Shuttles go into retirement later than planned

Released on - 7/4/2010 9:35:24 AM

The space shuttles Discovery and Endeavour are coming to the end of their lives. But NASA will carry on using them for a little longer than originally planned.

The final launch of Discovery, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, had originally been planned for 16th September. In the end it has been postponed until 1st November, since some elements of the shuttle's cargo will not be ready in time. As a result, the launch of Endeavour will also be later than planned. Initially scheduled for the end of November, it will now take place in February 2011.

The two shuttles will then go into well-earned retirement. It is the Russian spacecraft, Soyouz, that will be assuming responsibility for taking astronauts to the International Space Station; just until the commercial American rockets become operational.

A less painful self lancing system

Released on - 7/1/2010 3:54:11 PM

Constant technological advancements and innovations in industry also allow concrete developments in the field of health. For example, helping people who suffer from diabetes, there are now devices available that are much easier and much less painful to use.

In this vein, the company LifeScan is releasing a new self lancing system designed for diabetics to take blood samples in order to monitor their insulin levels. This process that patients must carry out each day is not very pleasant. The miniature "OneTouch Delica" was created with the aim of reducing vibrations when the needle penetrates the skin.

Let's hope that this type of system will prevent many diabetics from ceasing to monitor their blood.

Shape-Shifting Devices

Released on - 7/1/2010 1:34:24 PM

Imagine a "smart" cup that increases in size according to the amount of liquid poured into it. Or a Swiss Army knife that changes shape into a hammer or a pair of scissors according to the use you want to put it to. 

Visualise a few innocuous sheets of paper lying on your coffee table. They are untidy, yes, but nothing special about them. All of a sudden, they start moving about and folding themselves into different shapes: birds, animals, boats, aeroplanes and so on. Remember how your parents taught you origami, the art of folding paper into interesting shapes? Well, you don't need to teach that to your own children now. All you need to do is get hold of some of these automated sheets, which automatically fold themselves and do all of the work for you.

The centuries-old craft of origami has indeed been automated. Scientists at MIT and Harvard have created sheets of paper that can fold themselves without the helping hand of a human! 

The Future of Origami
Does this mean that origami will die, or will this age-old art get a new boost? The team of scientists has created electronic sheets of paper that can be programmed. This means they can actually tell a sheet of paper to become an aeroplane. Then, the e-paper follows the code fed into it and starts folding itself in the shape of an airplane. 

So, now people won't have to learn origami and they won't need to master the skill of folding paper precisely. A machine won't do it for them but the very paper itself will be able to do so to absolute perfection. This might also revive interest in origami because the e-paper will be able to twist and turn itself into far more intricate shapes than we could ever imagine!

The Uses of Shape-Shifting Devices
Why would a team of top-notch scientists bother so much over a few humble sheets of paper? Well, it seems that automated origami is just a by-product of this technology. It has several other uses, for example, it can be used to create "shape-shifting devices". Such devices could be used in the military or in space.

The self-folding paper comprises several triangles that are connected to one another. They have "universal crease patterns" and "elastomer joints". The team calls this material "programmable matter by folding".

A rally truck powered by... hydrogen ! wow

A rally truck powered by... hydrogen!

Released on - 6/28/2010 3:05:55 PM

In the realms of eco-friendly cars, hybrid vehicles are currently in vogue. This term refers to systems which use both traditional combustion methods and electrical energy. It will now be necessary to include cars powered by a combination of hydrogen and petrol or diesel.

To prove that this technology is in fact risk free, the founder of Hessgen equipped a rally truck with a system he invented himself. As a result, Brian Hess took part in a race for all-terrain vehicles which led him to drive through some pretty extreme conditions.

Despite rolling over, the hybrid system continued to work normally. At the end of the race, the truck had used significantly less petrol than its competitors... Although it didn't win first place!

We Are So Predictable! sure

We Are So Predictable!

Released on - 6/24/2010 1:24:41 PM

The first shocking news was that we know ourselves only half as well as we thought! This means we are wrong about ourselves half the time! This is incredible, because if we ought to know anyone, it is surely our own selves. 

Not Oriental Mumbo Jumbo
Then, we were reeling when we found out that a bunch of scientists are actually able to read our minds. They are able to predict our actions better than we can! This is not some oriental mumbo jumbo, but hard-core science.

A group of scientists at the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) are being led by Emily Falk. They have used brain scans to figure out what people are going to do. They have taken images of brains in real time and have been able to successfully interpret them. A group of people were shown messages about something innocuous, for example, a sun screen. Then the brain scans took images of their brains. Based on these images, the scientists were able to predict who would use sunscreen in that group.

These predictions were compared with the predictions of the volunteers themselves. Guess what? The scientists were more accurate! How so? Well, it seems that we decide to do many things but we don't actually get around to doing them at all. Our intentions are often not followed through by action. So out of the group of 20 volunteers that intended to use the sunscreen, some of them never actually did so. 

Falk and her team were able to base their predictions on fMRI, or functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. They measured the flow of blood that enters ours brains and magnetic fields showed them which areas of the brain had become more active. If they saw increased activity in one particular area of the brain - the medial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with self-awareness - they were able to interpret the information they gathered from there.

About half the volunteers said they would use sunscreen but Falk and co correctly predicted that three quarters of them would use it. Now, it seems they plan to use these results to encourage people to quit smoking.

A bonsai solar charger

Released on - 6/22/2010 2:52:31 PM

Some inventions are capable of appealing to geeks, design enthusiasts and people who are worried about environmental issues. A recent example: the "Electree".

It is an object shaped like a bonsai, created by the designer Vivien Muller; it can recharge your high tech gadgets using solar power. The concept is simple and elegant. In the guise of leaves this charger is equipped with 42 photovoltaic cells. It can then be connected to your devices via a USB port.

For the moment, it is only being produced as a limited edition and marketed by par Metz Atelier Design, the "Electree" is out of the reach of many pockets. Its price? The equivalent of 6,100 dollars...

The 2015 Browser .. Do you know how it will be like

The 2015 Browser

Released on - 6/17/2010 6:06:00 PM

Your PC hasn't changed dramatically in five years, so you might imagine that your browser will remain relatively unchanged five years from now. If so, you are in for a shock... or a pleasant surprise!

Browsers will not just be the gateway to the Internet, as they are today. They will form the hub of your digital experience - the control centre from which you will be able to do almost anything. 

The Omnipresent Bowser
Logic and common sense dictate that web browsers won't just be restricted to PCs any more. We'll be using them in our cars, on our handhelds (we already use them in our mobile phones) and just about everywhere.

3D browsers will be the norm, but you won't be required to wear clunky glasses. You will use them to run all of your apps: games, translations, office executables, your TV, printer, tablets, music devices and so on. Some of these already exist in a very primitive form - you could consider them beta versions or, at best, v1.0 of what you will be using five years from now. For example, you might have rotating 3D, giving you a full 360 degree view of a room or game. Thanks to high-speed Internet access and sophisticated 4G, you could control your fridge and other appliances through it. 

Touchless Browsers
Naturally, you won't be surprised to hear that browsers will be touch-screen, i.e. you will be able to control them with your fingertips. But hey! What if you could control your browser without touching it at all! Think about how you might use gesture-controlled apps or perhaps, at the extreme, even thought-recognition browsers? The most likely scenario is that browsers will be controlled by gestures and perhaps by eye movement and voice recognition. 

Speech to Text Apps
Text to speech already exists in a very limited format. But imagine a speech to text app in which you won't have to learn to type at all! You could just fire commands off at your browser, like you do to your assistant, for it to take you to any website you want.

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing could be the death knell for the struggling Microsoft Office range of products, and could usher in an era of online browser-based productivity suites like Google Docs.

"You're going to see tremendous innovation in the browser space in the coming years," says Google's VP of Engineering, Linus Upson.