The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
09-05-2016
Cambridge Makes World's Smallest Engine, And It's Tiny Enough to Enter Cells
Cambridge Makes World's Smallest Engine, And It's Tiny Enough to Enter Cells
Expanding polymer-coated gold nanoparticles.
Credit: Yi Ju/University of Cambridge NanoPhotonics
IN BRIEF
Researchers have designed a minuscule engine out of gold nanoparticles; it uses “Van der Waals energy” to power a tiny motor that may be the answer to building functional machines at the nanoscale.
TINY ENGINES
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have just devised a tiny engine—a really tiny engine—that will likely play a key role in realizing the long-awaited dream of truly functional nanotechnology.
Such technology has long been in the offing, and has been much touted for its enormous potential—imagine tiny machines or cellular analogues roaming the bloodstream (à laFantastic Voyage) and zapping cancerous cells, coming to grips with foreign bacteria and viruses, correcting prion diseases, and rejiggering the genomes of patients suffering from genetic disorders.
Imagine, too, what effects such technology could have on materials science, computing, optics…well, the possibilities are virtually endless, so you can pretty well guess that it has the capacity to change the world.
But scientists have had to start with baby steps, because manipulating matter on the nanoscale is notoriously difficult. One major hurdle has been how to supply power to such fantastically minute devices—and the newly discovered engine may be the solution to this problem.
THE GOLD-SEEKERS
The prototype engine does not resemble a classic one: It consists of a jumble of charged gold nanoparticles, clustered together in a “smart” gel of temperature-sensitive polymers. The actual power principle behind the engine is quite simple—no more complicated than the principles powering a slingshot. When the polymerous bundle is heated by a laser, the polymer gel expels water from the mass, which collapses, storing significant quantities of elastic energy.
When the bundle shrinks, the gold nanoparticles are bunched together very tightly, but once the polymers cool, they suck up the expelled water and rapidly expand, causing the gold particles to quickly spring apart and releasing the elastic energy.
And there you have it: A simple, but very effective, nanoscale engine. It’s an ingenious use of fundamental forces operating at this tiny scale, and its practical application would probably involve something like a light-powered piston engine.
Lead researcher professor Jeremy Baumberg, of the Cavendish Laboratory, says, “The whole process is like a nano-spring. The smart part here is we make use of Van der Waals attractionof heavy metal particles to set the springs (polymers) and water molecules to release them, which is very reversible and reproducible.”
These littlest motors also produce forces several orders of magnitude greater than previous devices, besting the force per unit weight of other motors and muscles by nearly a hundredfold. The team has christened the devices “ANTs”— “actuating nano-transducers,” which is very apt, considering that tiny insect’s notorious propensity to do heavy lifting all out of proportion to its size.
The team asserts that the little machines will be cheap to manufacture, are very energy efficient, and could be inserted in biological systems with no threat. The next phase is to collaborate with several companies to commercialize the technology.
Stanford’s new OceanOne humanoid robot, powered by artificial intelligence and haptic feedback systems, was specifically created for sea exploration, but not without the help of a human operator for the time being.
Honestly, the human operator thing makes me feel better because something about these humanoid robots just come off a bit creepy since they’re so close to the real thing as far as robotics go.
The OceanOne humanoid robot is outfitted with a multitude of cameras, enabling the operator to see what it sees, and also utilizes haptic feedback so that the operator can feel what the robot is feeling and also precisely control its arms.
Obviously, the dexterity, nimbleness, and compactness of the OceanOne humanoid robot is extremely unique, making it ideal for exploring delicate shipwrecks or coral reefs underwater.
Humanoid robots can do all the deep ocean exploring they want, though. I’m not mad… There’s way scarier stuff down there than the robots themselves.
A team at the University of Melbourne in Australia has successfully 3D printed a superconducting aluminum cavity, broadening the range of 3D printing for use in applications in particle physics.
For several decades, the 3D printing of metals has been adding to a myriad of industries. One thing missing from the technology, however, is ensuring their electrical properties match specific necessities, such as those that require superconductivity.
Superconducting cavities are used to store microwaves for use in particle accelerators, function as ultra-sensitive motion detectors for measuring the speed of light, and they have a host of other important applications in physics.
Now, at the University of Melbourne in Australia, Professor Daniel Creedon and his team havesuccessfully designed and built a superconducting aluminum microwave cavity through a 3D printer for the first time, bringing metal 3D printing to a higher level.
This new development would help make substantial advancements in particle physics (as well as related fields).
The composition of 3D printed superconducting aluminum, which starts out as aluminum powder, is a little different from standard industrial aluminum, and come out with rough surfaces. But the process is quick and cheap, and the team has found ways to refine the cavities with no significant impact on the resulting cavities’ superconductivity.
The 3-D printing of metal parts promises to revolutionize a wide range of industries. Aircraft carriers, for example, might no longer need to carry spare parts for the myriad aircraft, engines, and weapons systems they carry. Instead, each part could be printed as needed.
The big worry of course is that the mechanical properties of 3-D printed parts might not match those of parts made in other ways, particularly when they are used as critical components, in high-performance jet engines for example.
To that end, materials scientists have spent much time and effort characterizing the mechanical properties of these parts. And consequently, they are now used as customized medical implants, jet engine bearings and for rapid prototyping in the car industry.
But while the mechanical properties of 3-D printed parts have been well studied, less attention has been paid to their electrical properties.
Today that changes thanks to the work of Daniel Creedon at the University of Melbourne in Australia and a few pals who have designed, printed, and successfully tested a superconducting microwave cavity for the first time. They say their work paves the way for a new generation of superconducting components that can be designed and made relatively quickly and cheaply.
Superconducting cavities are the workhorses in an increasing number of experiments to study the properties of the universe. Their purpose is to store microwaves, allowing them to resonate while losing as little energy as possible.
The microwaves interact with the electrons in the surface material of the cavities. So the resistance of this material is an important factor in the performance. Hence the interest in superconducting cavities where the resistance is essentially zero.
Resonating microwaves are useful things—they accelerate charged particles inside particle accelerators, they are ultra-sensitive motion detectors, they can produce highly stable frequencies, help measure the speed of light, and so on.
But the cavities that hold them are high precision devices that are time-consuming and expensive to make. 3-D printing offers significant advantages in speed and cost, provided the process of printing doesn’t interfere with the cavities’ superconducting properties. That’s something nobody had attempted to measure, until now.
To study the effect of 3-D printing on these superconducting properties, Creedon and co simply printed two of cavities using a process which selectively melts aluminum powder so that it solidifies into the required shape. In this way, a complex 3-D cavity can be built up layer by layer.
This process is quick and cheap but has several potential limitations. The first is that 3-D printing produces shapes with rough surfaces.
The second is that aluminum powder has a different composition to standard industrial aluminum designated Al-6061. In particular, the powder contains some 12 percent silicon by weight, whereas the usual stuff has only 0.8 percent. It also contains small amounts of iron (0.118 percent) and copper (0.003 percent) compared to 0.7 percent iron, 0.15 percent copper, and 1.2 percent magnesium in the industrial stuff.
The impact of these kinds of differences could be important or insignificant but until it is measured, nobody knows which. That’s what Creedon and co set out to do. And to their surprise, they found that neither of these factors has a significant impact on the resulting cavities’ superconductivity.
Creedon and co report that the cavities become superconducting at the expected temperature of 1.2 Kelvin and that the electrical properties were similar to those of industrial Al-6061. “The results are comparable to cavities machined from common Al-6061 alloy, and are unaffected by the surface roughness of the cavity walls due to the 3-D printing process,” they say.
However, they were able to improve the performance of one cavity by polishing its inside surface to reduce the roughness. They then heated it to 770K for four hours and allowed it to cool slowly to room temperature. This has the effect of driving out silicon from the material. “Annealing at 770K for four hours to drive off residual silicon impurities was found to improve the Q-factor by approximately a factor of two,” they say.
That’s interesting work that has further potential. One future avenue would be to use purer aluminum powder. Creedon and co say this should produce higher quality cavities. Another is to start creating cavities that are impossible to manufacture using conventional machining techniques.
A first step on an exciting route to a new era of 3-D-printed superconductors.
Wearing black headsets with tentacle-like sensors stretched over their foreheads, the competitors stare at cubes floating on computer screens as their small white drones prepare for takeoff.
'Three, two, one ... GO!' the announcer hollers, and as the racers fix their thoughts on pushing the cubes, the drones suddenly whir, rise and buzz through the air.
Some struggle to move even a few feet, while others zip confidently across the finish line.
Competitors in the Florida race use specially programmed headbands to monitor their brainwaves - moving the drone when they will it to happen.
HOW IT WORKS
Each of the 16 racers wears an EEG headband.
The EEG headset is calibrated to identify the electrical activity associated with particular thoughts in each wearer's brain — recording, for example, where neurons fire when the wearer imagines pushing a chair across the floor.
Programmers write code to translate these 'imaginary motion' signals into commands that computers send to the drones.
The competition — billed as the world's first drone race involving a brain-controlled interface — involved 16 pilots using willpower to drive drones through a 10-yard dash over an indoor basketball court at the University of Florida this past weekend.
The Associated Press was there to record the event, which organizers hope to make an annual inter-collegiate spectacle, involving ever-more dynamic moves and challenges and a trophy that puts the brain on a pedestal.
'With events like this, we're popularizing the use of BCI instead of it being stuck in the research lab,' said Chris Crawford, a PhD student in human-centered computing.
'BCI was a technology that was geared specifically for medical purposes, and in order to expand this to the general public, we actually have to embrace these consumer brand devices and push them to the limit.'
Scientists have been able to detect brainwaves for more than a century, and mind-controlled technology already is helping paralyzed people move limbs or robotic prosthetics.
But now the technology is becoming widely accessible.
Emotiv and NeuroSky are among startups offering electroencephalogram headsets for purchase online for several hundred dollars.
The models Florida racers used cost about $500 each.
Here's how the technology delivers an abstract thought through the digital realm and into the real world: Each EEG headset is calibrated to identify the electrical activity associated with particular thoughts in each wearer's brain — recording, for example, where neurons fire when the wearer imagines pushing a chair across the floor.
Programmers write code to translate these 'imaginary motion' signals into commands that computers send to the drones.
Professor Juan Gilbert, whose computer science students organized the race, is inviting other universities to assemble brain-drone racing teams for 2017, pushing interest in a technology with a potential that seems limited only by the human imagination.
As our lives become increasingly reliant on Internet-enabled devices, a concept known as the Internet of things, Gilbert and his team want to know how mind-controlled devices can expand and change the way we play, work and live.
University of Florida sophomore Michael Lakin, 19, uses a brain-controlled interface headset to fly a drone during a mind-controlled drone race in Gainesville, Fla.
You might use your mind to unlock your car, or explore a virtual world, hands-free.
It could be applied for real-time monitoring of our moods and states of consciousness.
Researchers are studying whether they can use a big-rig driver's mind to trigger a device that will tell him when he's too tired to drive.
'One day you could wear a brain-controlled interface device like you wear a watch, to interact with things around you,' Gilbert said.
So far, BCI research has largely been about helping disabled people regain freedom of movement.
Recently, an Ohio man using only his thoughts was able to move his paralyzed hand thanks to a chip implanted in his brain.
In Miami, doctors using BCI are helping a 19-year-old man stand on his own after losing the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident.
Dr. Monica Perez talks to Richard Tursi, 19, who is undergoing therapy that uses a brain-controlled technology to help improve his motor functions at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami. Tursi was in a motorcycle accident when he was 16 which left him a quadriplegic. Now he has the limited use of his arms and legs. The therapies have improved his brain function, allowing him to stand and move his arms.
Dr. Mike Urbin views highlighted areas of the brain while working with patient Richard Joseph Tursi at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami.
The idea of collegiate brain-drone races pleases Dr. Bin He, a biomedical engineer at the University of Minnesota who first demonstrated a mind-controlled drone in public in 2013.
'The progress of the BCI field has been faster than I had thought ten years ago,' He said.
'We are getting closer and closer to broad application.'
But as the technology moves toward wider adoption, ethical, legal and privacy questions remain unresolved.
The U.S. Defense Department — which uses drones to kill suspected terrorists in the Middle East from vast distances — is looking for military brain-control applications.
A 2014 Defense grant supports the Unmanned Systems Laboratory at the University of Texas, San Antonio, where researchers have developed a system enabling a single person with no prior training to fly multiple drones simultaneously through mind control.
Tursi, 19, undergoes therapy that uses a brain-controlled technology to help improve his motor functions at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami.
University of Florida PhD student Islam Badreldin, 31, practices driving a brain-controlled vehicle that he modified to work wirelessly in Gainesville, Fla.
In this system, instead of the pilot thinking certain thoughts to move the drones, she looks at a screen with flickering signals, triggering brain activity that translates into specific movements.
'It can accommodate lots of commands, much more than imaginary motion can,' UT scientist Yufei Huang said.
But enthusiasts should think carefully before handing over their brainwaves for purposes that have yet to be conceived or contained, said Kit Walsh, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation with a degree in neuroscience from MIT.
'EEG readings are similar to fingerprints: once I know what the readings look like from your brain in a certain situation,' she said. 'I'll be able to recognize you by that pattern again later on.
Drone-racing just moved to a whole new level by combining with BCI technology, resulting in a drone race controlled solely by the mind.
A NEW KIND OF RACE
The University of Florida held a fully technology-based sport: The world’s first brain-controlled drone race. Using their brainwaves, 16 pilots flew drones through an indoor course ten yards long. Both drone-racing and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are not new, but this is the first combination of the two, and it’s an efficient method of introducing BCIs to the mainstream eye.
BCI is a system that translates brain signals into commands comprehensible to output devices. Most often, this technology is used to allow individuals who are paralyzed to have control of prosthetic limbs.
HOW IT WORKS
To make this possible, electroencephalogram headsets are calibrated to an individual’s brain. The calibration is pretty much like programming commands on your keyboard for a game, where you specify that certain letters move your character up, down, left, and right. Except in this case, each person’s neuron activity is used, translated, and recorded into these commands.
Human-centered computing Phd student Chris Crawford thinks making BCIs a familiar concept to the public is a good way to spread awareness of the existence and accessibility of the technology. “With events like this, we’re popularizing the use of BCI instead of it being stuck in the research lab,” he says. “BCI was a technology that was geared specifically for medical purposes, and in order to expand this to the general public, we actually have to embrace these consumer brand devices and push them to the limit.”
University of Florida sophomore Michael Lakin, 19, uses a brain-controlled interface headset to fly a drone during a mind-controlled drone race in Gainesville, Fla.
Some experts, however, fear legal, ethical, and privacy issues. For one thing, drones are also being used by the military to kill suspected terrorists in the Middle East, and they are on the lookout for similar BCI technologies.
Kit Walsh, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation with a degree in neuroscience from MIT thinks people should be careful of participating in such activities. “EEG readings are similar to fingerprints: once I know what the readings look like from your brain in a certain situation,” she said. “I’ll be able to recognize you by that pattern again later on.”
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22-04-2016
This Flying Saucer Zaps Fires with Sound
This Flying Saucer Zaps Fires with Sound
The Firesound is a firefighting flying saucer.The bright yellow, meter wide, autonomous disc is designed to patrol parks and forests, constantly looking for danger using smoke sensors and thermal cameras.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
IN BRIEF
Inventor Charles Bombardier has developed the Firesound drone, a multipurpose UAV that fights forest fires with sound, and can be used to detect the early stages of a fire and even seek out missing persons.
THE COMING OF THE SAUCERS
If, sometime in the near future, you hear stories of strange flying discs hovering around our national parks and forests, don’t be alarmed.
It’s not a Martian invasion, or an assault by cattle-mutilating Greys. It’s actually something far more benevolent—the Firesound, a futuristic firefighting drone concept developed by theorist and inventor Charles Bombardier.
“There’s a whole lot of ideas that are sitting on the shelves of scientists, that could be turned into a creative content like the Firesound,” Bombardier says, explaining how the idea was conceived. “It just need somebody to go find them, and expand on them.”
His inspiration came when he decided to combine this sonic firefighting technique with low-cost drone technology.
UFOS TO THE RESCUE
Concept art for the Firesound drone. Credit: Charles BombardierThus the Firesound was born. It’s an electric drone that uses a hydrogen fuel cell, and it stays aloft through the lifting action of four fans spaced along the disc’s edge. Rear and forward air intakes, as well as exhaust vents on the undercarriage, allow for directional changes.
It’s a very simple concept, one which Bombardier envisions using for a broad range of activities in national parks and forests. It can, for example, be used to monitor forests for signs of incipient fires, or seek out unattended campfires or other human misdeeds (which account for some 90% of forest fires).
The Firesound could detect fires in these early stages, using infrared sensors, and then swoop in and extinguish them using sound waves in the 30 to 60 Hz bass range. The beauty of sound waves is that the drone doesn’t have to carry heavy foams and other fire retardants, a consideration that greatly hampers current firefighting efforts.
Even better, the Firesound could be used to seek out missing persons or injured hikers, and even remain near them to provide them with limited WiFi coverage—so that they have a means of communication with the outside world.
For now, Charles Bombardier is content to simply moot the idea, and let others develop it into a functioning and useful technology.
So next time you enjoy a national park or forest, keep an eye on the sky—the truth is out there.
Researchers have developed a method of 3D printing cheese that could make it healthier, and it could also increase the options available to those with lactose intolerance.
DAIRY DEFICIENCY
Good news for anyone who suffers from dairy intolerance—avoiding and finding passable alternatives for it isn’t your only solution. Thanks to advancements in technology, you could possibly be printing the next cheese platter you serve at a dinner party.
But why bother when we already have alternatives available for those with an intolerance? Because unlike available options that we have now made of artificial cheese of dairy-free substitutes, 3D printed cheese will still be dairy-based—except it can be made minus all the bad stuff.
It basically uses a protein found in milk called sodium caseinate, which has a liquid feel but can easily solidify after it is released by the 3D printer. This means the consistency and flavor could be closer to the real thing.
CHEESE LOVERS
Take note that, like most cheese or any other dairy alternative, it only promises to be “close” to the real deal. Solidified sodium caseinate doesn’t necessarily translate to cheese, as it will require additional ingredients to ensure that the flavor and texture of the printed materials stays true to the original.
Because the entire process is still in its early stages, there is still very little information on what these additional ingredients might be. But since the goal of the 3D printed cheese is to become a healthier alternative, then it should be a low-fat, high-protein, lactose-free version that still tastes as amazing as real cheese.
The process also doesn’t completely take cows out of the equation, much to the disappointment of numerous environmentalists who are trying to draw focus on the world’s reliance on livestock. Milk still needs to be taken from cows to get the sodium caseinate—but this new process does present a lot of benefits by way of minimizing waste from spoilage.
Like many people, I have a love/hate relationship with dairy. I’m a big fan of chocolate and most ice creams, but when it comes to milk itself, I really dislike the flavor. With a few exceptions, I’m pretty anti-cheese, too, which baffles some of my cheese fanatic friends to the point of outrage. In another example of how life isn’t fair, I know several people who love all things dairy but had to stop consuming it all thanks to a lactose intolerance development. (Those are the people who hate me the most, because unlike them, I can have cheese, but I choose to throw away that gift.)
For all of us – those who dislike dairy, and those who are disliked by dairy – creative solutions must be found in order to maintain healthy levels of calcium and to have something to put on cereal. Thanks to a lactose intolerant family member, I’ve become well acquainted with the growing range of cowless milks – rice milk (or, as a young cousin calls it, “rice juice” – even more appetizing), almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, etc. I can’t say I’m a big fan of those alternatives either, but never would I have thought of 3D printed milk as something that could…well, be a thing. Turns out it is, though – or will be, if some Dutch scientists succeed.
Researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands have partnered with dairy cooperativeFrieslandCampina to explore 3D printed dairy products. Why? Cheese addicts, rejoice: one day you may be able to feed your habit without guilt. Unlike cheese alternatives available now, 3D printed cheese would still be dairy-based, just with the bad stuff – i.e., the high cholesterol content – removed. The key is sodium caseinate, a protein found in milk. It’s a natural 3D printing material, as, according to Wageningen professor Maarten Schutyser, it has a “liquid feel” but quickly solidifies once extruded from a 3D printer.
Solidified sodium caseinate does not equal cheese, however, and that’s where things get nebulous. Additional ingredients would have to be added to the printer to get the final extruded product to match the flavor and texture of cheese or butter, and the project is still very much in the experimental stages in terms of what those ingredients might be or how they might be combined. Ideally, the final product would be high-protein, low-fat, great-tasting and lactose-free dairy with a lower environmental impact than traditionally manufactured cheese. But after all that tinkering, is it still “real” milk, or cheese, or butter? (When is a cheese not a cheese? Discuss.)
It’s easy to be skeptical about such an endeavor. As environmentalists raise concerns about our reliance on livestock, 3D printed dairy doesn’t take cows out of the equation. Cows’ milk is still required to obtain the sodium caseinate for the base of the product, but if sodium caseinate is the only thing still making it technically dairy, why not just stick with the already existing alternatives? (It’s also interesting to note that sodium caseinate is an ingredient in “non-dairy” creamers, so apparently the term “dairy” is up for debate.)
The environmental benefits would likely come from reduced waste from spoilage during the production process, but again, the question of whether 3D printing dairy products will be worth it is still very much up in the air. Right now, it’s an experiment, and whether or not it will actually come to fruition (milk-ition? I’m sorry. Really, I am sorry.) remains to be seen. The same can be said for most 3D printed food, actually, as researchers study ways to print new foods rather than just extruding chocolate pastes into fun shapes, which is essentially what 3D food printers currently do. The ultimate question is whether 3D printing can be used to create foods that are healthier, better-tasting, or that otherwise hold a big enough advantage over their traditional counterparts to make them more than just a novelty.
Then there’s the question of public reception. GMOs are the bogeyman of the moment, and raw or paleo diets are the current fad as nutritionists exhort us to stop eating processed foods. Will people trust milk products that have been so altered and, well, processed? Surveys have shown that the majority of people are still pretty queasy about the idea of 3D printed food. It’s all a question of whether scientists truly can develop 3D printed foods whose benefits clearly and significantly present themselves, and even then it’s going to take some serious marketing to get the public on board. But we’ll never know unless we try. What do you think about this? Talk about it in the 3D Printed Dairy forum over at 3DPB.com.
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De homo sapiens sterft uit... Maak kennis met de cyborg
De homo sapiens sterft uit... Maak kennis met de cyborg
Nathalie Pérez
Zeg jij nee tegen een chip in je brein waarmee je sneller kunt denken en werken? Wil jij geen sterkere ledematen als je eigen armen en benen versleten zijn? Zeg maar jawel, want ook jij wordt een cyborg!
Een cyborg is gedeeltelijk mens en gedeeltelijk machine. Al vanaf het begin van de Science Fiction films en series zien we regelmatig cyborgs op het witte doek. RoboCop is een cyborg, Iron Man is cyborg en Darth Vader uit Star Wars is ook een cyborg. In de toekomst lopen we cyborgs misschien wel gewoon tegen het ‘lijf’ op straat. En wie weet.. worden we er zelf een, zodat we nét wat beter kunnen denken, werken, ons voortbewegen en bouwen. Die toekomst is nabij, want cyborgs zijn al volop in de maak!
Nieuwe organen, pacemakers en gerepareerde zintuigen De wetenschap komt steeds met nieuwe dingen om ons lichaam sterker en beter te maken. In principe wordt het nu alleen nog voor medische doeleinden gebruikt, bijvoorbeeld als je hart niet goed meer werkt of als je invalide bent. Je krijgt dan een pacemaker of een prothese. Op dit moment wordt er ook gewerkt om nieuwe organen te maken voor mensen waarvan het eigen orgaan niet (meer) goed functioneert. Voor die kunstorganen worden synthetische stoffen gebruikt die vervolgens in het lichaam geïmplementeerd worden. Een stukje kunststof smelt samen met het lichaam en het lichaam kan er langer tegenaan. Verder is er voor slechthorenden en doven de Cochlear en zijn wetenschappers aan het werk om blinden elektroden in het netvlies te geven waardoor ze weer kunnen zien. Met de wetenschap kunnen we dus flink aan het lichaam en de zintuigen sleutelen. Alleen ben je dan niet meer alleen mens; je bent deels gefabriceerd en dus een cyborg.
Protheses besturen met je brein Zo leven er al duizenden mannen en vrouwen met een pacemaker bij hun hart. En krijgen mensen die bijvoorbeeld door een ongeluk een deel van hun been of arm kwijt zijn een prothese. Protheses zijn steeds minder goed van een echte armen en benen te onderscheiden. Sommige protheses smelten zelfs helemaal samen met het zenuwstelsel, waardoor de drager ze kan besturen met het brein. Gewoon alsof het een eigen arm of been is, met eigen bestuurbare vingers en tenen. Natuurlijk is bewegen nog niet zo gemakkelijk en soepel als bewegen met een echt menselijke ledemaat; het begin is gemaakt en dat betekent ook geen fantoompijn meer in de toekomst!
Jesse Sullivan leert zijn bionische prothese te besturen – DEKA Research and Development & The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Voor de mensen die liever geen stalen arm aan hun lichaam laten monteren, is er een robot die je kunt besturen met je eigen gedachtes via een chip in je brein. De mogelijkheden door deze uitvinding zijn werkelijk eindeloos, want als we in de toekomst organen, weefsels, huiden etc. kunnen namaken, kunnen er levensechte robots gebouwd worden die je gewoon zelf kunt besturen via een ingebouwd chipje. Eigenlijk hoef je dan zelf niet eens meer de deur uit, als je daar geen zin in hebt.
Verlamde vrouw bestuurt robotarm met haar gedachtes – Nature Videos
Beter met meer vingers Natuurlijk willen we wél zelf blijven bewegen en de deur uit gaan (meestal dan). Kunnen we dan misschien béter bewegen met wat elektronische toevoegsels? Met een pacemaker, prothese of robotarm verleg je namelijk niet de grenzen van de mens. Een robotarm is dan wel sterker dan de arm van een mens, en een pacemaker kan in combinatie met een nieuw, synthetisch hart misschien wel honderden jaren meegaan; deze uitvindingen geven je geen éxtra functies. Als je toch een cyborg wordt, wil je natuurlijk ook iets extra’s kunnen of iets beter kunnen. Protheses (bionische protheses) geven wel die extra functionaliteit. Je kunt dan met prothese beter functioneren dan met een normaal lichaamsdeel. Zo kreeg drummer Jason Barnes, die zijn onderarm verloor door elektrocutie, een speciale robotarm om mee te drummen. Hij kan nu dingen, die een normale drummer echt niet kan…
New Scientist
Met robotonderdelen, en dus als een cyborg, kunnen we in van alles beter worden! Maar heel bewonderenswaardig is zoiets nou ook weer niet, vindt wetenschapper Kevin Warwick, beter bekend als captain cyborg. “Ik wil onze mogelijkheden niet uitbreiden en verbeteren. Ik wil ons nieuwe mogelijkheden geven.” Warwick is sinds 1998 al bezig om zichzelf om te toveren tot een mens met extra functies, een cyborg dus. Want je bent toch past écht cyborg als je dingen kan die je als gewoon mens nooit zou kunnen en waarvan je misschien nooit zou durven denken dat je ze ooit zou kunnen.
Gedachtecommunicatie Een droom van Warwick – waar hij zijn hele ziel en zaligheid in gooit – is om telepathisch te communiceren met zijn vrouw. “Met gedachtecommunicatie kunnen we onze hele manier van communiceren veranderen,” vertelt Warwick aan Scientias.nl. Onze communicatie via taal is eigenlijk heel traag. “Gedachtecommunicate zou een veel rijkere vorm van communicatie zijn. Het kan een hoop misverstanden uit de weg ruimen en het zou onze intelligentie ontzettend verbeteren.”
JEZELF UPLOADEN
In de film Transcendence maakt wetenschapper Will Caster een kloon van zichzelf die hij vervolgens uploadt met zijn eigen gedachten, ervaringen, herinneringen en zelfs gevoelens. Het is goed mogelijk dat we over niet al te lange tijd onszelf daadwerkelijk kunnen klonen en ons brein via een computer kunnen uploaden. Als dit lukt, kunnen we oneindig lang leven.
Warwick stopte in 1998 voor het eerst een chip in zijn lijf. De siliconenchip in zijn arm stond in verbinding met een computer, waardoor Warwick in de hallen en kamers van zijn universiteit alle deuren, lichten en computers kon bedienen door gewoon zijn vinger te bewegen. Nu vinden we dit in 2015 niet meer zo bijzonder, al kan zo’n chip in je brein je ook voorzien van allerlei informatie, je een immens geheugen geven en van je eigen brein een razendsnelle denkmachine maken. Met een chip in je brein kun je het brein een flinke uitbreiding geven. Maar Warwick wilde meer. Hij gaf zichzelf in 2002 een chip waarmee zijn zenuwstelsel verbinding maakte met een computer. Zijn vrouw kreeg er ook een. De informatie van het ene zenuwstelsel stuurde de computer door naar het andere zenuwstelsel. De vraag was of het brein deze informatie van een ander brein kon implementeren. “Dat kan,” vertelt Warwick. “We zijn nu zover dat onze zenuwstelsels met elkaar kunnen communiceren, als in een soort morse code. Heel apart en natuurlijk ook heel intiem. De volgende stap is de elektronen bij onze hersenen plaatsen, waardoor onze breinen met elkaar in verbinding staan. Hopelijk kunnen we dan communiceren in emoties, kleuren en gevoelens,” zegt Warwick.
Extra zintuigen De gekste proef die Warwick op zichzelf heeft uitgevoerd was met het Utah Array implantaat. “Het was erg grappig om uit te proberen om als een vleermuis ultrasonische zintuiglijke informatie op te nemen. Het lukte, en mijn brein kon de nieuwe soort informatie gebruiken. Met een blinddoek om kon ik dingen voelen. Mijn collega’s kwamen met een bord op me af en dat was wel eng. Ik voelde dat er iets snel op me af kwam, maar ik zag niets.”
Ons brein is dus daadwerkelijk in staat om allerlei andersoortige prikkels te gebruiken als (zintuiglijke) informatie. Ons brein kan zich daarop aanpassen. Hierbij eindigen onze mogelijkheden niet bij zien, horen en voelen. We kunnen ingewikkelde informatie ook direct ‘weten’. Gedachtes, emoties en gevoelens kunnen in een fractie van een seconde bij je binnenkomen. Misschien hoeven we hierdoor in de toekomst helemaal geen moeite meer te doen om onze gedachtes, meningen en gevoelens onder woorden te brengen. Je kunt elkaar als cyborg, met een chipje in je brein, gewoon van alles toezenden. Telefoons? Whatsapp? Dat is straks zo 2015…
Bronmateriaal:
Interview Kevin Warwick De foto bovenaan dit artikel is gemaakt door JD Hancock (cc viaFlickr.com).
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Nieuw apparaat vangt energie van klotsend oceaanwater op
Nieuw apparaat vangt energie van klotsend oceaanwater op
Tim Kraaijvanger
Ingenieurs werken aan een nieuw apparaat, dat gebruikt kan worden om de energie van oceaanwater op te vangen. Aangezien er meer dan één miljard kubieke kilometer aan oceaanwater beschikbaar is, kan dit heel interessant zijn.
Het apparaat Triton bestaat niet uit bewegende onderdelen, zeggen de onderzoekers van Oscilla Power. “Wanneer de golven tegen het apparaat beuken, verandert de magnetische polariteit in het metaal, dat we gebruiken om elektriciteit op te wekken”, zegt onderzoeker Meagan Parrish. Deze elektriciteit wordt opgevangen dankzij de flexibele kabels.
Op dit moment is de ontwikkeling van Triton nog in een vroege fase. Het is namelijk de vraag of het apparaat de gigantische krachten van een oceaan kan weerstaan. Het zou natuurlijk jammer zijn als Triton bij de eerste de beste storm al uit elkaar valt. Vandaar dat ingenieurs nu bezig zijn met proeven en het perfectioneren van het ontwerp.
Als alles volgens plan verloopt en Triton ooit echt geïntroduceerd wordt, dan kan één apparaat 2.000 huishoudens van stroom voorzien. Triton kan namelijk 600kW stroom produceren. De mensen van Oscilla Power spreken zelf over 500 huishoudens, maar dat is gebaseerd op het gemiddeld verbruik van een Amerikaans gezin en dat is ongeveer vier keer meer dan wat een Nederlands of Belgisch gezin verbruikt.
Wat vind jij van het idee? Deel je mening onder dit artikel!
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20-04-2016
Predicting the Future: Here’s What Our Homes May Be Like in 100 Years
Predicting the Future: Here’s What Our Homes May Be Like in 100 Years
Taylor Herring/Samsung
IN BRIEF
Samsung SmartThings has released its “Future Living Report,” a forecast of the next 100 years. Among its many predictions are “smart homes,” undersea cities, “synthetic telepathy,” and 3D-printed gourmet meals.
TIME AND AGAIN
Forecasting the future has been one of humankind’s favorite pastimes. We’re usually pretty bad at it, but there’s always been a Cassandra or a Delphic oracle, a Sibyl or a Nostradamus willing to make the attempt.
Images of a futuristic city from Metropolis(1927).
But in more recent times, the art of predicting the future has almost become a kind of mathematics—very disciplined and scientific.
In the early decades of the last century, a number of scientific prophecies were made about what the future—our present—would be like; some of these were naively optimistic, a few were dead-on accurate, others hopelessly wide of the mark.
It’s always been fun to see how these old dreamers envisioned their future. For example, in Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent masterpiece Metropolis, the future was an immense urban jumble of Art Deco architecture, complete with multi-tiered highways and giant machines run by an oppressed working class. The famous science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, in his 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come, imagined that we would be living under something called the “Air Dictatorship”—a kind of technocratic world state ruled by air power.
Others focused more on the technological aspects of the future, and the many scientific wonders and gadgets to come. The old comic strip Buck Rogers in the 25th Century had some interesting things to say about this—predicting, among other things, text messaging, cell phones, surveillance drones, and even the Hyperloop, the pneumatic transport system proposed by Elon Musk.
And it is along these lines—though with a more official and academic imprimatur—that Samsung has released its “SmartThings Future Living Report.” It’s a serious look at the topography of the future, at least in terms of its technological promise, and what that will mean for our lives and how we live them. It’s an extrapolation of current technological trends, as all such predictions inevitably are; but it’s less extravagant than most, more restrained and rooted in scientific realities, and it has a convincing ring of truth to it.
Which is exciting, because if the folks at Samsung are right, it means that over the next century or so we’re going to be in for a very interesting ride.
Some of the future predictions found in the Buck Rogers comic strip. Top: drones; bottom: transportation via pneumatic tube. Credit: rolandanderson.se/Hyperlooptech.com
SMART LIVING
According to the report, we can expect some pretty remarkable changes to our homes and our personal spaces, to say nothing of those ordinary, overlooked things that make up so much of our daily routine. As human populations soar, our cities and homes will have to adapt; interior living spaces will change as a cloud changes, easily reconfigured and rearranged to suit our fickle tastes, or accommodate different purposes.
Imagine walls and floors made of a malleable “skin,” and embedded with tiny sensors and actuators so that the shape and size of living spaces can quickly change, or even be divided into smaller rooms; imagine fully programmable “smart homes” that can be controlled remotely, and provide feedback to their owners—yes, there’ll even be an app for that.
Virtual decorations will alter with changing tastes, moods and whims; and the entire interior surface of the home will be implanted with LED technology—television screens and computer displays will form and unform in any room, as needed. Even our furniture will be adaptable, molding to custom fit our bodies, responding to changes in posture, or disappearing altogether when not needed.
A drone flying house. Image credit: Taylor Herring/Samsung
It will be the ultimate evolution of the “Internet of Things.” Misplaced something? Can’t find your keys? No problem. Just use an online search function to find it. Hate the color of that accent wall? Delete it. Need more storage space? Watch new shelves appear, as if by magic.
And the amenities are fantastic. Every home will come standard with a 3D printer; they’ll be able to churn out just about anything you could wish, using downloadable patterns, probably including even complex electronic devices. They may even print out your meals, designed and programmed by the world’s master chefs.
Walk-in “medical pods,” meanwhile, will contribute to the decentralization of healthcare—their imaging sensors will diagnose your ills and, for the more easily treatable maladies, dispense drugs, inject antibiotics, and recommend health regimens. It may even be possible to undergo remote, robot-mediated surgery, in the comfort of your own home.
This barely scratches the surface. Imagine homes whose very building material is salted with dormant limestone-producing bacteria, which awaken upon contact with moisture and repair any cracks or structural damage.
There will be “digestion tanks” full of anaerobic bacteria, to dispose of our waste; and our homes will produce, store, and reuse their own energy, using “microbial fuel cell stacks” and more efficient solar panels to generate electricity, and power-banks like the Tesla powerwall to store it against future use. Personal homes will be almost fully independent of a dangerously overtaxed energy grid.
One hundred years in the future, our houses will be, in almost all respects, semi-living, artificial organisms—closed systems with a metabolism, sensory apparatus, immune response, and an approximation to a nervous system.
We’ll be living in homes that are practically alive. An uncanny thought.
The UFO floating home concept from mini yacht-maker Jet Capsule offers a completely off-grid existence.View gallery (12 images)
While you can always head for the hills to wait out the apocalypse, a more stylish option could be a fully sustainable floating home from Italian mini yacht-maker Jet Capsule. The company has drawn up a concept for a saucer-shaped UFO, or Unidentified Floating Object, which offers a completely off-grid existence floating on the ocean.
According to the company's co-founders, Pierpaolo Lazzarini and Luca Solla, the UFO is intended for "living in a floating house and moving slowly around the world." "Slowly" in this case means a leisurely maximum speed of 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h, 4 mph), using a waterjet-propelled Torqeedo Deep Blue 1800 electric motor.
This motor is connected to a battery that draws energy generated from 40 sq. m (430 sq. ft.) of solar panels in a closable lid atop the structure. Additional energy sources can be provided through optional wind and water turbines located on the top and below the main disc of the UFO, respectively, creating enough power to operate the home and motor.
The company says an onboard water generator would be used for converting rain or seawater to fresh drinking water, as well as watering a vegetable garden located on a deck that encircles the structure and measures 12.5 m (41 ft) in diameter.
Two half-spherical shells of fiberglass make up the two stories of the interior housing, with flexible floor plans for various configurations. Generally, the orb-shaped home will consist of a transformable kitchen and dining/living area on a 20-sq. m (215-sq. ft.) top level, with stairs leading down to a 10-sq. m (107-sq. ft.) submerged lower level with bathroom and bedroom surrounded by a large window for viewing sea life.
To keep the craft stable, the UFO uses a special elastic anchor system. "The main structure of the floating object can be aligned with the compass, keeping the position angle oriented on the desired cardinal direction, even in rough sea conditions," say the designers.
The company is currently seeking investors to build the first working prototype, at an estimated cost of US$800,000, with homes produced after that estimated at $200,000, which is actually cheaper than the average price of an, albeit larger, houseboat.
We’ve all seen the hoverboards that tourists at island resorts pay to ride, with a giant hose attached to them, which in my book means they aren’t actually real hoverboards.
However, now it appears Zapata Racing has developed a hoverboard with absolutely nothing attached to the device.
Dubbed the “Flyboard Air,” the details behind the video and hoverboard are a bit murky, but Zapata claims the footage is 100% real.
The features of the Flyboard Air do seem kind of outlandish, however, with Zapata saying it can fly autonomously for 10 minutes with a ceiling of 10,000 feet, not to mention a top speed of 93 miles per hour.
I don’t know about all that, but Zapata Racing certainly knows how to get people talking, so for now, we’ll take a cautious approach before getting too excited about the Flyboard Air.
The VC200 is a 18 rotor drone-hybrid personal flight vehicle. At full power, it can go 95 km/h (60 mph), and it just carried its first human passenger.
MEET VOLOCOPTER
Experts have long talked about using multiple rotors on electric helicopters as an alternative method of personal transport. And today, the company responsible for creating an 18-rotor electric helicopter just managed to successfully complete its first manned test flight—which means our dream of using multicopters just moved one step forward.
The Volocopter VC200 is the world’s first certified multicopter, and while may not be the most impressive or ambitious demonstration of the technology, it show remarkable stability and ease of use. The device doesn’t require constant monitoring of controls, which makes it ideal for users new to the technology.
Check out this video of of its maiden flight in the video below.
VC200 GOES AIRBORNE
Eventually, the VC200 is expected to go up to 95 km/h (60 mph); however, the team behind the tech has yet to test the copter at its full capacity. But with the recent demonstration, designers are confident that they will be able to accept pre-orders for the final product by the end of the year.
It’s likely that early adopters of the device will be exclusively composed of drone enthusiasts, but they hope that the aircraft will one day be used as a reliable means of transportation.
The VC200 is not only easy to operate, it also doesn’t require fuel—which makes it an ideal alternative for personal flights—maybe even one day replacing our traditional road vehicles with multicopter air taxis.
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12-04-2016
Stem Cell Technique Could Regenerate Any Human Tissue Damaged By Aging or Disease
Stem Cell Technique Could Regenerate Any Human Tissue Damaged By Aging or Disease
IN BRIEF
Taking their cue from salamander regeneration, a team led by the University of New South Wales says that a stem cell therapy capable of regenerating any human tissue damaged by injury, disease, or aging could be available within a few years, thanks to an innovative new technique.
STEM CELL CLAYFACE
While stem cells have worked wonders in medicinal research, showing signs of curing everything from spinal cord injuries to blindness, they’ve always had their shortcomings. But one study is promising a new “game changing” technique for stem cells.
Taking their cue from salamander regeneration, new research led by the University of New South Wales says that a stem cell therapy capable of regenerating any human tissue damaged by injury, disease, or aging could be available within a few years, through an innovative new technique.
The technique involves reprogramming bone and fat cells into “induced multipotent stem cells” (iMS). These cells are special in that they can regenerate multiple tissue types.
There are two kinds of stem cells: embryonic stem cells that during embryonic development generate every type of cell in the human body, and adult stem cells that are tissue-specific, and unable to regenerate multiple tissue types. Embryonic stem cells would be preferable, save that they are prone to form teratomas (tumors composed of different tissue types), and their use is highly controversial.
Credit: Michael Whitehead/UNSW
THE TECHNIQUE
The method used by the researchers is, quite frankly, amazing. They took bone and fat cells in mice, switched off their memory, and transformed them into stem cells.
To be specific, the technique involves extracting adult human fat cells and treating them with the compound 5-Azacytidine (AZA), along with platelet-derived growth factor-AB (PDGF-AB) for approximately two days. The cells are then treated with the growth factor alone for a further two to three weeks.
The AZA relaxes the hard-wiring of the cells by inducing cell plasticity, and this is expanded by the growth factor. Release the iMS into damaged tissue, and they will multiply, healing the tissue.
The technique is a huge step up from other stem-cell therapies, since embryonic stem cell therapies may form tumors, and others use viruses to transform cells into stem cells.
The current trials use iMS from adult human fat cells inserted into mice. Human trials for this technique are expected by late 2017.
Northwestern University researchers have managed to 3D print ovaries for infertile mice, allowing them to resume their cycles and give birth.
THE NEWEST FERTILITY TREATMENT
What’s the newest method for treating infertility? 3D printing.
It seems there is no end to what 3D printing technology can create. This time, a group of scientists from Northwestern University managed to print a fully functional ovary that they implanted into mice that had their ovaries removed.
The team produced the ovaries from material similar to jello combined with living cells. Not only did the 3D printed ovaries allow the mice to resume their monthly cycle, they also managed to successfully give birth.
Egg cell under the microscope. Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The process is explained in the press release, “The researchers used a 3D printer to create a scaffold to support hormone-producing cells and immature egg cells, called oocytes. The structure was made out of gelatin – a biological material derived from the animal protein collagen. The scientists applied biological principles to manufacture the scaffold, which needed to be rigid enough to be handled during surgery and to provide enough space for oocyte growth, blood vessel formation and ovulation.”
BIOPROSTHESIS
While the study was conducted on mice, researchers have every intention of expanding it one day to develop a way to create an ovary bioprosthesis for women. This could restore fertility to women who survived cancer, a disease which raises the risk of infertility as adults, or help women who suffer from a host of other diseases and conditions.
“One of the biggest concerns for patients diagnosed with cancer is how the treatment may affect their fertility and hormone health,” said lead study author Monica M. Laronda, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “We are developing new ways to restore their quality of life by engineering ovary bioprosthesis implants.”
The materials used in the experiments are currently already used in humans, applied with a scalable 3D printing method and manufacturing techniques inspired by human biology.
Super high resolution microscopes are the most significant development in imaging since the invention of the microscope in the 16th century. Conventional microscopes resolve objects as small as 300 nanometers, also known as the “diffraction limit.” But with a new technology, researchers are able to see molecules such as proteins and lipids and synthetic nanostructures just a few nanometers in diameter.
Prof. Frank Caruso of the Nano Structured Interfaces and Materials Science Group at the University of Melbourne and his colleagues are redesigning and reengineering drugs and other materials on the nanoscale to increase their effectiveness and reduce side effects. With each new generation of drugs or nanoparticles, designers collect information about their effectiveness, using this information to improve the next cycle of development.
According to Caruso, it is important, but challenging, to track how nanoparticles are internalized and processed by cells in the body. Therapeutic agents encapsulated in nanoparticles are released at a specific rate to maximize their effectiveness. The biological machinery of cells can now be studied with these new imaging techniques.
Caruso says nearly every drug on the planet will be vastly improved by this new type of nano engineering that depends on recent breakthroughs in microscopy. The same can be said of materials used in engineering. The following video is an overview of the work being done by Caruso and his team:
Drones have huge potential for growth, but there are serious concerns about safety as accidents like drones crashing into walls or harming people are very common. This is because landing is the hardest part of flying, as the drone has to reduce its speed while approaching the ground without crashing into it.
However the Snap, a drone by Vantage Robotics, offers a simple, alternative way to land. The main body of the drone is attached to the folding propeller assembly by magnets. This feature allows it to come off under impact without incurring any lasting damage.
Snap not only features magnetic break-apart components but also has a high-quality 4k camera. Here are some of the features of this amazing drone:
Snap is thin and ultra-light. Unlike large and heavy drones, Snap weighs about 1.1-pounds. Moreover, its compact body makes it very easy to transport in a backpack.
The Snap has a 4K camera with a Sony Exmor sensor. The 2-axis gimbal-stabilized camera shoots Ultra HD video at 30fps. Slow-motion options are available at 1080p and 720p resolutions.
Snap comes with magnetic breakaway architecture.
Snap can be easily controlled by a smartphone app.
The system is designed to be modular, having waterproof tracking modules and bigger battery packs.
It can cut through 20mph winds and on a full charge, it can last 20 minutes in the air.
With Snap, you can take photos and record videos from near impossible angles, distances, and locations.
In short, Snap is a drone that packs high-quality recording equipment in a lightweight ultra-compact body.
Nidhi Goyal
Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. You can also find Nidhi on Google+.
The world’s brightest X-ray laser currently resides in SLAC’s National Accelerator Laboratory, as part of a $1 billion project.
Apparently laying claims to the world’s brightest X-ray laser just isn’t enough these days, however, because the laser is receiving an upgrade that will make it 10,000 times brighter and 8,000 times faster.
Eventually, the laser will be able to shell out a million pulses per second, enabling it to analyze things in excruciating detail such as the movement of electrical charges.
Laser pulses will be pushed through niobium metal cavities held at minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit.
SLAC says this process manifests “an almost continuous X-ray laser beam with pulses that are 10,000 times brighter, on average, than those of [the original laser] and arrive up to a million times per second.”
“[It]will take X-ray science to the next level, opening the door to a whole new range of studies of the ultrafast and ultrasmall,” noted SLAC’s Mike Dunne in a press release. “This will tremendously advance our ability to develop transformative technologies of the future, including novel electronics, life-saving drugs, and innovative energy solutions.”
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:SF-snufjes }, Robotics and A.I. Artificiel Intelligence ( E, F en NL )
08-04-2016
Deze rondvliegende bol zuigt objecten op en bezorgt ze elders
Deze rondvliegende bol zuigt objecten op en bezorgt ze elders
Vivian Lammerse
De toekomstige assistent is geen mens, maar een drone! Wetenschappers ontwikkelden een rondvliegende bol die voorwerpen ophaalt en wegbrengt.
Maak kennis met een nieuw soort drone: een grote, rondvliegende bol die zich autonoom in elke richting kan verplaatsen. Vervolgens kan de drone geheel zelfstandig een flesje water, appel, of ander voorwerp oppakken en verplaatsen naar de plek die jij wilt.
Vliegende assistent De drone bestaat uit een lichte ring waar acht propellers aan hangen. In het midden van de ring zit een roteerbare, helium bol met een geïntegreerd grijpelement. Hierdoor kan het systeem voorwerpen opzuigen en verplaatsen. Dit nieuwe staaltje technologie kan hele nieuwe mogelijkheden bieden voor toekomstige werkplekken. Zo zou de drone dienst kunnen gaan doen als rondvliegende assistent in bijvoorbeeld hele hoge gebouwen of in moeilijk toegankelijke ruimtes.
Zonder piloot Er is geen piloot of controleur nodig die het vliegende object bestuurt. De bol is voorzien van een GPS-systeem. Bovendien heeft de drone twee camera’s aan boord die de omgeving scherp in de smiezen houdt. Bij het opzuigen van objecten worden de twee camera’s ook gebruikt voor coördinatie.
CONTACT MET DE BOL IS NIET GEVAARLIJK, ZELFS NIET ALS JE ER PER ONGELUK EEN KEER TEGENAAN BOTST
De drone kan allerlei voorwerpen met verschillende vormen meenemen. Hij is zelfs in staat om meerdere objecten tegelijkertijd mee te nemen. Daarnaast is – in tegenstelling tot andere drones – contact met de bol niet gevaarlijk. Ook niet als je er per ongeluk een keer tegenaan botst.
De drone zou in hoge gebouwen goed dienst kunnen doen als assistent. Credits: Festo
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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