Update on Google Glasses.
Babak Parviz, head of Project Glass at Google has given an interview updating some of the progress since they were first shown off Mid-2012.
Among other information, he describes how the glasses are currently controlled:
Right now, we have a touch pad on the device that allows people to change things on the device if they wish to do so. We have also experimented a lot with using voice commands. We have full audio in and audio out, which is a nice, natural way of interacting with something that you’d wear and always have with you. We have also experimented with some head gestures.
Check out the full interview here.
(via 8bitfuture)
Using Nanoparticles to turn Solar Energy into Steam
90% of the world’s electricity is produced from steam, and most industrial steam is generated in large boilers—but researchers at Rice University have recently developed a method to convert solar energy into steam using nanoparticles, allowing energy-creation on a smaller, greener, more economical scale. The team created metallic nanoparticles designed to absorb a wide spectrum of solar energy and therefore heat up. When billions of these nanoparticles are submerged in water and then exposed to sunlight, their temperatures rise quickly to above the boiling point of water, and after 5–20 seconds, they vaporise the water around them and create steam. They can even produce steam from icy cold water. At this unrefined stage, they have an overall energy efficiency of 24%, which is impressive considering the 15% efficiency of photovoltaic solar panels—and this efficiency will only increase as the technology is refined. “This is about a lot more than electricity,” says Naomi Halas, lead researcher. “With this technology, we are beginning to think about solar thermal power in a completely different way.” The method is not initially expected to be used in electricity generation, but rather in sanitation and water-purification applications in developing countries.
First flexible smartphones to launch in 2013.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Samsung are getting ready to launch the first flexible smartphones to market in the first half of 2013. The company - along with many other smartphone makers - have been researching the the technology for as long as 10 years, but it’s been difficult to bring it to market due to difficulties mass producing the technology. Pictured above are prototype devices which Samsung exhibited last year, although it’s not clear exactly what form the final product will take.
The flexible displays will use OLEDs, which can be put on flexible material such as plastic or metal foil.
“The key reason for Samsung to use plastic rather than conventional glass is to produce displays that aren’t breakable. The technology could also help lower manufacturing costs and help differentiate its products from other rivals,” said Lee Seung-chul, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities.
(via 8bitfuture)
Ukranian Students Invent Gloves that Translate Sign Language to Speech.
A team of Ukranian students by the name of QuadSquad has been working on a project called “Enable Talk” that will help solve this language barrier. After interacting with hearing-impaired athletes at their school, they got the brilliant idea to create a device that would help them to communicate better with the rest of the world.
The Enable Talk system is basically gloves equipped with flex sensors, touch sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers. The gloves (which connect to smartphone via Bluetooth) are able to translate sign language into text and then text into spoken words using a text-to-speech engine.
There have been a handful of projects similar to this in the past, but none have been as technologically advanced or affordable (with prices upwards of $1200), whereas the cost of building the prototypes for the Enable Talk gloves is just $75.
Glass storage claimed to last million of years.
Hitachi have developed a quartz glass storage system which is able to hold about 40MB of data per square inch - about the same as a standard CD. By writing the data as binary using lasers to etch dots on four layers of glass, the technique should allow the data to be stored for perhaps hundreds of millions of years - unless, of course, the glass is smashed.
The glass can retain its data after being heated to 1,000°C, and isn’t damaged by radiation, water or most chemicals. The team behind it says adding more layers to increase the relatively small storage space shouldn’t be a problem.
(Source: theregister.co.uk, via 8bitfuture)
Why wood pulp is the new carbon nanotube.
The first Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) factory in the US opened this July, a technology which is expected to become a $600 billion industry by 2020. NCC is significant because it is an incredibly cheap, renewable version of a carbon nanotube which is made from processed wood pulp.
…not only is NCC transparent but it is made from a tightly packed array of needle-like crystals which have a strength-to-weight ratio that is eight times better than stainless steel.
“The beauty of this material is that it is so abundant we don’t have to make it,” says Youngblood. “We don’t even have to use entire trees; nanocellulose is only 200 nanometres long. If we wanted we could use twigs and branches or even sawdust. We are turning waste into gold.”
NCC is already being used to make the next generation of flexible electronic displays in Japan, to create computer components by IBM, and the by the US Army to make lightweight body armour.
(Source: newscientist.com, via 8bitfuture)
A Futuristic Short Film: by Sight Systems
MY FEELS…. are somewhere…
(Source: youtube.com)
Silk Stretches Drugs’ Shelf Life
“It’s the story of the silkworm and the vaccine, which when combined could help vaccinate thousands of kids in hard-to-reach places.”
click link for an interview with biomedical engineer Dr. David Kaplan Stern
Asobi by Yasutoki Kariya
“Asobi” was created by art student Yasutoki Kariya for his senior thesis exhibition. Meaning “play,” the installation is comprised of 11 computer-programmed incandescent light bulbs hung from strings. They playfully re-enact Newton’s Cradle, visualizing the transfer of kinetic energy in the form of light. (via Spoon & Tamago)
Artificial jellyfish created from heart cells
The team members built the replica using silicone as a base on which to grow heart muscle cells that were harvested from rats.
They used an electric current to shock the Medusoid into swimming with synchronised contractions that mimic those of real jellyfish.
The advance, by researchers at Caltech and Harvard University, isreported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The finding serves as a proof of concept for reverse engineering a variety of muscular organs and simple life forms.
Because jellyfish use a muscle to pump their way through the water, the way they function - on a very basic level - is similar to that of a human heart.
“I started looking at marine organisms that pump to survive,” said Kevin Kit Parker, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at Harvard.
“Then I saw a jellyfish at the New England Aquarium, and I immediately noted both similarities and differences between how the jellyfish pumps and the human heart.
“The similarities help reveal what you need to do to design a bio-inspired pump.”
Mechanical movement
The work also points to a broader definition of “synthetic life” in an emerging field of science that has until now focused on replicating life’s building blocks, say the researchers.
Prof Parker said he wanted to challenge the traditional view of synthetic biology which is “focused on genetic manipulations of cells”. Instead of building just a cell, he sought to “build a beast”.
The two groups at Caltech and Harvard worked for years to understand the key factors that contribute to jellyfish propulsion, including the arrangement of their muscles, how their bodies contract and recoil, and how fluid dynamics helps or hinders their movements.
The swimming behaviour of the Medusoid closely mimics that of the real thing
Once these functions were well understood, the researchers began to reverse engineer them.
They used silicone to fashion a jellyfish-shaped body with eight arm-like appendages.
Next, they printed a pattern made of protein onto the “body” that resembled the muscle architecture of the real animal.
They grew the heart muscle cells on top, with the protein pattern serving as a road map for the growth and organisation of the rat tissue. This allowed them to turn the cells into a coherent swimming muscle.
When the researchers set the Medusoid free in a container of electrically conducting fluid, they shocked the Medusoid into swimming with synchronised contractions. The muscle cells even started to contract a bit on their own before the electrical current was applied.
“I was surprised that with relatively few components - a silicone base and cells that we arranged - we were able to reproduce some pretty complex swimming and feeding behaviours that you see in biological jellyfish,” said John Dabiri, professor of aeronautics and bioengineering at Caltech.
“I’m pleasantly surprised at how close we are getting to matching the natural biological performance, but also that we’re seeing ways in which we can probably improve on that natural performance. The process of evolution missed a lot of good solutions.”
Lead author Janna Nawroth from the California Institute of Technology(Caltech) in Pasadena commented that the field of tissue engineering was “still a very qualitative art”.
She said researchers tried to copy a tissue or organ “based on what they think is important or what they see as the major components without necessarily understanding if those components are relevant to the desired function or without analysing first how different materials could be used”.
The team aims to carry out further work on the artificial jellyfish. They want to make adjustments that will allow it to turn and move in a particular direction.
They also plan to incorporate a simple “brain” so it can respond to its environment and replicate more advanced behaviours like moving towards a light source and seeking energy or food.
(Source: consulting-auror-archwarlock)
Another example of true innovation! The brilliant AmoeBAND is a design concept for a first aid bandage with a clever tear-away adjustable shape and an indicator that changes color if an infection is detected (video). The concept was created by design students at Shih Chien University in Taiwan. Here’s hoping this makes it to market!
(via)
UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows, from Engadget http://engt.co/QmQBiH
