Engineering Students Create A Fire Extinguisher That Blasts Out Flames Using Sound Waves

Two engineering students Viet Tran and Seth Robertson from George Mason University have introduced a prototype fire extinguisher that uses sound wave to put out fires.They started this project as a part of a senior research project, and after one year of struggle, they have invented a fire fighting device.They spend $600 of their own money to fund their project.

They started work on project with basic concept that sound waves are pressure waves as well as mechanical waves.Due to the to and fro motion, pressure waves displace some of the oxygen.If the sound waves in the range of 30 to 60 Hertz separate the oxygen from the fire, as a result the fire will blasts out.

The two students said, it has been tested on alcohol fire at this time.One of the major problem is, it does not cool the fuel, the fires that go out will reignite because of hot material.But they hope that their small fire extingusher that works without chemicals or water, could be used in a kitchen as a tool against small fires.

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GM Developing Headlights That Will Control With Driver's Gaze

Vauxhall/Opel is working on the project which aims to develop such headlights that will operate with driver's gaze.Engineers at Opel/Vauxhall has unveiled eye-tracking technology which will make it possible for drivers to control the beam of light with eyes.This technology is known as Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL+).The firm is also testing "LED matrix light system" which monitors light levels and adjusts it automatically with traffic conditions

The eye-tracking system is used camera to scan prominent points such as eyes and nose, in order to observe movement and the driver's line of sight.The engineers used peripheral infra-red sensors and central photo-diodes which enable the system to scan the driver's eyes more than 50 times per second in dusk and night-time conditions.

The company said we are working to optimize the system, as the webcom's recording rate as well as data calculation together were too slow.Due to slow bata transmission a headlight respond too slow.The researchers says, with fast data transmission the headlight actuators react immediately to make horizontal and vertical adjustments.

The team of researchers explained that a driver's eyes unconsciously jump from one focal point to another.Due to this eyes jumping, result in the erratic movement of headlight beams.They solve this hurdle by developing delay algorithm which prevents the headlights from erratic jerking.

The company said that the eye-tracker system could work with any driver without any individual calibration.Vauxhall/Opel told Gizmag that it hopes to roll the system out in the long-term. The LED matrix light system is expected to be introduced within 18 months.

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Treehouse Building To Protect Residents From Noise And Air Pollution

Luciano Pia is an architect from Italy, has wonderfully designed a five story complex apartment which is located in Turin, Italy.A vertical potted forest includes trees and steel girders look like branches and allow residents to feel like they are living in a urban treehouse.This urban treehouse called 25 Verde means 25 Green.25 Verde protects its residents from noise pollution and reduces air pollution in the surrounding.

Lucuano Pia wrote on his website, "the building has been thought as a living forest, a house on the trees like the houses children dream of and sometimes build."

It contains 150 tall trees to absorb approximately 200,000 liters of carbon dioxide an hour and 50 more trees are planted in the courtyard of 63 units building.The seasonal change create perfect microclimate inside the building so temperature falling and rising remain steady in winter and summer.In summer plants foliage block sun rays and in winter allowing sun light to let in.

It is a special building because it is alive: it grows up, it breaths and it changes since 150 trees with tall trunks cover its terraces."

The building has many features such as sun protection, continuous insulation.He wrote the major aim of the project is the increase of the energetic efficiency, continuous insulation, sun protection, heating and cooling systems which make use of the geothermal energy with heat pumps and recycling of the falling rain to water the green.”

Species of plant has been chosen to get the best variety of colours and flowers."When all the green is fully blooming it gives the feeling of living in a tree house." “You can dream of a house or live in a dream!”

Its construction was started in 2007 and ended in 2012.

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"Analog Merory Desk" To Save Your Notes, Ideas And Sketches

Kristen Camara, who is a student at the Minnesota College of Art and Design, has made an Analog Merory Desk to record your past memories, notes, smart ideas and doodle.She wrote on his site, "this Memory Desk is a tool to record all the small items you write down once, but intend to forget tomorrow."

The desk is made of maple wood which features 1,100 yards of butcher paper rolls on the desk legs, which covers the desk surface.When the paper surface filled with notes, ideas and drawing, user will get new paper for work just rolls the crank at side of the table which fold up the used paper.

She explained that 1,100 yards of paper will record the lists, the phones numbers you call once, the pixel size of that box on that website, the street name of that business, and the long division you try to remember.

Kristen Camara's desk is not available for purchase but she released architectural designed blueprints with a creative commons license, so anyone can build their own.

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Toyota Unveiled 3 Wheel i-Road Car At TED

At the TED Conference, Steve Gundrum was smiling when he came out of a Toyota environment friendly electric car (zippy scooter).Gundrum drove i-ROAD prototype "personal mobility vehicles'' in the Vancouver centre during TED conference.

Toyota brought the prototypes to TED to find out how the gathering's attendees see the future of mobility, said Jason Schulz of Toyota Motor Sales USA. 

The i-Road's steering unconditionally connected with its single rear tire.It is a two seater electric vehicle.It weighs approximately 300 Kilograms (660 pound).The i-Road gains a top speed of 56 kilometers per hour and can run approx 48 kilometers with full charged battery.It takes three hours to recharge.It contains sensors and gyroscopes for balancing the three wheels which support on sharp turns.The i-Road could be used for short trips like moving to markets and getting to train stations.

"Look at San Francisco or Manhattan where parking is so constrained," Schulz said."You could get around with this and then park a couple of them in the same space as a typical car today."

"In the 20 years I've been in the car business, this is the most fun, interesting ride dynamic I've ever had because of the rear-steer and the active lean system," Schulz said."It is just a total blast to drive. We have seen so many 'Tedsters' come out of the car smiling and happy."

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Neuroscientist Expects VEST Will Widen Range Of Human Senses

David Eagleman, who is a neuroscientist, has designed special cloth that will allow to sense what is going online without looking at any device.It is a sleeveless for top wearing with vibrating nodes that gives information to a wearer.It is known as VEST (variable extra-sensory transducer).It is able to sync tablet computers and has potential to convert stock prices, information as well as spoken words into digital data.Then send it wirelessly to vibration woven motors.

At the TED conference in Vancouver Eagleman said,""Your brain doesn't know or care where it gets the data from.""It is essentially a general purpose computing device."

Eagleman wore a VEST during conference and received Twitter posts.VEST aims to give the deaf a way to hear through converting spoken words into phonetically vibrations that could be understood as to running fingers over Braille.Its stock marketing feature will help wearers to when they buy and sell shares.

Its cost is expected less than $ 1,000 and available on the market within eight months.

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Facebook Allows Users To Send And Receive Money With Messanger App

Facebook has annoounced that it is adding a new feature to its Massenger app that will allow US users to send and receive money through it.According to a Facebook statement this service facility will be available in the next months.

To send money, users can tap a new symbol icon "quot; in the Facebook chat room.Add the amount you want to send and debit card number then tap "pay" button on the top right side.To receive money for the first time, open chat room and tap "add card" button then enter debit card number.Once you enter a Visa or MasterCard debit card number, you will be able to create a PIN code to provide security the next time when you send money.The money you send may take three days depending on the banks you used. 

Facebook handles more than one million transactions every day on its site for games as well as advertisers since 2007."We use secure systems that encrypt the connection between you and Facebook as well as your card information when you ask us to store it for you."

This new feature is rolling out in the US in the coming months accross Android, iOS, and desktop.

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0.5 mm Thick Battery Could Be Utilized In Electronic Applications

A team of researcher from KAIST in South Korea, is developing a flexible battery that is thinner than a credit card and which could be used in various electronic applications such as watch straps, smart cards and wrinkle smoothing patches.The new battery is 0.5 mm thick and the electrodes are laid side by side on the same plane.The battery exposes a 7.4 voltage that is maintained over 5,000 bending cycles.

The researcher Jang Wook Choi said, "The greatest significance of this work is reducing the thickness of the battery while demonstrating robust bendability and cell performance."Its performance could be increased by closely putting the 2 mm electrodes, approx 400 µm aside from each other.In the battery electrodes are very close which raise the chance of short circuit.The researchers solved this problem by interelectrode barriers with curvy electrode structure and interelectrode barriers have direct link between adjacent electrodes.In bending, adjacent electrodes ends stay away from each other due to the curvy electrode structure.

The researchers said that the battery timing can be increased by decreasing the distance of interelectrodes.They are thinking that printing technique has potential to produce more detail patterns at high speeds and more precise."Future plans include developing a process for scalable production, such as printing techniques," Choi said.

The battery could be recharged without any wire and by an integrated solar cell.For wireless charging connect the battery to a coil that receives electromagnet power from a transmitting coil that is 1 cm away.For solar charging connect the battery to a solar cell.

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New Desktop Application Has Potential To Increase Asteroid Detection, Now Available To Public

A software application based on an algorithm created by a NASA challenge has the potential to increase the number of new asteroid discoveries by amateur astronomers.

Analysis of images taken of our solar system's main belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter using the algorithm showed a 15 percent increase in positive identification of new asteroids.

During a panel Sunday at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, NASA representatives discussed how citizen scientists have made a difference in asteroid hunting. They also announced the release of a desktop software application developed by NASA in partnership with Planetary Resources, Inc., of Redmond, Washington. The application is based on an Asteroid Data Hunter-derived algorithm that analyzes images for potential asteroids. It's a tool that can be used by amateur astronomers and citizen scientists.

The Asteroid Data Hunter challenge was part of NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge. The data hunter contest series, which was conducted in partnership with Planetary Resources under a Space Act Agreement, was announced at the 2014 South by Southwest Festival and concluded in December. The series offered a total of $55,000 in awards for participants to develop significantly improved algorithms to identify asteroids in images captured by ground-based telescopes. The winning solutions of each piece of the contest combined to create an application using the best algorithm that increased the detection sensitivity, minimized the number of false positives, ignored imperfections in the data, and ran effectively on all computer systems.

"The Asteroid Grand Challenge is seeking non-traditional partnerships to bring the citizen science and space enthusiast community into NASA's work," said Jason Kessler, program executive for NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge. "The Asteroid Data Hunter challenge has been successful beyond our hopes, creating something that makes a tangible difference to asteroid hunting astronomers and highlights the possibility for more people to play a role in protecting our planet."

The data hunter challenge incorporated data provided by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and images provided by the Catalina Sky Survey, an astronomical survey project run by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and focused on the discovery and study of near-Earth asteroids and comets.

"We applaud all the participants in the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge. We are extremely encouraged by the algorithm created and it's already making a difference. This increase in knowledge will help assess more quickly which asteroids are potential threats, human destinations or resource rich," said Chris Lewicki, president and chief engineer at Planetary Resources. "It has been exciting for our team to work with NASA on this project, and we also look forward to future space-based systems leveraging these results."

Astronomers find asteroids by taking images of the same place in the sky and looking for star-like objects that move between frames, an approach that has been used since before Pluto was discovered in 1930. With more telescopes scanning the sky, the ever-increasing volume of data makes it impossible for astronomers to verify each detection by hand. This new algorithm gives astronomers the ability to use computers to autonomously and rapidly check the images and determine which objects are suitable for follow up, which leads to finding more asteroids than previously possible.

"The beauty of such archives is that the data doesn't grow stale, and with novel approaches, techniques and algorithms, they can be harvested for new information. The participants of the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge did just that, probing observations of the night sky for new asteroids that might have slipped through the software cracks the first time the images were analyzed," said Jose Luis Galache of the MPC. "Moreover, this software can now be used to analyze new images and is available to any observer who wants to use it. The Minor Planet Center applauds these efforts to provide superior tools to all, and looks forward to receiving new asteroid observations generated with them."

The desktop software application is free and can be used on any basic desktop or laptop computer. Amateur astronomers may take images from their telescopes and analyze them with the application. The application will tell the user whether a matching asteroid record exists and offer a way to report new findings to the Minor Planet Center, which then confirms and archives new discoveries.

Through NASA's asteroid initiative, the agency seeks to enhance its ongoing work in the identification and characterization of near-Earth objects for further scientific investigation. This work includes locating potentially hazardous asteroids and identifying those viable for redirection to a stable lunar orbit for future exploration by astronauts using NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The Asteroid Grand Challenge, one part of the asteroid initiative, expands the agency's efforts beyond traditional boundaries and encourages partnerships and collaboration with a variety of organizations.

Application can be downloaded at:topcoder.com/asteroids

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Scientists Used Fruit Flies To Describe How We Judge Cold And Hot

Scientists from Northwestern University have observed that how a fruit fly's brain reacts to hot and cold temperature, which has implications for understanding the way more complex human brain and how it replies to sensory stimuli.

Marco Gallio, who led the research is an assistant professor of neurobiology in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences said, "The brain is a beautiful machine, and one of the new frontiers in biology is to understand how it works.""The fruit fly is a fantastic model in which to study how the brain controls behavior, and it can help us understand how sensory circuits work in humans."

Scientists have found several neural pathways that send information about temperature from the antenna and meet in three central areas in the brain.Majority of neurons react to temperature change either hot or cold instead of their accuracy.These neurons help the animals to realize abrupt temperature change.Neuron which reacts to both types of temperature hot or cold is known as third kind of neuron.This neuron helps the fly to get danger signal about temperature.

"Humans are more resilient than flies in reacting to temperature change," Gallio said, "but the principles we are finding in the fly brain—the logic and organization—likely are the same in both. Whether human or fly, the sensory systems have to solve the same problems, so they often do it in the same ways."

Gallio added some more lines, "we decided to focus on temperature as one of the most fundamental sensory modalities.""Much like in the fly antenna, the sensory neurons in our skin respond to either hot or cold temperature. The brain knows what the hand feels by simply keeping track of which cell type is active—what we call a 'labeled line' system."

During the study they utilized a photolabeling technique to discover the connections that send temperature information to the brain.They discovered that signals meet at three regions which are the Mushroom Body and the Lateral Horn and the third one isthe Posterior Lateral Protocerebrum.

Then they used vivo imaging process to find the thermosensory projection neurons activated by either hot or cold stimuli have narrow tuned and those react to both hot and cold have broadly tuned.

Gallio and his team were confused and unable to unstand about different paths of brain after researching."We found there was an elegant answer," Gallio said. "Some neurons respond to only hot, some neurons respond to only cold, and some neurons respond to both hot and cold. They all converge in the brain, where all the messages are orchestrated into a cohesive response."

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Japan Space Scientists Make Wireless Energy Breakthrough

Japanese scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have taken a breakthrough step toward making solar energy transmition from space wirelessly becoming a reality.Japanese scientists successfully utilized microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts of power by the air to a pinpoint receiver 55 metres away without wire.In this process the researchers convert electrical signal into microwaves and send to a receiver.Then again convert into electrical signal.The major benefit of solar power generation in space is permanent availability of energy.

A spokesman for the JAXA said,"this was the first time anyone has managed to send a high output of nearly two kilowatts of electric power via microwaves to a small target, using a delicate directivity control device." He also said, "while the distance in Mitsubishi's experiment was not huge, the technology could pave the way for humankind to eventually tap the vast amount of solar energy in space."

JAXA has been working on Space Solar Power Systems project for years and has target to send solar power from space to Earth by using microwave transmission, the spokesman said.The microwave-transmitting solar satellites have antennae and panels for gathering sunlight, which transmit microwaves from an altitude of 36,000 kilometres.The JAXA spokesman forecasted that the practical application of this technology could take years, hope so it could be launched in 2040.

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Apple Is Going To Unveil First Smartwatch

Apple is expected to launch smartwatch at a media event, San Francisco.Apple announced its wrist watch last year without specific launch date.Apple's Watch will be available in two different sizes and in three collections, these are Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition.Apple Watch Edition is coated with 18 karat gold which is crafted from 18 karat yellow or rose cases.

"Apple is poised to once again show how computing platforms are won or lost on the one-two punch of eager consumers and hungry ecosystem partners," said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey.

Apple Watch comes with different apps and sensors such as health and fitness app, weather, calender, music, activity and clock.The watch will connect with the iPhone, and also contains map software which guides users.It comes with long time battery life.Apple Watch costs start from $349 USD.

The watch has some features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity to stay in touch with iPhone, light will display for alerts when iPhone's notifications are locked.The watch does not has shut down button, user can power off by pressing communications button for long time and has 8 GB storage capacity.There is no buttons pad for input command, user can do so by voice or touch.

Research firm Strategy Analytics forecasts that Apple will sale 15.4 million units in 2015 and Deutsche Bank analyst Sherri Scribner also forecasts that sales of 17.6 million units is accepted this year. ."The Apple Watch is the catalyst to ignite the global smartwatch market," said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston.

Analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates Roger Kay said, "There will be 10 million people who will buy it because it's from Apple."

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Recycler That Changes Waste Plastic Into 3D Printer Plastic

At the Unversity of British Columbia, engineering students (Dennon Oosterman, Alex Kay and David Joyce) have launched a plastic recycler that turns plastic into 3D printing material, the recycler known as ProtoCycler.It ables to crush plastic bottles and lego etc.After chruing, it melts plastic into a filament that can be ate into 3D printers.

Dennon Oosterman said that we were concerned about the amount of plastic waste generated in our engineering projects, so we looked for a way to recycle that plastic back into usable filament.

Oosterman explained that there are several ProtoCycler type machines on the market which grind plastic and filament extruder as well, but ProtoCycler is a combination of the two that is faster and easier to use.It has potential to produce filament of 10 feet in a minute.The fastest extruder on the market, says Oosterman.

ProtoCycler can create 1 kg spool of filament with purchased plastic in cost of $5 or produced free with used plastic.The cheapest spool is available at $30.ProtoCycler costs $699 and for pre-orders visit at www.redetec.com.

"Schools are including 3D printing as part of their science and technology curriculum, but the cost of having each student try a project can quickly become unaffordable.""With ProtoCycler, the students can try over and over until it's perfect, nearly for free, without harming the environment," Oosterman said.

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British Scientists Generate Electricity With Urine

British scientists at the University of the West of England in Bristol, have revealed a toilet which create electricity with urine, that could be used to provide electricity in distant areas such as refugee camps.British scientists with aid agency Oxfam developed this urinal toilet.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was funded this project "Urine tricity."

"It is always a challenge to light inaccessible areas far from a power supply," explained Andy Bastable, Head of Water and Sanitation at Oxfam.This invention is a great step to future.It is very difficult to live in a camp without light.Invention of this technology is a big sucess for scientists.

According to Ioannis Ieropoulos, who is a research team leader, a single unit costs approx £600 to install and supply electric power.It contains bacteria that break urine's chemicals during this process energy release in the form of electricity then stored on a capacitor in a fuel cell.

"The microbial fuel cells (MFC) work by employing live microbes which feed on urine for their own growth and maintenance," explained Ieropoulos."The MFC is, in effect, a system which taps a portion of that biochemical energy.

"This technology is about as green as it gets, as we do not need to utilise fossil fuels and we are effectively using a waste product that will be in plentiful supply," said Ieropoulos.

Earlier in 2013 the University of West of the England has displayed a urine powered cell to charge a smartphone.

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Engineers Prepared High-Tech Ink To Build Do-It-Yourself Sensors

A team of nanoengineer from the University of California, San Diego developed a tool that will help to make sensors.The team of researcher has prepared high tech bio-inks which react with chemical such as glucose.Researchers filled the pens with this inks and draw sensors on the skin and on the leaves to measure glucose and pollution respectively.The pen could be used on phones for health monitoring and on building walls to monitor toxic pollutants.It also has potiential to detect explosives and nerve agents on the battlefield.

A member of research team Wang said, "Our new biocatalytic pen technology, based on novel enzymatic inks, holds considerable promise for a broad range of applications on site and in the field."

During development the researchers faced a big challenge which was making inks from chemicals that are not toxic to plants and humans and able to act as the sensors electrodes and ability to keep their properties over long times in storage and in different conditions.They used polyethylene glycol which is biocompatible, used in some drug delivery applications as a binder.For the conductive of inks they used graphite powder.Then they added chitosan, an antibacterial agent used in bandages to reduce bleeding, to make the ink adhered.The inks also contains xylitol, a sugar substitute for the stabilization of enzymes that react with chemicals the do-it-yourself sensors are designed to monitor.

One ink loaded pen can draw 500 glucose sensor strips directly on the skin and could control eletrodes with electronic device via Bluetooth, device known as potentiostat, to collect data.For detection of pollutants, draw a sensor on a leaf then enzymes react with an industrial chemical phenol.Then put the leaf in a solution of phenol and water and the sensor was connected to a detector.

Nanoengineers explain that their next steps include connecting the sensors to devices wirelessly and checking sensors performance in difficult situations such as extreme temperatures and altering humidity.

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Solar Powered Plane Is Ready To Fly Around The World

 In the United Arab Emirates a solar powered plane made a third successful flight test and planned to promote solar power energy worldwide through the world tour.The flight test was one hour long from the UAE capital Abu Dhabi's small Al-Bateen airport and tested by two Swiss pilots Piccard and Andre Borschberg.Mission Chiefs said, "The pilot reported no problems."

"Hopefully next weekend, if the weather is good, we will be in the air going 35,000 kilometres (21,748 miles) to the east until we come back here," Piccard told AFP.

The plane has more than 17,000 solar cells install on its wings and wings are 72 metres long as an Airbus A380 superjumbo.It is made by light weight carbon fibre that weighs about 2.3 tonnes, approximately equal to a family 4X4 or 1% less than the weight of the A380.

The two Swiss pilots aim to demonstrate that "clean technology and renewable energy can achieve the impossible," Piccard said.

The plane will start the world tour from Abu Dhabi to Muscat then fly to Oman before crossing the Arabian Sea to India.Then it will fly to Myanmar, China, Hawaii and New York respectively.The pilot will be connected to a control centre in Monaco and landings are depending on weather conditions.The plane can go at speeds of 50 to 100 kilometres per hour, the slower speeds will be accepted at night to save the batteries from draining to quickly.The plane will arrive back in Abu Dhabi in July.

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