#Move over Siri! New Software Could Make Better Personal Assistants You can already use your smartphone to locate the nearest Thai restaurant
or find your way to the cheapest parking garage. But soon, you may be able to use your device to plan your entire day from what bus you should catch in the morning to
which restaurant you should swing by on your way to the airport. A new software program that integrates with a phone's voice recognition system (such as Apple's computerized assistant,
Siri) serves as both travel adviser and taskmaster. It can tell you what time the next bus will arrive
but it can also tell you to hustle if you're running late or whether you have time to grab a cup of coffee on your way to the bus stop.
The program, which is being developed by researchers at the Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT), works by allowing users to specify their preferences for example,
by telling the software if they're willing to forgo going out for breakfast in order to catch the right bus. 11 Odd and Intriguing Smart Home Technologies"The idea is that you really have a dialogue with this system.
You say what your goals are and then it says either'Yes, I can do it;
here's the plan, 'or, it says,'No, I can't do it here's why
I can't, and here are said some other options Brian Williams, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and leader of the Model-based Embedded and Robotic Systems (MERS) group,
which is developing the software. The program, known as the Personal Transportation system, or PTS, was conceived originally as a joint project between the MERS group, the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford university and aerospace giant Boeing,
Williams told Live Science. Boeing tasked the researchers with creating an interactive system for a so-called Personal Air vehicle essentially
an autonomous flying taxi. To create the PTS, Williams and his team, which included MIT graduate students Peng Yu and Cheng Fang, had to take both timing and safety into consideration."
"If you want a vehicle to fly for you, what does need it to be like? It needs to be safe,
which means knowing how you can arrive at your destination on time and how you can arrive without flying into a weather system that might lead to a crash,
"Williams said. The novelty of such a system is that it can assess risk. This smart software understands what risks exist ranging from inclement weather to traffic jams as well as
what kinds of risks a user is willing to take. With this information, the program can help a user make plans that are feasible
but that also reflect his or her preferences.""Humans aren't very good at estimating risk,
"Williams said.""We aren't very rational, and we aren't very good at thinking about probabilities.
"While the flying car that the software was developed originally for is still a work in progress, there are plenty of other uses for a software system that can assess risk,
Williams said. For example, people who plan routes for mass transit systems could use the program to help them come up with the most efficient ways around a city.
the software can suggest other solutions that might work (such as having the buses reach their destination at 12-minute intervals instead of 10-minute ones).
These alternate solutions still keep the user's constraints or goals in mind, so even though the buses arrive less frequently,
The PTS could also be useful for drivers of electric cars, said Williams, who noted that the system could
when it is time to plug in, but also help people find the best place to recharge
#'Nanostar'particles Make Cancer cells Light up Finding cancer cells might one day involve shining a laser onto a certain region of the body
Researchers have developed a new type of nanoparticle that they call nanostars which accumulate in tumor cells
and scatter light making the tumors easy to see with a special camera. The particles are each about 140 nanometers (0. 000005 inches) across
and consist of eight-point gold stars that are surrounded by a layer of dye and encased in a sphere of silica and a polymer.
The researchers'method of making the stars ensures that all of the particles are nearly identical
which is important because earlier efforts to make such nanoparticles weren't able to produce the consistent shapes needed said Dr. Moritz Kircher a molecular imaging specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New york city.
That regular star shape is important because it scatters light in a particular way Kircher said.
When a laser hits one of the nanostars most of the light scatters with the same amount of energy.
But a small number of photons about 1 in 10 million--scatter with less energy
The nanoparticles can't enter noncancerous cells in the body so only the cancer cells light up.
so that they were very likely to develop cancer and injected them with the nanostars. The particles spread thorough the bloodstreams of the mice and built up in the cancerous cells.
The researchers then put the mice on a stage and used an infrared laser to scan each mouse.
The researchers found that the nanoparticles caused bright spots where cancer cells and even precancerous cells were hiding.
In normal organ muscle or fat cells they don't leave the bloodstream he said. Cancerous cells have larger pores in the blood vessels that nourish them allowing the nanoparticles through.
Kircher said seeing the precancerous cells light up under the laser was a bit of a surprise
and tumor cells that researchers had suspected existed but hadn't seen. It was thought precancerous cells also develop the larger pores like cancer cells.
Because the nanostars were bright enough to show the precancerous cells this is evidence that they also have larger pores in their blood vessels.
The nanostars could be important in treating people with cancers in which the dangerous cells are sometimes hard to see such as liposarcoma a cancer that arises in fat cells.
You go in and open up the abdomen say and see all that fat Kircher said. You see some streaks that look abnormal
but don't know where edges of the tumor are. So doctors either have to take out all of the tissue that might possibly contain cancer
or risk leaving some cancerous cells in the body. These new nanoparticles would show where the dangerous cells are
and make the surgery a lot more precise he said. There are other benefits over earlier efforts Kircher said.
The nanostars are nonspecific they don't need to be custom-made for each type of cancer. Earlier experiments with nanoparticles often required them to be built to order coated with proteins that would link to specific types of cancer cells.
But before these nanoparticles get to the clinic there is still work to be done testing their toxicity
which will require animal studies he said. This is really good work concerning nanotechnology and it's application said Andrey Kuzmin professor of physics at the Institute for Lasers Photonics
and Biophotonics at the State university of New york at Buffalo who was involved not in the research.
Kuzmin's team has done also extensive work on nanoparticles. He added that the use of the star shape was new as most previous gold nanoparticles were more like rods.
The work appears in today's (Jan 21) issue of Science Translational Medicine e
#Bye bye Baubles: New 3d printers Could Build Implants Electronics Several new 3d printers showcased at CES 2015 in Las vegas earlier this month suggest that the 3d printing industry best known for churning out brightly colored plastic doodads could be turning over a new
, more scientific leaf. Amid the rough-edged replicas of superheroes and army tanks that adorned the expo's 3d printing space stood a machine that prints tiny medical implants that dissolve inside the human body.
Another printer uses a combination of conductive inks and filaments to print quadcopters already embedded with the electronics that allow them to hover in the air.
One company displayed a prototype of a 3d printed medical device that can automatically stitch up patients after surgery.
The message these companies are sending couldn't be clearer: 3d printing isn't just for makers anymore.
Increasingly, this trendy technology is turning into a must-have tool for doctors, researchers and engineers, according to Nick Liverman, CEO and founder of Old world Labs (OWL), a Virginia-based company that designs dissolvable 3d printed implants.
The 10 Weirdest Things Created By 3d printing"Most 3d printers are made to print what's already out there a model version of the Eiffel Tower or a chess set.
But you would use our printer to build things that aren't developed yet: theories, research.
It's paperwork that now can become real, "Liverman told Live Science. 3d printed implants OWL's MC-1
and MC-2 printers were both on display at CES. The machines use a process known as stereolithography (SLA), in
which lasers harden layers of liquid plastic, or resin, into three-dimensional shapes. This technique sets OWL's printers apart from other 3d printers on the market, such as Makerbot's Replicator or the Ultimaker 2, that use a process known as fused deposition modeling (FDM), not SLA.
In FDM, heated plastic is released layer by layer onto a platform to create a 3d object
a process that results in a much less detailed product with a rougher finish than objects created using SLA.
Other 3d printers on the market also use stereolithography to build what Liverman calls"high-resolution"objects.
But OWL's machines are advanced more than these printers, according to Liverman, who said that his company's machines print objects that are 200 times more accurate,
or truer to their original design, than objects created with other SLA printers. OWL is currently using its super-accurate printers to bring complex ideas to life.
For example, cancer researchers who want to deliver localized treatments to patients are using OWL's machines to build what Liverman called"microfluidic devices."
"Such devices are highly detailed, containing tiny channels that circulate prescription drugs into a patient's body."
"You can also build custom implants, like tissue scaffolds, "Liverman said.""You can inject stem cells into the scaffold that you build with the printer
and then you can, for example, do a cartilage replacement on a knee.""7 Cool Uses of 3d printing in Medicine During cartilage replacement surgery, the scaffold containing the stem cells would be implanted in the knee,
where the stem cells grow to replace the missing cartilage, Liverman said. The scaffold, which is printed with what Liverman called"bioreabsorbable material,
"eventually dissolves harmlessly inside the body. OWL is currently working on obtaining long-term FDA approval for the resins used in its printing process.
This would allow the company's clients, which include NASA and Virginia Tech, to print such scaffolds and other medical-grade devices and use them in real-world settings,
not just in the lab. Printable electronics OWL wasn't the only progressive 3d printing company hawking its wears at CES.
Harvard-based startup Voxel8 was there, too. The company's 3d printers have two extruders one that prints in conventional plastic filaments and another that squirts out highly conductive ink."
"Coming off the printer is not just a plastic shape but a fully functioning electronic device,"said Voxel8 cofounder Daniel Oliver.
At CES, Voxel8 showed off a quadcopter printed with its machine. The flying toy was built in layers the structure of the device was printed in plastic with cavities carved out for the control logic board and the motors.
The printer then used conductive ink (which takes the place of wires) on top of the plastic, connecting these electrical components.
The ink, along with the imbedded electronics, eventually got covered up with more layers of plastic.
Of course Voxel8's printer is designed to do more than just print tiny drones. The company will also be releasing new printing materials in order to try its hand at printing resistors, sensors and, for future models of its printer, even lithium-ion batteries.
These objects are in addition to the custom circuit boards that Voxel8's printers have perfected already.""We're talking about printing out a circuit at your desk in less than 30 minutes,
"Oliver said. This represents a vast improvement over earlier options for printing custom circuit boards, a process that,
Oliver said, traditionally could take up to a month to complete. Engineers and developers will not only be able to realize their designs much quicker with a Voxel8 printer,
they'll also be able to try out unconventional geometries for their electronics, Oliver said. For example, rather than trying to get a rectangular circuit board to fit inside a curved object,
it will now be possible to customize the shape of a circuit so that it fits inside objects of any shape or size."
"There's a trend to try to get 3d printing to create more useful things, "Oliver told Live Science."
"We're getting closer and closer to the idea that anything can be 3d printed. 3
#Four Tech Breakthroughs at the Cutting edge of Light During these dark winter months, spare a thought for artificial lights.
From strings of lights adding holiday cheer to artificial sunlamps alleviating seasonal affective disorder, they brighten our days.
And light applications can go much further than that. The United nations designated 2015 as the International Year of Light
and Light-Based Technologies to raise awareness of how photonic technologies offer solutions to international challenges.
Light technology is now an active area of research in energy, health and agriculture. First lighting the way In the late 1800s
Thomas Edison created a practical light bulb, an electrically-powered, long-lasting light source that significantly changed our work, play
and sleep habits. The ability to control light in new ways transformed how we experience
and see the world. Light-based technologies such as optical fiber networks allow us to connect rapidly with people worldwide over the internet.
Light emitting diodes (LEDS) are now everywhere from consumer electronics like smart phones to light bulbs for home lighting.
One recent example is the artificial skylight invented by researchers who spent over ten years refining the Coelux system.
The key to its success in replicating a sunny sky uses nanostructured materials to scatter light from LEDS in the same way tiny particles scatter sunlight in the atmosphere so-called Rayleigh scattering.
and nanotechnology as well as the completion of a device that may improve quality of life in indoor settings, from hospitals to underground parking garages.
Illuminating research Only recently has the full utility of LEDS been realized for general lighting. While red and green LEDS had been in commercial use for more than a decade,
the missing color for producing white light was blue. Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura cracked the blue conundrum in the early 1990s.
Now, thanks to their work, white light LEDS are ubiquitous. In recognition of this energy saving invention, they received the Nobel prize in Physics last year.
Light was recognized also in the Nobel prize category of Chemistry last year for light-based microscopy tools that use a few tricks to sense the presence of a single molecule.
the scientists could reconstruct the location of the molecules at the nanometer scale. Here how it works:
a fraction of fluorescent molecules or proteins is excited first by a weak light pulse. Then after their emission fades, another subgroup of fluorescent molecules are excited.
The ability to peer into the nanoworld of living cells to observe, for example, how proteins aggregate in the earliest stages of diseases like Alzheimer
and Huntington, has begun just. Understanding disease progression at the single-molecule level could help identify
when early intervention might be advantageous. Investors must see the light Light is a unifying science across fields like chemistry and physics
improving our lives and the world. But learning how to manipulate light is costly and takes time.
Technologies are built largely on investments in basic science research as well as, of course, serendipity and circumstantial opportunities.
Take LEDS for example. Research in blue LEDS started more than 40 years ago at Radio Corporation of America,
but changes in the company funding structure stymied their development for two decades until last year Nobel prize winners solved the materials problem
and the scale up process. Continued and sustained support of fundamental research is critical for future technologies not yet imagined
in agriculture, more effective harvesting of solar energy and its conversion into heat via greenhouses could enable year-round production as well as access to crops not currently available in certain climates.
In my own work as a chemistry researcher, my group invented a laser the size of a virus particle,
but is, thanks to metal nanoparticles that can squeeze light into small volumes. These tiny lasers are promising light sources that can be used to send
and receive data with high bandwidths as well as to detect trace molecules or bio-agents. Construction of our nanolaser required precise control over the shape and location of the adjacent gold nanoparticles.
That such nanostructures could even be made is because of the decades-long investment by the electronics industry in developing nanofabrication tools to make the tiny components in computers.
Investments in both fundamentals and applications are critical, as has been highlighted by last year Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Physics.
The UN designation of this International Year of Light will spotlight the potentials of these kinds of innovations
and the need to continue investing in future technologies. From new ways to shake off those winter blues to manipulating light in small spaces,
In a recent blog post and video, the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist showed off what he called an"ingenious machine,
"a steam-powered sewage processor that burns up solid waste and creates both potable water and electricity.
and built by the Washington-based engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy, which is now receiving funding from the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop the technology. Gates believes the machine can help solve one of the developing world's biggest problems access to clean water.
At least 2 billion people the world over relieve themselves in bathroom facilities that aren drained properly, according to Gates,
who also noted that many others don't have access to bathrooms at all and must defecate out in the open.
All of this improperly processed waste contaminates the drinking water of millions of people in communities around the globe.
This results in disease that kills about 700,000 children every year, and stunts the physical and mental development of many more,
Gates wrote in his blog post. But the solution to this devastating problem isn't to build more toilets.
Western-style sewer lines and sewage treatment plantsare not feasible options in most poor countries according to Gates.
But, a sewage treatment machine like the Omniprocessor may work in such places, he said. Measuring about 75 feet (23 meters) long and 26 feet (8 m) across, this small processing plant can handle about 14 tons of waste every day.
That means it's large enough to continually process sewage from a community of about 100,000 people, according to the Gates Foundation.
The machine is loaded up with sewer sludge, which travels up a conveyor belt and is fed into large tubes known as dryers.
The dryers boil the sludge, removing all the liquid and capturing it as water vapor, which is processed then heavily, making it suitable to drink.
The solid waste is dumped into an incinerator, which burns up the rest of the waste,
creating a good deal of heat. This heat, in turn, is funneled through a steam engine, which produces high-temperature steam that fuels a generator.
The generator creates electricity that is used to power the machine. There's even a little extra electricity left over that can be transferred into the power grid.
This self-sustaining machine will soon be launched in a pilot project in Dakar, Senegal, where Janicki engineers will study the Omniprocessor's operation in a real-world setting.
In addition to testing out different locations for the machine and communicating with local community members about how it works, the Janicki team's trial run in Senegal will also test out a system of sensors
and webcams that will let engineers in the United states control the machine remotely.""It might be many years before the processor is being used widely,
"Gates wrote in his blog post.""But I was impressed really with Janicki engineering. And I excited about the business model.
The processor wouldn just keep human waste out of the drinking water; it would turn waste into a commodity with real value in the marketplace.
It the ultimate example of that old expression: one man trash is another man treasure. t
#Following Tesla's Lead Toyota Makes Fuel cell Patents Free Toyota is making thousands of its hydrogen fuel cell patents available royalty-free,
the car company announced this week at CES 2015 in Las vegas. The company will make more than 5,
600 fuel cell patentsavailable through 2020 to carmakers who produce and sell fuel cell vehicles, and to parts suppliers and companies interested in building and operating fueling stations,
said Bob Carter, Toyota's senior vice president of automotive operations. The carmaker hopes the move will spur worldwide development and innovation in fuel cell technologies.
It comes on the heels of a similar decision by billionaire entrepreneur Elon musk to make the patents of his electric car company
Tesla motors, freely available. 10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life"The first-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicles,
launched between 2015 and 2020, will be critical, requiring a concerted effort and unconventional collaboration between automakers, government regulators, academia and energy providers,
"Carter said in a speech at CES. Carter said Toyota has a"long history"of sharing its intellectual property,
citing as an example the firm's licensing of patents for hybrid vehicles. But this is the first time Toyota is making its patents available for free,
a move that"reflects the company's aggressive support for developing a hydrogen-based society,"
"Carter said. Companies that make fuel cell busses and industrial equipment can also receive the patents,
and requests from nontransportation companies will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, he said. The announcement applies only to patents wholly owned by Toyota.
Fuel cell vehicle-related patents will be available royalty-free until the end of 2020, while hydrogen-production and supply patents will remain free indefinitely.
Toyota also encouraged other companies to share their fuel cell patents. Carter said his company provided substantial funding for the development of hydrogen fueling infrastructure in California and the northeastern United states. In May 2014
the carmaker announced a $7. 3 million loan to the Newport Beach, California-based hydrogen fueling company Firstelement Fuel to help maintain nearly 20 fueling stations across the state.
In November 2014, Toyota announced a collaboration with French multinational Air liquide to design and supply a network of 12 hydrogen stations for New york, New jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode island d
#Exoskeleton Helps Spinal cord Injury Patient Walk LAS VEGAS Bionic exoskeletons are helping spinal cord injury and stroke patients walk again.
One man with a partial spinal cord injury, Shane Mosko, demonstrated here today (Jan 8) at the 2015 CES how the new bionic legs operate,
using a system produced by Ekso Bionics, of Richmond, California. More than 3, 500 patients with either spinal cord or stroke injuries have walked more than 15 million steps with the device,
said Russ Angold, the cofounder and chief technology officer of the company. Video: Bionic Legs Help Spinal cord Patient Walk Superhuman?
Since the 1890s, inventors have imagined and sometimes patented Ironman-like suits that could give a wearer superhuman strength.
In the 1960s, GE even developed a giant, unwieldy, and tethered version of an exoskeleton,
The first ones were designed for soldiers, who routinely suffer from chronic back, hip and knee complaints from shouldering 135-pound (61 kg) packs on their backs all day,
Angold added. Ekso Bionics has been working on its project for more than a decade, he said. The first version required 2,
500 watts of power and a giant backpack full of motors and batteries to operate. But the company also developed much smaller devices, called passive walkers,
which is now being developed by Lockheed martin. Up and walking The new device, called the Ekso,
The new exoskeleton can also help people with spinal cord injuries, like Mosko, who uses a wheelchair
but has partial sensation and some use of his legs. The technique can allow them to build
and manufacturing workers hold heavy tools without fatiguing their arms, he said
#Coolest Eco-Friendly Technologies at CES 2015 LAS VEGAS Companies from around the globe are debuting technologies here at CES that aim to remedy today's most pressing environmental problems.
For instance, Samsung introduced a computer monitor made of 30 percent recycled plastic that runs on less energy
when it's not in use than conventional monitors. Electronics company LG announced a whole line of"greener"home appliances that use less energy and water than the company's previous models
and Mercedes announced a new luxury vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Lots of small companies are getting in on the action too,
introducing products from solar-charging stations to pollution sensors that put the environment first. Here are some of the coolest green tech products being showcased at CES.
Ecoatm is a stand-alone machine (it looks kind of like a Redbox or Coinstar machine) that allows users to exchange old electronics for cold, hard cash.
While it's not exactly new (the first ecoatm launched in 2009), this product was a hit this year at CES,
where onlookers crowded around to watch the machine assess the value of beloved smartphones. The electronics that ecoatm reclaims can be mined for the valuable and rare metals they contain.
By recycling your old devices, you can prevent toxic mining waste from being poured into the environment, according to the company.
And by keeping electronics out of the garbage dump, you also prevent the toxic materials found inside these devices (things like mercury and cadmium) from leaking into the ground.
Of course, not all of the electronics that find their way into the ecoatm are taken actually apart and used for parts.
Most of them are resold to new owners a company spokesperson told Live Science. Automatic lets you harness the computing power of your car for the sake of fuel efficiency.
This little device plugs into the diagnostic port of your vehicle, which is tucked typically between the dashboard and the brake pedal.
Once plugged in, Automatic connects the car's computer system to your smartphone, relaying data about all of your car's subsystems from the gas tank to the engine.
With this data at the ready, the device can tell you when there's something wrong with your car before it becomes a major issue,
a company spokesperson told Live Science. It's like preventative health for your car, she said,
letting you diagnose a problem before it starts eating away at your fuel efficiency or increasing your emissions.
In addition to letting you know when there's something wrong with your car, Automatic also notifies you
when there's something wrong with your driving. If you tend to accelerate too quickly, Automatic will inform you that this bad habit wastes gas.
In fact, the company claims that the device can help you spend up to 33 percent less on fuel each year just by getting you to avoid a few gas-guzzling habits.
The fitness and lifestyle company Misfit announced a new product at CES: the Swarovski Shine.
This fitness and sleep tracker was designed in collaboration with jewelry giant Swarovski and features a large blue-hued crystal embedded with sensors.
Customers can buy a pendant necklace or wristband to store this attractive wearable, which has one surprisingly green feature:
which Misfit has dubbed an"energy harvesting crystal.""The clear crystal version of the Shine can't absorb quite as much light as the blue version,
which is why it needs a traditional battery. Solpro Of course, the Misfit Shine isn't the only product at this year's CES that gets its power from the sun. Solar tech company Solpro unveiled its new solar-powered phone-charging device, the Helios Smart
, this week, as well. The device is a pocket-size rectangle that unfolds to reveal three solar panels.
These panels can absorb enough sunlight in 90 minutes to charge a standard smartphone according to the company.
The Helios is ideal for those who are on the go and don't feel like hunting for a charging station,
or those who are living off the grid (even if just on a camping trip). But Solpro CEO Bill Pike thinks the device is a good solution for everyday charging, as well."
"It won't be just for camping and emergencies, "Pike told Live Science in an email. People want alternative,
sustainable options for generating energy, he said
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