 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Laser welding of plastic is quick, precise, and 
generates little waste, but it does have its limitations. The process 
involves shining a laser beam through the edge of an upper 
sheet of plastic and onto the joining edge of a lower sheet, which has 
had soot particles mixed into it to absorb the radiation – this means 
that manufacturers are almost always limited to joining transparent 
plastic to black plastic. Researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer 
Institute for Laser Technology, however, have recently developed a 
method for welding transparent plastics to one another.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                They – whoever “they” are – say that getting 
there is half the fun. While that might not be true for trips where you 
spend hours wedged into an airliner seat,
 it can definitely apply to cross-country road trips. Often, the things 
seen en route end up being just as fascinating as those that await you 
at your destination. This fact is not lost on the folks behind the 
RoadsideAmerica website and books, who have spent the past 25 years 
collecting and sharing accounts of quirky museums, Big Things, “natural 
wonders” and other weirdness encountered along the highways and byways 
of North America. Now, road travelers can be alerted to the locations of
 these must-sees as they near them, via the RoadsideAmerica.com 
Attractions and Oddities GPS guide.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Getting caught up in the game depends just as 
much on immersive audio as it does engaging visuals. Gaming specialist Razer
 reckons that it's come up with a pair of portable gaming speakers that 
offer listeners room-filling, omnidirectional sonic enjoyment in a very 
compact package. The new Ferox speakers feature a rising resonance 
chamber mechanism, which is sure to prove a talking point in addition to
 providing some bass oomph.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Sony has announced a couple of superzoom 
additions to its Cyber-shot camera range. Both the compact and the 
DSLR-like models can record full high definition movies, are GPS-enabled
 and have the ability to generate 3D stills without requiring the now 
familiar dual lens setup seen in other cameras. They both offer 
autofocus speeds comparable to digital SLRs and borrow some advanced 
technology from the company's Handycam camcorders.				  Read More				
				
			
Researchers able to lift fingerprints from clothing
By Paul Ridden
February 2, 2011
						
				                Promising early results from research undertaken 
by the University of Abertay Dundee and the Scottish Police Services 
Authority could lead to fingerprint evidence being obtained from 
clothing, for use in criminal prosecution. Refining an existing 
technique that's been used to successfully recover print detail from 
smooth objects such as glass and plastic, forensic scientists have 
managed to create a kind of photo negative of fingerprint impressions on
 fabric. It's a bit hit and miss at the moment, but even when clear 
ridge detail isn't retrieved, the technique could still prove useful to 
investigators looking for other evidence.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Google has announced a collaboration with 17 of 
the world’s most acclaimed art museums that lets people view over 1,000 
high res artwork images and 17 "gigapixel" images while taking a virtual
 stroll through their galleries using “Street View” technology. While 
nothing can beat seeing a work of art in person, the Google Art Project 
could be the next best thing for those without the time and money to pop
 on a plane and trade elbows with crowds of tourists looking to catch a 
glimpse of what some of the best museums have on offer.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                When weighing up the impact of electric-vehicles
 on the environment two factors come to the fore. EV's produce no 
emissions locally, but depending on where the energy comes from, they 
can still be producing greenhouse gases back at the power plant ... the 
so called "long-tailpipe" argument. That's one. The second is batteries
 – or more specifically, how much energy goes into making them and what 
to do with the massive battery packs in these cars once they've passed 
their lifespan. Auto manufacturers building EV infrastructure are taking
 this second factor into consideration and now EV pioneer Tesla has announced a battery recycling program throughout Europe that will help reduce the carbon footprint of its vehicles.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Google doesn't have a lot of competition in the search world – it rose from obscurity in the late 1990s to its current position of utter dominance
 on the back of its clever results ranking algorithm; Google is the 
megalithic entity it is today, because for the last decade people have 
chosen its results over MSN, Yahoo and other search options. And now it 
seems Microsoft's new(ish) search competitor, Bing, is copying Google 
results in order to make its own search results better. In an 
embarrassing sting operation, Google claims it has proven that Bing is 
taking Google search results and displaying them as if they're coming 
from the Bing engine – and you'd have to imagine the guys at Google are 
absolutely delighted.				  Read More				
				
			
Lunar Cubit: pyramids for the renewable energy age
By Darren Quick
February 1, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is a 
competition that challenges entrants to think outside the box to create 
functional yet beautiful renewable energy generation facilities. First 
prize has just been awarded to such a submission, but this one thinks 
outside the pyramid. The Lunar Cubit concept design consists of nine 
pyramids made from solar panels in a configuration modeled on the Great 
Pyramid of Cheops in Giza. The pyramids would not only be capable of 
providing electricity to 250 homes, but are also designed to serve as a 
lunar calendar.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Seth Goldstein must hate doing up his ties even 
more than I do. I changed my lifestyle about four years ago so I'd never
 have to wear one again, but Goldstein has put countless hundreds of 
hours into designing a robot that can do the job for him. The 'Why 
Knot?' kinetic sculpture is hypnotic to watch, as the video after the 
jump shows – and it makes you wonder at the marvel of our human 
machinery when you see how difficult this simple task is for a 
purpose-built robot to replicate. Oh, and when you watch it in 
double-speed, it also sounds a bit like glitch techno music. Very cool.	
			  Read More
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
 
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
					
              
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
	
			
			
				        
				  
                               
                              
            
            					
			
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Marine net-pen fish farms aren’t popular with 
environmentalists for a number of reasons, one of the main ones being 
the amount of fish feces and uneaten food that they release into the 
surrounding ocean. In the UK, help for that problem may be coming in the
 form of the sea cucumber. Despite its name, the sea cucumber is an 
animal, that resembles a big slug and is about the same size as ... 
well, as a cucumber, or sometimes larger. Given that sea cukes subsist 
on organic matter that they scavenge from the sea floor, scientists at 
Newcastle University have proposed that they be introduced to fish farms
 where they could process waste. After eating all that fish poop, some 
of the cucumbers could then be served up as gourmet cuisine for humans.	
			  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                It’s kind of like table tennis, kind of like 
squash, and looks like it would definitely be a good workout – it’s 
360ball, a new racquet sport out of South Africa. Games are played on a 
circular court by two players, or two teams of two players, who are 
situated around a central concave deflecting disc. Players hit the ball 
into the disc, trying to do so in such a way that when it bounces out, 
their opponent(s) won’t be able to reach it. Unlike tennis, say, there 
are no designated sides on which players have to remain. Instead, 
everyone is allowed to move 360 degrees around the disc as play dictates
 ... hence the name.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                TouchType has now transferred its touchscreen 
typing smarts from smartphones to the big screen, bigger than a 
smartphone anyway. The company has launched a new tablet version of its 
SwiftKey typing app to coincide with the release of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and the launch of the Xoom
 tablet from Motorola. The app is claimed to make touchscreen typing 
more intuitive thanks to an improved version of the Fluency predictive 
text engine and easier thanks to optimized keyboard layouts and 
multi-language support.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The MINI Cooper S name first graced the classic 
Mini back in 1963 and during the ensuing half century it has represented
 the ultimate performance Mini, having won the Monte Carlo rally three 
times plus countless other races and rallies around the globe. Now for 
the first time there’s a diesel version too – though not as 
fire-breathing as the petrol Cooper S, the SD’s 2.0-litre turbodiesel 
four produces 143 bhp at 4,000 rpm, and an almighty torque figure of 305
 Nm (225 lb-ft) from 1,750 to 2,700 rpm endowing it with rapid 
acceleration all the way to its top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph). It’s 
the ecologically balanced nature of the pocket rocket which appeals most
 though, as despite this performance, it’ll return EU test cycle figures
 of 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres (65.7 mpg imp) with CO2 emissions of 
114 grams per kilometre. The Cooper SD will debut in Geneva in March and
 hit showrooms in Q2.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Joining products like the Life Straw, the Bobble and  the Katadyn Vario
 in the portable water filtration market, the Revolve filter bottle is 
designed to remove up to 99.99% of all contaminants found in tap water 
and one filter will produce the equivalent of 800 single use 16 oz 
bottles of water.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Over the years we’ve seen increasing numbers of solar backpacks and messenger bags designed to keep mobile devices juiced up by harnessing energy from the sun. With the flood of tablets looking to jump on the iPad’s coattails at CES 2011,
 it comes as no surprise to see a solar bag specifically designed for 
such devices. Produced by Voltaic, the company behind a variety of solar
 backpacks and messenger bags including the Converter,
 the Spark Tablet Case’s solar panels generate 8 watts of power to 
provide about an hour of iPad runtime for every hour in direct sunlight.
				  Read More				
				
			
How Lexar makes it memory chips – an inside view
By Jeff Salton
February 2, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Much of the world these days relies heavily on 
memory – not the human kind, but the manufactured variety. Many of us 
have a plethora of memory cards and sticks kicking around in devices 
like cameras, smart phones, USB thumb drives, etc., but have you ever 
wondered what goes into the manufacture of a memory chip. This "behind 
the scenes" promotional video from major manufacturer Lexar provides an 
interesting insight to the process – it takes the company one month and 
more than 800 processes to make a memory chip and the clean room in 
which they are produced is 100 times cleaner than a hospital operating 
room. That means in order to get in you have to do a lot more than just 
wash your hands.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Steam-engined vehicles are quaint, retro and 
obsolete ... right? Well, maybe not. The current land speed record for a
 steam-powered vehicle currently sits at 148 mph (238 kph), set by the British car Inspiration team in 2009.
 Now, Chuk Williams’ U.S. Land Steam Record (USLSR) Team is hoping to 
steal that title in its LSR Streamliner, powered by a heat-regenerative 
external combustion Cyclone engine – an engine that could someday find common use in production automobiles.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Bridges are generally exposed to the elements, 
meaning they generally get a nice dose of sunlight often coupled with 
some fairly strong crosswinds. For these reasons this “Solar Wind” 
bridge concept from Italian designers Francesco Colarossi, Giovanna 
Saracino and Luisa Saracino would seem to make a lot of sense. The 
proposed bridge would harness solar energy through a grid of solar cells
 embedded in the road surface, while wind turbines integrated into the 
spaces between the bridge’s pillars would be used to generate 
electricity from the crosswinds.				  Read More				
				
			
Square system lets mobile devices take card payments
By Ben Coxworth
February 2, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                There’s no debating that credit and debit cards 
are convenient, but typically the only places that you can use them are 
in businesses, or via the phone or internet. In 2009 the co-founder of 
Twitter, Jack Dorsey, set out to change that. He released a beta version
 of Square,
 a system that allowed mobile devices to receive card payments. A small 
card reader plugged into the device’s headphone port, and an app handled
 all the 1s and 0s. Two years later, Square is out of its debugging 
phase and available for general use.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                After you've spent a considerable time learning 
to play guitar or bass, you're then likely to want to find an individual
 tone. For most of us, this involves the never-ending search for an 
instrument that fits our personality, or taking what we can afford and 
switching out the pickups or, if you're brave, more advanced rewiring. 
With the aptly-named Game Changer from Ernie Ball's Music Man wing, you 
can hang up the soldering iron for good and still get access to millions
 of tonal variations in one guitar or bass.				  Read More				
				
			
Red Bull rips the covers off title defender RB7
By Gizmag Team
February 4, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                F1 kicked back into life earlier this week with 
the first official test of the season and the unveiling of most of the 
2011 cars, the most significant of which was the Red Bull RB07 – the car
 that will defend both Sebastian Vettel's drivers title and the energy 
drink’s very own constructors championship. As is generally the case, 
Red Bull's public relations output topped the field, and many of the highly informative illustrations in the image gallery come directly from the Red Bull press materials - images explaining the new RB7 changes, the pit crew roles and responsibilities, the 2011 steering wheel, driving position ad infinitum.				  Read More				
				
			
Floating megacity designed for the banks of the Mississippi
By Darren Quick
February 3, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Arcologies, which are essentially entire cities 
crammed into a single high population density megastructure, are still 
the realm of science fiction – or games such as Simcity. But with the 
rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ongoing, a group of 
designers have come up with the proposal for just such a structure 
designed to sit on the bank of the Mississippi. Called the New Orleans 
Arcology Habitat (NOAH), the structure would house 40,000 residents 
along with all services and amenities that would allow them to live 
their entire lives within its walls if they so desired.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Honda Japan has launched a special website 
featuring the all-new compact Fit Shuttle, scheduled to debut in March. 
The big news is that in addition to a petrol Fit Shuttle, Honda will 
offer a hybrid model equipped with Integrated Motor Assist making it the
 first wagon-type hybrid model in its class. Clearly the hybrid is now 
beginning to permeate every class of vehicle.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Those that think video game controllers are 
already complicated enough with their array of joysticks, direction 
pads, face buttons and triggers might balk at the sight of the N-Control
 Avenger but, despite its imposing appearance, the device is actually 
designed to make accessing a controller’s various buttons easier and 
faster. Not only that, the device allows users to customize hair 
triggers and reach all a controllers face buttons with the exception of 
the A button without taking their thumbs off the analogue sticks.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The quest to build a working “invisibility cloak” generally focuses on the use of metamaterials
 – artificially engineered materials with a negative refractive index 
that have already been used to render microscopic objects invisible in 
specific wavelengths of light. Now, using naturally occurring crystals 
rather than metamaterials, two research teams working independently have
 demonstrated technology that can cloak larger objects in the broad 
range of wavelengths visible to the human eye.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Total production of the Mazda MX-5 sports car 
reached 900,000 units today at Mazda's Hiroshima plant in Japan. The 
milestone was achieved 21 years and 10 months after mass production of 
the first-generation MX-5 commenced in April 1989 and further extends 
the Mazda MX-5's lead as the best selling two-seater sports car of all 
time. Indeed, the MX-5 took that title from the MGB (1962-80) in  May 
2000 when production reached 514,853 units to exceed the iconic British 
sportster. Second place on the list is now held by Porsche's 911 series 
(1964-present and pictured) which has sold over 700,000. It's also fifty
 years this year since Jaguar launched the first affordable super sports
 two-seater, the E-Type (pictured), but more on that shortly.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                One of the biggest problems with the move towards a hydrogen
 economy is currently the production of hydrogen fuel takes a lot of 
energy, which generally comes from burning fossil fuels. For hydrogen 
vehicles to make sense, cleaner more efficient hydrogen production 
methods will need to be developed. One promising approach takes its lead
 from the natural processes of photosynthesis in order to convert sunlight into hydrogen fuel.
 The latest breakthrough in this quest comes from Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory (ORNL) where scientists have taken an important step towards 
understanding the design principles that promote self-assembly in 
natural photosynthetic systems.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Over the past several years, a number of 
companies and institutions have been developing technologies that could 
allow windows to double as solar panels. These have included EnSol’s metal nanoparticle-based spray-on product, RSi’s photovoltaic glass and Octillion’s
 NanoPower window. Last September, Maryland-based New Energy 
Technologies joined the party by demonstrating a 4 x 4 inch (10.2 x 10.2
 cm) prototype of its SolarWindow product. This Tuesday, the company 
unveiled a working 12 x 12 inch (30.5 x 30.5 cm) prototype, which takes 
it significantly closer to becoming commercially-viable.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Combining an electric motor with a form factor 
that has remained largely unchanged for over a hundred years, hybrid 
electric bicycles make it easier to get around in an environmentally 
friendly way, while still providing some much needed exercise. One of 
the most distinctive electric bikes going around is the PiCycle.
 The latest model from Pi Mobility retains the instantly recognizable 
arch frame of its predecessor, but has been simplified even further and 
now offers the option of integrated Wi-Fi-based technology to remotely 
monitor the 2011 PiCycle’s performance and track the bike if it is 
stolen.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Studying the bumpy protrusions on the fins of humpback whales has already led to more efficient wind and tidal power turbines
 and now nature is once again the source of inspiration for a new and 
more efficient hydroelectric turbine.  The latest source of biomimicry 
is the basking shark, which industrial design student Anthony Reale has 
borrowed from to create "strait power," a water-powered turbine 
generator that tests have shown is 40 percent more efficient than 
current designs.				  Read More				
				
			
						
				                Agility will never be accused of sticking to 
tradition for tradition's sake. Freed from the constraints of 
complicated combustion engines and all the associated tackle, designer 
Lawrence Marazzi has unveiled a brand new, fully electric British 
motorcycle that turns the rules of motorcycle design on their head. The 
Saietta features a hossack-inspired front end, an eye-popping fairing 
design and a crazy degree of mass centralization that could only be 
achieved with battery cells. Billed as a guerrilla commuter, it promises
 to be a very exhilarating ride. See the video after the jump to hear 
Marazzi talk about the design process, the future of electric 
motorcycles and the unique properties of the Saietta.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The Cougar20-H is a remote-controlled 
surveillance robot that is so sensitive it can not only detect motion 
through walls but, to ensure no one goes unnoticed, it can also detect 
the breathing of a stationary person. Packing a fine beam ultra-wideband
 (UWB), multi-Gigahertz radio frequency (RF) sensor array as well as 
multiple integrated cameras for day and night time visibility, the 
Cougar20-H was designed by surveillance imaging specialist TiaLinx to 
provide improved situational awareness to soldiers while keeping them 
out of harm’s way.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                On October 26, 2006, NASA launched two STEREO
 (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft. Using the Moon’s 
gravity for a gravitational slingshot, the two nearly identical 
spacecraft, STEREO-A and STEREO-B, split up with one pulling ahead of 
the Earth and the other gradually falling behind. It’s taken over four 
years but on February 6, 2011, the two spacecraft finally moved into 
position on opposite sides of the Sun, each looking down on a different 
hemisphere. The probes are now sending back images of the entire star, 
front and back, allowing scientists for the first time to view the Sun 
in 3D.				  Read More				
				
			
DreamPlug offers compact, low power, performance computing
By Paul Ridden
February 6, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Applications developers looking for a low power, 
small form factor computing solution that won't break the bank will no 
doubt appreciate the DreamPlug from Globalscale Technologies. Expanding 
on the company's GuruPlug system, the new low-profile plug computer is 
powered by a Marvell processor, has half a gigabyte of DDR2 RAM and a 
generous helping of onboard micro-SD flash memory to store the Linux 
kernel and root system files. Physical connectivity and expansion 
options include USB, eSATA, JTAG and UART and the unit also has built-in
 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                A group of Cambridge scientists have successfully
 identified the mechanism that drives our internal 24-hour clock, or 
circadian rhythm. It occurs not only in human cells, but has also been 
found in other life forms such as algae, and has been dated back 
millions of years. Whilst the research promises a better understanding 
of the problems associated with shift-work and jet-lag, this mechanism 
has also been proven to be responsible for sleep patterns, seasonal 
shifts and even the migration of butterflies.				  Read More				
				
			
SnowBow lets you get straight ... to shovelling the snow
By Ben Coxworth
February 5, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                At the present moment, much of north-eastern 
North America is buried under one of the biggest snowfalls to hit in 
over 50 years. Much to the chagrin of home-owners throughout the region,
 that means a whole lot of shoveling. While it might not require a huge
 amount of energy to shovel one’s sidewalk – in fact, sometimes it can 
be kind of invigorating – it’s the bending and lifting that really makes
 it unpleasant. Various ergonomic shovels have been invented over the 
years to address this issue, such as the wheeled Sno Wovel. A simpler product is now available, however, in the form of the SnowBow.				  Read More				
				
			
G-Slate tablet headed for T-Mobile spring release
By Paul Ridden
February 5, 2011
						
				                Motorola's Xoom may have grabbed most of the Android 3.0
 headlines of late but it's not the only tablet to run on Google's new 
tablet-optimized operating system. T-Mobile and LG have announced a 
spring release window for the newest member of the G-series of mobile 
devices, the G-Slate. The Tegra 2-powered device features 3D-capable, 
high definition display and can record stereoscopic HD video via its 
rear-facing cameras. Wireless connectivity is also given a speed boost 
thanks to T-Mobile's growing HSPA+ network.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The Zonda supercar established Pagani in the 
elite category of supercar manufacturers, so much has been expected of 
its successor, which we now know as the Huayra. Named appropriately 
after a South American God of the Wind, the Huayra will be shown to the 
public for the first time in Geneva a month from now. Only 20 of the 
gull-winged Huayras will be made per year, each costing one million euro
 with its main distinguishing features being a very light carbon 
titanium monocoque, 700 bhp, 1000 Nm twin-turbo mid-engined V12 and 
movable rear wing and four adjustable flaps constituting the most 
extensive active aerodynamic package yet to head for production. Though 
response to the car’s appearance is mixed, a photoshopped mock-up of a 
Huayra Spyder indicates the 230 mph supercar will be even better looking
 without a roof.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Every year, millions of people come into 
emergency rooms complaining of chest pains, yet those pains are only 
sometimes due to heart attacks. Unfortunately in many of those cases, 
the only way to be sure of what’s going on is to admit the patient for 
an overnight stay, and administer time-consuming and costly tests. Now, 
however, a new procedure could reveal the presence and location of a 
blood clot within hours. It’s made possible by the injection of 
nanoparticles, each containing a million atoms of bismuth – a toxic 
heavy metal.				  Read More				
				
			
European cities influence travel behavior through parking reforms
By Paul Ridden
February 8, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                A report into inner city parking reforms has 
found that European cities are leading the way in the battle to coax 
people into using public transport instead of clogging up city streets 
with cars. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy 
(ITDP) has revealed that cities which have implemented a host of 
innovative parking policies in recent years are now benefiting from 
improved air quality and better standards of urban life, all thanks to 
significant reductions in car use.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The U.S. Air Force’s Space Fence program has entered its next phase with the three companies originally awarded US$30 million contracts to develop a Space Fence now cut back to two. Northrop Grumman is now out of the project, leaving Lockheed Martin and Raytheon,
 which have each been awarded a US$107 million dollar follow-on contract
 to further develop and prototype their systems in preparation for a 
final Space Fence production contract next year. As might be easy to 
misconstrue from its name, the Space Fence isn’t designed as a defense 
against intergalactic interlopers, but is intended to detect and track 
the increasing amount of space junk orbiting Earth.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Fiddling with lenses and focal length extenders 
to get the effects we want is an annoying necessity for photographers – 
but the latest announcement from Canon has the potential to make all the
 company's lenses at least twice as useful. The Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L 
IS USM EXTENDER 1.4x is the first lens Canon has made with a built-in 
focal length extender. At the flick of a switch, it goes from 200-400mm 
to 280-560mm while maintaining its presumably stellar L series optics 
through the whole zoom range. That's one less fiddly lens change for 
wildlife and sports photographers, and one heck of a great idea!				  Read More				
				
			
Air hybrid vehicles could halve fuel consumption
By Darren Quick
February 7, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The most commonly used form of regenerative 
braking is where a vehicle’s electric motor is used as an electric 
generator to capture the vehicle’s kinetic energy, which is otherwise 
lost as heat when braking. The generator converts the kinetic energy 
into electricity that is then fed back into the vehicle’s battery pack 
where it is stored for later use. New research suggests that pneumatic 
or air hybrids that instead store the energy as compressed air would be 
much cheaper to produce than the current crop of EVs and 
battery-electric hybrids and could halve the fuel consumption of ICE 
powered vehicles.				  Read More				
				
			
World's first hard X-ray free-electron laser images intact viruses
By Ben Coxworth
February 7, 2011
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                An international team of scientists has obtained 
the world’s first single-shot images of intact viruses – a technology 
that could ultimately lead to moving video of molecules, viruses and 
live microbes. The team was also able to successfully utilize a new 
shortcut for determining the 3D structures of proteins. Both advances 
were achieved using the world’s first hard X-ray free-electron laser – 
the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) – which scientists hope could 
revolutionize the study of life.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                NASA's Kepler space telescope has succeeded in its mission to identify potentially-habitable exoplanets.
 Kepler has so far observed 156,000 stars in its field of vision and has
 identified no less than 1235 candidate planets that sit in the 
“goldilocks zone” (not too close to the star, and not too far away). Of 
these, scientists at the NASA's Ames Research Center are excited to 
announce the discovery of the Kepler-11 system – a rare multiple 
planetary system similar to our own with five planets in the habitable 
zone.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Although surgeons need to frequently review 
medical images and records during surgery, they’re also in the difficult
 position of not being able to touch non-sterile objects such as 
keyboards, computer mice or touchscreens. Stepping away from the 
operating table to check a computer also adds time to a procedure. 
Researchers from Indiana’s Purdue University are addressing this 
situation by developing gesture-recognition systems for computers, so 
that surgeons can navigate through and manipulate screen content simply 
by moving their hands in the air. The system could additionally be used 
with robotic scrub nurses, also being developed at Purdue, to let the 
devices know what instruments the surgeon wants handed to them.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                By developing a simple one-minute sideline test, 
researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have 
tackled the issue of diagnosing concussion head on. Up until now 
sideline tests for concussion have been vague and often miss a large 
spectrum of brain functions that may have been affected. It is a 
well-known fact that any concussion left untreated or ignored may lead 
to serious or potentially fatal consequences, thus the Pennsylvanian 
researchers are eager to get this simple and effective test into action.
				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                Canon has just announced two new entry-level DSLR cameras,
 theEOS 600D and the EOS 1100D (or Rebel T3i and T3 in North America). 
The company hopes that both cameras will bring in new, aspiring 
photographers looking to make that first jump from a point-and-shoot to a
 DSLR. Appropriately, Canon has built in a number of user-friendly 
features to make the EOS 600D and 1100D more accessible.				  Read More				
				
			
 
                              
            
            					
			
						
				                The capability of the compact camera continues to
 move forward at warp speed with Canon today announcing its latest 
PowerShot SX230 HS model, complete with 14X optical zoom, 12.1-Megapixel
 images and 1080P video. The integation of a GPS receiver in the SX230 
HS is another pushing of the boundaries – in addition to the logical 
recording of the latitude and longitude of where the image was taken in 
each image's EXIF data, the camera comes with mapping software so you 
can see where the pics were taken on a map, plus an internal GPS logger,
 so you can track your route on a map, making it a useful application 
for day or longer term trips. All this for US$350 and available next 
month.				  Read More				
				
			






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