Entry tags:
Mutant Purple Potatoes and Bubble Computers
Source: MAKE Magazine  Tired of stacking dishes? This device recycles cups, bowls and plates by molding new ones from the remains of the old. The device uses the shape-memory of acrylic to regenerate a dish thousands of times before becomes real garbage. Mind you, it still doesn't replace a dishwasher, just the cupboards. |
Source: MedGadget  Duke University researchers have developed a way to weave artificial cartilage. The weave forms a scaffold on which stem cells can be placed to grow replacement cartilage. |
Source: MedGadget  MIT researchers have developed a "computer" that uses bubbles instead of electronics to transfer information.This means that the bubbles themselves can carry information that previously had to be converted to electrical impulses. The interactions of bubbles within the microfluidic channels becomes a form of processing, with the presence or absence of a bubble being equivalent to a high or low voltage in a conventional microprocessor. |
Source: SlashDot  The University of Washington is working on a system for allowing the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small} trippingpossum) to talk through cellphones using sign language. The challenge is to find a video compression method that will work with the low data rates that cellphones use while retaining the message. The study is looking for people fluent in ASL (American Sign Language) so if you are interested, pay them a visit at http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/MobileASL/ where you can find a sign-up page. |
Source: BBC News  Thanks to ancalagon_tb for alerting me to this. The latest food fad in Shanghai is mutant potato. Specifically, consumers are lining up to sample purple potatoes grown from seeds mutated in space during a recent manned Chinese space mission. |
Scientists have successfully cloned healthy mice that have lived to adulthood from adult skin stem cells. The stem cells, called keratinocytes, are obtained from part of the hair follicles and are involved in skin repair and hair growth. Stem cells from male mice were found to be significantly more successful in producing viable embryos (5.4% versus 1.6%), and all mice were eventually found to be healthy and fertile.
Scientists are experimenting with modifying a type of protein found in the hair cells of the human ear, called prestin, which can be used to convert motion into electricity. They envision using this to create a "power skin" that generates electricity when the wearer moves. The first application they describe is to augment the power supplies of astronauts by having their suits generate energy every time the astronauts move.
Researchers at the University of Geneva have developed a haptic glove that allows you to experience the feel of different fabrics. The glove contains an array of pins, 24 pins per square centimetre, under each finger which move to emulate the feel of a particular fabric. The challenge is that the "refresh rate" of your touch sensors is more than 500 times each second, compared to the 20 to 30 times per second of the average person's visual system. So far, they have been able to achieve 40 refreshes per second. Now, what else could this be used for....
This is a mod of a standard in-car cassette player in which the internal workings have been replaced with an iPod mount. Unfortunately, it's not for sale, but expect to see something similar offered in cars soon as the iPod wave continues.
