In a natural phenomenon known as margination,
platelets and leukocytes (white blood cells) within the bloodstream move
towards the sides of blood vessels and adhere to them. It occurs at
wound sites, during the early stages of inflammation. Recently, a team
of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the
National University of Singapore have put that process to work in a
microfluidic device that could be used to cleanse the blood, perhaps
acting as a treatment for bacteria-related blood disorders such as
sepsis. Read More
It seems the construction boom in bustling Dubai
is far from over – already home to several world record-holding
projects, including the tallest building (for just a little while
longer), the largest shopping mall and biggest man-made island,
plans are now afoot to construct what will likely be the world's
largest underwater luxury hotel, the Water Discus. Several years ago, we
reported on another such ambitious project, Hydropolis,
which sadly never got past the blueprint stage. If Polish company Deep
Ocean Technology's (DOT) plans come to fruition, however, guests could
one day find themselves asleep beneath the waters of the Persian Gulf.
Read More
The practice of surgically removing diseased or
damaged tissue within the body is something of a trade-off – quite
often, some of the surrounding healthy tissue will also end up being
removed in the process. In highly-sensitive areas such as the brain or
spinal cord, where a fraction of a millimeter either way can have huge
consequences, sometimes surgery is deemed to be just too risky. A
newly-developed endoscopic laser “scalpel,” however, looks like it could
lower those risks considerably. Read More
Sonic technology that allows audio to be
specifically directed at a limited audience, as opposed to booming sound
out as far and as loud as possible, has been around for a good many
years but has yet to penetrate the mass consumer market. That situation
could well change very shortly, however, thanks to the Soundlazer. The
low-cost, pocket-friendly, open source, and completely hack-friendly
parametric device developed by Richard Haberkern uses ultrasonic carrier
waves to transmit sound from a connected music player on a narrow beam
to a select listener. Read More
Just days after launching its own
cloud storage service, LG has announced the "P Series," a new line of
cloud monitors aimed at company networks. Besides the monitor itself,
its "zero client" work stations need only a LAN cable (which doubles as
power supply), a keyboard and a mouse to work properly, cutting down
dramatically on costs and allowing companies to ditch desktop and laptop
computers altogether. Read More 
Electric bikes based loosely on mountain bikes (such as the Terminus and eSpire)
might be well-suited to forest trails, but for increased stability
through sand dunes and snow and ice, as well as steep rocky climbs,
you're better off riding a fat-tire bike like the Hanebrink electric
bike we featured back in 2010.
The company has now pulled back the curtains to reveal two new models
for 2012 – one with added rear suspension for improved performance on
steep or rocky trails, and the other designed specifically for golfers.
Read More
People going through the Los Angeles Convention
Center between May 6 and 8 will come across a very stylish aluminum
modular structure. The installation is a solar-powered charging carport
known as isola, developed by Montreal-based renewz sustainable
solutions. The carport will be erected to coincide with the EVS26
Electric Vehicle Symposium taking place in the city on those dates. Read More
On September 27th of 2010, the world’s largest solar-powered boat – the TÛRANOR PlanetSolar
– set out from Monaco on a quest to become the first boat to sail
around the world using nothing put the power of the Sun. This afternoon
it successfully completed that quest, arriving back in Monaco after 18
months spent circumnavigating the planet. Read More 
Volta Volaré has begun taking orders for its
four-seater GT4 hybrid private aircraft it calls "the most
technologically advanced private aircraft available anywhere on Earth."
Though the GT4 is perfectly capable of taking off and flying powered
only electrically, a gas engine starts when the airplane's battery drops
to 25 percent capacity in order to recharge it mid-flight.
Surprisingly, perhaps, Volta Volaré makes a strong economic case for the
GT4. Because the powertrain has only one moving part - the motor or
"EViation Drive" - the company claims the need for maintenance is
reduced significantly, offering increases in TBO (time between overhaul)
by up to a factor of ten when compared to a combustion engine. Read More
The Heatstick from Danish company Heatgear
attempts to give backpackers and military personnel a better alternative
to the camping stove. Not only is it lightweight, but this flameless
heat source can also cook while you hike. Read More
MotivePro vibrating suit to help athletes perfect their technique
By Darren Quick
May 2, 2012
Many professional athletes employ motion capture
technology to help identify problems with their techniques so they can
be corrected. However, such technology generally takes the athlete out
of the usual performing environment and only lets them review their
technique after the fact. Now researchers at Birmingham City University
have developed a wearable device, dubbed the “Vibrating Suit,” that
provides feedback to the wearer about where their body is in space in
real time. Aside from assisting athletes perfect their technique, the
technology could also be used to help prevent injuries in those that
perform strenuous activities as part of their job. Read More
Ongoing advances in all-electric drive trains
have opened up some radical design possibilities for e-bikes, and while
many of the electric motorcycles
we've seen stick to a conventional layout, others are definitely
looking to push into territory where only highly-customized bikes dare
to tread - Britain's Agility Saietta, Canada's Lito Sora and now out of Japan - the low-riding zecOO. Read More
Worldwide population growth and the related rapid
increase in urbanization is already posing problems in many areas for
the management of that most precious of resources, water. With these
problems only set to intensify, the Organization for Economic
Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has released a report outlining the
challenges humanity faces to maintain water resources in the face of
demographic growth and climate change. Called Meeting the Water Reform
Challenge, the report says that urgent reform of water policies is
crucial in order to preserve human and environmental health as well as
economic growth. Read More
Research In Motion made its
anticipated BlackBerry 10 platform available for developers at its
annual conference in Orlando, Florida, this week. BlackBerry 10 devices
are expected to be released by the end of the year. Read More 
If you want your product to stand out while also
looking classy, warm and organic, there’s one sure-fire way of doing in –
make it out of wood. In recent years, we’ve seen things like wooden headphones, MP3 players, and bicycles. Now, sports helmets can be added to that list. Read More
While many people are busy working on how to
build robots capable of doing everything (and more) humans can do, few
are considering the impact that creating a legion of robotic workers
will have on the environment. Two university researchers aim to change
this, by investigating how to build robots from biodegradable materials
that will simply decompose at the end of their lives. Read More
Although the pixel count for consumer cameras
continues to rise, they will all pale in comparison to the
3,200-megapixel Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) camera. Although
the enormous astronomical camera has yet to be built, last week the U.S.
Department of Energy gave its approval for the project to proceed to
the next phase of development. This means that a detailed engineering
design can begin, along with a production schedule and budget. If
everything goes according to plan, construction on what will be the
world’s largest digital camera should begin in 2014. Read More
If you’ve ever watched a cephalopod such as a
squid changing color, then you’ll know that it’s a pretty amazing
process – they can instantly change the appearance of their skin from
dark to light and back again, or even create pulsating bands of color
that travel across it. They are able to do this thanks to muscles that
manipulate the pigmentation of their skin. Now, scientists from the
University of Bristol have succeeded in creating artificial muscles and
cells, that might someday allow for the same sort of color changes in
smart clothing that can camouflage itself against different backgrounds.
Read More
Team Steam USA's campaign to break
the land speed record for steam-powered vehicles has received a shot in
the arm, having been granted the use of construction molds from the
450-mph (724-km/h)-busting twin-turbo V8 engine-powered Speed Demon
streamliner. Read More 
Bicycle accessory designer and manufacturer
Copenhagen Parts has just announced a new range of magnetic bike lights.
Called "Magnetic Bike Lights," the battery-powered LED lights may not
have the novel power source of the Magnic Light
we looked at in February, but they do have one nifty trick at their
disposal: they automatically turn on and off when fitted and removed
from a steel bicycle frame. Read More
MIT PhD student David Mellis has
designed and built a fully operational mobile phone, named the DIY
Cellphone, using about US$150-worth of parts. Read More
Should you rip it off fast or slow?
Researchers at Penn State may have found the elusive third, painless
option. Professor Greg Ziegler and research assistant Lingyan Kong have
developed a process that spins starch into fine strands, creating fibers
that could be woven into low-cost toilet paper, napkins and
biodegradable bandages that don't need to be ripped off at all. Read More
Although winged micro air vehicles
(MAVs) are pretty impressive in free flight, one of the skills that has
proven difficult for them to master is the bird-like perched landing.
Aerospace engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
however, have now achieved it – they’ve developed an MAV that is
capable of landing on an outstretched human hand. Read More
Volvo’s 2100 bhp D16 diesel/electric
"Mean Green" hybrid truck has established a new world speed record for
hybrid trucks, beating its own record. The Mean Green's 236.577 km/h
(147.002 mph) flying kilometer is not much faster than the wind-powered
land speed record of 202.9 km/h set by Ecotricity Greenbird
in 2009, but then again the truck runs the same Volvo hybrid drive
system powering hundreds of Volvo buses throughout the world, including
London's double-decker buses. Read More
We're constantly being told to drink
lots of fluids, but buying fresh bottled water is expensive and a waste of resources,
and while reusable drink-flasks (or old plastic bottles) can be
refilled, they take up space when not in use. The Bübi Bottle offers a
simple-yet-elegant solution to the problem - it's scrunchable. Read More
Who hasn't killed at least one
houseplant in their time? Personally, I have given up trying to nurture
these fussy organisms altogether and my house is now a green-free zone.
Technology like the Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor might entice me to
consider trying to bring the outdoors in once more though - it's
designed to take all the hard work out of keeping plants alive while
they reside in the unnatural environment that are our homes. Read More
The Powerbreather is an advanced breathing system
for swimmers, designed to decrease apprehension in beginners and
increase focus and performance among advanced swimmers. Essentially a
sealed, watertight snorkel, the device gives swimmers a more natural way
of breathing. Read More
There's nothing quite like the heady aroma of
fresh herbs, and nothing more satisfying than growing your own. Whether
you use them to scent a room or give your cooking some much-needed taste
bud titillation, if you live in tightly-packed city accommodation then
indulging your appetite for fresh greenery can be difficult. If your
home is not blessed with enough window space for a hanging garden like Windowfarms,
but you have lots of floor space that's just begging to be divided up,
then take a look at the Herb 2 project from FABRIKAAT. An experiment in
folding and bending, this flexible partition wall is also a herb garden
and an unusual source of low-energy lighting for your living space. Read More
Grid-powered street lighting is something that
many of us take for granted, but there are parts of the world where
electricity is a scarce resource and when the sun goes down, local
pedestrian traffic in areas where public lighting is not abundant can
all-but cease due to safety concerns. In searching for an inexpensive
off-grid solution for places like the Colombian city of Cartagena,
designer Alberto Vasquez looked to the wind for help. His Flow concept
makes use of readily-available bamboo for the construction of a vertical
wind turbine in a similar vein to the Power Flowers
concept, but with LED light modules at the end of each blade. As the
wind catches the blades, the LEDs light up the walkway beneath. Read More
Designers and scientists at the University of
Cambridge have been collaborating on a project that demonstrates a
potential future application of Biophotovoltaic (BPV) technology. Dubbed
the Moss Table, the concept furniture piece was exhibited at this
year’s Salone Satellite – a parallel exhibition of young designers that
took place during the Milan Design Week
last month. The idea behind the table is that energy generated from the
moss during the day could be stored in a battery and later used to
power the adjoining lamp in the evening. Read More
MIT PhD student David Mellis has
designed and built a fully operational mobile phone, named the DIY
Cellphone, using about US$150-worth of parts. Read More
Its idea may be simple, but that did not stop
Radiator Labs winning the MIT Clean Energy Prize with its controllable
box that can be retrofitted to radiators to boost the efficiency of hot
water and steam heating systems. The heavily insulated housings
physically cover the radiator, trapping heat in the system, and strictly
controlling the amount that is let into the room. This prevents homes
becoming over-heated, and wasteful heat loss as people open windows to
compensate. Read More
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced
that Jupiter’s icy moons will be the focus of its next Large science
mission. Getting the nod over the New Gravitational Wave Observatory
(NGO), that would have hunted for gravitational waves, and ATHENA, the
Advanced Telescope for High-Energy Astrophysics, the Jupiter Icy moons
Explorer (JUICE) is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2030 with the goal
of studying its Galilean moons as potential habitats for life. Read More
If the funky, Segway-powered Centaur, shown in our recent look at Dual Mode transportation,
is still too powerful and heavy for you, it may be time to go Athos.
Sort of an unnatural cross between a pedal-powered bicycle and a
four-wheeled quad, this burly "extreme quad-cycle" aims to give riders a
new option in off-road travel that blends BMX, motocross and downhill
biking. Read More
Once the cornerstone of economic prosperity, the
passing of paper money from one hand to another is definitely on the
decline in our modern digital age. Yet there are obviously lots of folks
who still use cash, as evidenced by the eight to ten thousand pounds
(3,628 - 4,535 kg) of crumpled and tired-looking paper currency that's
said to be shredded every day in the U.S. alone, before being compressed
into bricks and then buried or burned. That's a shocking waste, and car
giant Ford appears to agree. As part of an ongoing effort to find
sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based vehicle components, the
Michigan-based multinational automaker is looking to re-use retired
dollar bills in the manufacture of trays and bins, in the same way wheat
straw is currently used in the Ford Flex. Read More
Getting people to clean up after their dogs in
public places is never easy - just take a look at how many "land mines"
are dotted around your nearest park. One internet company in Mexico
however, has hit on a clever incentive to encourage people to scoop up
after their pet. Dog walkers in Mexico City are now finding pet waste
disposal bins showing up in some parks that activate a free wireless
network for a set amount of time depending on the size of the "deposit."
Read More
Touch sensitive displays have changed the way we
interact with electronic devices everyday, evolving from single to
multi-touch displays that can recognize multiple contacts. Now
researchers at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon
University have developed a touch sensitive technology called Touché
that not only detects if and where someone is touching it, but how they are touching it. Read More
Anyone living near an airport will tell you that
combustion engines can be pretty noisy things. The combustion process in
jet and other industrial engines can generate sound waves so powerful
they can cause intense pulsations that can shake the engine and
accelerate mechanical failure. Using a sponge-like material, researchers
at the University of Alabama have managed to significantly quiet
combustion at the source, providing the potential to make work
environments safer, extend the life of valuable equipment, and maybe let
those living near an airport sleep a little easier. Read More
Should you rip it off fast or slow?
Researchers at Penn State may have found the elusive third, painless
option. Professor Greg Ziegler and research assistant Lingyan Kong have
developed a process that spins starch into fine strands, creating fibers
that could be woven into low-cost toilet paper, napkins and
biodegradable bandages that don't need to be ripped off at all. Read More
Smartphones and the technology that powers them
continue to evolve at an incredible rate. Year after year, phones have
continued to close the power gap that separates them with their
traditional PC counterparts. Taking advantage of the latest in mobile
processors, Canonical is set to release Ubuntu for Android. The OS
effectively turns your phone into a full Ubuntu desktop computer when
docked and connected to a monitor, meaning the day your smartphone could
act as your primary computer is drawing nearer. Read More
The fearsome midnight pee: it's an experience
that every camper would prefer to avoid. Yet long nights mixed with
(lots of) cheap, light beer and chilly tents have a way of making
wee-hour tinkles an inescapable part of the outdoor experience. The
Snugpak Chrysalis sleeping bag arms you with a new weapon in the fight
to break out of your tent and turn the faucet on high: a built-in LED
light. Read More
Google has finally released Drive, a new cloud
storage option for all Google account holders, offering up to 5 GB worth
of free storage. While it may be easy to draw comparisons to Dropbox,
Microsoft's SkyDrive, or Amazon Cloud, Google Drive represents the final
element of a powerful cloud platform, with services that rival those of
Apple's iCloud. Read More
Although winged micro air vehicles
(MAVs) are pretty impressive in free flight, one of the skills that has
proven difficult for them to master is the bird-like perched landing.
Aerospace engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
however, have now achieved it – they’ve developed an MAV that is
capable of landing on an outstretched human hand. Read More
Here's something you don't see every day - it's a
concept based on a concept, and it comes from London coachbuilder
Prindiville. Prindiville's eight-only Limited Edition Lamborghini
Aventador is already on sale, and it's so keen to get its hands on the Aventador J Concept
which Lamborghini showed in Geneva in March, that it has released this
concept based on the original concept. Power is up from 700 to 805 bhp,
but every panel, from the front bumper to the rear diffuser and rear
wing is reshaped and lightened. Prindiville claims its J will sprint
from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in around 2.5 seconds, which would make it
one of the fastest four-wheelers on public roads anywhere. Read More
When most people in the western world think of
tuk tuks (if they even know what they are), they likely picture rather
beat-up, primitive, noisy vehicles that zip around the crowded streets
of exotic foreign lands. A Dutch company known as Tuk Tuk Factory,
however, recently started building its own electric tuk tuks
for sale within Europe. Apparently the traditional gas-powered vehicles
from Asia couldn’t meet European environmental, quality or safety
requirements. While the company’s existing models have all been aimed at
ferrying around passengers, last week it launched the e-Tuk Vendo – an
all-electric three-wheeled mobile catering machine. Read More
If anything good came out of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it was that it got people thinking about technologies for cleaning up future spills. While things like magnetic soap, nanosponges, and autonomous robots
are all in the works, a group of scientists recently announced the
results of their research into another possibility – oil
droplet-gathering microsubmarines. Read More
What happens when you bring together cutting edge
gaming technology and a legendary automotive company? The answer is one
of the most powerful home racing simulators money can buy, the TL1.
Motion Simulation has joined forces with the U.K. automaker behind the Ariel Atom,
creating a simulator in a class of its own, featuring near panoramic
projectors, and a custom built racing cockpit designed in conjunction
with the experts from Ariel. Read More
Volvo’s 2100 bhp D16 diesel/electric
"Mean Green" hybrid truck has established a new world speed record for
hybrid trucks, beating its own record. The Mean Green's 236.577 km/h
(147.002 mph) flying kilometer is not much faster than the wind-powered
land speed record of 202.9 km/h set by Ecotricity Greenbird
in 2009, but then again the truck runs the same Volvo hybrid drive
system powering hundreds of Volvo buses throughout the world, including
London's double-decker buses. Read More
We're constantly being told to drink
lots of fluids, but buying fresh bottled water is expensive and a waste of resources,
and while reusable drink-flasks (or old plastic bottles) can be
refilled, they take up space when not in use. The Bübi Bottle offers a
simple-yet-elegant solution to the problem - it's scrunchable. Read More
One of the nice things about motorsport is its
ability to put excellence in perspective. It hence reflects well on Audi
that in debuting two race cars in the Spa Six Hour race yesterday, it
achieved a rare perfect result. In fielding two each of the new Audi R18
ultra and R18 e-tron
(hybrid) quattro cars, the marque finished with a stunning 1-2-3-4. In
the end, it was the diesel-only R18 ultra which prevailed over the R18
e-tron quattro diesel-electric hybrid by 46 seconds. All cars ran
strongly, and the hybrids in particular will benefit from the outing, as
the balance of the car with its electrically-driven front wheels is
still far from optimal. Read More
Samsung is currently the number one Android
handset maker in the world, with market researcher NPD recently
reporting that one in every four smartphones sold in the U.S. bear the
Samsung logo. So it comes as no surprise that the Galaxy S III has
become one of the most highly anticipated phones of 2012, but does it
live up to the hype? Read More
A new X-ray microscope at Brookhaven National
Laboratory is being used to create unparalleled high-resolution 3D
images of the inner structure of materials. Using techniques similar to
taking a very small-scale medical CAT (computer-assisted tomography)
scan, the full field transmission x-ray microscope (TXM) enables
scientists to directly observe structures spanning 25 nanometers - three
thousand times smaller than a red blood cell - by splicing together
thousands of images into a single 3D X-ray image with "greater speed and
precision than ever before." This capability is expected to power rapid
advances in many fields, including energy research, environmental
sciences, biology, and national defense. Read More
The Teal Camper gives campers an interesting way
of combining the sturdy, hard-sided living quarters of a camping trailer
with the easy storage of a smaller pop-up or tent. The camper is
shipped to your door as a series of panels, and assembles into a
two-person dwelling within about 90 minutes. When your camping season is
over, you break it back down and store it neatly. Read More
Who hasn't killed at least one
houseplant in their time? Personally, I have given up trying to nurture
these fussy organisms altogether and my house is now a green-free zone.
Technology like the Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor might entice me to
consider trying to bring the outdoors in once more though - it's
designed to take all the hard work out of keeping plants alive while
they reside in the unnatural environment that are our homes. Read More
Remember paper? It's that thin thing you used to
scribble your shopping list on before everything was stored in zeros and
ones. Well, it looks like paper is making a comeback … and thanks to
the rise of the Internet of Things,
it's now Wi-Fi enabled. ReaDIYmate is a recent Kickstarter-funded
project, which enables users to create paper-based internet companions
that respond to things happening in their digital life. Read More
Remember all those science fiction movies and
television shows that depicted people in a future time, talking to
life-sized holographic images? That time is now. A research team from
Queen's University in Ontario has developed a video communications
system that allows you to speak with an eerie three-dimensional
representation of the person on the other end of the line. Read More
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