Could Worm glue repair broken bones?

bioengineers have looked beyond metal hardware and have now duplicated a natural glue secreted by the tiny sandcastle worm.

Posted: Jeremy Kerbs

Xerox develops silver ink to print low cost circuit boards

What does this mean? everything!

Soon we may print stuff for electronics inexpensively for prototyping.

Posted: By Jeremy Kerbs

I am going to start packing one of these and charging $1 a shot

Handpresso Wild is at the core of the NOMADIC ESPRESSO. Simple, light, elegant and compact, it works without electricity. It has all the basic qualities to make a premium quality coffee anywhere.

Travels with you
Small and handy, it travels with you on holiday, at weekends, on trips… With Handpresso Wild, you can enjoy your espresso inside as well as outside, thus creating a recreational and friendly moment wherever you want.

Makes perfect coffee
Handpresso Wild prepares a tasty espresso with a perfect crema. An outstanding quality obtained by a high-pressure extraction, a patented Handpresso system. “ A fine and smooth crema, subtle aromas, a structured body, a lengthy finish: a “vintage” coffee!”


Packs away
Light and well-made, Handpresso can be stored easily in a drawer or hung with the kitchenware. It requires no maintenance and guarantees a premium quality in every cup.

How does it work?
Nothing is easier! Just pump the machine to 16 bar, add hot water from a kettle or a thermo insulated bottle and an E.S.E. pod. Then, serve a premium quality coffee in your cup by pushing the button.

Eric Collins

Neat packaging

Unique tea packaging!




posted by Helen Ice

Oil Rig Hotels

Jetson Green published an article back in February talking about an innovative reuse for oil rigs; convert them to luxury eco-hotels. The "green-ness" of the idea becomes a little more apparent when you read the article and find out that the standard disposal method for abandoned oil rigs is to blow them up. When you consider that in the Gulf of Mexico alone there are about 4,000 of these bad boys, the concept starts to have some green merit.

It's an interesting thought. I don't exactly know what your demand generators would be, but I suppose it could be neat. Maybe it's the trendy rooms, or if not, it's definitely the water ski performers that would push me over the edge. You just don't see too many good water ski performers these days...

Better Batteries

Venom introduces world's first carbon neutral alkaline battery

Posted: Jeremy Kerbs

CO2-neutral transport is on the horizon

Much of our consumption that produces greenhouse gases can be blamed from transportation of goods. An initiative in Sweden is working towards a co2 neutral alternative.


Posted: Jeremy Kerbs

Plastic Concrete: Building Bricks Made From Landfill Waste

Recent RPI Masters of Architecture graduate Henry Miller has devised a way to reuse waste plastic as an aggregate in cement, circumventing the energy-intensive process of plastic recycling. By grinding up landfill-bound plastic and mixing it with portland cement, Miller was able to create a material just as strong as traditional concrete made with mined aggregate. The ingenious solution netted miller first place in the “Component Category” of the second annual Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World competition.

Using recycled materials is so hot right now, but using them as aggregate is hotter than Hansel in a black shirt on a summer Sunday. While living in Albany, Miller saw many areas cut their plastic recycling programs for the cheaper (now) solution of landfills, and noticed the astounding number of brownfield sites that were simply being abandoned. Miller’s idea: Why not use plastic waste as an aggregate in concrete and create a more sensible product. By mixing together ground-up plastic with cement and soil reclaimed from the brownfields, Miller was able to create a material just as strong as conventional concrete.

The Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World competition only asked students to conceptualize a design, but Miller he was not satisfied with a mere idea. He actually used his plastic concrete to build a screen and a wall. In doing so he showed that his ideas were viable alternatives to the status quo and that there was no excuse to merely fall in line.

Describing his project, Henry Louis Miller states: “Recycling plastics is a difficult, energy intensive process, and yields a product that is inferior to the virgin material. I have researched the possibility of using granulated, post consumer waste plastics as the aggregate in concrete. In this application, unlike plastics can be universally mixed with no adverse affects, heat driven re-amalgamation is not required, and my early test results show the resulting product is as strong as conventional concrete mixes (between 3000 and 5000psi.) As a result of using plastic rather than conventional aggregate, the mining of new material to serve as aggregate is not necessary.”

posted by Helen Ice

The End of Driving

From Driving to Riding
Research revealed that self-driving cars, once a fantasy requiring an entirely new infrastructure, are now technologically possible, even inevitable. Savvy robotics are here and real. Advances in GPS, sophisticated sensors, and navigation databases will allow driverless vehicles to operate on the same roads we have today.

Jed

Google removes Pirate Bay from index

gooooooooglebay.jpgThe irony being that searching for "Pirate Bay" now brings up the infinitely shiftier piratebay.com. From the Google results:

In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 4 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org.

The DMCA complaint isn't yet available at Chilling Effects. But plenty of real piratebay.org pages still show up; presumably the DMCA claim wasn't well-formed enough to actually accomplish its objective.

New electronic shift system for road bikes

coming in 2009

Wired's Eric Hagerman reports on Shimano's planned launch of an electronic gear-shifting system for expensive bicycles:

By replacing the conventional levers that pull wound-steel cables through protective housings with solid-state switches and rubber-coated wires, there's no chance for road gunk to clog things up and interfere with shifting, or, for that matter, your post-ride beer.

The principle of an electronically controlled drive train is to execute perfect shifts every time, thus "reducing mental overhead," in the words of Shimano marketing manager Devin Watson. This is a resource cyclists find in short supply during epic rides.

The system, called Di2, will be available in January, marking the end of a years-long development process. Says one anonymous source: "The shifting is mind-blowing: I mean, you just touch the button, and it shifts."

Photo: Wired

Shimano Shuns Cables for Full Electronic Shifting [Wired]

Soon, even our bicycles will need to hooked up to a computer in order to fix.:(

posted by Helen Ice

Teddy Bear Cracker

Gizmodo: Step away from the limousine, or I’ll shoot you with this … teddy bear? The Teddy Bear Gun capitalizes on a cutesy trend in Japan where wedding guests throw teddy bears at wedding receptions instead of rice or bouquets.

If teddy bear throwing sounds like a lot of work to you, here it’s made easy with a simple touch of a button. Pull the trigger and the tiny plush bear is catapulted into the air, and once airborne, it’ll float safely back to earth thanks to its tiny parachute. Made by paintball gun manufacturer Sunamiya, the party crackers will go on sale this month.

posted by Helen Ice

Emoticon T-ShirtEmoticon T-Shirt

Let your feelings shine out.

This cool light-up t-shirt features four different emoticons that you can choose to illuminate depending on your mood or the message you wish to convey. Emoticons are the way that you can convey emotion over the internet or in text messages and now you can select a light-up emoticon to display on the front of your t-shirt. You can show a happy face, a sad face, a winking face or a surprised face, depending on how you feel. A glow in the dark/UV reactive screen print completes the effect.

posted by Helen Ice

TheFunTheory.com

I've never embeded a vid before...I don't know how to save a file from youtube.
Click the link above to go to youtube.

Or, here it is again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw&feature=related

posted by Helen Ice

the ErockIT – 50 mph pedal electric hybrid motorcycle

The idea of an electric-assist bicycle has been around for some time, with Aprilia’s Enjoy the first really convincing argument that the genre had a future – now there’s another variation on the electric pedal-assist theme, but the ErockIT is much more a motorcycle than a bike, and indeed, it might be one of the quickest forms of inner city transport on the planet. The whole thing weighs just 110 kilograms and with over 45lb/ft of torque and 13bhp, it can top 50mph.

The torque characteristics of an electric motor are very different to a roadgoing motorcycle powerplant – the aforementioned 45lb/ft of torque is available from standstill, and the linear nature of the power delivery makes it very easy to control. As a rule of thumb, on circuit racing, we have observed that an electric bike with Xbhp will run about even with an internal combustion engined motorcycle with 3X bhp – this would put it in commuter 250 roadbike territory for acceleration, and the 50 mph top speed is suitable for just about anywhere other than an autobahn or freeway.

Around town, it will be a rocketship and light and manoeuvrable enough to make breeze of weaving through stopped traffic – a better town motorcycle than currently exists.

Unlike the Aprilia Enjoy, where the electric motor assisted the rider to pedal when more torque was required, the ErockIT drives the rear wheel from an electric motor , and pedalling assists the motor. This very exciting development in the inevitable move to electric two-wheelers will cost around EUR 25,000 (US$39,000) and will be available in limited quantities in 2009

Eric Layton 20OCT2009

The Finger Hinge prevents fingers being caught in the door

By Jude Garvey

11:20 October 8, 2009 PDT
The Finger Hinge is a unique door-hinge that stops fingers being caught in the side of the...

The Finger Hinge is a unique door-hinge that stops fingers being caught in the side of the door


Children and adults can suffer painful injuries, or even risk amputation, from getting their fingers caught between a door and the door jamb. A unique door-hinge design from an Australian inventor could prevent these injuries from occurring. The Finger Hinge is a full-length door hinge that completely eliminates the gap between the door and the wall and therefore removes any possibility of getting crushed fingers when the door is closing.

The Finger Hinge is made from a combination of butt and pivot hinges. It fits on the door jamb and door edge just like a conventional hinge. However, unlike other door hinges, it is made of rotating, meshed segments so it does not leave a gap when the door begins to close. The hinge barrel is the same width as the door edge and can rotate 90 degrees in either direction of the door egress. It can be fitted to new and existing doors and is suitable for home, office and industrial doors.

The hinge allows the door to swing through 180 degrees, giving it a two-way operation. This allows people in wheelchairs and the elderly, who may have difficulty opening doors towards them, to simply open the door away from them and not have to close it behind them. The door can also be locked to prevent it slamming shut, and fitting an internal door closing device inside the Finger Hinge allows it to be used as a door closer or automatic door opener.

The inventor, David Ashard, has been working on door inventions for some years. His original design for a door-hinge was intended to make it stronger but he realized the potential for a hinge that would prevent door jamb injuries.

The Finger Hinge is currently in production, but you can see how it works here.
Posted BY: Gabriel Collins

ChemBot: the shape-shifting robot that is the stuff of nightmares

By Darren Quick


We’ve looked at robots that use a variety of ways to get around, from caterpillar treads, to wheels, legs, wings and even combustion-driven pistons. But the title of weirdest (not to mention unsettling) method of robot propulsion we’ve come across has to go to the shape-shifting ChemBot from iRobot. The ChemBot, which looks more like the Blob than most people’s preconceived ideas of what a robot should be, moves around by changing its shape in a process its creators call, “jamming skin enabled locomotion.”

Jamming is a physical process whereby a material is made to transition from a liquid-like to a solid-like state by increasing its density. The ChemBot achieves this process thanks to its hyper-elastic skin composed of multiple cellular compartments. These compartments are filled with air and loosely-packed particles. When the air is removed, the decrease in pressure constricts the skin and the particles shift slightly to fill the void left by the air, resulting in the solidification of the compartment.

Beneath the ChemBot's jammable skin is an incompressible fluid and an actuator that can vary its volume. Unjamming various compartments of the ChemBot’s skin and inflating the interior actuator causes the Chembot's skin to stretch, changing the shape of the robot. It is this method of controlled inflation that allows the ChemBot to roll around.

It should come as no surprise that the ChemBot is the result of US$3.3 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office given to iRobot to “develop a soft, flexible, mobile robot that can identify and maneuver through openings smaller than its actual structural dimensions to perform Department of Defense (DoD) tasks within complex and highly cluttered environments.”

The disturbing video below of the ChemBot in action is as it appeared about a year ago, so it’s anyone’s guess how much more creepy the ChemBot is now. Apparently, it has a slightly different design and its creators are working towards including sensors on its body and even connecting multiple ChemBots. Yes, the Blob lives.
Posted By: Gabriel Collins

New camera promises to capture your whole life

A camera you can wear as a pendant to record every moment of your life will soon be launched by a UK-based firm.

Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer's disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create "lifelogs" that archive their entire lives.

Worn on a cord around the neck, the camera takes pictures automatically as often as once every 30 seconds. It also uses an accelerometer and light sensors to snap an image when a person enters a new environment, and an infrared sensor to take one when it detects the body heat of a person in front of the wearer. It can fit 30,000 images onto its 1-gigabyte memory.

The ViconRevue was originally developed as the SenseCam by Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK, for researchers studying Alzheimer's and other dementias. Studies showed that reviewing the events of the day using SenseCam photos could help some people improve long-term recall.

Jed

The Fat Powered Boat

Eco-boat powered by human fat attempts round the world speed record

Last updated at 17:55 19 December 2007

* Comments (2)
* Add to My Stories

The fastest eco boat on the planet will attempt to break the round the world speed record using fuel made from human fat.

Pete Bethune, the New Zealand skipper of Earthrace, said the attempt to circumnavigate the globe would begin from Valencia in Spain on March 1 next year.

Bethune and his wife mortgaged their house and sold everything they own to help make the project happen, while continuing to seek support from sponsors.

Scroll down for more...
Eco Boat

Record breaking attempt: Earthrace will attempt to circumnavigate the globe running 100 per cent biodiesel, and with a net zero carbon-footprint
Enlarge the image
Eco Boat

Earthrace is a 78 foot alternative fuel powered wave-piercing trimaran, it can carry 3,000 gallons of fuel, and weighs 23 tonnes when fully fuelled

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-503419/Eco-boat-powered-human-fat-attempts-round-world-speed-record.html#ixzz0UFDxdtHz


http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=boat+powered+by+fat&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=1GbaSq_hGIuj8AaZ59W3BQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CB0QqwQwAw#


I couldn't find if it broke the record or not...

Jed

The First Submarine With Panoramic Views Ever

The Alicia Submarine Has An Acrylic Pressure Hull Wich Alows For 360 Degree Underwater Views. It Can Dive To A Depth Of Over 300 Meters.
Posted by Nathan Tommer

Awesome Electric Motorcycle with interesting lithium-salt battery

Posted By Nathan Tommer

Quicksilver

Found this while researching new materials, an interesting blog on Mercury


Posted: Jeremy kerbs

Creepy Robot Dog

Darpa project with serious possibilities


Unbelievable: Boston Dynamics BigDog (March '08) - Watch more funny videos here


A Spoof of Robot dog




Posted By: The Juggernaut also known as Jer-Bear formerly called gentile Jeremy Birth named Jeremy Kerbs

Be honest we all want a tail!

Posted by The Juggernaut AKA Jeremy

The MIT'z are so awesome

I/O Brush | Viral/Other | SPIKE.com

Posted By Jeremy

The Fun Theory

We believe that the easiest way to change people's behavior for the better is by making it fun to do. We call it The fun theory.

Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do?



To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?



Erik Roth

D&AD Creative Search: A new search aggregator for designers

Petter Prinz, Kaspar Prinz and Phillip Cristofor of the D&AD Student Awards 2010 have just launched Creative Search, a new search aggregator especially for designers conducting visual research.

The idea is simple: search for a term and the site will show results from a number of different search queries. This is not a new idea, but the curation of search engines is specifically targeted for designers, including results from Google Images, Google Blogsearch, Flickr, iTunes, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon and Wikipedia. There's also a Save/Share option that will send a permalink of your search to you via email or to others through a number of social networking sites.

Erik Roth

Another Cool Eco Material Recycled Aluminum Resin

Sweet Material! Click on tittle for link.
Posted by Nathan Tommer

Interesting Material Paperstone

Cool Stuff! Click on tittle for link

Posted by Nathan Tommer

Change By Design

In his new book, the CEO of design shop IDEO shows how even hospitals can transform the way they work by tapping frontline staff to engineer change.

As the center of economic activity in the developed world shifts inexorably from industrial manufacturing to knowledge creation and service delivery, innovation has become nothing less than a survival strategy. It is, moreover, no longer limited to new physical products but includes new sorts of processes, services, interactions, entertainment forms, and ways of communicating and collaborating.

These are exactly the kinds of human-centered tasks that designers work on every day, and over time they have evolved a body of skills to help them do it. It is time for this type of thinking—design thinking—to migrate outward and upward into the highest levels of leadership.

click on title to read more


Posted by Helen Ice

Reflecting on a new generation of mirrors

Non-reversing mirror

This mirror does not produce a "mirror" image, making it possible to read reflected text normally.

Hicks, a mathematician at Drexel University, Philadelphia, used computer algorithms to generate the mirror's bizarre surface, which curves and bends in different directions. The curves direct rays from an object across the mirror's face before sending them back to the viewer, flipping the conventional mirror image.

As well as neat tricks like this, Hicks' models make it possible to design mirrors that provide wide angled-views or eliminate distortion.

List of the kinds of mirrors:
Driver-side mirror
Parabolic mirror
Perspective rectifying mirror
Infrared mirror
Cylinder mirror

click on title to read the descriptions.


posted by Helen Ice

I cant wait!

Posted by Erin Wheeler

Vaporwear: Lamborghini Shoes

Vaporware. It's what technophiles call the promise of invention that never seems to materialize. What you see here, however, redefines the term. We'll call them vaporwear, as this exotic pair of pumps exist only as a concept. They were designed on computer by Tim Coopers as a conceptual product for Tonino Lamborghini, the product design company run by the famous sportscar-maker's son. The design is inspired by the Lamborghini Gallardo Supeleggera, and incorporates carbon fiber heels. The image you see here is as close as anyone will get to seeing these shoes walking the streets, so click to view it in high resolution.


Posted by: Erin Wheeler

Sekai Camera application for iphone

Another reason that ipod touch must have a camera.. :-)


posted by ted shin

This is creativity! if you haven't seen... watch!

Mariana

Chemical Linked to Aggression in Girls

Click on title for more info about this:

Mariana

All Data Sets!

check out this link! there are many interesting Data Sets!

http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/data_center/C26/

Mariana

These Bulbs Glow With Only The Ghost Power Of Nearby Power Lines

It’s still the subject of (extensive) debate whether the electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) produced by appliances, cell phones and high-voltage wires contribute to human illness and cancer. For an academic overview, check out the Human Radiation Effects Group, by Professor Denis Henshaw of the University of Bristol. For a visual illustration, look no further than FIELD by artist Richard Box. It’s a grid of fluorescent light bulbs planted into the ground beneath a series of power lines. When the bulbs glow, it’s not because of a series of buried wires, or a battery– they light up using the ghost power radiating from the wires overhead.

Posted by Nathan Tommer

UFO Fiber Optic Light

We've seen plenty of space-aged (and cosmically-influenced) lighting systems in our day, but a newfangled German operation is melding high-class style, energy efficiency, and whole lot of pizazz into one nifty lighting structure. Neues Licht's UFO Chandelier rocks strands of fiber optics arranged above a floating ring, which give off a colored glow depending on whatever light source you attach to it. The designer, Simon Bruenner, describes his innovative chandelier as "simplicity from another planet," and describes that its origin of light can be from the sun or in a different room altogether. Furthermore, the fixture is reportedly waterproof, making it feasible for use in your new spa / pool room, and considering the potential energy savings from pumping in sunlight, you shouldedn't have too much trouble convincing your SO that this thing's worthwhile. Simon's masterpiece was on display lighting things up at last week's Cologne Furniture Fair, and while there's no set date for mass production, we can't imagine Lowe's not jumping all over this one sometime soon.

Posted by Nathan Tommer

Richard Sapper's Bright Ideas

His Halley LED lamp is the latest design innovation in a long career crowded with them. In a Q&A, he sheds light on the creative process

In his new book, The Ten Faces of Innovation, Tom Kelley devotes one chapter to the cross-pollinator -– the person who borrows a clever solution or material from one industry and applies it to another. The escalator, for instance, was originally conceived as a Coney Island amusement-park ride. Reinforced concrete was created by a gardener aiming for stronger flower pots. Richard Sapper is perhaps the supreme example of the cross-pollinator. Again and again, the German designer has created innovative products by mining the knowledge of far-flung disciplines.

click link to read more...



posted by Helen Ice

Shrinking jug keeps milk fresh for an extra week

By Loz Blain

04:22 July 28, 2009 PDT

Milk goes sour in about a week, even if you keep it in the fridge. That's because Lactobacillus, the "good bacteria" that's found in yogurt, is constantly going about the job of oxidizing the lactose sugars in the milk into sour-tasting lactic acid - the same chemical that makes your muscles sore after exercise. But since this souring process requires the presence of oxygen, theoretically it could be slowed down even further if you kept the milk out of contact with oxygen. Rather than going with a high-tech nitrous contraption like the N2Wine globes we wrote about recently, one (seemingly) anonymous entrant to this year's James Dyson awards has come up with something devilishly simple: a shrinking milk jug that squeezes all the air out as you empty it. The inventor claims it lets milk last as much as a week longer. Simple and brilliant!

I remember when I was a kid, my brothers and I would have had no idea that milk went off if you left it in the fridge - because we'd go through a couple of liters a day, often chugging it straight out of the carton, leaving just enough for Mum to have a few drips in her cup of tea so that she'd be the one that finished it, and thus the one who'd have to go get more. Heh heh.

These days, my partner and I have to put in a concerted effort to finish a 2-liter bottle before it goes off - and we're not alone in that. It'd be interesting to know what percentage of milk ends up going down the sink because it's soured in the fridge. The Fresh shrinking milk jug seems like a great idea.

The Fresh is a spring-loaded jug with flexible sides. You pop it out to its full height to fill it (perhaps with a low-waste bag of fresh milk, like the way you buy your washing detergent), then put the airtight lid on. Then you press the release valve and push down on the lid until the milk starts pouring out the nozzle. You don't have to lift the jug or tilt it to pour in this way.

When you're done pouring, you release the valve button and the milk is sealed inside the jug, free from contact with any oxygen. Starved of the oxygen it takes to process the milk, and kept at a chilled temperature to slow them further, the Lactobacillus bacteria take a lot longer to turn the milk sour - up to a week longer, the inventor claims.

Being a design study, there's no immediate plans for production - but we know plenty of Gizmag readers are venture capital speculators, so here's one that might be worth checking out, guys! In the meanwhile, I've gone to my fridge and squeezed all the air out of the plastic bottle, but it might not be necessary - all this talk about milk's making me thirsty!

Eric Collins

Loopy design or best board ever?

By Jeff Salton

22:22 July 27, 2009 PDT

The Loop-In concept board could be radical news for surfers, skaters and snowboarders who want a new experience

The Loop-In concept board could be an extreme skater’s dream, an answer for out-of-season snowboarders, or perhaps surfers who find themselves a long way from the ocean and want to keep up their skills. The Loop-In’s huge wheels can rotate over almost any surface while the board will rotate 360° within its interior independently.

Designed by Marcial Ahsayane, the all-terrain board offers riders an opportunity to create a whole new set of tricks to add to their arsenal, although it might be considered a little too ostentatious for the skate park.

But, for the board-rider who wants to combine his snowboard/surfing/skating acrobatics into a street-based board, the Loop-In looks, on paper at least, very promising.

Can’t see it fitting too snuggly into a backpack, tucked under an arm or on a van’s roof racks but these are minor hurdles for hardcore board-riders, right?

And for brakes … ?!

Eric Collins

Pump off the jam with the Onis ultrasonic dishwasher

By Paul Lester

17:12 September 30, 2009 PDT

A combination of ultrasonics and a closed circuit design means the Onis offers excellent green credentials

The fight for more environmentally-friendly ways of living continues and this time household appliances are getting a boost from innovative French manufacturer De Dietrich, which has come up with an efficient new way to clean the dishes - less power, recycled water and detergent-free.

Its Onis dishwasher takes a whole new approach to automating a common household chore by utilizing ultrasound technology to remove dirt and grime, operating with a minimum of water and an acidifier, such as vinegar, to produce outstanding results. The system makes it more economical and more practical than conventional methods and also cuts operation time by half, while using a closed circuit system to recycle water for additional environmental benefits.

Adopting a stylish, top-loading design, the Onis gains some serious points for style as well, though with no pricing or availability confirmed as yet we can't see it breaking into the mainstream market any time soon.

Posted By: Gabriel Collins

New 'green' geopolymer concrete delivers win-win for industry and the plane

By Jeff Salton

01:09 October 2, 2009 PDT

'Green' research at Louisiana Tech has resulted in new geopolymer concrete technology, like this 5,000lb concrete block cast using fly ash

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Concrete is the most prevalent building material on the planet, and though the world would be pretty flat without it (not many tall buildings and structures), it does come at a price – around 5-8 percent of all human-generated atmospheric CO2 comes from the concrete industry. A culprit is Portland cement, the binding agent in concrete. It’s the most widely produced man-made material on earth. Production of Portland cement is currently exceeding 2.6 billion tons per year worldwide and growing at 5 percent annually. To halt these alarming pollution figures, innovative research on geopolymer concrete, along with ways of using a waste byproduct from coal-fired powerplants, is being conducted by Dr Erez Allouche, assistant professor of civil engineering at Louisiana Tech University and associate director of the Trenchless Technology Center.

A greener alternative, inorganic polymer concrete (geopolymer) fits into an emerging class of cementitious materials that utilize ‘fly ash’, one of the most abundant industrial by-products on earth, as a substitute for Portland cement.

Geopolymer concrete has a number of benefits. The first is it has the potential to substantially curb CO2 emissions. It can also produce a more durable infrastructure capable of lasting hundreds of years, instead of tens. And by utilizing the fly ash, it can conserve hundreds of thousands of acres currently used for disposal of coal combustion products, and protect our water ways from fly ash ‘contamination’, too.

In comparison to ordinary Portland cement (OPC), geopolymer concrete (GPC) has better resistance to corrosion and fire (up to 2400°F), high compressive and tensile strengths, a rapid strength gain, and lower shrinkage.

Researchers believe the geopolymer concrete's greatest appeal could like in its life cycle greenhouse gas reduction potential; as much as 90 percent when compared with OPC.

This technology, along with other important research being conducted to meet future energy needs, will be highlighted next month at Louisiana Tech Energy Systems Conference at the Technology Transfer Center in Shreveport.

Posted By: Gabriel Collins

Battery-Free Future On The Horizon

Think of a future without batteries…no need to charge phones or mp3 players, or even electric cars. And forget about replacing lost phone chargers or having enough extension cords for your desktop or entertainment system. Intel showcased a working model their fascinating new technology yesterday: wireless power.

Demonstrating that a 60 watt light bulb could be lit across a room by transmitting electricity via magnetic fields, Intel says the technology is still in an early stage of development, but is the safest, most commercially viable wireless power solution to date. And while we’ve heard rumors of wireless power technologies like Murata’s “Quick Charging System” and Powercasts “Contact-less Power” we’re wondering if Intel will really push their technology to market.

Oh, and we’re not entirely sure if there is any sort of relationship between Intel & MIT, but some of the school’s students demonstrated a strikingly similar technology this past June.

Physorg.com – Intel Cuts Electric Cords With Wireless Power System

I laugh when I see articles like this one. Tesla demonstrated this exact thing at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893... here's a pic of it:

posted by Helen Ice

360 – A New Way to Ride

Italian designer Francesco Sommacal has developed an innovative sports item that combines the different characteristics of snowboarding, surfing, and skateboarding. Named 360, this concept recreational vehicle was proclaimed winner at the 2007 Volvo Sportsdesign Competition, and may lead to the development of an exhilarating new sport.

The 360 is composed of two orbital wheels that are connected by flexible steel shafts. The distance between the two wheels can be adjusted to suit a person's riding style. Unlike a standard skateboard, where the rider's feet are placed on the board, the user places each foot inside the inner part of each wheel.

One maneuvers the 360 quite intuitively by simple body movements. In addition, it is possible to ride the 360 on various types of terrains, including grassland and dirt tracks. The 360 is equipped with a speed regulating system, allowing the user to ride it downhill in a manner dubbed "Freeride". Another possible use is to "Freestyle" by attempting different moves and tricks.

More information on the 360 can be found here.

3 October 2009 - Eric Layton

Carrot nanofibers to make snowboards and battleships

Innovations in new materials have been one of the key drivers in the rapid progress of technology during the past decades. The two best-known and widely-used examples being glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP and CFRP), which are ubiquitous in many applications. However, neither of these materials have Green credentials. An alternative could be high performance biocomposite materials that have desired properties between GFRP and CFRP, are derived from sustainable materials and utilize greener, lower energy intensive production methods.

Enter the humble carrot.

click link to continue reading: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=1430.php



posted by Helen Ice

Introducing the bra that is meant to be taken off

by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore

The gas mask bra is one of the winners at the 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. (Credit: Elena Bodnar)

This week the Annals of Improbable Research hosted its 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.

Elena Bodnar, who lives in Chicago, got her start as a scientist in Ukraine, when she witnessed the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986. She noticed, among other things, that women were wearing bras that may have been lacy but were certainly not life-saving.

At the ceremony, Bodnar demonstrated her invention, which she said could have prevented people from breathing in Iodine-131 in the wake of Chernobyl.

Eric Layton - 2 October 2009

PhotoView 360 2010 Tutorial Video: Bloom

For all of you who are rendering their project in Solidworks, this may be useful. Add lighting effects to your light render. I couldn't post the video, so you will just have to follow the link.
Erik Roth

http://robrodriguez.com/wordpress/?p=862

PhotoView 360 2010 adds bloom. Bloom is an effect that can give areas of your image a glow. As you would expect this can be helpful when your using light appearances such as LED, neon and area lights. What you wouldn’t expect is can also be useful to add glow to areas of your image that are just bright or have bright highlights. Watch the video to learn more.

Eye-popping student-designed Lovos concept for BMW uses interchangeable "fish scales"

Wow. Anne Forschner, a design student at Germany's Pforzheim University, developed this wild-looking "Lovos" auto concept in collaboration with BMW.

The body of the car consists of 260 identical, interchangeable panels attached to the structure via hinges. Each panel, or "scale" (as in fish scale) can open or close, either to turn to face the sun and operate as a solar panel, or open to operate as an air brake.

Twelve scales also enclose each wheel. As the car begins to move, the scales around the wheel pivot to collectively form the shape of a turbine, presumably for cooling.

Erik Roth