NEWS AS ON Thursday, 19 December 2013

21:23 Kalyan Gupta 0 Comments

NANOTECHNOLOGY

 Thursday, 19 December 2013

 

DNA Clamp to Grab Cancer Before It Develops

DNA Clamp to Grab Cancer Before It Develops

Dec. 19, 2013 — As part of an international research project, a team of researchers has developed a DNA clamp that can detect mutations at the DNA level with greater efficiency than methods currently in use. Their work could facilitate rapid screening of those diseases that have a genetic basis, such as cancer, and provide new tools for more advanced nanotechnology. The results of this research is published this month in the journal ACS Nano.

Artist’s rendering of the discovery: the research team took advantage of the ability of certain DNA sequences to form a triple helix, in order to develop a DNA clamp. This nanometer-scale clamp recognizes and binds DNA sequences more strongly and more specifically, allowing the development of more effective diagnostic. Professor Alexis Vallée-Bélisle, Department of Chemistry, Université de Montréal worked with the researcher Andrea Idili and Professor Francesco Ricci of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and Professor Kevin W. Plaxco, University of California Santa Barbara, to develop this diagnostic nanomachine. (Credit: Marco Tripodi)
Toward a new generation of screening tests
An increasing number of genetic mutations have been identified as risk factors for the development of cancer and many other diseases. Several research groups have attempted to develop rapid and inexpensive screening methods for detecting these mutations. "The results of our study have considerable implications in the area of diagnostics and therapeutics," says Professor Francesco Ricci, "because the DNA clamp can be adapted to provide a fluorescent signal in the presence of DNA sequences having mutations with high risk for certain types cancer. The advantage of our fluorescence clamp, compared to other detection methods, is that it allows distinguishing between mutant and non-mutant DNA with much greater efficiency. This information is critical because it tells patients which cancer(s) they are at risk for or have."
"Nature is a constant source of inspiration in the development of technologies," says Professor Alexis Vallée-Bélisle. "For example, in addition to revolutionizing our understanding of how life works, the discovery of the DNA double helix by Watson, Crick and Franklin in 1953 also inspired the development of many diagnostic tests that use the strong affinity between two complementary DNA strands to detect mutations."
"However, it is also known that DNA can adopt many other architectures, including triple helices, which are obtained in DNA sequences rich in purine (A, G) and pyrimidine (T, C) bases," says the researcher Andrea Idili, first author of the study. "Inspired by these natural triple helices, we developed a DNA-based clamp to form a triple helix whose specificity is ten times greater than a double helix allows."
"Beyond the obvious applications in the diagnosis of genetic diseases, I believe this work will pave the way for new applications related in the area of DNA-based nanostructures and nanomachines," notes Professor Kevin Plaxco, University of California, Santa Barbara. "Such nanomachines could ultimately have a major impact on many aspects of healthcare in the future."
"The next step is to test the clamp on human samples, and if it is successful, it will begin the process of commercialization," concludes Professor Vallée-Bélisle.
 


New Pictures of the Solar Corona from IRIS

NASA Captures Unprecedented Views of Sun's Mystery Layer

During its first six months in space, NASA's IRIS telescope has snapped stunning images of an obscure layer of the sun, revealing previously unseen violence and complexity in the lowest slivers of our star's atmosphere, scientists say.
Solar
The IRIS Observatory launched in June and its name is short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The small spacecraft is designed to collect data on the interface region, a little-understood area spanning the 3,000 to 6,000 miles between the solar surface and outer atmosphere, or corona.
Scientists have hoped IRIS could shed light on some of the sun's secrets, such as why temperatures shoot from 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the sun's surface to about 1.8 million degrees F at the corona. Researchers working on the mission presented some of the probe's observations thus far Monday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
IRIS snaps high-resolution images every few seconds and can capture areas of the sun as small as 150 miles. The spacecraft is also equipped with a spectrograph that analyzes the sun's light, splitting it into various wavelengths, which can reveal variations in temperature, density and velocity. Supercomputers on the ground help check this data against current models of the sun.
"We are seeing rich and unprecedented images of violent events in which gases are accelerated to very high velocities while being rapidly heated to hundreds of thousands of degrees," Bart De Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement. "These types of observations present significant challenges to current theoretical models."
In particular, DePontieu has been focusing on IRIS's data on two solar features: prominences and spicules.
 video:
http://www.space.com/22138-iris-vs-sdo-new-sun-observatory-raises-the-resolution-video.html

Extending above the sun's surface, prominences are cool, giant loops of solar material that can lead to solar storms when they erupt. DATA from IRIS revealed that highly dynamic and finely structured flows sweep through these prominences, mission scientists said.
Spicules, meanwhile, are huge fountains of gas that shoot away from the sun's surface at 150,000 miles per hour and may play a role in heating the corona. IRIS data has allowed researchers to see for the first time how spicules evolve, according to NASA.
"We see discrepancies between these observations and the models and that is great news for advancing knowledge," Mats Carlsson, an astrophysicist at the University of Oslo in Norway, said of IRIS's data on prominences and spicules. "By seeing something we don't understand we have a chance of learning something new."
IRIS is part of NASA's Small Explorer program, an effort to fund missions that cost less than $120 million. Designed by Lockheed Martin, the spacecraft is just 400 pounds and measures just 7 by 12 feet with its power-generating solar panels deployed.

0 comments:

NEWS AS ON Wednesday, 18 December 2013

04:48 Kalyan Gupta 0 Comments

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

DNA Motor 'Walks' Along Nanotube, Transports Tiny Particle

DNA Motor 'Walks' Along Nanotube, Transports Tiny Particle

Dec. 17, 2013 — Researchers have created a new type of molecular motor made of DNA and demonstrated its potential by using it to transport a nanoparticle along the length of a carbon nanotube.
This illustration depicts the walking mechanism of a new type of DNA motor that researchers have demonstrated by using it to transport a nanoparticle along the length of a carbon nanotube. (Credit: Purdue University image/Tae-Gon Cha)
The design was inspired by natural biological motors that have evolved to perform specific tasks critical to the function of cells, said Jong Hyun Choi, a Purdue University assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
Whereas biological motors are made of protein, researchers are trying to create synthetic motors based on DNA, the genetic materials in cells that consist of a sequence of four chemical bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. The walking mechanism of the synthetic motors is far slower than the mobility of natural motors. However, the natural motors cannot be controlled, and they don't function outside their natural environment, whereas DNA-based motors are more stable and might be switched on and off, Choi said.
"We are in the very early stages of developing these kinds of synthetic molecular motors," he said.
New findings were detailed in a research paper published this month in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

In coming decades, such molecular motors might find uses in drug delivery, manufacturing and chemical processing.
The new motor has a core and two arms made of DNA, one above and one below the core. As it moves along a carbon-nanotube track it continuously harvests energy from strands of RNA, molecules vital to a variety of roles in living cells and viruses.
The Nature Nanotechnology paper was authored by graduate students Tae-Gon Cha, Jing Pan and Haorong Chen; former undergraduate student Janette Salgado; graduate student Xiang Li; Chengde Mao, a professor of chemistry; and Choi.
"Our motors extract chemical energy from RNA molecules decorated on the nanotubes and use that energy to fuel autonomous walking along the carbon nanotube track," Choi said.
The core is made of an enzyme that cleaves off part of a strand of RNA. After cleavage, the upper DNA arm moves forward, binding with the next strand of RNA, and then the rest of the DNA follows. The process repeats until reaching the end of the nanotube track.
Researchers used the motor to move nanoparticles of cadmium disulfide along the length of a nanotube. The nanoparticle is about 4 nanometers in diameter.
The researchers combined two fluorescent imaging systems to document the motor's movement, one in the visible spectrum and the other in the near-infrared range. The nanoparticle is fluorescent in visible light and the nanotubes are fluorescent in the near-infrared.
The motor took about 20 hours to reach the end of the nanotube, which was several microns long, but the process might be sped up by changing temperature and pH, a measure of acidity.
This work has been supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Noble Gas Molecule Discovered in Space

Noble Gas Molecule Discovered in Space

Dec. 12, 2013 — A molecule containing a noble gas has been discovered in space by a team including astronomers from Cardiff University.

In blue, visible light from the Crab Nebula seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. This comes from emissions of gases in the nebula, which are energised by the neutron star at the centre. In red, far infrared light seen by the Herschel Space Observatory. This comes mainly from cold dust and gas. (Credit: NASA, ESA, Alison Loll & Jeff Hester (University of Arizona))
The find was made using a Cardiff-led instrument aboard Europe's Herschel Space Observatory. The molecule, argon hydride, was seen in the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that exploded 1,000 years ago. Before the discovery, molecules of this kind have only been studied in laboratories on Earth.
The noble gases, which include helium, argon, radon and krypton, usually do not react easily with other chemical elements, and are often found on their own. In the right circumstances, however, they can form molecules with other elements. Such chemical compounds have only ever been studied in laboratories on Earth, leading astronomers to assume the right conditions simply do not occur in space.
"The Crab Nebula was only formed 1000 years ago when a massive star exploded," said Dr Haley Gomez of Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy. "Not only is it very young in astronomical terms, but also relatively close, at just 6,500 light years away, providing an excellent way to study what happens in these stellar explosions. Last year, we used the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory to study the intricate network of gas filaments to show how exploding stars are creating huge amounts of space dust."
Further measurements of the Crab Nebula were made using Herschel's SPIRE instrument. Its development and operation was led by Professor Matt Griffin, from the School of Physics and Astronomy. As molecules spin in space, they emit light of very specific wavelengths, or colours, called "emission lines." The precise wavelength is dictated by the composition and structure of the molecule. Studying the emission lines observed by the SPIRE instrument allows astronomers to study the chemistry of outer space.
The team, led by Professor Mike Barlow from University College London, did not set out to make the discovery, but stumbled upon it almost by accident. "We were really concentrating on studying the dust in the filaments with SPIRE, and out pops these two bright emission lines exactly where we see the dust shining," says Dr Gomez. "The team had a hard time figuring out what these lines were from, as no-one had seen them before."
Professor Barlow said, "At first, the discovery of argon seemed bizarre. With hot gas still expanding at high speeds after the explosion, a supernova remnant is a harsh, hot and hostile environment, and one of the places where we least expected to find a noble-gas based molecule."
It now seems the Crab Nebula provides exactly the right conditions to form such molecules. The argon was produced in the initial stellar explosion, and then ionised, or energised, with electrons stripped from the atoms in resulting intense radiation as shockwaves. These shockwaves led to the formation of the network of cool filaments containing cold molecular hydrogen, made of two hydrogen atoms. The ionised argon then mixed with the cool gas to provide perfect conditions for noble gas compounds to form.
The measurements allowed the team to gauge other properties in argon molecules. "Finding this kind of molecule allowed us to evaluate the type (or isotope) of argon we discovered in the Crab Nebula," said Dr Gomez. "We now know that it is different from argon we see in rocks on the Earth. Future measurements will allow us to probe what exactly took place in the explosion 1000 years ago."
"What a great detective story," added Prof Matt Griffin, from Cardiff University, and lead scientist of the team behind the SPIRE instrument. "Here we see the excellent performance of the Herschel-SPIRE spectrometer, the expertise of the instrument team in producing the highest quality data, and the tenacity and vision of the scientists analysing it, all coming together to make an intriguing new discovery."
 

Monday, 16 December 2013

Researchers Split Water Into Hydrogen, Oxygen Using Light, Nanoparticles

Researchers Split Water Into Hydrogen, Oxygen Using Light, Nanoparticles

Dec. 15, 2013 — Researchers from the University of Houston have found a catalyst that can quickly generate hydrogen from water using sunlight, potentially creating a clean and renewable source of energy.

Water. Researchers have used cobalt oxide nanoparticles to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. (Credit: © gertrudda / Fotolia)
Their research, published online Sunday in Nature Nanotechnology, involved the use of cobalt oxide nanoparticles to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Jiming Bao, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UH, said the research discovered a new photocatalyst and demonstrated the potential of nanotechnology in engineering a material's property, although more work remains to be done.
Bao said photocatalytic water-splitting experiments have been tried since the 1970s, but this was the first to use cobalt oxide and the first to use neutral water under visible light at a high energy conversion efficiency without co-catalysts or sacrificial chemicals. The project involved researchers from UH, along with those from Sam Houston State University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Texas State University, Carl Zeiss Microscopy LLC, and Sichuan University.
Researchers prepared the nanoparticles in two ways, using femtosecond laser ablation and through mechanical ball milling. Despite some differences, Bao said both worked equally well.
Different sources of light were used, ranging from a laser to white light simulating the solar spectrum. He said he would expect the reaction to work equally well using natural sunlight.
Once the nanoparticles are added and light applied, the water separates into hydrogen and oxygen almost immediately, producing twice as much hydrogen as oxygen, as expected from the 2:1 hydrogen to oxygen ratio in H2O water molecules, Bao said.
The experiment has potential as a source of renewable fuel, but at a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency rate of around 5 percent, the conversion rate is still too low to be commercially viable. Bao suggested a more feasible efficiency rate would be about 10 percent, meaning that 10 percent of the incident solar energy will be converted to hydrogen chemical energy by the process.
Other issues remain to be resolved, as well, including reducing costs and extending the lifespan of cobalt oxide nanoparticles, which the researchers found became deactivated after about an hour of reaction.
"It degrades too quickly," said Bao, who also has appointments in materials engineering and the Department of Chemistry.
The work, supported by the Welch Foundation, will lead to future research, he said, including the question of why cobalt oxide nanoparticles have such a short lifespan, and questions involving chemical and electronic properties of the material.
 

0 comments:

NEWS AS ON Friday, 13 December 2013

04:58 Kalyan Gupta 0 Comments

NANOTECHNOLOGY 

Friday, 13 December 2013

 

Floating City That Will Accommodate 40000 People For Life

Let’s Move To Seas – Floating City 4

Let’s Move To Seas – Floating CityThis era is the era of technology and advancement. We are accomplishing what our predecessors only dreamed of. Amongst such dreams is the dream of Freedom Ship International which is a Florida based company. They are currently raising funds for their floating city. This future city will require you to pack up your bags and get on board for a unique experience, the first of its kind.
The idea of Freedom Ship involves an expenditure of $10 billion to come up with a ship that will be 4,500 ft in length and 750 Feet in width.  The ship will be able to house about 40,000 persons and is designed to mimic a city. There will be a total of 25 stories above the main deck of the ship. These stories will house commercial district, casinos, art museums, aquariums and what not. The ship will allow for the education of children up to grade 12, starting from Kindergarten.
Let’s Move To Seas – Floating City 2The Freedom Ship website claims that this would be; ‘an ideal place to live or run a business’ and it will also house an airport on the top which will be open for private and small commercial aircrafts. The ship will also take a world tour every two years and obviously a great deal of time will be spent offshore near major cities. Passengers will be allowed to enter the cities and spend time over there. The cities in the travel list include; San Francisco, New York, Nigeria, Hong Kong and Sydney.And yes, The cruise will be everlasting.
Let’s Move To Seas – Floating City 3According to the company the construction of this ship will begin once the company raises $1 billion. So you might have to wait for some time before your ship is available for the cruise.

 source:http://wonderfulengineering.com

Thursday, 12 December 2013

New Wormhole Theory from New York

New Wormhole Theory from New York
Quantum entanglement, a perplexing phenomenon of quantum mechanics that Albert Einstein once referred to as “spooky action at a distance,” could be even spookier than Einstein perceived.
article-1269288-095FBC16000005DC-551_634x447_popup
Alan Stonebraker/American Physical Society
This illustration demonstrates a wormhole connecting two black holes.
Physicists at the University of Washington and Stony Brook University in New York believe the phenomenon might be intrinsically linked with wormholes, hypothetical features of space-time that in popular science fiction can provide a much-faster-than-light shortcut from one part of the universe to another.
But here’s the catch: One couldn’t actually travel, or even communicate, through these wormholes, said Andreas Karch, a UW physics professor.
Quantum entanglement occurs when a pair or a group of particles interact in ways that dictate that each particle’s behavior is relative to the behavior of the others. In a pair of entangled particles, if one particle is observed to have a specific spin, for example, the other particle observed at the same time will have the opposite spin.
The “spooky” part is that, as past research has confirmed, the relationship holds true no matter how far apart the particles are – across the room or across several galaxies. If the behavior of one particle changes, the behavior of both entangled particles changes simultaneously, no matter how far away they are.
Recent research indicated that the characteristics of a wormhole are the same as if two black holes were entangled, then pulled apart. Even if the black holes were on opposite sides of the universe, the wormhole would connect them.
Black holes, which can be as small as a single atom or many times larger than the sun, exist throughout the universe, but their gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape from them.

If two black holes were entangled, Karch said, a person outside the opening of one would not be able to see or communicate with someone just outside the opening of the other.
“The way you can communicate with each other is if you jump into your black hole, then the other person must jump into his black hole, and the interior world would be the same,” he said.
The work demonstrates an equivalence between quantum mechanics, which deals with physical phenomena at very tiny scales, and classical geometry – “two different mathematical machineries to go after the same physical process,” Karch said. The result is a tool scientists can use to develop broader understanding of entangled quantum systems.
“We’ve just followed well-established rules people have known for 15 years and asked ourselves, ‘What is the consequence of quantum entanglement?’”
Karch is a co-author of a paper describing the research, published in November in Physical Review Letters. Kristan Jensen of Stony Brook, a coauthor, did the work while at the University of Victoria, Canada. Funding came from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

New Wormhole Theory from New York

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Incredible Tech: How Life Will Change With Smart Homes


Incredible Tech: How Life Will Change With Smart Homes

Smart home

Picture the scene: It's a few days before Christmas. Your fridge is stocked with ingredients for a feast — and it knows exactly when you bought each item so you don't use anything past its expiration date.
Your Aunt Edna flies in today and will reach your house before you're home from work, so you use your smartphone to tell your garage door to open to let her in. Oops, you forgot to program the thermostat to heat the house up early, but no worries. Motion sensors embedded in your home will cue your heating system to start cranking when she enters.
Meanwhile, you flip through a magazine that shows a photo of a cozy home, bathed in yellow light. You grab your phone and take a picture, and then use that photo to tell your wireless-enabled lightbulb system to recreate the lighting. On Christmas morning, you'll program those same bulbs gradually to light up the house a little earlier than usual — perfect for starting the annual present-unwrapping frenzy.

All of these technologies already exist, though they're far from widespread. Marketers and early adopters of "smart" homes, however, say that Internet-enabled lights, appliances and thermostats could change the way people see their homes.
"Smart houses allow life to continue, but become assistive — or, in some cases, become adaptive," said Chis Dancy, a Denver-based early adopter and director of the software company BMC. [10 Intriguing Smart Home Technologies]
Get smart
Dancy is, by his own reckoning, one of the "most quantified" human beings on the planet. He wears a variety of sensors to measure his heart rate, temperature, efficiency at work and more. Unsurprisingly, this desire for data extends to his home. His bed has a sensor that measures his movement, breathing, snoring and heart rate. His thermostat and lights are connected to his smartphone. A sensor on his office desk tracks noise levels, temperature and humidity. Even his dogs wear motion sensors on their collars.
Dancy is at the extreme edge of smart-home adoption, but smart household technology is quietly gaining a foothold, thanks to dropping technology prices and increased interest in saving energy with responsive heating and cooling systems. Dallas-based market research firm Markets And Markets expects smart home tech to be a $51 billion-a-year market by 2020, according to an October 2013 report.
The newest technology goes beyond programmable thermostats. Now, devices on the market can program your house for you — and coordinate with one another like an inanimate domestic staff. This communication, often enabled by Wi-Fi or a wireless standard called ZigBee, is the key to reaping the benefits of smart tech, Dancy told LiveScience.
"The refrigerator by itself is not very smart," Dancy said of the latest Internet-connected appliances. "The refrigerator talking to the lights talking to the grocery store is supersmart. [It's] the Internet of everybody."
Raising your home's IQ
If it comes with a switch, someone's probably trying to make it smarter. Both Samsung and LG now offer smart appliances. Samsung's smart fridge, for example, comes with a Wi-Fi enabled screen on the door, from which a person can check the weather, leave notes, load a calendar and display photographs. (Fridge magnets are so 20th century.) If a person enters food details into this mini computer as they load the fridge, it will keep track of when that food was stored and when it will expire. And one app automatically checks recipe website Epicurious.com to match the ingredients in the fridge with recipes. A Twitter app is also included, in case a tweet from the fridge door is in order. [Sexy Tech: 6 Apps to Stimulate Your Love Life]
If a consumer springs for LG's smart oven and its smart fridge, the fridge will even tell the oven to start preheating when a person chooses a recipe.
Some of these features are more useful than others, and considering LG's Smart ThinQ LFX31995ST fridge alone will cost you $3,499.99, it might be more practical to preheat the oven yourself. But smart appliances' cheerleaders argue the devices have big potential. For now, a person has to enter their food purchases manually. But what if the fridge linked up to a grocery-store club card to update automatically? Alternatively, radio tags that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) could be implanted in packaging so that the fridge could recognize products as they are placed into the fridge. Chips like these, already used to microchip pets in case they wander off, could theoretically prevent a person from losing a half-opened carton of sour cream in the back of the fridge for months.
Smart ovens have other handy features, such as the ability to check if they're off or on via smartphone, providing peace of mind for paranoid travelers.
Smart home savings
Smart home tech may also help homeowners save money or energy. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nest is one of many companies that make thermostats that connect to a computer, tablet or smartphone so users can control them remotely. The thermostat also "remembers" a resident's temperature adjustments and automatically creates a schedule based on when that person is at home or away.
The process "involves a lot of cloud computing and Big Data — using all the data we've collected about your home, your temperature preferences, at what time, what ZIP code, what is the weather going to be tonight," Nest spokesman Maxime Vernon, told LiveScience.
The company claims the Nest thermostat can lower heating and cooling bills by up to 20 percent. Recently, Nest released a second device, a combination smoke detector and carbon-monoxide monitor. The detector is more pleasant-sounding than a typical smoke alarm — instead of emitting an ear-splitting beep when a person burns the toast, it starts with a gentle voice warning, for example. It can also be linked to a Nest thermostat so that the two devices communicate. If the detector senses deadly carbon monoxide, it can signal the thermostat to shut down the furnace, where most carbon-monoxide leaks originate, Vernon said.
Motion sensors are another smart home technology that could save lives. Washington State University researchers are currently testing "smart home in a box" motion-sensor kits that detect doors opening and people moving around a house.
"One of the populations that we're looking at is older adults who want to stay at home," said project leader Diane Cook, a professor of engineering and computer science. "In order to do so, they need to be able to live independently and perform critical activities on a regular basis, like taking medicine and exercising."
Like the Nest thermostat, the technology can learn how people move around the home and create automatic schedules and alerts. If an older person fails to go into the medicine cabinet to take their morning pills, the system could send prompts through the television or a mobile device, Cook told
A better life?
While a better thermostat or home monitoring system might make life a little easier, the sci-fi promise of a home that responds to a person's every need requires a bit more effort. Dancy is working on it: His house features, among other gadgets, an ultrathin mattress sensor called Beddit that monitors his sleep; Philips Hue Connected Bulbs, which are Wi-Fi enabled and can create light settings based on photographs; a Netatmo personal weather station; and motion sensors that track his movements.
Dancy said the devices help him live better. He can set his lights to wake him up by brightening gently. By setting sensors on his fridge and near his bathroom, he was able to determine that he can have his last liquid of the night no later than 6:20 p.m. in order to be able to sleep without getting up to pee. His Netatmo lets him know with instant feedback if he's talking awkwardly loud on phone conferences. He can even track which songs he turns up throughout the day, and then create automatic playlists of the tracks that pump him up. His constant data monitoring even lets him know that he unconsciously ate badly after watching "Project Runway."
"Your home is where you live, and where you live is your environment — and your environment is what changes you," Dancy said. "It can change you for the better, or it can change you for the worse."
Not all smart tech is good smart tech, of course. Dancy found that his purchase of a smart spoon that tracked bites and speed of eating was not particularly useful. He also got a smart toothbrush that tracked his brushing habits, only to find that his dentist was less than impressed with the reams of data he brought to his next appointment.
"He was like, 'I don't care; just tell me,'" Dancy said.
Smart tech also needs to fit the person, not the other way around. At Duke University, 10 students each year live in an eco-friendly, LEED Platinum-certified Smart Home, where they can experiment with installing their own technology prototypes. The building has solar power, solar water heating and other green features, as well as Ethernet-connected lights, said Jim Gaston, director of the Smart Home program. Recently, Gaston told LiveScience, some of the students experimented with a system of RFID tags and radio antennas that could triangulate people's position in the home. The goal was to control the lights and heating system automatically based on the residents' locations. But the students couldn't convince the other residents to remember to wear the tags.
"They're now trying to use the GPS in cellphones to do a very similar type of thing," Gaston said.
Is smart really good?
Putting together a fully smart home with existing technology is possible today — but only for people who are reasonably tech-savvy and have a fair amount of disposable income. Dancy compares smart homes and data tracking with a "digital Elysium," referencing the ancient Greek concept of heaven, accessible only to the elite.
And other entities still need to get on board to fully realize the data-driven dreams of early adopters like Dancy. Grocery stores, for example, will typically not share consumers' purchase history with them, so the automatically updated fridge remains unrealized.
Even if the kinks get worked out, smart homes may have their downsides. For instance, becoming too dependent on the technology makes travel a bit more unpleasant for people like Dancy. "I don't have my armor," he said. "It's like, my hotel room doesn't know me!"
The modern tendency to focus on your smartphone rather than your dinner companions could pale in comparison to the extent to which smart homes could turn people into hermits, Dancy said.
"If you can create an environment that conditions you to be healthy, antisocial and — instead of medication — euphorically happy through artificial lighting and temperature, I don't know — that might be more dangerous than Paxil and Prozac," he said.
 source:http://www.livescience.com

0 comments:

NEWS AS ON Monday, 9 December 2013

21:47 Kalyan Gupta 0 Comments

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Monday, 9 December 2013

The Secrets of Gravitation! in ancient india

The Secrets of Gravitation! in ancient india
The Indian Emperor Ashoka started a "Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men": great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having been converted to Buddhism after defeating a rival army in a bloody battle.

The "Nine Unknown Men" wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book number was "The Secrets of Gravitation!" This book, known to historians, but not actually seen by them dealt chiefly with "gravity control." It is presumably still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or elsewhere (perhaps even in North America somewhere). One can certainly understand Ashoka's reasoning for wanting to keep such knowledge a secret, assuming it exists. if the Nazis had such weapons at their disposal during World War Ii. Ashoka was also aware devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other "futuristic weapons" that had destroyed the ancient Indian "Rama Empire" several thousand years before.

Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships!
Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships


Their method of propulsion, she said, was "anti-gravitational" and was based upon a system analogous to that of "laghima," the unknown power of the ego existing in man's physiological makeup, "a centrifugal force strong enough to counteract all gravitational pull." According to Hindu Yogis, it is this "laghima" which enables a person to levitate.

Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called "Astras" by the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any planet, according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years old. The manuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of "antima"; "the cap of invisibility" and "garima"; "how to become as heavy as a mountain of lead."

Naturally, Indian scientists did not take the texts very seriously, but then became more positive about the value of them when the Chinese announced that they were including certain parts of the data for study in their space program! This was one of the first instances of a government admitting to be researching anti-gravity.

The manuscripts did not say definitely that interplanetary travel was ever made but did mention, of all things, a planned trip to the Moon, though it is not clear whether this trip was actually carried out. However, one of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana, does have a highly detailed story in it of a trip to the moon in a Vimana (or "Astra"), and in fact details a battle on the moon with an "Asvin" (or Atlantean" airship.

This is but a small bit of recent evidence of anti-gravity and aerospace technology used by Indians. To really understand the technology, we must go much further back in time.

The so-called "Rama Empire" of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama existed, apparently, parallel to the Atlantean civilization in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, and was ruled by "enlightened Priest-Kings" who governed the cities, The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as "The Seven Rishi Cities."

According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called "Vimanas." The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double-deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer.

It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound." There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders ("cigar shaped airships"). The ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English.

The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity."

The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by writing the publisher: VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R. Josyer, Mysore, India, 1979 (sorry, no street address). Mr. Josyer is the director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation located in Mysore.

There seems to be no doubt that Vimanas were powered by some sort of "anti-gravity." Vimanas took off vertically, and were capable of hovering in the sky, like a modern helicopter or dirigible. Bharadvajy the Wise refers to no less than 70 authorities and 10 experts of air travel in antiquity. These sources are now lost.

Vimanas were kept in a Vimana Griha, a kind of hanger, and were sometimes said to be propelled by a yellowish-white liquid, and sometimes by some sort of mercury compound, though writers seem confused in this matter. It is most likely that the later writers on Vimanas, wrote as observers and from earlier texts, and were understandably confused on the principle of their propulsion. The "yellowish-white liquid" sounds suspiciously like gasoline, and perhaps Vimanas had a number of different propulsion sources, including combustion engines and even "pulse-jet" engines. It is interesting to note, that the Nazis developed the first practical pulse-jet engines for their V-8 rocket "buzz bombs." Hitler and the Nazi staff were exceptionally interested in ancient India and Tibet and sent expeditions to both these places yearly, starting in the 30's, in order to gather esoteric evidence that they did so, and perhaps it was from these people that the Nazis gained some of their scientific information!

According to the Dronaparva, part of the Mahabarata, and the Ramayana, one Vimana described was shaped like a sphere and born along at great speed on a mighty wind generated by mercury. It moved like a UFO, going up, down, backwards and forewards as the pilot desired. In another Indian source, the Samar, Vimanas were "iron machines, well-knit and smooth, with a charge of mercury that shot out of the back in the form of a roaring flame." Another work called the Samaranganasutradhara describes how the vehicles were constructed. It is possible that mercury did have something to do with the propulsion, or more possibly, with the guidance system. Curiously, Soviet scientists have discovered what they call "age-old instruments used in navigating cosmic vehicles" in caves in Turkestan and the Gobi Desert. The "devices" are hemispherical objects of glass or porcelain, ending in a cone with a drop of mercury inside.

It is evident that ancient Indians flew around in these vehicles, all over Asia, to Atlantis presumably; and even, apparently, to South America. Writing found at Mohenjodaro in Pakistan (presumed to be one of the "Seven Rishi Cities of the Rama Empire") and still undeciphered, has also been found in one other place in the world: Easter Island! Writing on Easter Island, called Rongo-Rongo writing, is also undeciphered, and is uncannily similar to the Mohenjodaro script. Was Easter Island an air base for the Rama Empire's Vimana route? (At the Mohenjo-Daro Vimana-drome, as the passenger walks down the concourse, he hears the sweet, melodic sound of the announcer over the loudspeaker,

"Rama Airways flight number seven for Bali, Easter Island, Nazca, and Atlantis is now ready for boarding. Passengers please proceed to gate number..") in Tibet, no small distance, and speaks of the "fiery chariot" thusly: "Bhima flew along in his car, resplendent as the sun and loud as thunder... The flying chariot shone like a flame in the night sky of summer ... it swept by like a comet... It was as if two suns were shining. Then the chariot rose up and all the heaven brightened."

In the Mahavira of Bhavabhuti, a Jain text of the eighth century culled from older texts and traditions, we read: "An aerial chariot, the Pushpaka, conveys many people to the capital of Ayodhya.

The sky is full of stupendous flying-machines, dark as night, but picked out by lights with a yellowish glare-"

The Vedas, ancient Hindu poems, thought to be the oldest of all the Indian texts, describe Vimanas of various shapes and sizes: the "ahnihotra-vimana" with two engines, the "elephant-vimana" with more engines, and other types named after the kingfisher, ibis and other animals.

Saturday, 7 December 2013

How NASA Will Use 3D Printers in Space

How NASA Will Use 3D Printers in Space

Starting next fall, astronauts on the International Space Station won't have to wait months for replacement parts to be launched from Earth. Instead, they can use a newly arrived 3-D printer to fabricate the tools and materials they need.
Nasa1
"The 3D printer that we're going to fly on space station will actually be the first-ever 3-D printer in space," Niki Werkheiser, 3-D Print project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said in a video about the space station 3-D printer that posted online Oct. 30.
"It is the first step toward [the 'Star Trek' replicator]," Werkheiser added, referring to the machine in the science-fiction franchise capable of creating meals and spare parts.


The 3-D printer headed to the space station in August 2014 — a joint project between NASA Marshall and the California-based company Made in Space — would be limited to parts only, rather than edible objects.

Printing in Space

When a tool on the space station breaks or goes missing these days, astronauts must often wait for months for the next supply mission to launch from Earth. The alternative is to ship up multiple spare parts, but the increased mass requires more fuel to lift off, and thus costs more money.
A 3-D printer could change all that, advocates say.
The 3-D printer sent to the ISS will be able to utilize a variety of materials to craft items that the astronauts need, in a more timely manner.
As an example, Werkheiser cited an unassuming part known as an extraction tool, which she said could be printed in under an hour. The part would have worked on the space station's Microgravity Science Glovebox, which was out of commission for six months in 2002 while astronauts waited for the needed part to be sent up on the next space shuttle flight.
Another potential application would involve cubesats, which are tiny, low-cost satellites that hitch rides into space on other launches. According to Werkheiser, astronauts on the ISS could potentially print out and assemble many such satellites and manually launch them from the space station.

Demonstration Mission

The first 3-D printer in space will be small enough to fit inside the MSG, and crewmembers aboard the orbiting lab will put their hands inside the glove box to operate it.
NASA hopes the project demonstrates that 3-D printing in space is as robust and reliable as it is on the ground, laying the foundation for a new in-space manufacturing industry.
Made in Space has already tested some versions of the 3-D printer during parabolic airplane flights, which produce short periods of microgravity. A long-term trial aboard the space station is the next step.
"We're starting with plastic with this first printer, but we will be moving to metals and other types of materials," Werkheiser said.
She pointed out that lessons learned from microgravity applications would be applicable on Earth, particularly for remote military outposts and on submarines.
A 3-D printer could be a key piece of equipment for missions traveling beyond Earth's orbit, advocates of the technology say. Rather than packing spare parts and materials that might be needed, astronauts could use the printer to produce what was needed.
"For space station, it will decrease risk, decrease cost, and increase efficiency," Werkheiser said. "For longer-term missions for exploration, this is absolutely critical technology."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

 

Honda Demonstrates Advanced Vehicle-to-Pedestrian and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle Safety Technologies

Honda Demonstrates Advanced Vehicle-to-Pedestrian and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle Safety Technologies

Honda today demonstrated two experimental safety technologies aimed at reducing the potential for collisions between automobiles and pedestrians and between automobiles and motorcycles. These advanced Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) technologies, while still in the research and testing phase, demonstrate Honda’s vision to advance safety for all road users, including pedestrians and motorcycle riders, as well as automobile occupants. These new technologies are part of a comprehensive effort being undertaken by Honda to develop leading-edge safety and driver assistive systems that can help predict and avoid traffic accidents through advanced sensing and communications technologies.

“While these are still experimental technologies, they provide a strong indication of the future potential for the kinds of advanced collision sensing and predictive technologies Honda is developing to further reduce the potential for serious accidents, injuries and even fatalities,” said Jim Keller, chief engineer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc. “These V2P and V2M systems are part of Honda’s broad vision for smarter and safer vehicles and roadways.”

Honda also has been conducting advanced research into Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems and is a partner in the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, including the Department’s Safety Pilot Model Deployment test program, currently underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There are eight Honda vehicles participating in the test program.


Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) Technology
Honda R&D has successfully demonstrated the ability of a car equipped with Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology to detect a pedestrian with a DSRC enabled smartphone. This vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) technology uses cooperative communication between an individual’s smartphone and nearby vehicles and provides auditory and visual warnings to both the pedestrian and drivers.  The system is designed to mitigate the potential for a collision between the vehicle and pedestrian.
Using the pedestrian’s smartphone GPS, its dynamic sensing capability and DSRC wireless technology in the 5.9GHz band, the pedestrian’s smartphone and nearby vehicles establish a communications channel to determine if the pedestrian is in danger of being struck by an oncoming car. The V2P system is effective even when the pedestrian is not easily detectable by the driver, such as when stepping off a curb from behind a parked vehicle or other traffic obstruction.

A proprietary smartphone application determines the position, direction and speed of the pedestrian and, using DSRC technology, the position of surrounding vehicles. In the event of an impending collision as determined by the smartphone application, the system alerts the pedestrian via a repeating, high-volume beep and a warning on the screen of their smartphone.  At the same time, the system alerts the driver to the potential collision with an audible alarm and visual warnings on the vehicle’s heads-up display and navigation screen. In addition to the basic safety warnings, the vehicle can also receive information on whether the pedestrian is texting, listening to music, or on a phone call.


Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) Technology
 Using the DSRC communication system, Honda’s Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) technology can determine the potential for a collision between a motorcycle and an automobile. The V2M system’s advantage is its ability to sense the presence of a motorcycle even when it is obstructed from the view of nearby automobile drivers.  The system provides auditory and visual warnings to the automobile driver. This system is being researched and tested in cooperation with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Honda Pedestrian Safety Technology
Honda has been a leader in the research and application of advanced pedestrian safety designs, including development of Polar II, the world’s most advanced pedestrian safety crash test dummy. Pedestrian accidents account for approximately 13 percent of the 33,000 traffic fatalities that occur each year in the U.S. and an even higher percentage of traffic fatalities in many other countries with denser populations and more foot traffic. For more than a decade, Honda and Acura vehicles have been applying advanced pedestrian safety features, such as collapsible hood hinges and breakaway windshield wiper pivots, that can contribute to life-threatening head injuries in pedestrian collisions.

Honda Safety Leadership
Honda has a long history of leadership in the development and application of advanced technologies and designs to enhance the safety of all road users, including automobile occupants, motorcycle riders and pedestrians. The company operates two of the world's most sophisticated crash test facilities and is responsible for numerous pioneering efforts in the areas of crashworthiness, airbag technology, collision compatibility and pedestrian safety. This commitment to safety is rooted in Honda's goal to be a company that society wants to exist, and it complements the company's leadership in reducing vehicle emissions, improving fuel efficiency and advancing alternatives to gasoline.

Advanced safety and drive- assistive technologies being offered on select Honda and Acura vehicles today include Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Blind Spot Information, Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS), Active Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow, Lane Keep Assist, and the LaneWatch blind spot monitoring system.

Based in part on the deployment of the next-generation of the Honda ACE body structure, Honda leads all automakers in the U.S. in the number of models that achieve a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), including an Acceptable or Good rating in the Institute’s stringent new small overlap frontal collision test.  These models are the 2013 Civic Sedan and Civic Coupe, the 2013 Accord Sedan and Accord Coupe, the 2014 Odyssey minivan, and the 2013 Acura TL Sedan.

0 comments: