(and'doomsday'electromagnetic weapons) at bay It could be the ultimate armour against cyberwarfare. A Utah firm has revealed a new,
The material could even be used as wallpaper to protect entire rooms. Conductive Composites has created a method to layer nickel on carbon to form a material that's light
and mouldable like plastic yet can disperse energy like a traditional metal cage.''Our materials integrate game-changing conductivity and shielding performance as part of a multifunctional materials system,
while preserving the basic weight, cost, structural, environmental, and manufacturing performance advantages of composites and plastics,'the firm says.
Using the wallpaper would allow people to easily turn entire rooms into Faraday cages. The'Faraday cage'is named for The english scientist Michael Faraday,
who discovered the principles behind electromagnetic shielding. It prevents electromagnetic radiation from penetrating its exterior, protecting whatever is inside from static, electromagnetic pulses, radio waves,
and other electromagnetic phenomenon. The material comes amid growing concern over the development of electromagnetic weapons that could knock out computers.
Controversial tech boss and presidential candidate John Mcafee recently warned a'doomsday'electronic weapon could wipe out 90%of Americans
and urged politicians to is the number one threat facing the country. Mcafee, who recently announced he is running in 2016,
wrote in a blog for International Business times:''Experts agree that an all out cyber attack, beginning with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on our electronic infrastructure,
would wipe out 90%of the human population of this country within two years of the attack.'
'That means the death of 270 million people within 24 months after the attack.''He claims that the country,
-and warned that gun crime should not be the'single issue'that decided votes.''Our leaders are nearly all ill prepared for this near certain, not-too-distant event.'
'From Ocean's Eleven to Star trek, weapons that wipe out enemy electronics are a staple of science fiction films.
For years, scientists have been attempting to create such a weapon as part of Champ, or the Counter-electronics High-powered microwave Advanced Missile Project.
Now, the US Air force claims it has advanced the technology, and says it can deploy it using the stealthy Joint Air-to-surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM).
There are fears a well targeted attack could knock out multiple power stations.''This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare,
'said Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works.''In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic
and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive.''Mcafee says this is a huge issue being ignored.
He hit out at President Obama's focus on gun control. On 2 october, President Obama declared:''Here's what you need to do:
You have to make sure that anybody that you are voting for is on the right side of this issue.'
'If politicians oppose these measures, he continued, 'even if they're great on other stuff, you've got to vote against them.'
'Mcafee said he was confused initially by the statement.''Frantically searching again for my benzodiazepines, and certain that rabid squirrels would imminently emerge from my wristwatch
''But it is much easier to disprove a cause (as we did with guns above) than it is to prove a cause.''
'But if it is then surely weighing the possible deaths of 90%of our citizens due to cyber warfare against gun violence
the weapons are alsmost ready for use. Once integrated into JASSM, Champ will be a'first day of war'standoff weapon it claims.
Because it can be launched by both bombers and fighters, Lockheed's Joint Air-to-surface Standoff Missile,
or JASSM, is an ideal platform for Champ.''The capability is real and the technology can be said available today
Major general Thomas Masiello, the Air force Research Laboratory.''That's an operational system already in our tactical air force'In 2012, aircraft manufacturer Boeing successfully tested the weapon on a one-hour flight during which it knocked out the computers of an entire military compound.
During Boeing's experiment, the missile flew low over the Utah Test and Training Range, discharging electromagnetic pulses on to seven targets,
permanently shutting down their electronics. Boeing said that the test was so successful even the camera recording it was disabled.
Although the project is shrouded in secrecy, experts believe the missile is equipped with an electromagnetic pulse cannon.
This uses a super-powerful microwave oven to generate a concentrated beam of energy which causes voltage surges in electronic equipment,
rendering them useless before surge protectors have the chance to react. Boeing's CHAMP takes out enemy electronics with pulse The missile is equipped with an electromagnetic pulse cannon.
This uses a super-powerful microwave oven to generate a concentrated beam of energy. The energy causes voltage surges in electronic equipment, rendering them useless before surge protectors have the chance to react Keith Coleman, Champ programme manager for Boeing's prototype arm Phantom Works,
claims the technology marked'a new era in modern warfare'.'''In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic
and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive, 'he said during the initial test.
However, experts fear that the project could create an arms race, with countries scrambling to build their own electromagnetic pulse weapons.
Professor Trevor Taylor, Professorial Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, has said previously the Western world would be more vulnerable attack because of its increased reliance on electronics.'
'Should the US be known to have developed such a technology to the production stage, it would drive others to try to act similarly,
'he said h
#Scientists discover how to'turn off'pain by altering chemistry in the brain Patients can be made more resistant to pain by altering the structure of their brains,
scientists believe. New research has raised the possibility of creating more effective treatments for people who suffer from chronic pain
-which could be as simple as encouraging them to take more exercise. Scientists discovered for the first time that people left in agony by arthritis develop more receptors in the brain that respond to opiate pain relief.
Having extra receptors makes the body more resistant to pain both by using our bodiesnatural painkillers
endorphins, and through prescribed opiates such as morphine. The researchers believe that if we can find out how the body increases the number of opiate receptors,
or more-and one in five consultations with GPS are for this complaint. But some people seem to cope better with long-term severe pain,
The University of Manchester team found that the more opiate receptors an individual has the better able they are to resist pain.
They found that arthritis patients who had suffered more recent severe pain had more opiate receptors.
Professor Anthony Jones, director of the Manchester Pain Consortium, said: his is very exciting because it changes the way we think about chronic pain. here is generally a rather negative and fatalistic view of chronic pain.
from Manchester University, said: s far as we are aware, this is the first time that these changes have been associated with increased resilience to pain
a patient who suffers chronic pain from osteoarthritis, said she was xtremely interestedin the research. feel
#Skreemr concept could travel five times faster than Concorde It's 12 years since Concorde made its last supersonic flight at Mach 2. 04,
or 1, 354 mph (2, 179 km h). ) But the future of flight could be much faster,
Designers Charles Bombardier and Ray Mattison envisage the craft could be launched using a magnetic railgun system to catapult it into the sky at high speed.
and accelerated along them using a powerful electromagnetic field. Liquid-oxygen or kerosene rockets would be fired to enable the plane to rapidly climb higher in the sky
which is around twice the speed of Concorde, The Globe and Mail reported. The designers say scramjet engines could then be used to propel it to speeds of over 10 times the speed of sound,
349km/h) While scramjet engines are under development for drones and military planes, it could be years until they are used for consumer jets
because oxygen needed for engine combustion would be taken from air passing through a vehicle, instead of from a tank on board,
Bombardier Skreemr's sleek design, with four wings and two large rockets on the rear, is intended to be used as a commercial aircraft to carry 75 passengers in luxury.
While Bombardier came up with the idea Mattison, from Design Eye-Q in Minnesota, created the renderings of the concept.
Earlier this month, illustrations emerged for'Concorde 2, 'based on a patent awarded to Airbus in July,
which describes a craft that climbs vertically into the air before breaking the sound barrier as it travels horizontally across the sky.
It's been dubbed Concorde 2 because it would be much faster and quieter than the retired supersonic jet,
having been designed to have speed a top of Mach 4. 5, meaning a journey from New york to London would take just one hour.
Airbus hopes its planned hypersonic jet which would travel at 4. 5 times the speed of sound,
Its proposed one-hour journey time between New york and London would be more than three times faster than the original Concorde,
Airbus'jet is described as'an air vehicle including a fuselage, a gothic delta wing distributed on either side of the fuselage,
would work together to propel the vehicle at speeds of 3, 425mph (5, 500km/h). Two turbo jets would allow the aircraft to climb vertically at takeoff,
before retracting into the fuselage just before it reaches the speed of sound. A rocket motor would take it to an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000 metres.
Airbus says it has designed the craft's aerodynamics to limit sonic boom, making it much quieter than Concorde,
which some complained was too noisy when it flew over populated areas. However, unlike with Concorde, the Airbus design will limit passengers to just 20. t
#Forget PINS, soon you'll be able drawing money out using your EYES: Retinal scanning to be trialled by Citigroup Citigroup is testing new technology that will allow customers to withdraw money using retinal scanning.
The bank wants to replace PIN codes with biometric scanners that could identify customers using only their eyes.
Customers would use a smartphone app to key in the amount they want to draw out ahead of time.
As they approached the ATM, the app would link up to the machine and use retinal scanning to confirm the customer identity.
The ATM would then release the cash, providing the scanner recognises the individual. Citigroup said the retinal scans would take 15 seconds to complete compared to 45 seconds for traditional transactions.
It would they claim, be more secure and would mean that cards could never be skimmed at an ATM again.
The Wall st Journal reported that Citigroup has not set a date for when the retinal scanners would be introduced.
The bank may have to overcome privacy concerns as some customers may be uncomfortable giving their biometric data to such an institution.
Citigroup says it has been working with cash machine manufacturer Diebold and has confirmed that preliminary scanning tests have been carried out on 30 consumers in a laboratory at it head office in New york. The test cash machines do need not even a screen
or a touchpad as all the information is loaded by the app ahead of time. Citigroup is not the only financial institution testing out cardless cash machines-JP MORGAN CHASE
and Bank of america are working on similar technology. The moves comes in response to US credit scoring firm FICO announcing that in May this year the number of attacks on debit cards used at ATMS had reached its highest level in 20 years.
In the UK criminals have become increasingly adept at getting consumerspin codes from ATMS, including installing tiny cameras to record the moment they type the information in.
Fraud on lost or stolen cards in the first six months of last year reached £29. 2 million
up three per cent from the same period in 2013. The cost of counterfeit fraud-cards that are cloned-increased by four per cent to £24. 2million, up from £23. 3 million.
Users should also cover the keypad with their hand when they type in their pin code
#ELECTRONIC SKIN can'feel'heat and pressure at the same time The unique way in which our fingertips can detect changes in both temperature
and pressure have been reproduced in an electronic'skin'.'In tests, the grooves in the e skin were able to respond to water droplets running across them
and could detect when a human hair was placed on their surface. The breakthrough could be used to make more lifelike prostheses
or improve the accuracy of wearable sensors and medical diagnostic devices. The electronic skin was developed by researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science
and Technology, led by Professor Jonghwa Park. Human skin contains unique epidermal and dermal microstructures and sensory receptors.
The microridges on the fingertip are designed especially to fine-tune perception of surface texture and transfer sensory information to the brain.
Existing electronic skin technology lets robots and robotic prostheses grasp and manipulate objects, discern the surface texture and hardness,
However, electronic skins that can simultaneously detect both heat and different types of pressure with a level of high sensitivity have been a difficult to develop, until now.
Professor Park and his colleagues have designed ferroelectric films that mimic the grooved, microscopically'mountainous'structure of human fingertip skin.
By adding composites made of a polymer and reduced graphene oxide, the films are able to detect touch
and temperature using sensing electric charges. The authors tested the e skin's response to sensory changes created by water droplets
and found that the skins can detect water falling at different pressures and temperatures. They also found that the artificial fingertip skin could detect a tiny amount of pressure created by a human hair.
Professor Park and colleagues said their e skin can be used to monitor pulse pressure by detecting the changes in skin temperature that occur
which produces biochemical signals suitable for transmission to neurons. In the tests pressure signals from the skin generated light pulses that activated a line of light-sensitive nerve cells.
Professor Zhenan Bao, from Stanford university in the US, said:''This is the first time a flexible, skin-like material has been able to detect pressure
'We have a lot of work to take this from experimental to practical applications. But I now see a clear path where we can take our artificial skin.'
The secret of its design is a scattering of billions of carbon'nanotubes'-microscopic hollow carbon rods.
Putting pressure on the skin squeezes the nanotubes closer together and enables them to conduct electricity.
Real skin transmits pressure information as short pulses of electrical signals that are sent to the brain.
can identify everything from shop doorways to the contents of a fridge giving a verbal commentary through a phone app and earpiece.
Users can even have printed text read out loud simply by pointing at the words, while those with partial sight can zoom in as they need.
facial recognition software will instantly tell the user not only the name of an approaching person but their job and date of any previous meeting.
Fans of the TV series Star trek: The next Generation might spot a resemblance to the device used by the blind character Lieutenant commander Geordi La Forge.
The software, developed by London-based Vision Technologies and sold under the Givevision brand, instantly analyses a stream of images.
Once an object or street scene has been recorded, subsequent encounters are announced through an earpiece. The wearer can also tag images of a person face by speaking their name out loud
the number of an approaching bus and any empty seats on it. The system, being tested by 1,
000 users, is expected to cost between £50 and £75 a month and could be included in mobile phone packages from next year c
#Helmet with built-in suspension: Motorcycle headgear absorbs energy from a crash to protect your brain as well as your skull Experts have created a helmet with built-in suspension to protect your brain as well as your skull.
While most ordinary motorcycle and cycle helmets attempt to protect the skull from damage, the brain is still susceptible to injuries from impacts.
The 6d helmet contains a foam liner inside which is split into two layers, separated by an array of energy absorbing elastomeric isolation dampers
-which look tiny rubber suction cups-creating an air gap. It is designed to compress and'shear'omnidirectionally.
This allows the two layers to move independently acting similarly to a damper in a suspension system.
The helmet also slows the rotation of the head down on impact, which can cause the brain to spin inside the skull and lead to brain injuries.
Bob Weber, cofounder of 6d helmets, said the combination of the suspension system along with an EPS foam to absorb energy helps to make the helmet safer.
He said:''By having a suspension in the helmet, the helmet is active at a much lower energy demand than a traditional design.'
'The two liners can compress within themselves and if the energy is high enough the two layers come together
and the EPS takes over.''While traditional helmets are simply too stiff to effectively absorb energy from impacts at lower impact velocities,
the 6d helmet's Omnidirectional Suspension (ODS) will compress and shear omni-directionally when subjected to impact.
This means it could be used to improve safety for motorcyclists and traditional cyclists. An array of 27 dampers work in unison to isolate impact energy from the brain.
The elasticity of the dampers, and their ourglassshape, act like springs that manage low and medium crash impacts,
while allowing the foam liner to shear in. g
#senic designs the nuimo; a connected smart home dial The clicker, the converter, the switcher,
the flipperwhatever it is called, the remote controller has always been a staple of the household. the german startup senic wants to redefine it with uimo a dial interface that employs multiple types of inputs to control most smart home devices and services.
The device integrates bluetooth low energy technology to instinctively communicate with all connected devices, like smartphones, tablets,
and personal computers. it can be placed anywhere in the home, and can be programmed to utilize turning,
clicking, swiping and even hand motion gestures. uimohas an infrared based sensor that recognizes precise hand movements that command everything from the volume of the music,
to switching off the lights. a 11 x 11 dot matrix LED face, displays settings and third party options,
like a timer for the kitchen. the senic uimohas a diameter of 78 mm and weighs 190 grams (6. 7 oz).
and is covered by a scratch resistant hardened glass. the dial has a rechargeable lithium polymer battery,
The software is an open source platform that will invite a community of developers to create a more flexible integration with other nternet of things such as sonos, nest and philips hue.
Senic is looking for funding for its manufacturing in germany on kickstarter, with preorders starting at#89. the startup plans to ship worldwide by october 2015 d
the american electric automotive company went beyond cars to create a battery system centered on household consumption needs. the tesla owerwallis not only described as a game changing innovation
and are sufficient to power most homes during peak evening hours the batteries inside are a step towards revolutionizing the way people generate,
consume and manage energy and by allowing users to have better control of their energy sources,
the design moves the world to a more sustainable self sufficiency. it addresses the challenge of energy consumption at a personal,
national and global level. it benefits the everyday user and community alongside working towards a worldwide future solution. jury member arnold wasserman,
chairman of the idea factory and partner at collective innovation, describes the project t an absolute game-changer. energy self-sufficiency what could be bigger than that?
aside from benefitting households, CEO elon musk believes the owerwallwill aid the development of remote communities. he speculates the batteries will help people in emerging markets or remote locations to eapfrogthe need for existing power systems,
in a similar way that landlines in rural parts of the world are now obsolete as mobile phones have become more prevalent. t the most promising design wee seen that will encourage people to use renewables
and it has potential to level out energy consumption, explains index award jury member katinka von der lippe. costing approximately $3, 500 US,
the lithium ion batteries will allow owners to store energy generated during the day and use it at night,
allowing them to avoid buying electricity from utility providers in the evenings at peak rates. this will increased lead to independence from the power grid,
as well as a backup solution in case of a power outage. mikal hallstrup, founder and chief visionary office at designit, sums up the potential by saying, he design is an inspiration to the industry
and has great capacity to revolutionize the entire system of power generation. h
#A new gene-editing breakthrough A FEW years ago, molecular biologists made a breakthrough. By borrowing an antiviral mechanism called CRISPR-Cas9 from bacteria,
they created an easy way to tweak the genetic information in a cell nucleus. This has implications for medicine and agriculture.
Unfortunately, a dispute over who invented what parts of the technique first has threatened to curtail this potential.
and thus curb infectious disease. Plant and animal breeders may find it useful, too, for creating new strains of crops and livestock.
Indeed, because, like CRISPR-Cas9 it does not involve taking genes from one organism and implanting them in another,
it will not count as ransgenic a bugaboo of campaigners and customers alike. CRISPR-Cas9 consists of a pair of enzymatic cissors (the Cas9)
Monsanto, a plant-breeding and agrochemicals firm, has gone on record as saying that it is reluctant to employ CRISPR-Cas9 widely until it understands the intellectual property concerned.
Viral infection is a serious threat to these microbes, and the natural job of both CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cpf1 is to recognise viral genes
but by searching a published database of bacterial genetic sequences for promising-looking bits of DNA. This yielded two species that contain the new mechanism.
Despite the optimism of those who think the new techniques may calm qualms about genetic engineering,
#A drug used to rid people of worms is a new weapon against malaria IVERMECTIN,
a drug employed for the treatment of worm infections, has a side effect. It has been known since the 1980s that it kills arthropods (lice, mites,
which transmit malaria. Preliminary studies suggested so. Mosquitoes do, indeed, get poisoned when they bite people who have taken the drug.
And, since ivermectin is deployed routinely en masse to deal with lymphatic filariasis (a nasty disease that can lead to extreme swelling of limbs and genitalia), river blindness and so on,
to this year meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in Philadelphia, has changed that.
Dr Foy and his colleagues ran a small clinical trial in Burkina faso that is the first to measure the effect of the drug on rates of malaria.
People in a comparison group of villages got just the first dosehich is the routine annual mass-treatment for worm diseases.
which was conducted in Thailand by Kevin Kobylinski of the United states Walter reed Army Institute of Research,
Dr Kobylinski and his colleagues fed mosquitoes malaria-infected human blood mixed with the drug.
In Thailand, a country well on its way to eliminating the scourge of malaria, one line of attack is mass-treatment with drugs that can clear the parasite from its human hosts.
since this is already a familiar treatment for common problems like scabies. The discoverers of ivermectin predecessor, avermectin, were among the winners of this year Nobel prize for medicine.
By an odd coincidence, the third winner was the inventor of artemisinin, which is now the most effective antimalarial drug around.
it will increase the chance that the disease can be knocked on the head once and for all r
#Intel looks into crystal ball Intel has been looking into the near future at its Future Showcase 2015looking to get into homes,
and with an eye on start-ups, is was showing a home gateway based around the firm Galileo development board. t allows makers to come up with their own home automation system by providing a cross-platform central hub that can talk to any of the smart
said Intel. o if youe got a Nest thermostat and Philips Hue lightbulbs, for example, the Home Gateway will provide the link between the two. he system is based on NFC tags that track people in the home to adjust devices accordingly as they move around re-streaming a film from living room TV to kitchen tablet whilst
you make a cup of tea, for example. Realsense was another technology it is pushing. While it looks like this brand may cover more than one technology,
overall it covers 3d optical depth sensing. A version of it was demonstrated in HP Sprout.
Sprout is a device with at touch screen and more: ou control your content and activities with waving, pinching,
grabbing and even smiling at it said Intel. Beyond this it is hoping the technology will be used not just to add gesture recognition into tablets and phones,
but to add 3d scanning to devices. s just one example, 3dme takes photography into the third dimension
said Intel, which showed a 3d photo of someone in a block of glass. At longer range, it proposes Realsense as a way to give drones a local 3d map for object avoidance.
Current products on-show included the Intel NUC Compute Stick (PC with HDMI connector), Galileo Gen 2 (Arduino-style board with X86 processor) and Edison on an Arduino-style board n
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