#Self-Healing Material Could Instantly Fix Airplane Wings Mid-Flight Tiny scratches on a wind turbine
scabbing over small breaks like blood in a wound. It works like this. Tiny spheres of liquid are embedded in the airplane wing.
If the wing gets damaged, the spheres in that location break, and the liquid inside (a carbon-based substance) spills out to fill the'wound'.
'Then, other chemical catalysts in the wing harden the liquid, filling in whatever crack or damage occurred.
A similar kind of capsule technology is being developed to repair cracks in concrete. asically, any industry
which uses carbon fibre composites could benefit, Duncan wass told Forbes. t the consumer end of the market that could be sports equipment, bike frames,
and so on. orbes speculates that that'and so on'could include anything from nail polish to cracked cell phone screens...
if the price of producing the substance falls far enough to make it economically viable. Right now, the research group at Bristol says that"self-healing nail polish will have to wait
We already have tablets that are paper-thin, but this display is much thinner than a human hair.
It can also achieve the full spectrum of color and only takes milliseconds to alter.
Until now, flexible displays could only obtain a limited color palette and took up to 10 seconds to alter.
By filling a metallic waffle-like nanostructure with liquid crystal, and sandwiching it between layers of plastic,
the researchers were able to create an ultra-thin and more efficient display. Unlike the screen of a cellphone, this display does need not to produce its own light source.
The amount of voltage applied to the liquid crystal sitting in the waffle wells alters its molecular orientation,
and changes what wavelengths of ambient light are reflected or absorbed by the nanostructure. The team at the University of Central Florida created a 1mm-sized"Afghan Girl"image
and applied different voltages to alter its color. Blown up, the image blown up looks pixelated, but Debashis Chanda, who led the study,
said that larger displays would have as good an image quality as a television. f you look in nature,
your octopi and your chameleons actually create color based on their skin and ambient light, said Chanda. ny surface where you want to change the color or the pattern,
Not only could it be used to create e readers that can be read like a magazine he says,
but it could also be used in the development of smart camouflage gear, color-changing fashion items and wall-sized screens l
#Superfast Lasers Create A Hologram You Can Touch The halls of science fiction are decorated well with dreams of hologramsules Verne introduced holography to literature in 1893 with The Castle of the Carpathians,
The voxels are light emitted by plasma that's created when the laser's focused energy ionizes the air.
When touched the laser feels like sandpaper, says principal investigator Yoichi Ochiai, although some participants thought the plasma felt a little like a static shock.
This isn't the first attempt at using femtosecond lasers to form air plasma, says Chunlei Guo, professor of optics and physics at the University of Rochester,
but the study should help in designing future femtosecond laser displays. Although previous studies have used nanosecond
and femtosecond lasers to create images, the DNG researchers say preceding studies haven't achieved resolution this high,
and would burn human skin. Since the lasers fire at such a high speeds they're able to react in realtime,
A camera underneath the hologram captures user interaction, allowing the dots to respond to being ouched.
Ochiai says the most surprising thing he realized was that plasma was actually safe to touch in this application
#Machines Sniff out Illegal Specimens Of Wood Illegally traded specimens of endangered species present a huge problem to investigators and customs officials all over the world.
Wildlife trade is one thing, and forensic specialists have managed to come up with some ingenious (and spectacular) deterrents to illegal wildlife trade,
including advanced DNA TESTING that is now used to protect endangered or threatened animals. Detecting illegal wood products is more challenging,
especially after the timber has been processed. Until now. NPR with Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that a wildlife forensic lab has managed to start identifying illegal wood samples using a DART-TOF (Direct Analysis In real time Time of Flight) mass spectrometer,
Here how it works. When investigators find something they think might have been made with illegal wood,
and spits out a reading that the scientists can compare to other samples in a growing database.
If the wood is a match for a rare or endangered species, the authorities can take action against the people using illegally forested wood.
The hope is that eventually technologies like this can help people figure out where forests are most vulnerable
and prevent continued deforestation a
#Cuban Babies Are Now HIV-Free Cuba has become the first country in the world in
which HIV-positive mothers no longer pass the disease on to their children, according to the World health organization (WHO).
Without treatment, they have a 15 to 45 percent chance of passing the virus on to their children, usually during pregnancy (when the disease crosses the placenta),
and were given breastfeeding substitutes in an effort to prevent the transmission of the disease. In concert, these initiatives workedn 2013,
a number low enough to qualify for THE WHO to validate that mother-to-child transmission of the disease has been eliminated effectively.
Stopping the transmission of HIV is ne of the greatest public health achievements possible says Margaret Chan,
the director general of THE WHO. That because a reduction in HIV infection in babies could mean that there are fewer adults to transmit the disease to one another,
so excruciating that it is called often the one breaker, causing severe pain in the joints and abdomen, vomiting,
so the only way to cut down on incidences of the disease is to decrease the number of mosquitoes that carry it.
reducing the population of the disease-carrying insects by 95 percent, according to a study published last week in PLOS Neglected Tropical diseases.
The british biotech company Oxitec has been developing a unique form of pest control for over a decade.
Since dengue is primarily spread through the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, Oxitec has engineered a male mosquito that, to female mosquitoes in the wild, looks just like the usual males.
when the mosquitoes mate, their young carry a mutation that kills them before theye able to reproduce
or transmit the disease. Juazeiro, a city in northeast Brazil, was a great place to try them out.
dengue has been on the rise in Brazil, with an estimated 16 million new cases every year.
Many of the mosquitoes that carry the disease are also resistant to pesticides, which meant that Brazilians were left with few options to decrease dengue prevalence.
The neighborhood in which the researchers tested the modified mosquitoes was a low-income area with high rates of dengue infection
according to local public health officials. Over a one-year period, the researchers released the modified males into the local environment
and monitored the resulting eggs, looking for a characteristic fluorescent marker engineered into the malesgenome.
In the course of that year, the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes decreased by 95 percent as compared to a control group in a neighborhood next door.
This isn Oxitec first attempt to decrease the prevalence of disease-carrying mosquitoeshe company did another trial in the Cayman islands in 2010ut this test was the most successful.
The researchers hope to scale up their efforts to eradicate dengue and the insects that carry it in a larger area n
#For the first time, Waves Are Adding Power To The U s. Grid Azura, a machine that turns the mothion of waves into electricity,
off the coast of Hawaiithe waves of Hawaii are a big draw for tourists and surfers,
but now they're also a source of electricity. For the first time in the United states, energy collected from waves is being turned into electricity that is heading onto the grid,
and powering homes in Hawaii. The project involves the Azura prototype, built by Northwest Energy Innovations.
Azura is a 45 ton machine that moves with the swells of the waves capturing their complex motion in 360 degrees
including the University of Hawaii, who independently verified that the generators were working and supplying power to the grid.
If all goes well, an even larger version of the device will go into the ocean in 2017.
there are a lot more wave energy projects in the works. The Department of energy (DOE) notes that over 50 percent of the population in the United states lives within 50 miles of the coast,
making waves (and their energy) an easily accessible renewable energy option. The DOE is currently sponsoring the Wave Energy Prize
a competition open to the public where teams attempt to build the best wave energy device.
Registration for the competition just closed this week, and 92 teams have submitted proposals, hoping to reach the grand prize of $1. 5 million.
#Handheld Device For Surgeons Could Turn off Pain A new handheld tool called the Chimaera will help surgeons find the right nerve with ease by giving them real-time feedback during operations.
This kind of device, its developers claim, will usher in a new age of surgical devices, making delicate nerve procedures easier for surgeons everywhere.
In recent years surgeons have been able to implant devices called neuromodulators that can stop pain
But surgeons have a hard time accessing nerves that are behind the eyes or the face because it's difficult to identify the right one among the jumble,
The Chimaera device helps surgeons identify and access specific nerves. When a surgeon holds the wireless wand-like device near a place where he plans to make an incision,
the Chimaera sends data about that spot to a computer where it is combined with information from a CT SCAN of the patient brain taken previously.
This information is compiled into a single X-ray-like image that the surgeon can see in real time with Google glass
allowing her to examine the blood vessels and nerves that surround the place of the incision so that the surgical tool is as precise as possible.
Once the incision is made, the Chimaera can help the surgeon damage as little as possible on its way to the desired nerve,
where the surgeon can implant the neuromodulator device. Right now these most delicate procedures can only be conducted by a handful of surgeons worldwide, Reuters reports.
But the Chimaera could make neuromodulators so much easier to implant that they could become more commonplace.
That good news as the devices are becoming increasingly advancedne day soon patients who feel a migraine coming on could simply ial downtheir pain from their smartphone
as Simon Karger of Cambridge Consultants told Reuters. This initial version of the Chimaera is essentially a oncept car,
and its developers are currently looking for partners to produce it at a large scale. But for this company, Chimaera is merely the first of
what will likely be many devices that give surgeons more feedback during a procedure, which will make surgery easier and more precise o
#Approved: Prosthetic Legs That Anchor Directly To The Bone The FDA has approved just leg prosthetics that anchor directly to the bone,
The Osseoanchored Prosthesis for the Rehabilitation of Amputees (OPRA) device solves this issue by using fixtures that are implanted directly into the amputee bone,
The implant is made out of titanium so that the bone does not reject it. After about six months when the tissue has grown around the fixture,
The patient is required then to go through six months of training before being fitted with a customized prosthetic.
A 2014 study published in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that amputees using the device reported increased mobility,
A major concern with bone-anchored prosthetics is the risk of infection. Stanmore Implants a prosthetics company in the UK, got around this by modeling their prosthetics after the way deer antlers are attached.
The device, called the Intraosseous Transcutaneous Amputation Prosthesis (ITAP), has pores to help soft tissue seal off the connection between the skin and bone,
which reduces the chance of bacteria getting it. The device has been shown to be effective in both animals and humans,
#New Antibody Fights Several Flu Strains At once Researchers have discovered recently a unique antibody that can kill several different types of the flu virus,
Influenza A can cause the most severe symptoms and can infect several different species, meaning that the virus can umpfrom animals like pigs or birds to humans.
Flu vaccines effectively give your immune system a antedposter based on researchersbest predictions for the mutation that year.
The goal is that, when the virus arrives, antibodies will be able to bind to the virus
and kill it before it can infect you. But this new antibody, called CT149, works differently.
Normally, antibodies can only stop one virus strain from replicating by preventing it from infecting a normal cell.
But CT149 binds to a different area of the cell membrane called the hemagglutinin stem region.
unlike typical antibodies, can stop more than just one strain of flu virus. The researchers gave the CT149 antibody to mice
the swine flu that reached pandemic infection levels in humans in 2009. This work suggests that future flu vaccines could include this new kind of antibody that would be able to fight the most powerful types of influenza viruses
and stave off several strains at once. That might make for stronger flu vaccines --and possibly reduce the shot's frequency to once every few years e
#Terminator-Like Vision Could Help Robots Do Our Dishes If the above gif looks familiar it probably because it looks eerily similar to this:
Similar to the movie, researchers at MIT Computer science and Artificial intelligence Laboratory have created an object recognition system that can accurately identify objects using a normal RGB camera (no threatening blood-red color filter required.
The team new LAM-awaresystem maps out its environment while it collects information about objects from multiple viewpoints.
It then compares this compiled description to a database of existing descriptions of objects. For example, if the SLAM-aware system sees a chair,
it may break it down as a seat, four legs, and a back. Since the SLAM-aware system creates a three-dimensional map of
By comparison, SLAM-oblivious systems have far greater difficulty recognizing multiple objects in a cluttered environment than the SLAM-aware system.
It can provide immense energy to a precise location at a very specific wavelength, but it always fallen short in one regard:
The laser is modulated by a synthetic nanosheet, a multi-segmented, layered material that can emit in red, green,
The wavelength spans 191 nanometers, which the study claims is reported the largest for a laser of this kind.
Well, lasers are being used more and more in transparent laser displays, even garnering interest from Apple. Being able to reproduce the color white with a laser is huge step towards making these technologies more viable.
These lasers also have immense possibility in data transfer. Wireless data transfer using light has already been demonstrated at blistering gigabit speeds using white LED LIGHTS.
Lasers are already an improvement over LEDS, because Li-Fi works by reading slight modulations of light,
and lasers can be tuned far more finely than LEDS. White light allows those signals to be transmitted over multiple areas of the color spectrum
which is effectively adding more pathways for data to travel. The ASU team calls their white laser he ultimate form of such a light
#New Sun-Blocking Material Uses Compounds From Algae And Fish Researchers have used compounds found in algae
and reef fish mucus to create a material that naturally blocks harmful UV rays, according to a paper published recently in ACS Applied materials & Interfaces.
and can cause cancer over time, and UV-B, with shorter wavelengths that cause sunburns.
But there are concerns about some of the chemicals in commercial sunscreens, which may disrupt some of the body's more delicate systems
Now researchers have figured out how to fix mycosporines in place by putting them around a polymer scaffoldingor this experiment, they used chitosan,
but plenty of other polymers would work just as well, they note. The material could absorb UV-B rays 192 percent more effectively than most commercial sunscreens,
These qualities make the material a good candidate for a range of applications on biological and nonbiological materials.
Presumably the researchers would hope to reach the biggest possible market with a biocompatible sunscreen:
without the use of surgery, they helped people with severe paralysis voluntarily move their legs something that's never been accomplished before.
the researchers now think patients with severe spinal cord injuries may be able to recover multiple body functions,
However that procedure requires a surgically implanted device to work. Earlier this year, Edgerton and another group of researchers were able to allow partially paralyzed patients to move their legs on their own using a new treatment that didn require a surgical implant.
Seeing this, Edgerton eagerly tried out a similar approach on patients with severe paralysis. The study was extremely small,
only five patients were tested. However, Edgerton believes the results may lead to major advances for the 6 million Americans who live with paralysis
and the almost 1. 3 million who have spinal cord injuries. he potential to offer a life-changing therapy to patients without requiring surgery would be a major advance;
it could greatly expand the number of individuals who might benefit from spinal stimulation, said Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering,
the organization that funded the study, in the UCLA press release. For the study, Edgerton and his team used a technique called transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation where they placed electrodes on a patient lower back and sent a unique pattern of electrical currents through the electrodes.
The patients'legs were held up by braces that hung from the ceiling. After a few sessions, the patients were able to voluntarily extend their legs during the stimulation.
which had been found to induce leg movement in mice with spinal cord injuries, during the final four weeks of the study.
According to the press release, Edgerton thinks this new approach could be more accessible to patients as it doesn require surgery
but not complete paralysis as they think that set of patients is likely to improve even more from this treatment o
#New Ebola Vaccine Shows 100 Percent Effectiveness In Early Tests At this time last summer, the horrific and often fatal disease Ebola was ravaging West Africa in the deadliest outbreak
such as the United states. While the worst spread of the disease has been contained, the threat of a future Ebola outbreak persists.
But in an extremely promising medical advance, scientists are now saying that an experimental Ebola vaccine with 100 percent effectiveness has been developed.
A paper published today in The british medical journal Lancet reports that the vaccine which has been tested in Guinea
since March 2015, has shown extraordinary results so far, with 4, 123 people voluntarily vaccinated and all safe from the disease.
The joint studyonducted by international teams from the World health organization, the Guinean Health Ministry, Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Institute of Public health and the nonprofit Epicentre research center, among many othersas been 100 percent
effective in vaccinated individuals. his is an extremely promising development, said Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World health organization (WHO),
The medical authorities carrying out the trial have been using what known as a ing vaccination strategyto test the vaccine efficacy.
This involves inoculating all known contacts of an infected individual, thereby creating a ingof inoculation around the disease and stunting its spread.
This technique was used to tremendous success in the eradication of smallpox. John-Arne Røttingen, Director of the Division of Infectious disease Control at the Norwegian Institute of Public health, also noted in THE WHO's statement that it was this strategy in particular that has allowed for them to follow the dispersed epidemic in Guinea
which has dwindled significantly (THE WHO reported seven cases in the affected region of West Africa last weekhe lowest number of new patients in over a year)
and to continue testing. Furthermore, while VSV-EBOV has shown 100 percent efficacy in individuals, more conclusive evidence is necessary to prove the vaccine ability to protect larger populations from the disease, according to THE WHO. This trait,
known as erd immunity, is especially vital in order for the vaccine to be truly successful. The trial faced some obstacles in the beginning,
particularly for using no placebos, and for carrying out testing and research in the midst of an emergency.
because volunteers knew they were receiving the actual vaccine. This raised a number of questions on ethical and scientific grounds,
but were dismissed ultimately by the medical teams involved for practical reasons. Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome Trust, a major supporter of the research, commented on this in an interview with the New york times saying the fact that the trial still achieved positive results in spite of various constraints and limitations,
It is expected that this vaccine will likely be used to stop future outbreaks rather than vaccinate whole populations.
The speed and efficiency with which this vaccine was developed and tested in the midst of a global medical emergency is unparalleled.
"This record-breaking work marks a turning point in the history of health research and development. t
#Sonar-Powered Drone Wants to Be Your Fishing Buddy The Aguadrone is a quadcopter that uses sonar to tell you where the catch is.
By testing the waters before casting a net, the startup says they can save a lot of fuel on fishing vessels
and improve the chances of big game for line fishers. The startup behind the tech is based in San diego California
So far, theye developed three main functions for their drone. hen fishing from the beach,
(the drone) makes it easy. The Line Flier pod which flies baits to specific areas was the original inspiration
All of them screw on and off the bottom of the drone for easy swapping. The Fish Scout pod is a self-contained sonar device that finds fish underwater.
It is used similar technology in fishing vessels but as a drone, it offers a lot more flexibility and usability.
Waterproof and wireless, it can work even for smaller boats. The pod has its own battery pack
and requires to be submerged on the surface to work. The drone can easily land in water
and fly back up. For communication the Fish Scout pod creates its own Wi-fi connection with an impressive 320-foot range.
As the pod scans the water for signs of fish, it will send back images via a free Aguadrone app.
With eight months of building and testing, Marion tells PSFK he regularly takes the drone out for a spin
and has used it for fishing and filming with. With a $150, 000 goal on Kickstarter, Aguadrone will sell its flagship fliers at $399 with the Fish Scout and Line Flier pod.
#Stretchy Sensors Remind You to Take a Break from the Sun Researchers at RMIT University in Australia have developed stretchy sensors that detect harmful UV radiation and toxic gases such as hydrogen and nitrogen dioxide.
The transparent and flexible sensors can either be worn as patches on the skin like a nicotine patch
It follows the university Micronano Research Facility breakthrough in bendable electronics, which has helped paved the way for flexible mobile phones.
Recently published in leading micro/nanoscience journal Small the research was supported by the Australian Research Council.
These stretchable and wearable sensors could be used for an everyday application, helping to remind people
when they need to take a break from the sun. They are capable of detecting harmful levels of UV radiation,
which is known to trigger melanoma (a type of skin cancer that can develop from abnormal moles).
The unbreakable electronic sensors are cheap and durable to manufacture, factors which bode well for their introduction into everyday life.
The research used zinc oxide (an inorganic compound found in most sunscreens as a fine powder mixed into a lotion) as the UV sensing material,
This thin zinc oxide layer is engineered with a platelike structure that we call micro-tectonics, these plates can slide across each other bit like geological plates that form the earth crust allowing for high sensitivity
In the future, these stretchy sensors could link to electronic devices, enabling them to continuously monitor UV levels
and notify users when radiation hits harmful levels, so they know to get out of the sun
and find some shade. The sensors can also be placed on work and safety gear in order to detect dangerous gases such as hydrogen,
which could help warn workers in the event of a leak that could lead to an explosion n
#Wear a 3d printed Onesie That Acts as a Walking Air cleaner Dutch designer Borre Akkersdijk debuts wearable tech suit with stiched-in solutions to pollutionpsfk meets with Borre Akkersdijk,
Before Google Project Jacquard, there was Byborre wifi-enabled pillow to combine technology, textile and shape.
imagined for people with late-stage dementia who are unable to speak but require constant physical touch.
Two years later, the company is continuing to repurpose fabric to offer solutions in health, tech and even citywide pollution.
In learning of the daily pollution problem, it became apparent that the suit should double as solution for cleaner air.
The wearable tech for wellness uses Cold Plasma a patented technology to split oxygen and water molecules into free radicals.
An air-quality sensor embedded in the hood uses location-based data to show the concentration of dangerous gases.
If you so choose to wear the onesie in the car for one hour, you will have cleaned successfully the polluted air.
Similar to an iphone, in which each user curates their own apps, the future suits will enable the owner complete control over the functions.
The adoption of the suit will rely on the future evolution of a new industry that bridges technology and textiles,
so you don forget medicine at the store, to connect to your digital wallet and stop you before you overspend.
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