Infotainment

CRISPR technology

2015-04-05T19:46:00.001+02:00

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) technology has recently occupied the Olympus of life-changing discoveries.
In a couple of years this revolutionary technique that enables changing genomes in a fast and easier way has found an honored place in many areas of science, healthcare and industry. CRISPR deserves the name of a game changer and continues to be explored by scientists in different applications far beyond the walls of research laboratories.
Despite continuous discussions about ethical limits of genome modifications, customizing of genomes in a wisely regulated way might have a lot of positive effects. Editas Medicine who was one of the pioneers of industrial applications of CRISPR technique, in a couple of years has reached enormous results in a field of medicine.
Leaving out the discussions about ethical issues related to human germ line editing, flash4science focuses today on the use of CRISPR in food industry.

Recently, scientists of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have explored CRIPR/Cas9 system to modify wine yeast genome what has reduced the toxicity of byproducts of wine fermentation. Exactly! CRISPR can help to prevent our morning-after headache and hangover.
CRISPR enabled researchers to alter successfully the genome of polyploid yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae used in wine fermentation. What was not so simple to do previously using other genome modification techniques due to efficient naturally occurring genome corrections in polyploid strains.
To increase health benefits of wine, scientists are thinking about engineered yeast strains that might boost the concentration of resveratrol in wine significantly. Resveratrol was shown to have positive effects in those who have heart disease or in patients with high blood pressure.
Genetically modified strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae might help to get wine smoother or to add a great flavor. The CRISPR technology allows to do all those genetic modifications without the use of antibiotic markers, what makes it even much more attractive for use in food-related applications.
The publication in FEMS Yeast Research has recently called CRISPR/Cas9 a molecular Swiss army knife for simultaneous introduction of multiple genetic modifications in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The scientists from Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands presented an open-source tool for identification of suitable Cas9 target sites in S. cerevisiae strains.
CRISPR, same like many other breaking through technologies in science has two sides. The aim of scientists and community is to distinguish the line between positive and negative impact and to focus on the positive one to get the best out of it.

Cover image: flickr image by Jim Kuhn / CC BY 2.0 license

Source: http://www.lifescience.net/news/297/how-can-crispr-technology-prevent-hangover/
https://flash4science.com/news/how-can-crispr-technology-prevent-hangover

TRUE FRIENDS

2014-07-21T11:09:00.000+02:00

A story tells that two friends

were walking

through the desert

During some point of the

Journey they had an

Argument, and one friend

Slapped the other one

In the face.

The one who got slapped

was hurt, but without

saying anything,

wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND

SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE .

They kept on walking

until they found an oasis,

where they decided

to take a bath.

The one who had been

slapped got stuck in the

mire and started drowning,

but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from

the near drowning,

he wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND

SAVED MY LIFE.

The friend who had slapped

and saved his best friend

asked him, "After I hurt you,

you wrote in the sand and now,

you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied

"When someone hurts us

we should write it down

in sand where winds of

forgiveness can erase it away.

But, when someone does

something good for us,

we must engrave it in stone

where no wind

can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE

YOUR HURTS IN

THE SAND AND TO

CARVE YOUR

BENEFITS IN STONE!!!

They say it takes a

minute to find a special

person, an hour to

appreciate them, a day

to love them, but then

an entire life

to forget them.

Send this phrase to

the people you'll never

forget. If you don't

send it to anyone,

it means you're in a

hurry and that you've

forgotten your friends.

Take the time to live!

Do not value the THINGS

you have in your life. But value

WHO you have in your life!

SOURCE: http://posts.fanbox.com/l466

the secrets of Saturn and its moons

2014-07-05T09:57:00.000+02:00

NASA’s Cassini space probe has been one of the agency’s most successful missions ever. It has been collecting intelligence on Saturn for a decade now, giving astronomers amazing new insights while several times exceeding expectations for its overall lifespan. Perhaps more importantly, the probe has supplemented its scientific data with incredible optical photos that have captured the public imagination on more than one occasion; Cassini actually managed to squeeze some real enthusiasm from a jaded and desensitized population.
Now, though, its time has finally come. In 2016, after more than 11 years spent circling the famously ringed planet, Cassini will embark on its last mission ever. Now that we have a plan for the probe’s final days, it’s worth taking a look back at its incredible, decade-long history.
Cassini (actually called the Cassini-Huygens Probe) launched with a wide array of goals. NASA wanted to learn about the composition and flow of the rings, the chemical nature of the planet’s cloud cover, the geological history of its many moons, and even some detailed information about Titan. It had a long and ambitious list of projects when it arrived at Saturn on June 30, 2004, but that list turned out to be not nearly ambitious enough. From astrophysics to public relations, Cassini-Huygens has been a huge success for the space program.

Without a doubt, the most famous shot to come out of Cassini is the Saturnian solar eclipse. The probe spent 12 hours in the shadow of Saturn, collecting any and all sunlight streaming around or through the gas giant and its rings. The result was both inspiring and educational, as NASA actually discovered all-new rings that were too thin and dark to notice previously. Cassini also confirmed that Saturn’s so-called E Ring is actually made of ice crystals ejected from Enceladus — a moon with a super-cryo-volcano that was itself discovered by Cassini.
Actually, based on the characteristics of the E-Ring, astronomers had already been pretty certain of Enceladus as the source. Cassini’s flybys confirmed that the moon does in fact spew water and hydrocarbon ice out into space, where it quickly falls into orbit around Saturn. Not only did Cassini capture amazing images of these planet-scale cryo-eruptions, perhaps the most spectacular geological events ever captured, but later missions actually confirmed that they occur thanks to an enormous ocean of liquid water deep below the surface.

Enceladus and its iconic blue “tiger stripes.”

And then there’s Titan, the second of Saturn’s two celebrity moons. Titan is known for a variety of reasons, but it’s most interesting to astronomers because of its incredible size and odd surface conditions. Titan is actually larger (though less massive) than Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, and for a long time astronomers theorized that it could have large volumes of odd liquids sitting on its surface. Cassini confirmed it: the moon has huge lakes of natural gas — essentially jet fuel sitting right out on the surface of the moon.

Cassini was even the impetus for one of NASA’s most successful public outreach campaigns. If you look closely in the eclipse picture above you’ll see a small, almost unnoticeable dot on the left, just above the bright inner rings; that’s us. NASA got the idea of, for the first time ever, telling the public in advance of their decision to take a picture of the Earth. Called “The Day the Earth Smiled,” this campaign asked the public to look up and smile for the camera, creating the world’s largest group photo. It was all just symbolic of course, but it had the desired effect: for the next several weeks, people were once again talking about Saturn.

The final version of “The Day the Earth Smiled.”

That’s the interesting thing about Cassini, which has had such an odd and multifaceted career. Some of its insights have come as we predicted they would, others thanks to impromptu creativity on the part of astronomers; to detect the subterranean ocean we now know is inside Enceladus, scientists looked at tiny variations in the probe’s microwave carrier signal, which corresponds to tiny imperfections in Cassini’s orbit, which is a result of a non-standard internal distribution of mass. That Cassini has been so able to support these sorts of ideas is one major reason it’s been so successful overall.
The satellite’s Grand Finale, as democracy has named it, will be Cassini’s last hurrah — and it should be quite something. After another pass looking at the outer rings and at the ice-plumes from Enceladus, Cassini will begin “proximal orbits” in which it will pass between the planet and its inner-most ring. Such up-close data should be revolutionary to NASA’s understanding of Saturn’s weather and atmospheric composition. Not that this would be Cassini’s first amazing look into Saturnian cloud-science — the incredible Great White Spot was captured incredible detail.

Cassini has served mankind well, and after its Grand Finale mission it will retire to the planet that was its reason for existing. When Cassini spirals in to the center of that gas giants, sending back info for as long as it can, we will have concluded one of the most roundly successful missions in the agency’s history. Congratulations to the team.
source: http://www.extremetech.com

What came first, black holes or galaxies?

2014-07-05T09:52:00.000+02:00

What came first, black holes or galaxies?

"For decades, this was an ideological argument primarily between Americans, who favored a bottom-up approach, and Soviets, who favored a top-down approach. Here’s the difference:

Bottom-up: The Universe starts off with large-magnitude fluctuations on small scales and not on large scales. The overdense regions grow over time, producing small mass clumps that grow, merge, and cluster together, eventually growing into large galaxies and clusters of galaxies. In this scenario, black holes would form first along with small stellar clumps, and only at much later times would they grow into what we consider galaxies.

Top-down: The Universe starts off with large-magnitude fluctuations on large scales and not on small scales. The overdense regions, being very large, gravitationally collapse down from irregularly-shaped triaxial ellipsoids along their shortest axis, forming pancake-like structures that fragment apart into galaxies. At later times, these galaxies evolve and grow black holes in their centers; the galaxies would form before the black holes in this scenario.

For a long time, we didn’t have the observational evidence to tell which of these approaches were the right one.”

source:http://is-universe.com/

the Sun-Powered Yacht Race

2014-06-22T10:14:00.008+02:00

Monaco has always been known for its annual Formula 1 Grand Prix, in which racers whip around the hairpin turns of the principality's narrow streets, and its annual yacht show, in which some of the world's largest and most luxurious boats dock in Port Hercule. This summer, Solar1Races, the Monaco Yacht Club, and Dutch design firm Vripack are combining the two to launch the first solar-powered-yacht Grand Prix at the Solar1 race, set to take place July 10 to 12 in Monaco.

The solar-powered race began as the Dong Energy Solar Challenge in Holland eight years ago, with two divisions: the hobby-level cruising class and a professional yachting class that was prohibitively expensive to most entrants. After competing for three years in the hobby class, the engineers at Vripack wanted to introduce a uniform racing division, where the boats would be more uniform but less expensive than the professional ones.

For the new division, the design team developed the V20 series—hydrofoiling boats that were designed for speed but aren't overly expensive. The uniform vessels would race in a new, third division and test the skill of the racer rather than the boatbuilder. "The challenge would be in the techniques and in the drivers," says Jeroen Droogsma, lead designer at Vripack.

Vripack has sold four such hydrofoiling boats since the announcement at the Monaco Yacht Show in September 2013, but time remains to sell more before the race.

Comparing the V20 to the megayachts and Navy vessels that Vripack also designs, Droogsma says simply, "There's not that much boat." While a yacht could take a year or more to build, the 19-foot V20 takes a mere month and a half because it lacks many of the complex onboard systems. A standard V20 comes with a carbon hull, solar cells, batteries, and electrical installation. Teams can adapt their boat by modifying the steering system, the propeller, and the foils.

Vripack first molds and cures the boat's carbon shell before affixing as many solar panels as possible. The solar panels are the sole source of energy on the yacht; they can power the propellers through an electric engine, store solar energy in lithium-ion batteries, or do both at the same time.
As the race date approaches, the teams hope for sunny skies. "We can't exactly predict how long the battery will stay charged if it isn't sunny during the race. That completely depends on the speed; the faster you go the more energy it takes and the other way around," explains Droogsma.

The V20 designers also knew what they don't know—for insight on which electronics and solar panels to install, for example, they contacted an experienced Class A competitor from the Dutch races. "They are really experienced in this and helped get good equipment for a good price," Droogsma explains. "We needed to get the right balance between price and weight."

Yachts competing in the top Class A division often use MG electronics, which can propel a solar-powered boat to approximately 27 miles per hour (44 kilometers per hour), while a Vripack-designed boat will top out at 18 mph. Although the speed difference might sound substantial, the V20 also costs a mere third of the cost of professional vessels. The professional racing vessels can cost upwards of 130,000 euros while the Vripack-designed ones come in at a comparatively reasonable $75,000 (55,000 euros).

The lower cost of entry has attracted competitors from multiple backgrounds. The four teams that have purchased boats are two colleges, the Royal Dutch Marines, and a private customer.

Solar power is no longer just a hypothetical or concept design in the yachting world. Powerboat owners are increasingly searching for ways to offset the cost of fuel, and advances in solar technology are decreasing the price and increasing the efficiency. There are currently at least two manufacturers that specialize in solar-powered recreational boats: the Italian Arcadia Yachts and the Slovenian Greenline Hybrid Yachts. Both brands design their vessels to incorporate solar panels, which can be used to power everything from the engines to the generators. Yacht owners can also add after-market modifications such as flexible solar panels to their current vessels.

Unfortunately, solar power still suffers from a perception problem and is seen as the slower power option; the Solar1 race will focus on displaying the speed of light. The details of the races are still being finalized, but the racers and audience will take full advantage of the open water outside Monaco's Port Hercule. For the V20 class competitors, there will be different series of drag races and an hour-long endurance race while spectators will have front-row seats aboard a pontoon floating in the harbor.

Interested competitors are still welcome to join the next big race as the Solar1 is still accepting boats competing in all classes under the sun.
source:-http://www.popularmechanics.com

Super-stretchable graphene yarn

2014-06-22T10:02:00.001+02:00

Researchers at Penn State and Shinshu University in Japan have developed a simple, scalable method of making graphene oxide (GO) fibers that are strong, stretchable and can be easily scrolled into yarns with strengths approaching that of Kevlar.

The researchers made a thin film of graphene oxide by chemically exfoliating graphite into graphene flakes, which were then mixed with water and concentrated by centrifugation into a thick slurry. The slurry was then spread by bar coating -- something like a squeegee -- across a large plate. When the slurry dries, it becomes a large-area transparent film that can be carefully lifted off without tearing. The film is then cut into narrow strips and wound on itself with an automatic fiber scroller, resulting in a fiber that can be knotted and stretched without fracturing.
"We found this graphene oxide fiber was very strong, much better than other carbon fibers. We believe that pockets of air inside the fiber keep it from being brittle," says Mauricio Terrones, professor of physics, chemistry and materials science and engineering at Penn State.
Terrones and colleagues believe this method opens up multiple possibilities for useful products. For instance, removing oxygen from the GO fiber results in a graphene fiber with high electrical conductivity. Adding silver nano rods to the graphene film would increase the conductivity to the same as copper, which could make it a much lighter weight replacement for copper transmission lines. Many kinds of highly sensitive sensors are imaginable.
"The importance is that we can do almost any material, and that could open up many avenues -- it's a lightweight material with multifunctional properties," Terrones remarks. And the main ingredient, graphite, is mined and sold by the ton.

Their discovery was reported online in a recent issue of ACS Nano and titled "Super-stretchable Graphene Oxide Macroscopic Fibers with Outstanding Knotability Fabricated by Dry Film Scrolling."
The researchers received support from the Research Center for Exotic Nanocarbons, Japan, and the Center for Nanoscale Science, Penn State.

source:- http://www.sciencedaily.com

Interactome Analysis: tissue-specific protein interactions linked to hereditary diseases

2014-06-22T09:47:00.003+02:00

PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY, RUTH BARSHIR ET AGenes that cause hereditary diseases are often expressed across a wide range of cells in the human body, but the diseases they cause can be specific to a few tissues or organs. Many of these genes are expressed at higher levels in diseased tissues, and their proteins have a significantly greater tendency for tissue-specific protein interactions, according to a study published last week (June 12) in PLOS Computational Biology.

“Together the two factors we identified are relevant for as many as two thirds of the tissue-specific hereditary diseases [studied here],” Esti Yeger-Lotem from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and her colleagues wrote in their paper.

The researchers suggested that these tissue-specific interactions, known as an interactome, highlight disease mechanisms, and can provide an efficient filter to identify causal genes within diseased tissues.

To identify these interactomes, Yeger-Lotem‘s team combined gene and protein expression data for 16 different tissues, such as lung, brain, and breast, with data on protein-protein interactions within each. The researchers found all these tissues shared a core network of nearly 5,000 proteins and more than 26,000 protein-protein interactions.

When they analyzed genes linked to 303 hereditary diseases, the researchers found that over 80 percent of the causal genes were expressed in 10 or more tissues, but these same genes only caused disease in a small subset. Such causal genes were transcribed at higher levels and interacted with more proteins in disease-affected tissues than unaffected ones.

While tissue-specific protein-protein interactions may not be entirely responsible for the disease, they may contribute to its clinical manifestations, according to the authors.

“The distinct features we identified provide a starting point for elucidating the molecular basis of many hereditary diseases,” the authors wrote.

source:- http://www.the-scientist.com

Introducing SteamBoy the handheld Steam machine

2014-06-16T09:58:00.001+02:00

The SteamBoy is an exciting new prospect that was announced on the last day of E3 2014.
Developed by SteamBoy Machine Team, a third party not affiliated with Valve, the SteamBoy is a handheld gaming console that lets you play Steam games on the go.
A teaser video for the device gives us a first peek at the portable Steam Machine with close-up shots showing the Steam Controller’s signature round track pads and Xbox One-like A, B, X, and Y buttons.
Similar to Sony’s PS Vita, the screen is positioned between the track pads in the middle.
According to The Escapist, the SteamBoy should feature a Quad-Core CPU, 4GB RAM, a 32GB built-in memory card, and a 5-inch 16:9 touchscreen.
It will also connect to the Internet via WiFi and 3G, and will be able to play “the majority of current games in Steam.”
“I think people will get shocked by SteamBoy potential and possibilities,” SteamBoy Machine Team said in a press release.
“SteamBoy is the first device that allows [you] to play Steam games on the go, you will keep playing your favorite games at the bus, the office, the school or the doctor's waiting room.”
Hopefully this doesn’t sound too good to be true as gamers will certainly be happy to hear that Steam is going portable.
The SteamBoy Machine Team say the device should be ready for market in 2015.
source:http://www.t3.com/

How Safe is the Willis Tower Ledge?

2014-06-16T09:54:00.000+02:00

Tourists taking photos in the glass ledges of Chicago's Willis Tower, which hang 103 stories above the street below, got a hell of scare this week when it looked like the transparent floor beneath them was about to collapse. A protective coating covering the 1.5-inch-thick, 1500-pound glass panel cracked, leading those standing on the The Ledge at the time to believe the entire glass structure was breaking.

The visitors to the observation deck were in no danger. Fortunately for them, the web of cracking extended only through the 1/8-inch-thick protective coating, not the glass itself. But the playful fear of heights people experience on the 103rd floor momentarily turned to real terror for a few people, and made us wonder: Just how much stress can glass support when it's hovering 1353 feet above the city? Turns out, unless a pair of white rhinos decide to take a Windy City vacation, The Ledge is going to be fine—it's even back open for business today.

Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, the architecture firm behind the building formerly known as the Sears Tower, designed The Ledge with four fully enclosed clear boxes that can retract into the building, allowing easy access for cleaning and maintenance—something now needed. Halcrow Yolles designed and detailed all the glass, which is comprised of three half-inch layers laminated into one seamless piece of low-iron glass that's tempered for durability. It's held in place with steel to easily support five tons, but the engineers want to preserve the freakiness of standing inside a clear box. So they tweaked the original design and eliminated steel that would be visible at the sides and along the floor, creating a near-invisible support system that's safe but also allows for the acrophobic illusion of standing above the city.
To protect the clear visuals of Wacker Drive and the Chicago River below, crews installed the protective coating to guard against scratches. If punctured, which can happen occasionally, the coating is designed to crack but stay in place, like windshield glass does, and still protect the glass. The cracking might have been scary, but it works, Willis Tower spokesman Bill Utter says.

"The protective coating on the glass cracked in one section, but the glass itself did not," reads a Willis Tower statement. "This coating does not affect the structural integrity in any way."

Still, we'd understand if the people who were on The Ledge when it cracked want to stay on ground level for a while.

source:http://www.popularmechanics.com

Safe, long-lasting artificial blood heading to a blood bank near you

2014-06-16T09:46:00.001+02:00

Human blood suitable for transfusion is always in short supply despite over 100 million donations every year. Even if the supply of blood was vastly increased, there would still be many places in the world that lacked the proper facilities to store and manage it all. Scientists have been looking at blood substitutes to solve these issues for years, but a variety of concerns have prevented any of them from reaching patients. The HaemO2 project from the University of Essex in England might be the first real success after designing a safer oxygen carrier molecule that can be stored at room temperature for long periods, while also avoiding the toxic effects seen with other blood substitutes.
Human blood is brimming with immune cells and a plethora of proteins, and the researchers are interested in the red blood cell for transfusion. These donut-shaped, non-nucleated cells are the main solid constituent of blood, giving it that distinctive red color. The red actually comes from the molecule that is at the heart of a red blood cell’s ability to carry oxygen — hemoglobin. This iron-bearing protein latches onto an oxygen atom in the lungs, then releases it elsewhere in the body to keep your cells chugging along. This is what the HaemO2 project has apparently replicated.
The issue that had stymied past attempts to develop artificial blood is that hemoglobin and hemoglobin-like molecules can have toxic side effects when not contained within the walls of a red blood cell. When exposed to the bloodstream, these proteins will decompose into reactive “ferryl” intermediates and free radicals. That’s definitely not the kind of thing you want in your blood.

HaemO2 is based on a modified hemoglobin molecule, but it has been specifically designed to be broken down by naturally occurring vitamin C and uric acid in the blood. The team essentially inserts a few additional amino acids (tyrosine) in the hemoglobin molecule that trigger this safer self destruct. The modified hemoglobin protein is created by inserting recombinant genes into E. coli bacteria and growing a culture. The bacteria produce the desired protein as they go about their usual metabolic activity until it’s time to harvest the “red” cells. The new recombinant proteins are then purified and concentrated, ready for (hopefully) saving lives.
The advantages of an artificial oxygen carrier in the blood are vast. Emergency responders wouldn’t have to worry about blood typing in the midst of a disaster scenario because there would be no blood type markers in artificial blood. HaemO2 can last up to two years at room temperature, making it perfect for emergencies and distribution to remote areas. A blood replacement would also be safer for immune-compromised individuals to receive as a transfusion. Even if your immune system works fine, human blood can come with risks (even if it makes you smarter). There’s always the possibility that as-yet-undiscovered bloodborne pathogens will pop up in the blood supply, which is what we saw in the early days of the HIV epidemic.
The University of Essex has been granted patents on its custom hemoglobin design in the US and Australia, and approval is pending in the EU. There’s still much work to be done before HaemO2 makes its way into anyone’s veins, but it might revolutionize transfusions when it finally does.
source:http://www.extremetech.com

MIT perfects cheap heartbeat detection with WiFi

2014-06-14T12:31:00.000+02:00

MIT’s rather fabulous Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), after using humble WiFi waves to sense movement behind a wall, has now improved its technology to the point that it can remotely — from behind a wall in another room — can detect heart rate and respiration. MIT has successfully used this technology to non-invasively check a sleeping baby’s breathing and pulse, and even to track the breathing of two adults simultaneously. Yes, there are videos of both feats embedded below.
This time last year it was Wi-Vi — and now, with some further refinements, MIT is now calling it WiZ (which might be a play on “Wi-See,” but it isn’t clear). While Wi-Vi and other similar technologies could detect movement in general, WiZ can use radio waves to accurately (within a few centimeters) locate up to four people in a room. WiZ can also locate static people by detecting the motions caused by breathing — and yes, from these minute movements, they can work out your heart rate with 99% accuracy.

“It has traditionally been very difficult to capture such minute motions that occur at the rate of mere millimeters per second,” says MIT’s Dina Katabi who co-authored the recent research paper. “Being able to do so with a low-cost, accessible technology opens up the possibilities for people to be able to track their vital signs on their own.”

MIT’s WiZ, showing how it focuses on four different people, even if they’re behind one another

To create WiZ, MIT uses a custom-made (but fairly inexpensive) setup consisting of a bunch of antennas that output specially constructed frequency-modulated carrier waves (FMCW). I won’t go into the exact maths of it, but these FMCWs allow the software to work out accurate time-of-flight for reflected radio waves — much in the same way that Kinect 2.0 uses reflected infrared light to gather 3D time-of-flight data (infrared light and radio waves are ultimately both just different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation, so it makes sense that a similar approach can be used). Technologically speaking, the most impressive feat here is using the same radio waves to detect multiple people who may be in front of each other. There’s a lot of impressive maths going on behind the scenes.

Fancy maths aside, it’s the possible applications for WiZ that gets me truly excited. As you can see in the videos, at the very least we could be looking at a gadget that cheaply and easily monitors your child’s vital signs while they sleep. There could also be applications in military and law enforcement.
Perhaps most significantly, though, with the world moving towards wearable computers and ubiquitous sensor networks, WiZ could play a role in tracking your movement and vital signs without having to wear a Fitbit or smartwatch. It’s quite easy to imagine a wide-scale radio-based sensor network that tracks the movements of everyone through a given area — and then using some kind of beacon system (say, if your smartphone broadcast your identity) that sensor data could be correlated to each person. It would be equal parts great news for people wanting to keep track of their health and activity levels, and modern-day governments that just love to surveil their populace.
source: http://www.extremetech.com

A Tractor Beam Made of Sound

2014-06-14T12:25:00.002+02:00

Scientists have created a sonic tractor beam. And it's not simply an amazing proof of concept: This beam pulls with a billion times more force and can tow objects a million times larger than previous schemes for tractor beams.

Tractor beams are staples of science fiction, projected from the Death Star in Star Wars and the Enterprise in Star Trek. The term was coined by sci-fi author and chemical engineer E.E. "Doc" Smith in 1931. In reality, scientists have previously succeeded in using light and sound waves to push and pull objects around on the microscopic level. For example, take laser-based optical tweezers, in which light imparts a slight push or pull on an item. Since the forces involved are small, these devices are used for moving things of correspondingly tiny size, including cells.

Now acoustical engineers, led by Christine Démoré and Patrick Dahl at the University of Dundee in Scotland, have developed an acoustic tractor beam that can reel in centimeter-size objects. "The forces involved with this tractor beam are really huge compared to what had been seen before," says study coauthor Gabriel Spalding, a physicist at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

The device is a square array of about a thousand ultrasound emitters placed at the bottom of a water-filled chamber. In their experiments, detailed in Physical Review Letters, the researchers used the array to pull in hollow triangular objects. To pull the objects, the array generates a low-pressure zone in front of the targets. For the array to work, it must have sound emitters spaced far enough apart to bounce sound waves off the backside of a target. When it does, sound waves can ricochet off the rear part of an item—after reflecting off the target, the waves continue forward in the direction they were traveling, helping to push the object they hit toward the array. For example, if the device faced the flat side of a triangular object, emitters facing the item would emit sound waves against its sloping backsides.

While the acoustic tractor beam blows away its predecessors, it pulls with just millinewtons of force—thousandths of the force exerted by a falling, medium-size apple. Furthermore, the acoustic tractor beam would have problems with objects that do not have a backside sticking out—for example, if the tractor beam had to deal with a flat board face-on. Alas, the acoustic tractor beam also will not work in space, as vacuum does not carry sound. "The goal isn't something the Borg can pull you in with," Spalding says.

Credit: APS/Alan Stonebraker

But you can do a lot with a little bit of force. "You can imagine medical diagnostics much like the tomato-freshness test, squeezing cells to tell if they're cancerous or metastatic or normal," Spalding says. In addition, you could also imagine sculpting beams to do surgery without cutting people. "Ultrasound has been used for some time to break up kidney stones, but if you want to work in the rib cage or skull, you really have to make sure you can sculpt the beams you use to compensate for all the scattering they might experience off various parts of the body."

Electrical engineer Andrea Alu of the University of Texas, Austin, who did not take part in this research, says it will take some time to scale up to that kind of work. But it will be worth it. "I believe that making this device practical enough for the effect to be used in a biomedical lab will still take significant development, but the authors have made important progress."

Acoustic tractor beams could also be used in conjunction with acoustic levitation devices, which use sound waves to suspend objects in midair. "Acoustic levitation is used in chemistry where you might expect reactions between chemicals and the surfaces used to hold them," Spalding says. Acoustic tractor beams could help pull those materials around during experiments.

This is not the first time Spalding and his colleagues have dabbled with technology out of science fiction. For instance, they have developed sonic screwdrivers that spin objects with sound beams, and Spalding notes that holographic arrays that can physically manipulate objects are, essentially, "holodecks."
source:http://www.popularmechanics.com

How Lasers Can Preserve History

2014-06-14T12:10:00.004+02:00

Cleopatra’s Needle is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, but right now it looks like a construction project. Scaffolding snakes up the 69-foot spire as conservancy crews clear away 3500 years of soot and grime.

Originally built in honor of Pharaoh Thutmose III, the obelisk has black streaks that mark its time spent buried near the Nile, its travel across the Atlantic, and near 130 years facing the pollution-filled elements in New York City. Now it’s getting a long overdue cleaning—using high-powered lasers.

The Central Park Conservancy, the organization tasked with the upkeep of all monuments and works of art in Central Park, has had the needle’s cleaning on its to-do list since 2011. The Conservancy and personnel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s photo studio began documenting the obelisk and assessing exactly what the monument needed. Soon conservators came in to test different types of cleaning techniques. “The typical ways of cleaning are using chemicals or micro-abrasive cleaning,” says Marie Warsh, director of preservation planning for the Conservancy. “Those tests revealed that the lasers were the most sensitive.”

The $500,000 conservation project was under way, but centuries of soot and an intricate maze of hieroglyphics presented a unique challenge for Bartosz Dajnowski and his team. “It’s difficult to make out a lot of the hieroglyphs because the black streaks are like camouflage, like stripes running across it,” says Dajnowski, vice director of Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studio, the art conservancy group responsible for restoring the obelisk.

Nestled behind the Met, you can hear the steady hum of generators powering a collection of refrigerator-sized machines as Dajnowski describes the atomic chaos behind laser preservation to us. “The key to it is discrimination,” he says. “We have a discriminating factor between the layer we’re removing and the layer we’re trying to protect...We can choose parameters, such as wavelength, to absorb specific materials.” Dajnowski uses the metaphor of two cars—one black, one white. The black car heats up quicker because its color absorbs light as the white car reflects. In terms of Cleopatra's Needle, the infrared wavelength of the laser is set to a specific distance, in this case 1064 nanometers, and can absorb into the carbon and soot deposits but not the obelisk’s stone facade.

It’s at the atomic level that things get interesting. “What happens is that layer absorbs the laser light,” he says. “The atoms absorb the energy and they expand rapidly from the accumulation of energy, and by expanding so fast, they get blasted apart and they eject off the surface.” Imagine a beach ball inflating at the speed of an airbag, says Dajnowski. In other words, explosive. In the swirling atomic aftermath, dirt is obliterated leaving only Egyptian artwork in its place.

The team has seven lasers, some on hand only for backup. The average laser is about the size of refrigerator, though Dajnowski developed his own laser, the GC-1 (the GC stands for “Game Changer”), that's much smaller and portable. The lasers can clean up to several square feet per hour with Dajnowski’s own unit upping the efficiency to 10 square feet an hour.
However, with lots of intricate hieroglyphics, Cleopatra’s Needle will be more of slow crawl. As the conservators move across the obelisk, they control energy density, pulse duration, scan pattern, and focal distance. Essentially a fiber laser is generated in the device, funneled through a fiber wire into what looks like a heavy-duty handheld scanner. Conservators then hold the scanner at the predetermined focal point in front of the monument to get the best results. The laser works most effectively when it's in focus and perpendicular to the stone surface, and with so many gouges and bumps in the stone face, whether made by the elements of the original Egyptian stone mason, cleaning the Needle will require a little more attention than the average project.

Depending on the weather, the team could be working away in Central Park for several weeks to almost two months. But Dajnowski doesn’t mind. Standing at the foot of the monument, he mentions the poetry behind his work. “On this monument there’s a lot of references to Ra, the god of the Sun,” he says. “How poetic that we’re conserving it with light.”

source: http://www.popularmechanics.com

Thermo-acoustic nuclear fuel rods

2014-06-14T11:46:00.003+02:00

It’s been more than three years since the Fukushima Daiichi power plant melted down, and despite nearly unlimited interest from the public we still have virtually no idea what’s going on in there. Detailed findings report the conditions immediately around the plant, beneath it in the soil, and above it in the atmosphere — but the core of the nuclear power station is so heavily shielded that its status remains largely unknown to this day. Experimental rad-shielded robots inch a bit further in every month, but their progress is slow. Scientists are desperate enough that they’re trying to make use of passing cosmic rays, which are occasionally powerful enough to pass through the core and ferry out some precious intel. But why are we just figuring this out now?
A new technology developed by academics and the Westinghouse nuclear company could keep this from being a problem in the future. When temperatures or pressures start to fluctuate, their new thermo-acoustic devices emit a corresponding auditory frequency that can be interpreted in real-time — it naturally whistles its status, in other words. Rather than use some complex monitoring rig that would fail in the intense environment of a working nuclear reactor, these thermo-acoustic sensors are based on passive physical forces. Changes in temperature, pressure, or even radiation dosage around the device cause natural shifts in resonant frequency — and thus, the tone of the whistle.

A simple diagram of the thermo-acoustic sensor.

By necessity, the design is as simple as can be. A resonator (long hollow rod) abuts a series of small parallel chambers called the stack. Temperature or pressure differentials across the stack, or changes in the rod’s physical shape due to intense radiation, produce predictable changes in the frequency of resonance inside the resonator — that frequency is our output information. This thermo-acoustic nuclear sensor uses 1100 parallel chambers made of a durable ceramic, and can be made small enough to fit virtually anywhere within the reactor core. Most interestingly, the team suggests that their monitors could be built into nuclear fuel rods themselves, turning fuel containers into sensors that intrinsically report changes without needing any outside power or supervision.
These simple devices would only be able to monitor one attribute of the core in one location, so an array of specialized thermo-acoustic sensors would be placed throughout the core to monitor different variables. Resonators of specifically tailored lengths and designs would produce a multi-voice chorus in a reactor, providing nuanced, real-time information with no need for energy input. If there’s any justice in the world, these scientists will at least try to tailor any “meltdown” frequencies to sound ominous and panicked, or perhaps like the monolith from 2001.

Stored nuclear fuel rods glow an eery, distinctive blue.

Regardless, if Fukushima had sported these devices from the start, we would almost certainly know much more about the state of its core today. The preference in nuclear engineering is now for these sorts of “passive” safety measures which rely on relatively fool-proof principles like thermodynamics. Ideas like “freeze plugs,” which require active cooling of a stopper which otherwise melts and totally drains the reactor due to gravity alone, represent the kind of fool-proof design we demand of nuclear technology these days.
While we of course want to keep watch for any cascading “meltdown” reactions, Fukushima’s nightmare scenario showed just how bad things need to get to foul up a modern reactor; the team sees their sensors as ultimately more useful to fundamental nuclear research. If a good portion of nuclear reactors were providing detailed records to some giant national database, analysts could probably derive useful suggestions for safety or efficiency upgrades.
This sort of functionality has been tantalizingly close for a while, being technically possible but infeasible in the real world due to costs and the high rate of equipment destruction. With simple designs like this, nuclear companies like Westinghouse could finally be able to look inside the fuel rods in an average nuclear plant directly and in real time. That’s the sort of upgrade you install quietly, hoping nobody notices that it wasn’t there all along.
source: http://www.extremetech.com

Logitech announces new Harmony Touch universal remote

2012-10-10T10:32:00.002+02:00

Logitech has just revealed its latest universal remote, the Harmony Touch. It marks the first big shift in the company's Harmony remotes in quite some time, and is designed to simplify some of the complicated controls that came with previous models.

Most controls are contained on the 2.4-inch touchscreen, but there are still some physical buttons on the device for certain functions. Logitech opted to remove number buttons from the remote, which looks quite odd at first glance. Removing these allows Logitech to trim a substantial amount of girth from the device. You can still get access to a number pad via the touchscreen, if you need to enter a channel's number.

The touchscreen has an option to store 50 of your favorite channels as icons that look similar to those on iOS devices. These feature the logo of the channel, which should make it easier to find the channel you're looking for. The screen will also accommodate any other functions that the physical buttons cannot.

The physical buttons sit above and below the touchscreen, which is the main control method for the remote. It has key buttons such as play, pause, record, a navigation pad and the like. Because there are less buttons, the ones on the remote are bigger and easier to press. All buttons are backlit, so you shouldn't have a problem using the remote in the dark.

All functions on the remote are set up through Logitech's web service. In here, you can set up activities, create favorite channels and custom icons for controlling your device. Logitech also integrated an easy way for Harmony One users to transfer to a Harmony Touch using its web portal.

The Harmony Touch can sync with up to 15 devices at a time. Logitech also claims that the remote will be compatible with 225,000 home entertainment devices and over 5,000 brands.

The remote is rechargeable, so there is no need to swap batteries. It has a stylish looking charging station that you drop the remote in when you're not using it.

The remote ships later this month at a suggested retail price of US$249. Interested buyers can pick it up directly from Logitech's website or from most major retailers.

Source: Logitech

NASA to build manned space station beyond the Moon

2012-10-07T08:17:00.000+02:00

After forty years of venturing no farther than low Earth orbit, NASA may have decided to establish a manned outpost at a greater distance than humanity has ever traveled before. According to documents seen by the Orlando Sentinel, NASA has chosen a proposal to build a space station beyond the Moon that will act as a “gateway spacecraft” to explore the Moon, theasteroids and eventually as a staging post to launch a manned mission to Mars.

The documents refer to a project that NASA Chief Charlie Bolden briefed the White House on earlier this month. They describe a deep space habitat that would be built at Earth-Moon Lagrange 2 (EML-2) – a point in space 38,000 miles (61,000 km) on the far side of the Moon and 277,000 miles (446,000 km) from Earth. The outpost wouldn’t orbit the Moon. Instead, at EML-2 the gravitational and centrifugal forces of the Earth and Moon balance out and an object placed there will remain suspended like one of those desktop novelty floating globes.

The EML-2 station might be built from parts of the International Space Station (ISS) and include a Russian module and Italian components. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), scheduled to fly in 2017, would be used to send the components to EML-2 in 2019, as well as the Orion spacecraft, which would ferry cargo and crew to the outpost.

Missions for the EML-2 station would include exploration of the asteroids,robotic trips to the Moon with the first sample returns by 2022, and a manned mission to Mars. The Sentinel quotes the documents as stating that placing a "spacecraft at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point beyond the moon as a test area for human access to deep space is the best near-term option to develop required flight experience and mitigate risk.”

The price of the program isn’t mentioned and this might be a stumbling block for administration support during a time of tight budgets. The White House did not respond to the Orlando Sentinel’s request for comment, and a NASA statement was noncommittal about the outpost.

All this sounds very similar to the 2011 Global Exploration Roadmap drawn up by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), a consortium made up of the ISS partner nations. It outlines possible missions for the next 25 years that could be made possible by extending the service life of the ISS beyond 2020

This report outlined two paths, one called Asteroid Next, which describes the steps needed to explore near-Earth asteroids and Moon Next, which outlines a manned return to the Moon. The EML-2 station appears to be derived from the Asteroid Next path. Whether this is actually the case or not remains to be seen, but the general description from the Sentinel and the Roadmap’s more detailed treatment show no major variations.

If the EML-2 station is approved, it will involve more challenges than the merely monetary. EML-2 lies far outside the Earth’s Van Allen belts and would therefore be vulnerable to high levels of radiation, which would require robust shielding and detection equipment. The Orion spacecraft would also have to be built to withstand reentry speed not encountered since the return of Apollo 17 in 1972.

Because of the distance and travel times to and from Earth measuring in days, systems would need to be heavily automated and built to an unprecedented degree of reliability. Furthermore, new techniques for the long-term storage and management of cryogenic fluids would need to be developed as well as acquiring operational knowledge that is beyond anything needed in manned space exploration to date.

Until officially verified, the EML-2 station still remains only one possible future for the American space program, but if it does come about, the final frontier will have expanded enormously.

Sources: Orlando Sentinel, NASA

Your Weakness = Your Strength

2012-09-23T15:21:00.002+02:00

This is a story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally said,

"Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"

"This is the only move you know, but this is the only

move you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher,

the boy kept training.

Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his

first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily

won his first two matches. The third match proved

to be more difficult, but after some time, his

opponent became impatient and charged; the

boy deftly used his one move to win the match.

Still amazed by his success, the boy was now

in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and

more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared

to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about

to stop the match when the Sensei intervened.

"No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue."

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made

a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the

boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the

match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed

every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the

most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the

only known defence for that move is for your opponent

to grab your left arm."

The boy's greatest weakness had become his

greatest strength..

Lexus LF-CC hybrid coupe concept breaks cover ahead of Paris Motor Show

2012-09-23T15:19:00.000+02:00

Taking a number of cues from the LF-LC Hybrid Sports Coupe Concept unveiled in Detroit in January – which isn’t a bad place to take some cues from in our opinion – the Lexus LF-CC Concept Car is a mid-sized coupe concept featuring a new 2.5-liter full hybrid powertrain that will soon be introduced on the Lexus model range. The vehicle will be unveiled at the 2012 Paris Motor Show that kicks off at the end of the month.

Like the LF-LC Concept Car, the LF-CC is a front-engine, rear-wheel drive vehicle but is a little more compact. Designed around the same L-finesse design language that will be used in future Lexus D-segment vehicles, the LF-LC and LF-CC are obviously stablemates.

There’s the same mesh patterned spindle grille flanked by functional air intakes and LED headlights that lack the conventional, one-piece cover. The LF-CC's headlights also feature a new three LED-projector design, while independent Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) are integrated into the surface of the vehicle's upper bumper.

Building on a design concept from the LF-LC concept car and the LFA, airflow is directed from underneath the side of the vehicle up through the rear wheel arch by an airflow regulating fin. This is aimed at improving traction by increasing the downforce over the driven wheels. The fin joins with the falling roofline to form a pronounced rear spoiler that is integrated within the roof lid.

Continuing the company’s Human Machine Interface (HMI) interior design philosophy, the LF-CC concept’s dashboard is split into two distinct zones. The upper “Display Zone” features a multi-display screen, while the lower “Operation Zone” contains the shift lever and a touch tracer display for remote system control.

The vehicle’s Lexus Hybrid Drive powertrain mates a 2.5-liter, DOHC, 4-cylinder petrol gasoline engine with a compact, water-cooled permanent magnet electric motor. The hybrid drive system also incorporates a generator, high-performance battery, and a power split device that uses planetary reduction gears to combine and re-allocate power from the engine, electric motor and generator based on the current requirements.

Lexus says this hybrid powertrain will be introduced into its model range in the near future. While the full tech specs are yet to be revealed, the company says the powertrain will produce more than two horsepower per gram of CO2.

Lexus will unveil the LF-CC Concept Car at the Paris Motor Show on September 27.

Source: Lexus

How True !!! `

2012-09-23T15:16:00.001+02:00

Futuristic SeaOrbiter vessel set for October construction

2012-07-06T13:25:00.001+02:00

What once seemed science fiction may be becoming a reality. The futuristic SeaOrbiter ocean explorer, a concept conceived by French architect Jacques Rougerie, has been trying to reach fruition for the past twelve years. However recent developments suggest that the vessel is set to start construction this October, with possible completion in 2013.

The SeaOrbiter, if it goes ahead, will be the world’s first vertical ship to measure 51 meters (170 ft) in height. To realize this achievement more than 50 percent of the vessel will remain underwater. The project is expected to cost around US$52.7 million, with ambitions to observe and explore vast cross sections of oceanic life. Furthermore the SeaOrbiter hopes to implement a new standard of scientific communication that allows researchers to track and monitor marine life in real time. In doing so, a team of 18 marine scientists will live on board of the vessel. “This vertical vessel drifts in the currents hosting 18 oceanauts who will observe the life of the oceans on a permanent basis,” says Rougerie. “Marine life will naturally aggregate ... under its hull.”

The semi-submersible vessel will include an underwater chamber that delves 31 meters (102 ft) deep. Above deck is equipped with an open-air observation terrace, allowing the occupants to document migrating bird life, as well as enjoying some fresh air. The submerged sections will feature large portholes and panoramic windows, creating a state of the art underwater observatory.

The vessel will be installed with oceanographic observational and sonic equipment that will be linked to satellite facilities, while a multi-level atmospheric pressure module and a pressurized module will allow the “oceanauts” to live permanently in previously unexplored oceans. It is also anticipated that the vessel's design will include renewable energy initiatives such as solar, wind and wave power.

The SeaOrbiter project will be presenting a 1:20 scale model of the ship to the public this month during the 2012 International Expo in Yeosu, South Korea.

Source: SeaOrbiter and Jacques Rougerie via CNN

The Touchtype brings together the iPad and Apple Wireless KeyboardThe Touchtype brings together the iPad and Apple Wireless Keyboard

2012-06-03T15:47:00.002+02:00

The iPad has been the top selling tablet in the world since its launch, and on the heels of Apple's success, thousands of accessory makers snapped into action, releasing an endless flow of extras for the iPad. Among the most popular accessories are cases and keyboards, and we've seen several companies combine these two needs, such as the Logitech iPad keyboard, or the Brydge keyboard case. In such a crowded market, standing out is important, and the recently launched Touchtype case does so by making use of a full size physical keyboard.

Yes, the Touchtype is only the latest in a long line of iPad keyboard cases, but it does manage to innovate where others have fallen short. Obviously, and most importantly, the Touchtype is designed around the Apple Wireless Keyboard, making it the first iPad case designed to hold a keyboard that is of desktop dimensions, making typing much more comfortable. While the keyboard isn't incorporated into the case, it slots into a pocket in such a way as to minimize the case's dimensions. Additionally, because the keyboard connects over Bluetooth, the iPad can be used horizontally or vertically, making portrait orientation typing possible.

The Touchtype is meant for those who value productivity above all else, and there are a few drawbacks that could scare away the average iPad user. As far as looks go, the Touchtype closely resembles your average folding iPad case, a far cry from the beautiful aluminum "Macbook style" looks of the Brydge keyboard. There's also that nagging issue of not including a keyboard with the case, so if you don't already own both an iPad and the Apple Wireless Keyboard, you might be better off finding a less expensive option.

The Touchtype is certainly an worthy tool for the iPad power user. If you feel cramped on smaller keyboards this may be your best bet. Recently launched on Kickstarter, the Touchtype is hoping to find funding to bring this product to market faster. Things are looking good on that front with the US$2,500 goal already being passed with still almost a month to go.

Kickstarter: Touchtype

Dubai Water Discus hotel will allow guests to sleep underwater

2012-05-22T15:56:00.001+02:00

It seems the construction boom in bustling Dubai is far from over – already home to several world record-holding projects, including the tallest building (for just a little while longer), the largest shopping mall and biggest man-made island, plans are now afoot to construct what will likely be the world's largest underwater luxury hotel, the Water Discus. Several years ago, we reported on another such ambitious project, Hydropolis, which sadly never got past the blueprint stage. If Polish company Deep Ocean Technology's (DOT) plans come to fruition, however, guests could one day find themselves asleep beneath the waters of the Persian Gulf.

To bring this fantasy complex into being, DOT, with the help of Swiss firm BIG InvestConsult AG, turned to local shipyard Drydocks World, which will be tasked with constructing the futuristic disc-shaped hotel. The underwater portion, with about 11,000 square feet (1,000 square meters) of usable area, will house 21 two-guest rooms, and sit about 33 feet (10 m) below the waves. Plans also call for a diving center complete with decompression chamber and air locks, a spa, a spacious garden, open terraces above the waterline, and even a helipad atop one of the surface discs for guests who wish to arrive by air.

To address the unpredictability that often comes with projects involving the sea, the entire structure can be moved should environmental (or economic) conditions change. For added safety, surface discs will be buoyant and detachable from the main structure to act as lifeboats should disaster strike. A large central shaft connects the submerged and surface discs and contains both an elevator and stairs for easy access between levels. Three adjustable columns add further support to the above-surface portion of the structure, the various discs of which are themselves interchangeable.

Bogdan Gutkowski, President of BIG, imagines the project will have an impact on numerous areas besides the region's tourism. “Water Discus Hotel project opens many new fields of development for the hotel and tourism sector, housing and city sector in the coastal off-shore areas, as well as new opportunities for ecology support by creation of new underwater ecosystems and activities on underwater world protection," he told World Architecture News. "Additionally we would like to create here in the UAE the International Environmental Program and Center of the Underwater World Protection – with Water Discus Hotel as a laboratory tool for oceans and seas environment protection and research.”

Grand plans, indeed.

While the idea of staying underwater is far from new, technology has greatly improved to meet the formidable challenges of sub-marine construction, so the likelihood of this and similar projects actually getting built is sure to increase. Famed explorer Jacques Cousteau once envisioned numerous manned underwater colonies to facilitate exploration and though that didn't come to pass, for fans of underwater living, projects like the Water Discus may prove to be the next best thing.

Source: Deep Ocean Technology via WAN

TOO LATE, I LEARNT!

2012-05-12T09:10:00.000+02:00

Life is a sincere teacher. It is always ready to teach us lessons, even if we are not interested and do not want to learn them.

The relationships we entered, stayed in, or even ended teach us a lot. The irony is that most of the time, the writing is on the wall, but we prefer to look away finding it too harsh to accept. Too late in life I learnt many lessons which I would like to share with my readers.Looking back at my life as I have reached the threshold of old age, there are times when I wonder….. There are so many ifs and buts concerned! What would life have been if I had learnt my lessons on time? Maybe the face of my life would have been totally different (though I can not say better) today.

Too late in life I learnt to take a stand. Often when I found myself in a confronting situation, I preferred to retreat instead of holding my grounds and fighting for what was right in my opinion. The coward inside me, feared the disapproval of the people I loved, and I gave in to demands which at times seemed to me unjust or selfish. I just lacked the courage to defend my rights, until eventually one day I found myself against the wall. In a do or die situation, I learnt to retaliate but it was too late, as all the people around me were habituated to my meekness and expected me to keep on moving back! I learnt very late that what opinion other people had about me was not as important as my self esteem and what I thought about myself!

Too late in life, I learnt to make my own decisions. Born, bred up and married in a strongly patriarchal society, I was accustomed to have my decisions influenced by my father, brother, husband or son. There were many times when I differed with their opinion and that too strongly, I lacked the courage to express my views. However reluctantly, I kept on going with their decisions. And when the day finally came when I mustered the courage to say, `enough is enough' and took my life and its decisions in my own hands, things changed dramatically. I do not boast that I have never been wrong, but at least I now have the satisfaction that if I make a mistake, I am paying the price for my own error and not for someone else's!

Too late in life, I realized that I myself was in charge of my happiness. For a long period I kept on lamenting for what I did not have and so could not enjoy the bounties that I possessed! I learnt that I could have all the world's best and still could be unhappy or I could be happy at simple things. The first ray of sunlight at dawn, the innocent smile of a child, a butterfly fluttering over flowers or a rainbow in a clear blue sky after rainfall had the power to make me happy but only if I wanted to be so. I learnt that we have to teach ourselves to be happy, to be content with what we have, instead of mooning for what can not be ours.

Too late in life I conquered the fear of making mistakes. I wanted to experiment, to try out new ideas but I was afraid of failure.

I learnt very late that failures often open the gateway to success, and that experience and wisdom is gained at the cost of mistakes.

To have tried and failed is better than not having tried at all.

Too late in life I learnt to say `No'! There were times when I just didn't want to do something, go somewhere, entertain some people or take a responsibility which was not mine. But I was scared to say no, scared I would lose my place in the good books of people I loved, scared that they would call me selfish and un-cooperative. The desire to please everyone I loved kept me so busy that I had hardly anytime for myself, to pursue what I enjoyed in life. I finally learnt that I must give myself time and that would be possible only when I did not comply with family and friend's wrongful demands. Any additional responsibility which made me happy was worth taking, but if something made me angry or frustrated, I should not feel guilty to say `No'!

Too late in life I realized that for a marriage to be successful, respect for your spouse is far more important than love for him/her.

There are situations when love may not be able to pass the test of difficulties and may fizzle out at some stage in life, but if you have respect for your spouse, your marriage has a better chance to survive the rocks. And I also realized that the best gift we can give to our children is due respect to their father/mother!

Life is habituated at springing surprises at us. Too late in life I refused to be surprised by these unexpected turns, to take the challenges of change with a straight face. Finally I have learnt that I will only live once, so I should make compromises and be content with things I can not change! I also realized that to improve the quality of my life, I should make the most of these lessons. I may have learnt them late, but as they say, "Better late than never". I wish better luck to my readers!

The $20,000 Dog

2012-05-12T08:54:00.000+02:00

An economist had finished his day at work and was leaving for home, when he noticed a small boy call out to him from the footpath where he was sitting with a dog.

The boy said, "Sir, would you like to buy a dog."

The economist was surprised by the approach, but asked nevertheless, "How much are you selling the dog for?"

The boy replied "Twenty thousand dollars."

"Twenty thousand dollars for this dog!" the economist exclaimed. "Does he know any special tricks to make him worth so much money?"

The boy replied, "Sir, this dog never made a dime in his life. If you take into consideration the expenses on his food, I think you will lose money on him every year."

The economist did not want to let go the opportunity to lecture the boy about the principles of economics and explained to him the fact that a commodity needed to yield more returns than it consumed to equal a purchase price.

He finished by saying that the five dollars could be the maximum sum that should be expected for the dog, that too from somebody who just wanted a companion. Feeling satisfied with the knowledge that he had imparted to the young boy, the economist went away.

A few days later, the economist again noticed the small boy was again sitting on the footpath but this time there was no dog in sight. He asked the boy, "Did you get the five dollars for your dog?"

The boy said, "No, I got twenty thousand dollars for him."

The business man was stunned. "How on earth did you get twenty thousand dollars for that dog?" he asked.

"It was a piece of cake," replied the boy. "I traded him for two ten thousand dollar cats."

Lifedge case waterproofs and ruggedizes the iPad

2012-05-12T08:52:00.001+02:00

Ruggedizing your portable electronics makes sense and Lifedge has a new option for the 40 million-odd iPad owners in the world. Lifedge's case has an IP (Ingress Protection) rating of IP67 for keeping water and dust out. It will protect an iPad for 30 minutes in one meter (3 feet) of water, or if it is dropped onto a concrete floor from a height of one meter.

Lifedge is a new brand launched by Scanstrut, an international manufacturer of products designed to protect equipment used in demanding marine environments.

Though Scanstrut has been in the marine market for 25 years, Lifedge is Scanstrut's initial foray outside its core market and it intends to build its name in new areas with an entirely new range of products aimed at enabling digital activities under any conditions.

The iPad, with its built-in GPS and big screen, is a natural for use in outdoor environments, except it's a little too delicate for all that salt-water, sun, heat, cold, spray ad infinitum.

As well as being waterproof and offering drop protection, Lifedge's's first iPad Case also features an OptiGuard™ coating which the company claims offers exceptional screen clarity in sunlight, whilst ensuring the case is abrasion and chemical resistant to prevent damage from regular use and exposure to oils, sunscreen and household chemicals.

The Waterproof iPad Case uses a semi rigid two piece case that is easy to take on and off, and compact enough to leave on permanently if required.

There are versions for iPad 1 and iPad2, but no word on a version for the new iPad at this stage. It retails at £99 inc VAT (approx. US$161).

Source: Lifedge