eventually be a solution."
http://www.sciencealert.com/the-science-world-s-freaking-out-over-this-25-year-old-s-solution-to-antibiotic-resistance

Omni

29th September 2016, 07:13

drones tuned to hunt
rfid chips

luckily, for now; RFID is super super short range.
Public RFID is child's play compared to the black project stuff. Remote neural monitoring allows for direct monitoring of the mind down to the deepest motivations, all done remotely and likely done to basically the entire global population by now. They figured out remote neural monitoring and electromagnetic mind control decades ago and 7 trillion+ dollars later the pentagon and intelligence agencies have a fully operational mind influencing electronic control grid.

Have you seen any of my recent work TargeT? I know you are a tech head (or it seems), here are two of my best articles exposing the modern day tech conspiracy:

Bird's Eye View of the Global Technological Conspiracy
http://www.neuroweaponry.com/2016/09/birds-eye-view-of-global-tech-conspiracy-black-project-technology-covert-ops.html

Bird's Eye View of New Age Psychological Operations ▲ The New Age Deception
http://www.newagedeception.net/2016/09/birds-eye-view-new-age-psychological-operations-new-age-deception.html

TargeT

30th September 2016, 02:33

Practical AI.... it begins:
-96BEoXJMs0

In contrast to the usual approach to operating self-driving cars, we did not program any explicit object detection, mapping, path planning or control components into this car. Instead, the car learns on its own to create all necessary internal representations necessary to steer, simply by observing human drivers.

The car successfully navigates the construction site while freeing us from creating specialized detectors for cones or other objects present at the site. Similarly, the car can drive on the road that is overgrown with grass and bushes without the need to create a vegetation detection system. All it takes is about twenty example runs driven by humans at different times of the day. Learning to drive in these complex environments demonstrates new capabilities of deep neural networks.

The car also learns to generalize its driving behavior. This video includes a clip that shows a car that was trained only on California roads successfully driving itself in New Jersey .

Learn more about NVIDIA DRIVE technology: http://nvda.ws/2cBewNI

petra

30th September 2016, 16:37

I was watching a news item about automated cars recently, and one fellow remarked "there's going to be a lot more sex in cars"...
Top addon for automated cars: Curtains... hehe

TargeT

12th October 2016, 18:29

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/d1/d1ec5551ffaffd653190cf01f344fe25c6c4f0d858644d67e469db620e31a658.jpg

Scientists May Have Identified the Protein That Controls Aging
TL;DR:
Two biochemists have discovered a link between a protein called carbonic anhydrase and aging in the brains and muscle cells of mice.
While still in the early stages of development, their research could lead to treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
A Powerful Protein

In addition to being the “powerhouse of the cell,” the mitochondria could also be home to a certain protein that’s in charge of the body’s aging, according to a new study by two biochemists at Nottingham University.

Dr. Lisa Chakrabarti and PhD student Amelia Pollard examined the brain and muscle cells of both young and middle-aged mice and noted that high levels of a protein called carbonic anhydrase were found in those of the older mice. A high concentration of carbonic anhydrase was also reflected in samples from young brains suffering from early degeneration, suggesting that an increased concentration of the protein could be linked to the aging process.

To further test the theory, the scientists fed carbonic anhydrase to tiny nematode worms and found that their lifespans were shortened as well.
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/82528000/jpg/_82528200_mitoc0156765-mitochondrial_structure,_artwork-spl.jpg
Clues To Further Research

Knowing that carbonic anhydrase has this effect could help us unlock future treatments to slow general aging or mitigate such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

“This gives us a very promising start in working out how we can best target this protein within the mitochondria to slow the effects of aging in the body while limiting other unwanted side effects on the body,” said Chakrabarti. “It could potentially offer a significant new avenue in both tackling degenerative illnesses and the general effects of aging on the body.”

Though Chakrabarti and Pollard’s work is promising, we are still quite a long way from fully understanding the causes of cellular degeneration. There’s a big leap from mice to men, so further testing will need to be done before their research can be applied to human subjects.
http://futurism.com/scientists-may-have-identified-the-protein-that-controls-aging/

Scientists accidentally stumble on possible way to slow brain's ageing process
In an accidental discovery, researchers appear to have slowed the ageing process in the brains of laboratory mice, using ultrasounds or sound wave therapy.

Dr Robert Hatch, from the University of Queensland, said scientists had used the technique to stop the normal reduction in the structure of brain cells in the hippocampus — an important area for learning and memory — and were now envisioning a future where people could get their brains tuned up like a car.

However, he said the result had initially been a surprising one to the team of researchers.

"We didn't actually envision that this would have the effect it has," he said.

"I still remember I was doing some data analysis on Thursday night and said 'this can't be right' — and it was."

Dr Hatch said they had been continuing on the same thread as last year's research, where the team had discovered ultrasounds could be used to reverse Alzheimer's in mice.

The team of researchers had expected to confirm the therapy would not damage a healthy brain, which they did.

But then realised they had found something else — a way to slow down the brains ageing process.

"What we found is that by applying the ultrasound to these mice you could slow down or stop the change in the structure of these cells as the animals age."

The University of Queensland research was published today in the Public Library of Science online journal, PLOS One.
Finding a way to keep the brain 'forever young'

The team will now examine whether their findings could help stop the brain from declining in learning and memory as people age.
"Our idea is that if you can keep the structure of the brain in a young state, then we should be able to keep the function," he said.

"So we're currently actually testing that exact idea right now."

Dr Hatch said the ultrasound worked by activating cells in the brain which were the "immune cells".
"And you can activate them to help clear out toxic proteins, and our idea is that it's basically helping these cells maintain the brain in a more healthy state."

Dr Hatch said if they could understand how the brain changed normally, that would help them to work out what to do when something went wrong, and dementia or Alzheimer's developed.

"We then know, 'ok how do we change what's happening to take it back to a more normal situation?'," he said.

"What we're envisioning at some point down the track is — once it's gone through treatments and approvals and everything — we envision that this would be like a check up for your car.

"So you could then come in, receive a scanning ultrasound treatment and that would act to help preserve the structure of your brain."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-12/scientists-may-have-worked-out-how-to-keep-brains-young/7924796

PathWalker

22nd October 2016, 10:20

New perovskite solar cell design could outperform existing commercial technologies
High-efficiency tandem cells created
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161020142037.htm
MJqh5A3A2Cs

A new design for solar cells that uses inexpensive, commonly available materials could rival and even outperform conventional cells made of silicon. In a new article, researchers describe using tin and other abundant elements to create novel forms of perovskite -- a photovoltaic crystalline material that's thinner, more flexible and easier to manufacture than silicon crystals.

TargeT

25th October 2016, 17:46

One of the bigger worries for a long time has been antibiotic resistant diseases... but it seems like we've already overcome that hurdle in a few ways.. here's the newest one:

New antibiotic mined from human gut reverses drug resistance in superbugs
Using DNA sequences, scientists decode new antibiotics used in gut warfare.
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Rhodococcus_species-800x567.jpg
For years, scientists have been digging into dirt mounds and mud pits across the globe to uncover new antibiotics. But they may have to look no further than their own pile of poop.

The microbes bustling in our bellies may be gold mines for new antibiotic drugs, researchers report this week in Nature Chemical Biology. As proof of gut-bugs’ potential, the authors dug up a new bacteria-busting drug that can reverse resistance in pathogens and help kill off methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. In mice with lethal MRSA infections, the drug helped cure 100 percent of infections.

The finding shouldn’t be surprising; many of modern medicine’s most powerful antibiotics were pilfered from microbes. The tiny critters use the drugs to defend themselves from other microbes and battle for turf and resources. But, as bacteria develop resistance—creating an urgent public health crisis—scientists have been seeking new drugs to usurp. In their search, many scientists turned to sifting through exotic soils and sediments. They assumed that the molecular weaponry of bacteria closest to us had already been tapped. Yet, as more researchers delve into the complex microbial communities within us—our microbiomes—they’re finding new depths to plumb.

The study isn’t the first example of scientists looking within for new drugs. As Ars reported back in July, researchers found another MRSA-killing antibiotic among bacteria battling over boogers in the nose. In the new study, researchers at Rockefeller University and Rutgers University searched the deep depths of our guts.

As is often the case, the researchers weren’t able to grow the microbes that live in our innards for their research. (Scientists have yet to figure out the right conditions and resources needed to grow the vast majority of microbes in labs, which are very different from their natural environments.) Instead, the researchers pored over the microbes’ genetic sequences—which can be deciphered without having to grow them—and tried to spot unique codes for large peptides that could be antibiotics. They found 25 such sequences and used the code to synthetically create compounds.

Two of those turned out to be antibiotics, dubbed humimycin A and humimycin B. The two drugs, derived from related DNA sequences in Rhodococcus equi and R. erythropolis bacteria, could kill off pathogenic and harmless gut microbes alike. MRSA strains could survive much higher doses of the two drugs, but they rendered the resistant microbes susceptible to another class of antibiotics called β-lactam. When researchers infected 10 mice with MRSA and gave them just a β-lactam antibiotic, only two survived 48-hours. In another group of ten that the scientists treated with humimycin alone, only five lived. But with a combination of a β-lactam and humimycin, all the mice survived.

While the data suggests humimycins could be a new treatment regimen, the researchers’ tracks could be a path to even more antibiotics. “We believe this approach will enable broad and rapid access to diverse bioactive compounds inspired by gene clusters found in the ever-growing assemblage of microbial sequence data,” they concluded.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/10/new-antibiotic-mined-from-human-gut-reverses-drug-resistance-in-superbugs/

TargeT

25th October 2016, 19:34

That "50 million a year" in savings is a direct loss to what's left of the "middle class" in the US, autonomous vehicles will EVISCERATE our current "blue collar" working class.

This is the start of an interesting shift.... I can't wait till there's "high way pirates" that rob these autonomous vehicles, then instead of drivers they'll hire security guards to ride along with the truck... haha!

Uber Self-Driving Truck Packed With Budweiser Makes First Delivery in Colorado
The ride-hailing giant teamed up with AB InBev to transport beer in an autonomous vehicle, which they say is the world’s first such commercial delivery.
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i4i0BwTBr9Z4/v0/840x-1.jpg
A tractor trailer full of beer drove itself down Colorado's I-25 last week with nobody behind the wheel. Uber Technologies Inc. and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV teamed up on the delivery, which they said is the first time a self-driving truck had been used to make a commercial shipment.

With a police cruiser in tow, the 18-wheeler cruised more than 120 miles while a truck driver hung out back in the sleeper cab, the companies said. The delivery appears to be mostly a stunt—proof that Otto, the self-driving vehicle group that Uber acquired in July, could successfully put an autonomous truck into the wild.

"We wanted to show that the basic building blocks of the technology are here; we have the capability of doing that on a highway," said Lior Ron, the president and co-founder of Uber's Otto unit. "We are still in the development stages, iterating on the hardware and software."

AB InBev said it could save $50 million a year in the U.S. if the beverage giant could deploy autonomous trucks across its distribution network, even if drivers continued to ride along and supplement the technology. Those savings would come from reduced fuel costs and a more frequent delivery schedule.
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iCOaJydMsPmY/v0/750x-1.jpg
Proving the viability of autonomous trucking has become more important amid mounting regulatory and public scrutiny. Surveys show most Americans aren't sold on the technology. The U.S. trucking industry is particularly sensitive to it. While fatalities in the industry far exceed those of other businesses and could therefore benefit from improved safety, it employed 1.5 million people in September, jobs that may be threatened by autonomous vehicles.

The death of a driver using Tesla Motors Inc.'s autopilot system in May has focused political attention on self-driving vehicles and hastened calls for regulations to keep pace with the technological advances. The U.S. Transportation Department released policy guidelines for autonomous driving, which acknowledged the technology's life-saving potential while warning of a world of "human guinea pigs."
Uber's Otto team worked with Colorado regulators to get permission for the delivery and to arrange for police supervision of the shipment, said Ron. Otto spent two weeks scoping out the driving route from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, carefully mapping the road to make sure the technology could handle it. The team wanted the trip to take place in the early morning when traffic would be relatively light and on a day when the weather was clear. Those conditions were met last Thursday, when the delivery took place.

Ron said Uber does not plan to build its own trucks and instead wants to partner with automakers, as it's doing with Volvo on self-driving cars. He said the company's discussions with truck manufacturers are in early phases.

The software still has a long way to go, too. The autonomous drive in Colorado was limited to the highway, meaning truck drivers shouldn't have to worry about finding a new profession anytime soon. "The focus has really been and will be for the future on the highway. Over 95 percent of the hours driven are on the highway," Ron said. "Even in the future as we start doing more, we still think a driver is needed in terms of supervising the vehicle."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/uber-self-driving-truck-packed-with-budweiser-makes-first-delivery-in-colorado

TargeT

5th November 2016, 16:33

http://rlv.zcache.com/i_love_materials_science_square_sticker-r29e1da40654d48b19b3b93d6777b148a_v9wf3_8byvr_324.jpg

Harvard researchers created solid metallic hydrogen in the lab and studied it - This is already huge but could be fantastic if properties are as predicted
Harvard researchers have studied and observed solid hydrogen under pressure at low temperatures. With increasing pressure we observe changes in the sample, going from transparent, to black, to a reflective metal, the latter studied at a pressure of 495 GPa. They have measured the reflectance as a function of wavelength in the visible spectrum finding values as high as 0.90 from the metallic hydrogen. They have fit the reflectance using a Drude free electron model to determine the plasma frequency of 30.1 eV at T= 5.5 K, with a corresponding electron carrier density of 6.7x10^23 particles/cm3 , consistent with theoretical estimates. The properties are those of a metal. Solid metallic hydrogen has been produced in the laboratory.

* they have made some metallic hydrogen and have it in a cryostat in liquid nitrogen
* they might leave it under pressure and let it warm to room temperature or they could keep it cold and release the pressure
* they are planning to test for high temperature superconductivity

If it stays a metal at room temperature and after releasing pressure and was also a superconductor then it would be the holy grail of physics.

Controlled nuclear fusion, production of metallic hydrogen, and high temperature superconductivity have been listed as the top three key problems of physics. These problems all involve hydrogen and its isotopes.
Early theoretical predictions of metallic hydrogen being created at a pressure of 25 GPa (100GPa=1megabar) was way off. Modern quantum Monte-Carlo methods, as well as density functional theory (DFT), predict a pressure of ~400 to 500 GPa for the transition. The most likely space group for the atomic lattice is I41/amd. Metallic hydrogen has been predicted to be a high temperature superconductor, first by Ashcroft, with critical temperatures possibly higher than room temperature. Moreover, SMH is predicted to be metastable so that it may exist at room temperature when the pressure is released. If so, and superconducting, it could have an important impact on mankind’s energy problems and would revolutionize rocketry as a powerful rocket propellant.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HMAoTxHtECA/WB0GYV58xgI/AAAAAAABPdQ/RqEp8FFQaeQBKmrRkOo5rOmRvtuD5e27ACLcB/s1600/metallichydrogen.png

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h6mJE4QtRt8/WB0GrhrtchI/AAAAAAABPdU/FxkHr7wLovw1wxgqUja7sXxjKxUH-wbKwCLcB/s1600/metallichydrogen2.png

SMH at 495 GPa is about 15-fold denser than zero-pressure hydrogen. In Table I they compare solid atomic hydrogen to other elements in the first column of the periodic table, and see a remarkable contrast in properties.

As of the writing of this article they are maintaining the first sample of the first element in the form of solid metallic hydrogen at liquid nitrogen temperature in a cryostat. This valuable sample may survive warming to room temperature and the DAC could be extracted from the cryostat for greatly enhanced observation and further study. Another possibility is to cool to liquid helium temperatures and slowly release the load to see if SMH is metastable. An important future measurement is to study this metal for high temperature superconductivity.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_c33pfJ7NEY/WB0HdQWWjYI/AAAAAAABPdY/u3zbgN2MGNMQnyYpPpAkZMsyQPTROVPHACLcB/s1600/metallichydrogen3.png

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AvFyxJUfOAc/WB0HelBdTsI/AAAAAAABPdc/--YJQ_ofRJYBGhQ8FfCcy6noXu13IELggCLcB/s1600/metallichydrogen4.png

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/harvard-researchers-created-solid.html?m=1

More on rocket fuel:
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/215/1/012194/meta

Ewan

5th November 2016, 21:31

TargeT

5th November 2016, 21:42

Enjoy your contributions here TargeT. Reading the above post a section of bolded text gave me pause for thought.

and would revolutionize rocketry as a powerful rocket propellant.

It seems, despite the fact these are very clever people, they're still firmly constrained within a paradigm.

It's pure hydrogen but 15x denser than liquid hydrogen... it burns so hot that we don't even have an engine housing that could handle it (if burned pure) it would have to be diluted with water, or liquid O2 or something... and since it's predicted to be SUPER stable it would be safer than gasoline... it would be quite a paradigm shift.

The batteries that run our coolest electronics today were invented (lithium ion technology) over 100 years ago.... we are VERY good at taking a thing and improving it, not so good at coming up with new things.

Cara

8th November 2016, 09:09

Adobe just launched software that easily modifies and/or makes up pretty much any words in your voice.

Short video (7:20) with a live demo of the software at Adobe's recent conference/expo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3l4XLZ59iw

Published on 4 Nov 2016

#VoCo allows you to change words in a voiceover simply by typing new words. Presented live during the Adobe MAX 2016 Sneak Peeks, co-hosted by Jordan Peele.

//

It's pretty amazing to see how easily the words you say can be changed. I wonder how much original voice print record the software needs to work off to create new utterances in your voice.

This will certainly make it very easy for hoaxers and others with nefarious intentions to create audio to support whatever story and narrative they want to.

Question: what will be the impacts - if any - on voice biometrics for security and such?

TargeT

8th November 2016, 13:25

Cara

8th November 2016, 15:50

It's pretty amazing to see how easily the words you say can be changed. I wonder how much original voice print record the software needs to work off to create new utterances in your voice.

20 min of voice recording to reproduce nearly anything (from the article I read) it's pretty impressive what software can do these days.

Thanks - good to know.

This will certainly make it very easy for hoaxers and others with nefarious intentions to create audio to support whatever story and narrative they want to.

Question: what will be the impacts - if any - on voice biometrics for security and such?

Look at how heavily edited the video is from 1963 JFK shooting... I'm going to go a head and say this is already being done.

Voice recognition isn't commonly used, actually I don't know of any application it's used for actual authentication...

In my time working in the corporate world, I spent a couple of years working in the call centre technology sector. This was around 2006-2009. At the time call centres were starting to experiment with speech recognition in place of IVRs (Interactive Voice Response) and had begun exploring voice prints for biometric security measures. The biggest inhibitors at the time were -

Processing power - it took huge server infrastructure to support voice recognition. It probably still does but server infrastructure has come down in price a bit and I am sure Nuance and other industry players have improved the efficiency of their software.
Legal codes - we had a couple of large clients had looked into all forms digital signing including voice print biometrics, but in all cases had come up against the legal systems of their location.

Customer unhappiness and lack of user acceptance were seen as distant third place inhibitors that could be easily overcome :shielddeflect:

On a personal note, earlier this year, I updated my email address with my bank in South Africa and in the process they had me record a voice print which they said was for security. They still ask all the usual security information when I call though!

TargeT

16th November 2016, 14:51

Ready for the end of a lot of terrible diseases?

I had no doubt that China (famous for their forced organ harvesting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Gong_practitioners_in_China)) would be the first to use CRISPR on humans....

Just wait until the military gets a hold of this, genetic modification might be mandatory in future military service (or maybe even for the citizenry.. this technology is pretty flexible in what it can do).

Chinese scientists CRISPR a human for the first time
https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/3340435836_d347c3ce3d_b.jpg
A group of Chinese scientists injected a human being with cells genetically edited using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. This is the first time CRISPR has been used on a fully formed adult human and it’s encouraged a biomedical battle between China and the United States.

The scientists from China are hoping the genetically edited cells will help their patient fend off a virulent type of lung cancer in hopes it might work on other cancer patients who have not responded to chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments.

However, another group of scientists in the U.S. proposed a similar study in June of this year. The $250 million study funded by Sean Parker’s new cancer institute is slated to take place at the University of Pennsylvania. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has already given the research a thumbs up, but it’s still awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Scientists have already tried to test other gene-editing techniques to treat human diseases. One method taking on HIV proved effective but CRISPR offers a much simpler path to healing by using an enzyme to snip out an unwanted genetic code.

Using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, scientists could take out all the genes ready to grow a genetically inherited cancer in a person before that cancer starts. In theory, they could also wipe out the disease by removing the genes causing the disease after it has already started wreaking havoc on the body. This is what both the Chinese and U.S. scientists hope to discover, but it looks like China already has its foot in the door.

The U.S. has a much more stringent medical regulatory system than many parts of the world and though the trial here is small and only intended for those patients with no other options it still must go through a process before we start altering human genetic code.

The first U.S. trial isn’t meant to see whether or not the treatment is effective, however. Instead, it’s merely to test its safety.

CRISPR isn’t fool-proof. Sometimes the Cas9 technology splices genes at the wrong place and can actually cause cancer.

Meanwhile, Editas Biotechnology has proposed running a CRISPR trial by 2017 for genes causing blindness in humans. Stanford also has plans in the works for a human CRISPR trial to repair genes causing sickle cell anemia.

But China’s early steps should be used as a cautionary tale for this new technology. Another group of Chinese scientists already ran CRISPR experiments on human embryos that didn’t go very well — at least two-thirds of the embryos were found to have genetic mutations and only a fraction of the 28 surviving embryos (out of 86 total tested) contained the replacement genetic material.

So it seems as though China has beat the U.S. to being first, we still have a long way to go in determining whether or not the technology is even safe enough at its current iteration to use for currently incurable diseases.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/15/chinese-scientists-crispr-a-human-for-the-first-time/?sr_share=facebook

TargeT

18th November 2016, 21:32

3d Printed metal hasn't been widely accepted yet, traditionally machined metal is still vastly more common.

However, things like this will RAPIDLY shift this, metal working is going to be a lot different in the future. This is leading to a point where we will have the ability to fly a 3d printer to mars and built anything we need, even a nuclear power plant... and probably do it remotely.. 3d printing is still in the stone age, but with advances like this its definately rapidly moving out of it!

China successfully 3D printed its 1st pressure vessel cylinder prototype for a nuclear reactor
With fast growing technologies like 3D printing, it seems that there is an exciting “first” almost every week. Today’s first comes from China, where the China Nuclear Power Research Institute and Nanfang Additive Manufacturing Technology Co. Ltd. (Nanfang-AM) have announced their first ever 3D printed pressure vessel cylinder prototype.

The prototype, an ACP100 pressure vessel cylinder, was 3D printed using a heavy metal additive manufacturing system developed by the China Nuclear Power Research Institute and Nanfang-AM. The 3D printed cylinder prototype marks an important step for the companies towards realizing a small pressure reactor made entirely from 3D printed parts.
http://www.3ders.org//images2016/china-successfully-3d-printed-its-1st-pressure-vessel-cylinder-prototype-nuclear-reactor-1.jpg
The pressure vessel cylinder itself was 3D printed out of an undisclosed metal material and the prototype weighs an impressive 400 kg. According to the Chinese companies that developed the prototype, its chemical composition, as well as its material and mechanical properties meet the relevant international nuclear power regulatory requirements.

On a larger scale, the 3D printed ACP100 pressure vessel cylinder prototype has positive implications within the nuclear field on a whole, as it demonstrates the applicability and potentials of using 3D printing technology within it. Like in other industries and fields, the integration of additive manufacturing into the nuclear sector could lead to significantly shorter equipment manufacturing cycles, could reduce manufacturing and overall equipment costs, and could even improve equipment quality, efficiency, and safety due to the ability to 3D model more complex parts.
Importantly, the ability to 3D print such parts as a pressure vessel cylinder prototype has pushed forward the “Made in China 2025” initiative, which seeks to transform and upgrade Chinese industries, especially the manufacturing industries. Among the goals of the initiative are to expand innovation-driven manufacturing, emphasize quality over quantity, aspire to greener development, and more.

http://www.3ders.org//articles/20161118-china-successfully-3d-printed-its-1st-pressure-vessel-cylinder-prototype-for-a-nuclear-reactor.html

TargeT

23rd November 2016, 12:36

This is where it gets cool, applied robotics.

any manual labor job is a good application, farming especially.

Look how many prototypes area already out there, this is going to be a huge market for new robotics firms.

The Rise of Small Farm Robots
Or why the miniaturization of farm machinery will help encourage small, diverse farms.
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Marilee Foster is not the kind of farmer who makes rash decisions. But when she recently heard about Rowbot, a lawn-mower sized autonomous machine that can fertilize the soil, mulch weeds and sow crops on 50 acres a day, she asked, “How much does it cost? And where can I get it?”

Foster, a vegetable grower whose family has been working the same piece on Long Island for nearly four centuries, isn’t particularly tech forward. This card-carrying Luddite still hand-draws her exquisite farmstand signs, plays a transistor radio in her greenhouse and isn’t on social media. So when she showed so much interest in Rowbot, I realized how disruptive the farm droids could be . Was she concerned about Rowbot replacing her? “Not at all. I would consider it a helper,” said Foster, who struggles to find willing — and well-trained — staff for nearly everything she needs help for on the farm.

For decades, farm machinery has targeted industrial-sized farmers, underpinning the “get big or get out” ag model of consolidation. Now, the miniaturization of farm machinery may be the ag-tech counter-trend that actually encourages smaller, more diverse farms.
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“When we think about the future in ten years, we’re going to see smaller machines rather than big ones,” said Rowbot’s founder Kent Cavender-Bares in a recent conversation of This Week in Startups podcast. The 64-row corn planters that crawl across the Heartland today are so large and expensive that they only make sense for the most gargantuan, and debt-worthy, farmers. They’re so heavy they compact the soil. And they don’t work if you decide to plant a rye, sorghum or anything besides corn. In contrast, Rowbot is small enough to get between the rows of corn, dropping fertilizer in microdoses, when the crop needs it. Much less fertilizer gets wasted and runs off the field to contaminate the water supply. These are things a big tractor simply cannot do. “Let’s say we just wanted to mix corn and soybeans on the same field. Today you can’t do that easily at scale.”

By making it easier to take care of a diverse landscape, the Rowbot actually allows the landscape to be resettled with a different type of farm. Small machines can get to spots on a field that farmers sitting in the cabs of big vehicles have struggled to tend well — ecological niches like the understory of a bean plant, in between two rows of corn, between layers of grape leaves.

When I recently spoke to Paul Hoff, COO of Agribotix, a drone-maker and drone analytics platform based in Boulder, CO, he confirmed that the majority of their customers are smaller farms. Hoff said the plummeting costs of drone components, like the near-infrared and thermal sensors drones use to “see” how plants are doing, as well as easy access to software used to analyse drone data, are the big reasons for wide use among smaller farms, whether in Poland, China or Egypt. Agribotix is used in 35 countries, on at least 42 different crops. In fact, Hoff suggested the benefits are greatest on complicated, diverse farms; not vast monocultures. Where labor is short, a surveying flight by a drone can help optimize when a vineyard decides to harvest its grapes, or a vegetable grower decides to check her eggplant for potato beetles.The downsizing isn’t just about the hardware, but also the business model and outlay for the farmer. Rowbot doesn’t sell its machines but instead leases them. “You heard it here first: RAAS, or Robots as a service,” said This Week in Startups host Jason Caalcanis, modifying the popular (and lucrative) acronym for Software as a Service or SAAS.

And while the incredible shrinking machine may be trite metaphor to a techie used to the faster, cheaper, smaller trends defined by Moore’s law, the notion of smaller machines is radical for the farm space. And yet the vast majority of the farms on the planet remain relatively small, particularly in poorer nations. A few years ago, when my colleague Danielle Nierenberg and I surveyed those technologies that are most effective at reducing hunger and poverty, for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our Gates colleagues repeatedly asked about answers to weed control, harvesting and other labor-intensive tasks on small African and South Asian farms. They knew that even in poorer nations, farm labor is not always available, as people are flocking to cities in increasing numbers.

Which brings us to HelloTractor. Calling itself the Uber of Farm Machinery, this startup based in Washington, DC and Nairobi, Kenya, allows farmers to request farm machinery, just as you might “hail” a car with Uber. HelloTractor’s delivery system is tied to its own small, smart tractors, which monitor usage and location for the security of the owner. Owners can help offset the cost of their purchase by renting it out. And because labor shortages on farms can lead to poor harvests and lost income, the wider availability of these size-appropriate machines can help whole communities grow.

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*GvifpcRA75Mx8fLy1QMXxQ.jpeg
HelloTractor owners can help offset the cost of their purchase by renting it out via an Uber-like interface.

Rent to Own Zambia takes this idea one step further allowing small-scale entrepreneurs in rural Zambia to “rent one water pump, one refrigerator and one hammermill at a time.” The platform isn’t just for farm implements, but the concept remains the same: targetted use of machinery to help humans boost production and income. According to an investor in Rent to Own, the company is just beginning to spread, but there is demand across Africa and a clear need for the same sort of machine “helpers” that my neighbor Marilee was so excited about. I think of the farmers in my community who envy a neighbor’s compost spreader or grain mill or legion of budding apprentices. And the farms that either fail, or never get started, because they don’t work as a one-man, or one-woman, operation. In this context, being able to call on Rowbot or HelloTractor, might make the difference between farm survival and farm extinction.

Companies are rolling out small machine products seemingly every week. I just came across BeanIoT, a sensor the size and shape of a bean developed by Cambridgeshire-based RFMOD that can be added to silos or other grain storage to monitor humidity, temperature and spoilage. And Infratab is developing active RFID labels that record freshness data points every 30 seconds and can be put on food packages — or even individual fruits, vegetables or groceries — to indicate if the foods have exceeded certain temperature or humidity thresholds that would compromise quality and safety. The soil-based sensor company CropX has just raised $10 million on the notion that its “internet of the soil” tool will save farmers time and money. These don’t have moving parts like what we think of as robots or machines, but they do “help” farmers in the same way a Rowbot or Agribotix drone will.

Yes, big machines may have allowed a single person to farm miles of land. But they also created farms low on diversity. Small machines could not only help large farms to become more diverse and ecologically sound, they can be a huge help to small, diversely planted farms that suffer from too little machine solutions to help them.

In his classic description of rural decline, The Unsettling of America, Wendell Berry recounted the process by which a declining number of very large farmers manage most of the American farmscape. A re-settling is the only antidote. And the rise of small farm machines might actually encourage it.
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*rru5cxQliBQ4MpOv.

To assist. Not to disrupt.

Earlier this summer, writing in Food is the New Internet, I took a dive into the world of small farm machines that will soon be crawling farm fields near you. In the sort of thoughtful, enthusiastic reaction that makes any storyteller smile, I was inundated with tips from robot builders, imaginers, investors and watchers from around the world.

Most important, I now know that the global farm robot space is bigger, more intelligent and closer-to-commercialization that I realized. We are perhaps a few short years from a day when you will drive past a farm or walk past a community garden and see a robot working the ground.
These visions are not unprecedented. As I learned from the robot geeks who came out of the woodwork, one of C3P0’s first lines in StarWars is an uptight comment about irrigation when he first meets the young moisture farmer Luke Skywalker. Gaze into the background of the shop where Skywalker tries to hack into R2D2’s memory and you’ll see other bots used by farmers on Tatooine, some of which look not unlike Rowbot and Agribotix powered drones and HelloTractors. In Asimov’s 1985 novel “Robots and Empire,” which takes place several millennia in the future, every planet in the galaxy, including the ailing Earth, grows its food entirely with the help of robots: many planets are stewarded by agricultural robots for the benefits of humans elsewhere.

I’ll admit occasional visions of a dystopic digital dirtscape. But I’m happy to report that the robots already working on farms around the world, so far, are delivering a different narrative. These bots, like the loyal R2D2 and BB8, are more concerned with assisting their human masters, than disrupting them.
It was in the middle of this back and forth volley with commenters in the robots space that I stumbled upon a picture that defines for me the great promise of farm robots. A young happy and bearded 30-something farmer in a trucker hat is wheeling a barrow between rows of carrot tops. And behind him, working in symbiosis, rolls a robot. Developed by Naio Technologies, a France-based robot builder, Oz, is a farmer’s helper, if it’s anything. It’s just that sort of farm that Naio is targeting, remarkably. That’s the transformative power of bots. Not to replace but to aid.
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/1*Hql5VMIZtz4-JW6mk0qa4g.jpeg
Models like their Oz, Cozy, Dino, Straddle, and Little Oz could weed veggies, move 100 pound weights (bags of compost, for instance), and collect all sorts of data on the state of the farm. Even better, they could do it continuously, day or night. There are models that plant seeds while they mulch. And there are primitive soft fruit harvesters that are not yet widely commercialized.

But it’s not hard to imagine that some major features breakthrough or price drop or increasing cost of employing human farmers, that farm robots might be seen wheeling into town to buy some odds and ends that the farmer (or farmwife) needs.
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Oz is known as a hoeing robot. It drags a metal implement or rotor through the soil, targeting weeds, and also turning the soil.

Oz uses laser-based guidance technology to determine the best weeding depth, and can maneuver between fields with different crops, without inadvertently mowing over the plants. The developers are proud to say that Naio’s spirit animal of sorts is “a Hawaiian plant, having the ability to adapt to its environment.”
In one interview from 2014 Naio engineers noted that “the purchase of a robot, which costs at least 250 Euros per month, is profitable over a hectare of surface.” But Oz can also carry a payload, work at any hour of the night, and work autonomously once it’s programmed for a task, like weeding a few acres of densely planted vegetables. Oz knows exactly which plants are Swiss chard and which are Green Globe turnips. Oz knows what the weather is and will be. It’s tied into the local weather station and connected to all the other devices and platforms being used on the farm, from Salesforce to Granular, from smart irrigation pumps and soil sensors. As the sell sheet proudly declares, “Oz works perfectly alone but you can also guide it to your needs.”

From vineyards to walnut groves, and from sugar cane to sugar beet, the buyers of Naio bots have been diverse. One buyer sought to “tropicalize” the robot with a test in Indian sugar cane plantations.
Looking beyond Oz and Robots that Hoe.

The farm robot world is really so much bigger and all around us than we realize, with robots that are playing the role of farm dogs, pruning fruit orchards (picture Edward Scissorhands) and even planning small urban gardens.

A one-minute Facebook post by New Scientist has garnered nearly 7 million views, and thousands of comments, including some from makers of robots at universities, research facilities and companies around the world. But until my friend Brian Frank shared this video with me, I had not seen ANY of these robots, or heard of these companies. (I hadn’t even yet thought of looking for farm robots on Facebook.)
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That is partly because most of these robots are still in the experimentation phase. But more and more are moving towards commercialization, like Naio’s creations or OctopusRobot’s food-safety monitoring chicken tender. But total available market is large and potentially increasing. Worldwide, the global “weed control” market is approaching $30 billion. And the global farm machinery market is estimated to hit $74 billion by 2020. Roughly half of that is “tractors.” But the global impact grows when we add in the time of farmers and farm workers around the world that weed fields and greenhouses.

And while Rowbot, the Midwest based small farm robot maker, is designed for corn and soybean farmers, Naio Technologies, and many of the other startups in this space, are laser focused on small vegetable farms, vineyards, orchards and generally more diverse farms than an Iowa corn fields. And if decades of agricultural technologies have criticized small diverse farms as too complicated inefficient, and labor intensive, then small farm robots can help turn that calculus on its head and be relevant to much more than the world’s commodity growers. They could be relevant to the hundreds of millions of farm families around the world who could never make use of a big machine. But for whom a small farming machine could be like a hired hand around the farm, what allows them to put in another crop, or manage the farm while also holding down a job off the farm — as most farmers around the world do.
What else is out there right now? Pretty much everything you can imagine. Bots designed to crawl up steeply sloped vineyards, seedling-sensing hoovers from Blue River Technology designed to thin, moisturize and take extra special care of every head of lettuce (while reducing agrochemical use by 90% through targeted microdosing), Kubota has developed pruning bots for fruit trees and is reportedly designing cybernetic suits that will help elderly farmers climb trees and carry large amounts of fruit.
Through my contacts at Naio I also learned about SwagBot designed to find and herd ruminants 0n Australian ranches.

It’s not inconceivable that robots like the pack mule type developed by Boston Dynamics (and parodied in Season 3 premiere of “Silicon Valley”) could be employed in “herds” to roam over the world’s grasslands, helping in restoration efforts, dropping seeds, mimicking the pasture-building impact of livestock, with a very different ecological footprint.
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And where do self driving tractors and harvesters fit into all this? I took a close look at the CNH Industrial “Autonomous Tractor Concept,” developed by CNH’s strategic robotics partner Autonomous Solutions Inc., that got so much attention on Gizmodo recently. Love the promotional video. The farmer gets a scary looking weather alert on his tablet. He’s pulls over to the side of the road, does some mental calculus and decides to fire up the planter in anticipation of coming rain (assumption mine).

Hands-down, super cool. Although perhaps a bit too Porsche Cayenne to really penetrate the farm set. Yet I see that concept as transition tech, at best, as the largest farmers decide that a fleet of self driving tractors will do the job better than a bunch of human drivers. But part from disrupting the farm driver market, there’s nothing truly revolutionary that this concept vehicle can do. It’s still a huge tractor, made to pull big machinery over monocultural fields.
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The explosive drone market, in contrast, segues neatly with the rise of small farm robots. Remotely piloted drones (of the smaller variety) are really just flying farm robots. Farmers are already the dominant commercial user of drones in America. And with more remote spaces to experiment in, it’s conceivable that farmers can be drone powerusers.

The investment bellweather Jason Calacanis just launched the “Inside Drones” newsletter. The United States just released drone ownership and usage guidelines, and industry analysts are saying that drones will figure large in the the 2016 christmas season could be the one when drone, according to a recent NPR interview with the chair of the Federal Aviation Association.
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Small farm machines come onto the scene at a key crossroads for global agriculture. Advances in tech (sensors, robots, cloud based AI) are smashing into the harsh demographic reality of farming: an aging and declining population of farmers in every country on the planet. At a time when the countryside is being emptied, there bots are additional eyes on the ground, which can trod the rows, help optimize farm operations and better manage the land.

Not to mention the fact that many robot builders see farming as simply dangerous and back breaking. In a recent interview on Recode, the chief technology officer of iRobot, the maker of Roomba, the household cleaning bot, noted that the “drudgery of cooking and farming,” makes robots in the food chain inevitable.
Five Near-Term Predictions on Small Farm Robots

So, here are some predictions of what we will see in farm robots in the next 5–10 years.

Small farm robots will steal increasing market share from traditional farm machine makers like John Deere and Caterpillar. Small farm robots will also blow open wide a whole new market for farms that didn’t exist or could never have made use of a large tractor or combine. Naio’s smallest model, the Little Oz is available for as little as $300 per month, with rent to own financing. It’s being promoted especially to ag colleges and farm vocation schools in Europe for classes to buy, use, and give feedback on. Companies like AGCO, CLAAS, CNH Industrial, John Deere, and Kubota, which dominate the global tractor market are eyeing their play in this space, with a potentially bifurcated food system, which still includes huge industrial farms and a growing number of diverse smaller farms. But couldn’t the small farm bots still do it better?
Helping farms collect data and make sense of it will be an increasing role of small farm robots. These will not just be dull beasts of burden. They will remind the farmer when to shut off irrigation pumps, sound the alarm on early disease signs and collect phytochemical information to tell the farmer when to fertilize or harvest. As Tom Tomich, the head of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis, notes, we’re moving from a dearth of farm data to a flood of farm data. Just as devices like Nest or Roomba are helping tie the various components of a smart home together, the small farm robot will be the mobile brain of the smart farm.
A farm bot for every garden. With multi-colored Ball jars and an expanded veggie patch at the White House, edible landscaping is already trending. Add small farm robots to the mix and watch out world! Consider the devoted home gardener, like me. Would I consider paying $300 per month for a companion farm bot who would weed the beds that I can’t seem to get to? How about $150 per month? It could prepare the soil before I scatter a fall lettuce mix. It could watch my chickens and tell me (or better yet, my Rachio smart irrigation module) when I need to water. It could probably also mow my lawn. All of the sudden, it seems like a great investment. And the avid home gardener is a strong growing market, in urban, suburban and rural areas alike.
Automated container farms are sorta like a small farm machine that you can walk into. Advances in relatively small-scale indoor agriculture, a la Local Roots Farms and Freight Farms, are not so different in function than a small farm robot. They are not mobile; true. But they can provide a huge machine-learning boost to an individual, small scale food grower. Platforms like Square Roots, the vertical farming incubator recently launched in Brooklyn, allow food entrepreneurs an entry level piece of hardware that can turn them into a food grower overnight. Think of it like Iron Man’s bionic suit, but for a Millennial farmer.
These machines will move beyond farms to help with ecological restoration, preserve enforcement and conservation stewardship. Machine tricking that it’s cow. They might even be important parts of the collective consciousness of a rural community, with one robot allerting whole groups of ranchers, farmers or fishers, when a crop is coming into season or pests are on the way. It’s not hard to imagine one of these robots rolling along a farm town’s Main Street.

Soon enough.
https://medium.com/@brianhalweil/rise-of-the-farm-robots-part-2-not-to-disrupt-but-to-assist-2edee2472866#.sl0rkwc8v

https://medium.com/food-is-the-new-internet/the-rise-of-small-farm-robots-365e76dbdac1#.25oqcknrf

Ewan

23rd November 2016, 13:56

TargeT

28th November 2016, 20:20

A lot of positives there, I'm all for increased diversity and smaller scale farms. You know, the way it used to be. I was just explaining to my mother (85) earlier today why fruit didn't taste so good these days, grown for size, consistency and/or crop size, flavour being the least important factor in the goal of profit.

I live in agricultural paradise,, a 365 day growing year; and when I walk into the grocery store to buy tomatoes I'm mostly offered these large pink tomato clones.. I can't even believe they are selling these things.
http://i.imgur.com/4XScU8J.jpg

But it's the governments fault... Governments subsidizing food growth has priced food at a point where it is too expensive to grow your own food compared to what it costs to buy it. In fact it's so bad in the US that we produce food at a price point that pushes OTHER countries farmers out of business when we dump our excess on the market in bulk (corn, wheat, soy, we subsidize all the major agricultural products).

But the quality slip has gotten extreme, maybe this will help to re-correct the situation.

I don't think these will be very impact in the next 2 years, but the concept is fascinating... a forever battery?

Diamonds turn nuclear waste into nuclear batteries
http://img-3.newatlas.com/nuclear-diamond-2.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&ch=Width%2CDPR&fit=crop&h=347&q=60&rect=0%2C110%2C1080%2C607&w=616&
One problem with dealing with nuclear waste is that it's often hard to tell what's waste and what's a valuable resource. Case in point is the work of physicists and chemists at the University of Bristol, who have found a way to convert thousands of tonnes of seemingly worthless nuclear waste into man-made diamond batteries that can generate a small electric current for longer than the entire history of human civilization.

How to dispose of nuclear waste is one of the great technical challenges of the 21st century. The trouble is, it usually turns out not to be so much a question of disposal as long-term storage. If it was simply a matter of getting rid of radioactive material permanently, there are any number of options, but spent nuclear fuel and other waste consists of valuable radioactive isotopes that are needed in industry and medicine, or can be reprocessed to produce more fuel. Disposal, therefore is more often a matter of keeping waste safe, but being able to get at it later when needed.

One unexpected example of this is the Bristol team's work on a major source of nuclear waste from Britain's aging Magnox reactors, which are now being decommissioned after over half a century of service. These first generation reactors used graphite blocks as moderators to slow down neutrons to keep the nuclear fission process running, but decades of exposure have left the UK with 95,000 tonnes (104,720 tons) of graphite blocks that are now classed as nuclear waste because the radiation in the reactors changes some of the inert carbon in the blocks into radioactive carbon-14.

Carbon-14 is a low-yield beta particle emitter that can't penetrate even a few centimeters of air, but it's still too dangerous to allow into the environment. Instead of burying it, the Bristol team's solution is to remove most of the c-14 from the graphite blocks and turn it into electricity-generating diamonds.

The nuclear diamond battery is based on the fact that when a man-made diamond is exposed to radiation, it produces a small electric current. According to the researchers, this makes it possible to build a battery that has no moving parts, gives off no emissions, and is maintenance-free.

The Bristol researchers found that the carbon-14 wasn't uniformly distributed in the Magnox blocks, but is concentrated in the side closest to the uranium fuel rods. To produce the batteries, the blocks are heated to drive out the carbon-14 from the radioactive end, leaving the blocks much less radioactive than before. c-14 gas is then collected and using low pressures and high temperatures is turned into man-made diamonds.

Once formed, the beta particles emitted by the c-14 interact with the diamond's crystal lattice, throwing off electrons and generating electricity. The diamonds themselves are radioactive, so they are given a second non-radioactive diamond coating to act as a radiation shield. This means a person sitting next to a diamond battery would receive about as much radiation as they would sitting next to a banana. In addition, the hardness of the diamonds helps keep the radioactive material safe.

"Carbon-14 was chosen as a source material because it emits a short-range radiation, which is quickly absorbed by any solid material," says Neil Fox from the School of Chemistry. "This would make it dangerous to ingest or touch with your naked skin, but safely held within diamond, no short-range radiation can escape. In fact, diamond is the hardest substance known to man, there is literally nothing we could use that could offer more protection."

The team has already built a prototype diamond battery that uses the isotope nickel-63 as radioactive fuel and is now moving on to using carbon-14, which will be more efficient. Because c-14 has such a long half life, the researchers estimate a diamond battery would still generate 50 percent of its capacity after 5,730 years

"We envision these batteries to be used in situations where it is not feasible to charge or replace conventional batteries," says Tom Scott, Professor in Materials. "Obvious applications would be in low-power electrical devices where long life of the energy source is needed, such as pacemakers, satellites, high-altitude drones, or even spacecraft. There are so many possible uses that we're asking the public to come up with suggestions of how they would utilize this technology by using #diamondbattery."

The team's results were presented at the Cabot Institute's "Ideas to change the world" lecture.

The video below explains how the nuclear diamond battery works.
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http://newatlas.com/diamonds-nuclear-batteries/46645/

Omni

2nd December 2016, 23:53

Not sure if 2 years is right, but I thought i'd share this:

Hey, Poker Face — This Wi-Fi Router can read Your Emotions
http://thehackernews.com/2016/09/wifi-read-emotions.html

No issues, your Wi-Fi router may soon be able to tell how you feel, even if you have a good poker face.

A team of researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a device that can measure human inner emotional states using wireless signals.

Dubbed EQ-Radio, the new device measures heartbeat, and breath to determine whether a person is happy, excited, sad, or angry.

Another step towards remote neural monitoring. First will be neural monitoring, which might be more manual near the head, after will come remote versions and governments documenting brain waves aka thought surveillance. CCTV exchanged for RNM Hubs...

The brain wave will probably be deciphered by public science by the end of the century.

TargeT

15th December 2016, 19:32

CRISPR already openly being used on humans in the US... that's a bit faster than I thought it would happen.

(CRISPR) Gene editing starts to save lives as human trials get under way
https://d1o50x50snmhul.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/14180000/image-3_credit-sharon-lees_gosh-800x533.jpg
In 2015, a little girl called Layla was treated with gene-edited immune cells that eliminated all signs of the leukaemia that was killing her. Layla’s treatment was a one-off, but by the end of 2017, the technique could have saved dozens of lives.

Gene editing involves altering or disabling existing genes, which used to be extremely difficult. It took many years to develop the gene-editing tool that saved Layla (pictured), but thanks to a revolutionary method known as CRISPR, this can now be done in just weeks.

In fact, CRISPR works so well that the first human trial involving the method has already begun. In China, it is being used to disable a gene called PD-1 in immune cells taken from individuals with cancer. The edited cells are then injected back into each person’s body. PD-1 codes for an “off switch” on the surface of immune cells, and many cancers evolve the ability to thwart immune attacks by flipping the PD-1 switch to “off”. On the edited immune cells there is no switch for cancer cells to flip.A trial in the US due to start soon is far more ambitious. This involves adding an extra gene engineered to make the immune cells target tumours and then using CRISPR to disable PD-1 and two other genes. The addition of tumour-targeting genes has already produced very promising results in trials for cancers like leukaemia, but it has not worked well for solid tumours. The hope is that combining the two techniques will make treatments far more effective.

If these trials show that editing cells’ genomes is safe, it could soon be used to treat a much wider range of diseases, likely starting with eye disorders.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Gene editing starts to save lives”
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23231044-700-gene-editing-starts-to-save-lives-as-human-trials-get-underway/

TargeT

15th December 2016, 19:59

They say 10 years.. I think 2 or less (especially in light of the above human trials)

Scientists reverse ageing in mammals and predict human trials within 10 years
An end to grey hair and crows-feet could be just 10 years away after scientists showed it is possible to reverse ageing in animals.

Using a new technique which takes adult cells back to their embryonic form, US researchers at the Salk Institute in California, showed it was possible to reverse ageing in mice, allowing the animals to not only look younger, but live for 30 per cent longer.

The technique involves stimulating four genes which are particularly active during development in the womb. It was also found to work to turn the clock back on human skin cells in the lab, making them look and behave younger.Scientists hope to eventually create a drug which can mimic the effect of the found genes which could be taken to slow down, and even reverse the ageing process. They say it will take around 10 years to get to human trials.

"Our study shows that ageing may not have to proceed in one single direction," said Dr Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory. “With careful modulation, aging might be reversed.

"Obviously, mice are not humans and we know it will be much more complex to rejuvenate a person. But this study shows that ageing is a very dynamic and plastic process, and therefore will be more amenable to therapeutic interventions than what we previously thought."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/13/mice-lab_3494727b-large_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpJliwavx4coWFCaEkEsb3kvxIt-lGGWCWqwLa_RXJU8.jpg

Scientists have known for some time that the four genes, which are known collectively as the Yamanaka factors, could turn adult cells back to their stem cell state, where they can grow into any part of the body.

But it was always feared that allowing that to happen could damage organs made from the cells, and even trigger cancer.

However, it was discovered that stimulating the genes intermittently reversed ageing, without causing any damaging side effects.

In mice with a premature ageing disease, the treatment countered signs of ageing and increased their lifespan by 30 per cent. If it worked similarly in humans it could allow people to live until more than 100 years old. In healthy mice it also helped damaged organs to heal faster.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/wellbeing/2016/05/27/99159006_anti-ageing-wellbeing-large_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqM-3pOeJCOGUo7ra0x7cN4yhGCdr6bSzw3CSTcxzCbu4.jpg

"In other studies scientists have completely reprogrammed cells all the way back to a stem-cell-like state," says co-first author Pradeep Reddy, also a Salk research associate.

"But we show, for the first time, that by expressing these factors for a short duration you can maintain the cell's identity while reversing age-associated hallmarks."

The breakthrough could also help people stay healthier for longer. The ageing population means that the risk of developing age-related diseases, such as dementia, cancer and heart disease also rises. But if the body could be kept younger for longer then it could prevent many deadly diseases for decades.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/15/scientists-reverse-ageing-mammals-predict-human-trials-within/

TargeT

1st February 2017, 19:24

Graphene is very exciting, but until now, very hard to mass produce...

This will rapidly increase tech that uses graphine if this is as viable as it seems.

Physicists inadvertently discover a way to mass-produce graphene

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Cheaper graphene will drive research into the wonder material, with implications extending from increased battery capacity to medical breakthroughs, and beyond.
By this point, you’ve almost certainly heard of graphene: the ultra-strong, ultra-versatile wonder material that can seemingly do no wrong. But while graphene has a wealth of potentially transformative use-cases, one problem it has had until now is that it can’t be easily and cheaply mass-produced.
That may have changed courtesy of a breakthrough at Kansas State University (https://futurism.com/we-may-finally-have-a-way-of-mass-producing-graphene/), where physicists have inadvertently discovered a way to mass-produce graphene using nothing more complex than hydrocarbon gas, oxygen, and a spark plug.
The method, which has now been patented, involves oxygen and either acetylene or ethylene gas being placed into a chamber, with the spark plug then prompting a contained detonation that produces the graphene in bulk.

Lead inventor Professor Chris Sorensen (https://www.phys.ksu.edu/people/tt-faculty/sorensen.html) described the discovery to Digital Trends as “serendipity” striking. “We got lucky,” he said — noting that the discovery was a fortunate byproduct of work being done into carbon soot aerosol gels. Nonetheless, it is a particularly exciting step forward,
“We’ve looked at what other people have achieved with synthetic methods and we feel our method has a number of advantages,” Professor Sorensen said. “The biggest of those is simplicity. All we have to do is to fill a chamber with some oxygen and hydrocarbon, and then use a detonation. We don’t need a catalyst, there are no nasty chemicals, and it looks scaleable. We think it’s a very nice process.”
As noted, graphene has a range of incredibly exciting applications — extending from potentially improving smartphone battery life to acting as a material for future wearable tech, or even detecting cancer in the human body. There are plenty of labs around the world doing this exciting work, and hopefully now they’ll have a ready supply to carry it out with.
“I’m not a graphene physicist, I’m an aerosol scientist,” Sorensen said, self-effacingly. “I feel a bit like I’ve adopted a wolf. The wolf loves me and I love the wolf, so I’m going to keep her, but it’s not my area of expertise. It would be great to license this stuff, and we’re already getting some interest from people about that.”

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/cheap-mass-producing-graphene/

TargeT

23rd February 2017, 19:45

So update on this..... if it was really "super stable" as predicted it should still be there IMO.. This could mean the predictions were wrong or they did not actually create metallic hydrogen.

Harvard researchers created solid metallic hydrogen in the lab and studied it

And now:

World's only piece of a metal that could revolutionise technology has disappeared, scientists reveal

Exclusive: Harvard University physicists say first-ever piece of metallic hydrogen on Earth has been lost after catastrophic failure of diamond holding it under enormous pressure

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/metallic-hydrogen-disappears-technology-revolutions-superconductor-faster-computers-super-efficient-a7593481.html

Ernie Nemeth

23rd February 2017, 19:58

too bad, it sounded promising

TargeT

15th May 2017, 19:59

Instant, range independent communication? "bandwidth" will probably not be a word most people know (again) in the near future.

Scientists Achieve Direct Counterfactual Quantum Communication For The First Time

Quantum communication (http://www.sciencealert.com/quantum-teleportation-was-just-achieved-over-7-km-of-cable) is a strange beast, but one of the weirdest proposed forms of it is called counterfactual communication - a type of quantum communication where no particles travel between two recipients.
Theoretical physicists have long proposed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23679694) that such a form of communication would be possible, but now, for the first time, researchers have been able to experimentally achieve it - transferring a black and white bitmap image from one location to another without sending any physical particles.
http://www.sciencealert.com/images/articles/processed/quantumfractals_web_1024.jpg
If that sounds a little too out-there for you, don't worry, this is quantum mechanics, after all. It's meant to be complicated. But once you break it down, counterfactual quantum communication actually isn't as bizarre as it sounds.
First up, let's talk about how this differs from regular quantum communication, also known as quantum teleportation (http://www.sciencealert.com/a-new-quantum-teleportation-distance-record-has-been-set), because isn't that also a form of particle-less information transfer?
Well, not quite. Regular quantum teleportation is based on the principle of entanglement (http://www.sciencealert.com/watch-this-is-how-quantum-entanglement-really-works) - two particles that become inextricably linked so that whatever happens to one will automatically affect the other, no matter how far apart they are.
This is what Einstein referred to as "spooky action at a distance (http://www.sciencealert.com/watch-this-is-how-quantum-entanglement-really-works)", and scientists have already used it to send messages over vast distances (http://www.sciencealert.com/a-new-quantum-teleportation-distance-record-has-been-set).
But that form of quantum teleportation still relies on particle transmission in some form or another. The two particles usually need to be together when they're entangled (http://www.sciencealert.com/quantum-teleportation-was-just-achieved-over-7-km-of-cable) before being sent to the people on either end of the message (so, they start in one place, and need to be transmitted to another before communication can occur between them).
Alternatively, particles can be entangled at a distance, but it usually requires another particle (http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-just-sent-a-quantum-message-almost-2km-setting-a-new-record), such as photons (particles of light), to travel between the two.
Direct counterfactual quantum communication on the other hands relies on something other than quantum entanglement. Instead, it uses a phenomenon called the quantum Zeno effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Zeno_effect).
Very simply, the quantum Zeno effect occurs when an unstable quantum system is repeatedly measured.
In the quantum world, whenever you look at a system, or measure it, the system changes. And in this case, unstable particles can never decay while they're being measured (just like the proverbial watched kettle that will never boil), so the quantum Zeno effect creates a system that's effectively frozen with a very high probability.
If you want to delve a little deeper, the video below gives a great explanation:
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Counterfactual quantum communication is based on this quantum Zeno effect, and is defined as the transfer of a quantum state from one site to another without any quantum or classical particle being transmitted between them.
This requires a quantum channel to run between two sites, which means there's always a small probability that a quantum particle will cross the channel. If that happens, the system is discarded and a new one is set up.
To set up such a complex system, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China placed two single-photon detectors in the output ports of the last of an array of beam splitters.
Because of the quantum Zeno effect, the system is frozen in a certain state, so it's possible to predict which of the detectors would 'click' whenever photons passed through. A series of nested interferometers measure the state of the system to make sure it doesn't change.
It works based on the fact that, in the quantum world, all light particles can be fully described by wave functions, rather than as particles. So by embedding messages in light the researchers were able to transmit this message without ever directly sending a particle.
The team explains that the basic idea for this set up came from holography technology.
"In the 1940s, a new imaging technique - holography - was developed to record not only light intensity but also the phase of light," the researchers write in the journal (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/04/19/1614560114)Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/04/19/1614560114).
"One may then pose the question: Can the phase of light itself be used for imaging? The answer is yes."
The basic idea is this - someone wants to send an image to Alice using only light (which acts as a wave, not a particle, in the quantum realm).
Alice transfers a single photon to the nested interferometer, where it can be detected by three single-photon detectors: D0, D1, and Df.
If D0 or D1 'click', Alice can conclude a logic result of one or zero. If Df clicks, the result is considered inconclusive.
As Christopher Packham explains for Phys.org: (https://phys.org/news/2017-05-counterfactual-quantum.html)
"After the communication of all bits, the researchers were able to reassemble the image - a monochrome bitmap of a Chinese knot. Black pixels were defined as logic 0, while white pixels were defined as logic 1 ...
In the experiment, the phase of light itself became the carrier of information, and the intensity of the light was irrelevant to the experiment."
Not only is this a big step forward for quantum communication, the team explains it's technology that could also be used for imaging sensitive ancient artefacts that couldn't surprise direct light shined on them.
The results will now need to be verified by external researchers to make sure what the researchers saw was a true example of counterfactual quantum communication.
Either way, it's a pretty cool demonstration of just how bizarre and unexplored the quantum world is.

http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-achieved-direct-counterfactual-quantum-communication-for-the-first-time

TargeT

17th May 2017, 22:24

Technology has reached magic level.... "google lens"

Image searching had finally matured?
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TargeT

23rd May 2017, 12:30

Funny that we don't hear that we have effectively cured HIV, Zika & other "boogy man" diseases all over the news... seems like a big thing right?

Is cancer next?

CRISPR kills HIV and eats Zika 'like Pac-man'. Its next target? Cancer

Researchers paired proteins with a process that amplifies RNA which could be used to detect cancer cells
https://wi-images.condecdn.net/image/MG85qekdleb/crop/810
HIV has no cure. It’s not quite the implacable scourge it was throughout the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to education, prophylactics, and drugs like PrEP. But still, no cure.Part of the problem is HIV’s ability to squirrel itself away inside a cell’s DNA – including the DNA of the immune cells that are supposed to be killing it. The same ability, though, could be HIV’s undoing. All because of CRISPR. You know, CRIPSR: the gene-editing technique that got everyone really excited, then really sceptical, and now cautiously optimistic about curing a bunch of intractable diseases.

Last week, a group of biologists published research detailing how they hid an anti-HIV CRISPR system inside another type of virus capable of sneaking past a host’s immune system. What’s more, the virus replicated and snipped HIV from infected cells along the way. At this stage, it works in mice and rats, not people. But as a proof of concept, it means similar systems could be developed to fight a huge range of diseases — herpes, cystic fibrosis, and all sorts of cancers.

Those diseases are all treatable, to varying degrees. But the problem with treatments is you have to keep doing them in order for them to work. “The current anti-retroviral therapy for HIV is very successful in suppressing replication of the virus,” says Kamel Khalili, a neurovirologist at Temple University in Philadelphia and lead author of the recent research, published in Molecular Therapy. “But that does not eliminate the copies of the virus that have been integrated into the gene, so any time the patient doesn’t take their medication the virus can rebound.” Plus treatments can — and often do — fail.

Gene therapy has promised to revolutionise medicine since the 1970s, when a pair of researchers introduced the concept of using viruses to replace bad DNA with good DNA. The first working model was tested on mice in the 1980s, and by the 1990s researchers were using gene therapies — with limited success — to treat immune and nutrition deficiencies. Then, in 1999, a patient in a University of Pennsylvania gene therapy trial named Jesse Gelsinger died from complications. The tragedy temporarily skid-stopped the whole field. Gene therapy had been steadily getting its groove back, but the 2012 discovery that CRISPR could make easy, and accurate, cuts on human genes, added more vigor....
More here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/crispr-disease-rna-hiv

Cidersomerset

30th June 2017, 17:41

I don't know if this is genuine or a concept but it looked 'hunger gamish'.. to me...

Russia: Next-gen combat suit unveiled at opening of Moscow prototyping centre

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Published on 29 Jun 2017
A prototype for what's being slated as the next generation combat suit
was unveiled at the opening of Russia's biggest high-tech prototyping
centre at the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) in
Moscow on Thursday.

TargeT

30th June 2017, 18:14

Prototype (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype)...

I doubt we'll see this anytime soon, our own power armor systems (US) are still far from a working model.

TargeT

6th July 2017, 22:18

Just knowing what to look for is such a huge first step... This is a great discovery!

Scientists Have Uncovered The Atomic Structure of a Key Alzheimer's Protein For The First Time
http://www.sciencealert.com/images/articles/processed/248760400-tau_1024.jpg
For the first time, scientists have revealed the chemical structure of one of the key markers of Alzheimer's disease, capturing high-resolution images of the abnormal tau protein deposits suspected to be behind Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative conditions.

The results will now give scientists an unprecedented glimpse at how these harmful deposits function at a molecular level, and could lead to a number of new treatments to prevent them from forming – and in doing so, help to combat Alzheimer's and dementia.

"This is a tremendous step forward," says one of the team, Bernardino Ghetti from Indiana University.

"It's clear that tau is extremely important to the progression of Alzheimer's disease and certain forms of dementia. In terms of designing therapeutic agents, the possibilities are now enormous."

In the new study, researchers led by the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in the UK extracted tau protein filaments from the brain of a deceased patient with a confirmed diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and imaged them using a technique called called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).
http://www.sciencealert.com/images/2017-07/23487236-tau.jpg

Alzheimer's disease is linked to the build-up of two kinds of abnormal protein deposits – tau filaments, which form inside nerve cells, and amyloid beta proteins, which builds up outside cells.

In healthy brains, tau acts as a stabiliser, but when the proteins become defective, they can form into bundles of tangled filaments, which are thought to impede communication between brain cells, leading to the neurodegeneration and reduced cognitive ability seen in conditions like Alzheimer's disease.
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-uncovered-the-atomic-structure-of-a-key-alzheimer-s-protein-for-the-first-time

Cidersomerset

15th July 2017, 10:22

Interesting article it will be longer than 2 years before public service but
it has done its first successful test of the concept.....

'Our own sky in a tube’: Groundbreaking vehicle enters phase II of testing

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Published on 14 Jul 2017
The groundbreaking Hyperloop One vehicle has successfully completed its first test,
using magnetic levitation technology. Its goal is to create the first near-supersonic
travel system and prove the concept works. RT America’s Brigida Santos reports

Cidersomerset

19th July 2017, 18:14

Could This Hologram Headset Replace Your Cubicle?

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Published on 18 Jul 2017
San Francisco startup Meta is trying to liberate the workplace of computer monitors
trading them in for its augmented reality headsets. Bloomberg Technology's Selina
Wangdelves into the possibilities of an office without screens.

TargeT

31st August 2017, 20:17

Nanomachines that drill into cancer cells killing them in just 60 seconds developed by scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2017/08/31/nano-blebbing_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZPnXlBHEdt8AtjizIYNgmXGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpg
The tiny spinning molecules are driven by light, and spin so quickly that they can burrow their way through cell linings when activated.

In one test conducted at Durham University the nanomachines took between one and three minutes to break through the outer membrane of prostate cancer cell, killing it instantly.

More here:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/08/30/nanomachines-drill-cancer-cells-killing-just-60-seconds-developed/

TargeT

7th November 2017, 13:01

Almost there, once we get techniques like this down the world will shift dramatically as huge stumbling blocks will be removed from the concept to product manufacturing steps.

3D printing doubles the strength of stainless steel
http://www.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/styles/inline__699w__no_aspect/public/cc_RocketEngine-10_16x9.jpg
3D printing has taken the world by storm, but it currently works best with plastic and porous steel—materials too weak for hard-core applications. Now, researchers have come up with a way to 3D print tough and flexible stainless steel, an advance that could lead to faster and cheaper ways to make everything from rocket engines to parts for nuclear reactors and oil rigs.

Stainless steel was first invented nearly 150 years ago, and it remains widely popular today. It’s made by melting conventional steel—itself a combination of iron and carbon (and sometimes other metals like nickel)—and adding in chromium and molybdenum, which prevent rust and corrosion. A complex series of cooling, reheating, and rolling steps gives the material a microscopic structure with tightly packed alloy grains and thin boundaries between the grains that create a cell-like structure. When the metal is bent or stressed, planes of atoms in the grains slide past one another, sometimes causing crystalline defects to connect with each other—producing fractures. But strong boundaries can halt these defects, making the material tough, yet still flexible enough to be formed into a desired shape.

3D printing researchers have long tried to reproduce this structure. Their setup starts with a powdery layer of metal alloy particles laid on a flat surface. A computer-controlled, high-powered laser beam then advances back and forth across the surface. Particles hit by the laser melt and fuse together. The surface then drops down a step, another layer of powder is added, and the laser heating process repeats, binding the newly melted material to the layer below. By repeating this tier-by-tier addition, engineers can build complex shapes, such as rocket engines.
The problem has been that, on a microscopic level, printed stainless steels are usually highly porous, making them weak and prone to fracture. “The performance has been awful,” says Yinmin “Morris” Wang, a materials scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Several years ago, Wang and his colleagues came up with an approach for using lasers and a rapid cooling process to fuse metal alloy particles together in a dense, tightly packed structure.

Now, they’ve extended that work by designing a computer-controlled process to not only create dense stainless steel layers, but to more tightly control the structure of their material from the nanoscale to micron scale. That allows the printer to build in tiny cell wall–like structures on each scale that prevent fractures and other common problems. Tests showed that under certain conditions the final 3D printed stainless steels were up to three times stronger than steels made by conventional techniques and yet still ductile, the scientists report today in Nature Materials.

“What they have done is really exciting,” says Rahul Panat, a mechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What’s more, Panat says, is that Wang and his colleagues used a commercially available 3D printer and laser to do the work. That makes it likely that other groups will be able to quickly follow their lead to make a wide array of high-strength stainless steel parts for everything from fuel tanks in airplanes to pressure tubes in nuclear power plants. And that, in turn, will likely only increase the growing fervor over 3D printing.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/3d-printing-doubles-strength-stainless-steel?mwh

TargeT

7th November 2017, 14:13

Young people's blood plasma appears to heal alzheimer's, and we are learning the differences between the two so "old" blood can be filtered to the level of "young" blood.

Makes you wonder about the vampire myths, eh?

Could Blood Plasma Be The Fountain Of Youth?
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Blood has always been known as “the Gift of Life” and a growing number of Bay Area researchers are currently trying to isolate a factor in blood that may turn back the hands of time.

“We don’t know how soon we’re going to defeat aging,” proclaimed Aubrey de Grey. “We should be able to keep people truly in a youthful state of health, no matter how long they live and that means the risk of death will not rise.”

De Grey is the Chief Science Officer and Co-founder of the SENS Research Foundation in Mountain View. He believes we can grow biologically younger.

“The risk of death will remain the risk of death from causes other than aging — like being hit by a truck,” explained De Grey.SENS funds a dizzying array of projects, research and clinical trials. The Bay Area is packed with bio scientists looking at solving the healthy longevity puzzle.

Several startups are looking at blood, specifically the pale yellow fluid in blood called plasma.

“Plasma transfusions are big hot property right now,” said De Grey.

At the biotech company Alkahest in San Carlos, biotech scientists analyzed plasma samples donated by the young and the old. They were astonished.

“We have actually now for the first time discovered that there are hundreds of proteins that change with aging,” explained the CEO and Chairman Karoly Nicolich.

Young plasma is awash in special proteins that rejuvenate tissues

Very old mice injected with young plasma returned to a younger state of being. Scientists discovered how they sprouted newborn neurons in a part of the brain critical for memory and learning

“It’s pretty dramatic,” remarked Alkahest neuroscientist Sakura Minami.Stanford scientists are now testing the method in humans.

On November 5, Dr. Sharon Sha, the lead investigator of the trial and neurologist, reported some results at the 10th annual Clinical Trial on Alzheimer’s Disease conference in Boston.

In a small early phase clinical study, the scientists infused young plasma into 18 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease

The goal: to see if the treatment is safe

“We found that it was safe and feasible to administer infusions of young plasma weekly,” reported Dr. Sha.

But there was also an unexpected surprise said Dr. Sha. She recounted how researchers detected some signs suggesting the patients were getting better

“We found an improvement on two measures of functional ability,” reported Dr. Sha.

Larger studies need to be conducted before any conclusions can be reached,

Even so, Dr. Sha has developed a new found appreciation for blood.

“It’s all very exciting that there can be components in blood that can be healing.” said the Stanford neurologist.

Over at U.C. Berkeley, researchers are exploring a different approach

“There is something in the old blood”, said Professor Irina Conboy.

Conboy is a bioengineer and researcher at Cal. Along with her husband Michael Conboy, they are exploring how aging is simply not a progressions of time. They found it could go back and it can go forward experimentally.

They believe the answer is not mixing young plasma into the veins of older individuals, but to recalibrate the older blood of the older individuals.

“We know that there is bad stuff that accumulates in blood, in the blood of old people. So we’d like to identify those, pick out the most essential ones. and remove them.” explained Professor Michael Conboy

The Conboys explained how various proteins, peptides, and other molecules accumulate in our blood over time and as we age. The higher the levels of certain deleterious proteins, the more likely a big problem. It’s kind of like adding salt to a favorite dish. Add too much, and it makes the dish inedible. Too high a level of certain bad stuff in the blood, and our stem cells – which repairs our tissues – go to sleep and no longer work to repair parts of our body.

They propose filtering out levels of the protein in the blood to more youthful levels, and replenishing some of the beneficial proteins that decline in old age. That appears to wake up stem cells in animal studies, and the animal returns to a more youthful state: the heart, liver, lungs, skin, bones all become more youthful.

“You can have the person’s own blood being purified and rejuvenated and returned very safely to the same person in the state when the person was 20 years old.” declared Professor Irina Conboy.

They are currently working on a filtering device.

And while much more research is needed to understand if these therapies can turn back the clock, that hasn’t stopped some folks from charging ahead.

In San Francisco, a clinic associated with Ambrosia will give you a young plasma transfusion for $8,000.

Dr. Jesse Karmazin is the founder and CEO of Ambrosia.

“There are certainly tech folks from Silicon Valley signing up, there are pretty much people from most states, people from overseas people from Europe and Australia have come to be treated.” said Karmazin, who is a medical doctor.

Joe from the Carolinas

12th November 2017, 06:19

Lets also remember that nature has some wonderful technologies that can help us eliminate manmade carcinogens:

To many, it has long seemed hopeless that independent farmers could stand a chance under a Monsanto monopoly. Paul Stamets is a man with a plan: A David ready to fight the Monsanto Goliath. Except Stamets isn’t throwing stones; he’s growing mushrooms.

In 2006, Stamets obtained a patent that’s being hailed as revolutionary, with claims that it could undermine Monsanto’s grip on the farming industry.

Stamets is an eminent mycologist, a person who studies fungi and its uses. “Fungi are the grand recyclers of the planet,” he says in one media report. They have the potential to regenerate ecological systems and “re-green” the planet. Before taking on pesticides, he developed mycotechnology with petroleum-eating mushrooms that clean up oil spills.

SMART pesticides, a mycotechnology he successfully patented in 2006, wouldn’t just strike a blow to Monsanto — he suggests that using mycopesticides could fuel an ecological revolution, restoring and rehabilitating polluted ecological sites. So-called “SMART” pesticides work via “sporulation,” sprouting fungi in the insects that consume them. Once the first batch of insects dies, other pests are driven away from the area.

https://backtotheroots.com/blogs/bttr/this-revolutionary-patent-might-just-take-down-monsanto

TargeT

13th November 2017, 18:39

Lets also remember that nature has some wonderful technologies

Certainly, and mushroom uses is a great introductory topic.

For example:

Study Finds Mushrooms May Have ‘Fountain Of Youth’ Benefits
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Mushrooms may make our favorite pizza and pasta dishes taste delightfully better, but it turns out they may help keep our brains and hearts younger too. A new study finds that some of our favorite toadstools may have high concentrations of antioxidants with anti-aging benefits.

Researchers at Penn State analyzed the chemical composition of a wide variety of types of mushrooms, finding that many contained high levels of ergothioneine and glutathione, both of which are important antioxidants.
https://www.studyfinds.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/harshal-s-hirve-50030-300x225.jpg
“What we found is that, without a doubt, mushrooms are highest dietary source of these two antioxidants taken together, and that some types are really packed with both of them,” says lead researcher Robert Beelman in a university news release.

It is widely accepted that the human body’s chemical process of converting food into energy produces free radicals, which can cause damage to cells, protein, and DNA, the researchers explain.

“There’s a theory — the free radical theory of aging — that’s been around for a long time that says when we oxidize our food to produce energy there’s a number of free radicals that are produced that are side products of that action and many of these are quite toxic,” says Beelman.

Eventually, an accumulation of free radicals can lead to chronic disease and illness, including “cancer, coronary heart disease, and Alzheimer’s,” he adds. Ergothioneine and glutathione can help control those free radicals.

Beelman and his team found that the quantity of antioxidants in certain species varied, with the porcini species, which is a wild variety, carrying the highest amount of both ergothioneine and glutathione.

“This species is really popular in Italy where searching for it has become a national pastime,” Beelman says.
Meanwhile, some garden-variety types of mushroom, such as the white button, had fewer antioxidants, although more than most foods.

Interestingly, there was little evidence that cooking mushrooms significantly changed the composition of their antioxidants, particularly as it pertained to ergothioneine.

Future research could look into the ability of ergothioneine and glutathione to help prevent neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson’s and the aforementioned Alzheimer’s, Beelman suggests.

“It’s preliminary, but you can see that countries that have more ergothioneine in their diets, countries like France and Italy, also have lower incidences of neurodegenerative diseases, while people in countries like the United States, which has low amounts of ergothioneine in the diet, have a higher probability of diseases like Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s,” Beelman notes.

Although the relationship between mushroom consumption and neurodegeneration may be one of correlation, instead of causation, it would only take about five button mushrooms a day for Americans to close the gap, he adds.

The study’s findings were published last month the journal Food Chemistry.

https://www.studyfinds.org/mushrooms-anti-aging-antioxidants/

TargeT

14th November 2017, 14:28

This is a big step for making CRISPR treatments more predictable and consistent.

CRISPR Can Now Edit Genes Using Nanoparticles Instead of Viruses
The new delivery mechanism completely turned off a gene responsible for high cholesterol in mice.
https://video-images.vice.com/articles/5a09c80a128957795c7afe17/lede/1510590496929-crispr.jpeg
Since its was first harnessed by scientists in 2013, the natural gene-editing technology known as CRISPR has sparked a designer baby controversy, dreams of ending hereditary diseases, and fears of sophisticated biological terrorism. Yet for all of CRISPR’s peril and promise, figuring out a way to effectively deliver the system to the target DNA has remained a significant technical hurdle.

Usually, a CRISPR system—which consists of an enzyme called Cas9 that cuts out a portion of a target DNA strand, as well as a short strand of RNA that guides the enzyme to its target—catches a ride through the body in a virus. This is a less than ideal solution because patients receiving a CRISPR treatment can quickly develop, or may already possess, antibodies that would destroy it.

As detailed today in Nature Biotechnology, a team of researchers at MIT has created a highly effective, non-viral solution: a nanoparticle system that can deliver CRISPR to target genes. Moreover, the nanoparticle CRISPR-delivery system was able to completely turn off a gene responsible for high cholesterol level when administered to mice.

The group was led by MIT research scientist Hao Yin and associate professor of chemical engineering Daniel Anderson, both of whom have made ground-breaking discoveries in the science of gene editing in recent years.

In 2014, Yin, Anderson, and their colleagues at MIT became the first to cure a disease in an adult animal using CRISPR. In this case, it was a liver disease called tyrosinemia and the “patients” were adult mice. The problem, however, was this CRISPR method was dependent on viral delivery, as well as a high pressure injection, which could cause damage to the liver.Anderson and Yin further modified this approach in 2016 by encasing the Cas9 enzyme in a lipid nanoparticle.
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These are particles existing on the nanoscale that basically act like synthetic cells, protecting their contents with a wall of fatty material known as lipids.

The nanoparticles obviated the need for a high-pressure viral delivery system for Cas9, although the guiding RNA strand still required a virus for delivery. Deploying single strands of RNA is a difficult problem since our body associates them with viral infections. This can prompt the body to trigger certain immune responses that can result in the degradation of the RNA, rendering it useless.

One solution to this problem that has been explored in RNA-based medicines is to modify the RNA so that it doesn’t trigger an immune response. Things get a bit tricker when modifying RNA for CRISPR, since the modified RNA still needs to be able to interface with the Cas9 enzyme.

In their new research, Anderson and Yin worked on modifying the guide RNA so that it wouldn’t trigger the body’s immune system as it worked its way toward its target in a nanoparticle, while still being able to link up with the Cas9 enzyme. As they found in their research, they could modify up to 70 percent of the RNA before it was unable to bind to the Cas9 enzyme as a CRISPR system.

Importantly, the ability to use chemically modified RNA in the CRISPR system meant that a virus was no longer needed as a host for the guide RNA. It could instead be encased in a synthetic nanoparticle.

The guide RNA is programmed to seek out specific genes in the liver by reversing the genetic code found in a target strand of DNA. Once it locates this target DNA sequence, the Cas9 enzyme effectively splits the double helix to allow the guide RNA to bind to the DNA. If it’s a good match, this portion of the helix is excised from DNA strand. Usually, the DNA strand tries to repair itself, at which point the CRISPR system does its thing again. This process is repeated until the DNA no longer repairs itself, at which point the targeted gene has effectively been turned off.

In their new research, Anderson and his colleagues at MIT looked at a handful of different genes for their CRISPR system, but they mostly focused on PCSK9, a gene that produces a protein responsible for regulating cholesterol levels.

This gene is also responsible for hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol, which a genetic condition that affects about 1 in 500 people. High cholesterol significantly increases the risk of strokes and heart disease, and while a new suite of drugs targeting PCSK9 have proven to be effective, these drugs must be taken daily for the rest of a patient’s life.

“PCSK9 is an exciting and clinically relevant target for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia as there are some people who genetically get these incredibly high levels of cholesterol,” Anderson told me on the phone. “We reasoned that it may be possible to permanently inactivate this gene using a nanoparticle and that might provide a lifetime of therapy for patients.”

When Anderson and Yin injected these CRISPR-carrying nanoparticles into the livers of mice, the CRISPR system was able to eliminate the PCSK9 gene in 80 percent of their liver cells. This resulted in a 35 percent drop in cholesterol in treated mice. According to Anderson, this same technique may be used to treat other liver diseases, and may be slightly modified for use treating diseases in other body tissues.

It’s uncertain how long it will be before nanoparticle CRISPR treatments like the one pioneered by Anderson and Yin see widespread clinical use in humans.

For now, the nanoparticle technology will likely remain confined to non-human experiments, if for no other reason than CRISPR is still quite error prone. Although scientists are also exploring alternative gene-editing technologies that are more accurate than CRISPR, Anderson believes this new nanoparticle delivery system marks a significant step toward the medical adoption of CRISPR in humans.

“Nanoparticles like these have real potential to treat people with diseases,” Anderson said. “My hope is that these types of formulations really do end up helping people, that’s what really motivates us.”
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywbkzw/crispr-virus-nanoparticle-mit-rna

Cidersomerset

14th November 2017, 19:16

TargeT

27th November 2017, 20:28

Not sure if this is good news, or just a Idiocracy coming true....
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Sounds like they are stimulating targeted stemcell production as well as blocking a protein binding... pretty cool with some great "side" benefits.

Korean scientists discover potential cure for baldness
https://technology.inquirer.net/files/2016/10/50266247_S.jpg
Male pattern baldness continues to be the plight for men around the world, but a group of South Korean scientists may have found the cure.

Researchers from Yonsei University in Seoul have unraveled a potential drug candidate that aggressively targets the protein that blocks hair follicle growth.

The exciting discovery, as per The Korea Herald, may soon pioneer new forms of hair-loss treatments, which are currently limited to growth acceleration and delay of hair loss, rather than complete regeneration.

Funded by the Korean Ministry of Science, a team led by professor Choi Kang-yell has come up with a protein called CXXC-type zinc finger protein 5, which can bind the disheveled protein that triggers hair loss.

“This newly developed substance is a first-in-class drug candidate. It is expected to become a treatment for not only hair loss and baldness but also for regenerating damaged skin tissue,” Choi explained.

Through these findings, the group managed to develop the biochemical substance, PTD-DBM, which prevents CXXC from binding with the badness-causing protein.

“Disrupting the CXXC5-Dishevelled interaction with a competitor peptide activated the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and accelerated hair regrowth and wound-induced hair follicle neogenesis,” an excerpt from the paper “Targeting of CXXC5 by a Competing Peptide Stimulates Hair Re-growth and Wound-Induced Hair Neogenesis” read.

Meanwhile, Professor Choi clarified that their findings were different from existing studies like MSD’s Propecia (finasteride), which simply slows down hair loss and cannot be applied to subjects with no hair follicles left.

The group is also aiming to forego typical side effects of hair-loss treatments, including impotence and abnormal ejaculation, caused by hormonal imbalances.

The group’s complete findings were published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology last month.

Read more: https://technology.inquirer.net/69592/korean-scientists-discover-potential-cure-baldness#ixzz4zfHUlEdU

Another take here:
http://www.esquire.co.uk/life/news/a18653/scientists-in-south-korea-think-theyve-found-a-cure-for-baldness/

TargeT

19th January 2018, 15:18

British inventor sets jet suit record

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Published on 9 Nov 2017
Richard Browning sets a world record for the fastest speed in a body controlled jet engine powered suit.

'Iron man' flight sets first world record - BBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBTdxGQnWTM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-41915072/iron-man-flight-sets-first-world-record
.

Well, that suit was certainly a great start.. but THIS... this will appeal to the masses who don't have supernatural core strength required for a jet suit.

Zapata Ezfly: The jet-powered aerial Segway anyone can fly
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The Zapata Ezfly looks for all intents and purposes like a Segway of the sky. You stand on a small platform equipped with a series of jet thrusters, holding two handgrips that come up from the base, then rise up into the air and zoom around, steering with your bodyweight.
It builds on the platform of Franky Zapata's Flyboard Air, a green goblin-style flying platform with no Segway-style handgrips. The Flyboard Air, like the water-propelled Flyboard that started this whole venture for Zapata, straps you in at the boots, and requires an extraordinary amount of core strength and balance to operate – which its inventor most certainly has.

Zapata has frequently been seen zooming around over waterways in Europe and the United States, testing and updating his invention, sometimes with the blessing of the authorities, sometimes without.

The new Ezfly system is a dangerously disruptive idea, because it looks for all the world like it takes very little training to operate, so just about anyone could fly one. You don't strap your boots in, you just stand on the platform and hang onto the control sticks, pretty much like a three-dimensional Segway.
In the above video, Zapata shows a testing session held last October somewhere in Texas, where no less than 10 pilots jumped aboard the Ezfly and took turns blasting about over the surface of a lake. Everyone seemed to be able to get the hang of it pretty quickly, and there were no incidents. Notably, a couple of the guys in the test team were wearing military gear, which would make sense, as it's no secret the US defence forces are highly interested in personal flight devices.

In fact, the Ezfly looks like a vastly slimmed-down, much more powerful, jet propelled descendent of the Hiller Flying Platform, which was built in the 1950s and tested by the U.S. Army before eventually being abandoned.

The fact that Zapata was willing to put a range of people on board suggests that the Ezfly has a bunch of built-in stability gear, as well as potentially an altitude/distance from base limiter. You could even feasibly have a drone-style remote control to bring back a wayward pilot in distress. We'd love to know more, but Zapata hasn't yet responded to our enquiries.

One thing we can be fairly sure it doesn't have is an active safety system, because nothing of that nature really exists as yet.

Ballistic parachute systems are well and good, but they don't have time to slow your fall if you're flying at altitudes of less than about 100 ft (30 m). By the time they've opened up, you're the shape and texture of a pizza. That's a problem everyone's dealing with in this new VTOL space, from the flying car guys to the Jetpack people – once you're way up in the air, ballistic chutes are handy to have, but between the ground and 100 feet, a system failure could be absolutely catastrophic.
https://newatlas.com/zapata-ezfly-flying-segway/53044/

Gemma13

21st January 2018, 18:12

Probably not quite what thread is about but sorta fits:

Train Your Brain to Work Like Elon Musk, Eric Schmidt, & Top Navy SEALs

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/11/train-your-brain-to-work-like-elon-musk-eric-schmidt-top-navy-seals.html

And couldn’t resist putting this one in from the human perspective – ironically if we all get outfitted with brain enhancements to achieve optimum “flow states” maybe we will be able to eliminate secrecy and gain full transparency after all by being genius hackers :)

British 15-year-old gained access to intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iran by pretending to be head of CIA, court hears

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/19/british-15-year-old-gained-access-intelligence-operations-afghanistan/

TargeT

30th January 2018, 13:38

Not a flying car, but still very useful. (where's my damn flying car??)

The End Of Root Canals: Stem Cell Fillings Trigger Teeth To Repair Themselves, Research Study Claims
Wouldn't it be great if your teeth could heal themselves without the need of a painful root canal?
https://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Root-canals-may-become-a-thing-of-the-past.jpg
What if damaged teeth could heal themselves without the need of a root canal? Apparently, that’s what Harvard and the University of Nottingham are trying to figure out. They believe they can create stem cell stimulated fillings.

Worldwide, dentists treat hundreds of millions of cavities each year by drilling out the decayed part of the tooth and replacing it with a filling. According to Popular Science, the problem is up to 15 percent of those procedures will fail, which will lead to a root canal to remove the tooth’s pulp, a soft tissue in the center of the tooth that contains blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissue. The downside is, following a root canal, the tooth’s strength is weaker and could eventually need to be removed.

Adam Celiz is a therapeutic biomaterials researcher who believes that stem cells could help reduce the number of root canals and the need for dentures. Celiz and his team developed a new kind of filling that is made from stem cells that can help your tooth heal. Just like regular fillings, the biomaterial stem cells are injected into the tooth and hardened with ultra-violet light.

“Existing dental fillings are toxic to cells and are therefore incompatible with pulp tissue inside the tooth. In cases of dental pulp disease and injury, a root canal is typically performed to remove the infected tissues. We have designed synthetic biomaterials that can be used similarly to dental fillings but can be placed in direct contact with pulp tissue to stimulate the native stem cell population for repair and regeneration of pulp tissue and the surrounding dentin. ‘Our approach has great promise to impact the dental field and this prize provides a great platform to develop this technology further with industrial partners.”

Celiz believes that all fillings could be made of such regenerative material so that damaged teeth could heal themselves, which, in theory, would reduce the filling failures and could completely eliminate the need for root canals.
The researchers believe that if used on a damaged tooth, those stem cells can repair the tooth. It would mimic a filling but would have a very low risk of rejection or failure. The easiest way to explain it is the tooth would heal itself, with the help of the stem cell biomaterial injection.

According to Daily Mail, the research placed second in the materials category of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition in 2016. Applications were judged on the degree of innovation, the potential impact, and the quality of the science behind it.

Many dentists aren’t sure if stem cells have a place in dentistry. They suggest additional research to prove (or disprove) its benefits.
https://www.inquisitr.com/4759240/the-end-of-root-canals-stem-cell-fillings-trigger-teeth-to-repair-themselves-research-study-claims/

Cidersomerset

30th January 2018, 13:53

Well, that suit was certainly a great start.. but THIS... this will appeal to
the masses who don't have supernatural core strength required for a jet suit.

I want one of those machines would be great on my mail round...:highfive:

I also noticed the persistent trail above their heads....;)

TargeT

16th February 2018, 19:45

I think this might be pivotal to crowd sourced media....

Think of how much evidence can be collected by an individual wearing a 360* camera like this, the Vegas shooting's come to mind.....

This neckband records 360-degree video from your point of view
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZUoPBgRTbVSuCSMRw2_xfihx3_I=/0x0:2040x1360/920x613/filters:focal(799x589:1125x915)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58715927/mdoying_180213_2302_0011-e.0.0.jpg
When I first saw the Fitt360, all I could think of was how ridiculous it looked: it’s a lot like one of those chunky wireless earbud bands, except instead of having built-in headphones, it has three built-in cameras — arguably even worse, if we’re to take any privacy lessons from Google Glass. But after wearing a demo unit and watching some of the footage that came out of it, I have to admit I’m coming around. The footage it records is compelling to watch, even if wearing one does look a little weird.

Fitt360 comes from Linkflow, a company that got its start inside Samsung’s C-Lab product incubator and has since been spun out into a standalone company. The 360-degree wearable camera is Linkflow’s first product. It’s been on Kickstarter for close to a month, but I just got a chance to use a working prototype. The prototype is a bit chunkier and less polished than the final product is supposed to be, but the main function — recording everything around you — already works.here’s something surprisingly engrossing about watching first person footage and seeing your own arms stretch out in front of you. You can watch recorded footage in a connected smartphone app (and then share it elsewhere; Linkflow is also planning a live-streaming function), swiping around to change the camera’s point of view or just moving the phone around in space as though it were your head. Because the cameras are worn around your neck, the footage all feels first-person, even when you aren’t looking in the direction the wearer was facing.

Linkflow doesn’t envision the Fitt360 as something you’d wear day in and day out — it’s more for times when you’re a tourist, or out hiking, or anywhere you might want to take a lot of photos to remember where you were. Hiking is pretty ideal, since you don’t have to worry about making people uncomfortable by filming. You press a little button on the neckband to start and stop recording, and on the prototype unit, a green light came on to indicate it was filming.
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NoCe9cEoNrXn9zIpgSsb1pPVHxU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10218177/mdoying_180213_2302_0047.jpg
I asked Linkflow if they were worried about getting similar blowback to Google Glass, and the company’s CEO, Kevin Kim, said he thought the product would avoid bumping into those same issues because it has “blinking LED lights” that activate while recording. “We’ve actually had Fitt360 at multiple exhibitions and were stopped by a security guard who told us not to film,” Kim said in an emailed response. “So we believe that it is noticeable with the LED light on.”

I only spent a few minutes wearing the neckband, but I found it comfortable enough. And because it has two little braces that slope inward, it gently hugs your neck in such a way that helps it stay in place and not bounce around. One word of warning though: if you have long hair, you’ll need to wear it up, or else you’ll end up covering the two rear lenses.

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Linkflow has posted a bit of Fitt360 footage to its Kickstarter page, and I was able to see some as I was wearing it around The Verge’s office. What I saw was on par with other 360-degree cameras: pixelated, blurry, with limited colors, poor dynamic range, and occasionally odd, cut off, and stretched out portions. But for all those issues, it’s still a joy to look through, for both the novelty of moving around in all directions and for the first-person experience. I don’t mean to say the image quality is awful, just that what it captures is a lot higher-quality in feeling than it is in resolution.

The real test, and something I wasn’t able to thoroughly test in my office, is how well the Fitt360 deals with constant movement — if the footage is really bumpy, it’ll be nauseating to watch. The neckband does a good job of holding the cameras in place, and Linkflow seems to be applying some stabilization to the footage to smooth out the motion. It felt relatively natural looking at the footage streaming from around my neck.
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PU8UFwOxi3zBRl8DQdXWHPFMkxA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10218175/mdoying_180213_2302_0041.jpg

The product will be on Kickstarter through late next week. It’s already surpassed its goal several times over, having raised over $300,000 at this point in time. The product is expensive, though, even for a 360-degree camera: the early bird price is just under $400, and the retail price is supposed to be $600 when it launches later this year. Consumer 360-degree cameras tend to be around $300, though you can go much cheaper. Those cameras may not capture the first-person experience, but it might be worth trying them first to see just how much you enjoy 360-degree video.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/16/17009564/360-degree-camera-neckband-linkflow-fitt360-samsung-spinoff-kickstarter

I signed up for one on their kickstarter page ;)