An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). The two ice sheets on Earth today cover most of Greenland and Antarctica. During the last ice age, ice sheets also covered much of North America and Scandinavia. Together, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth. The Antarctic Ice Sheet extends almost 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), roughly the area o...

A compressed air car is a compressed air vehicle that uses a motor powered by compressed air. The car can be powered solely by air, or combined (as in a hybrid electric vehicle) with gasoline, diesel, ethanol, or an electric plant with regenerative braking. Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) is poised to produce the first compressed air-powered car for sale in the United States by late 2016 or early 2017. The AIRPod vehicle, developed by MDI (www.mdi.lu), is the solution to urban pollution and ur...

E-diesel is the name of synthetic diesel created by Audi to be used in automobiles. Currently, an e-diesel variant is created by Audi research facility in partnership with a company named Sunfire. The fuel is created from carbon dioxide, water, and electricity with a process powered by renewable energy sources to create a liquid energy carrier called blue crude (in contrast to regular crude oil) which is then refined to generate e-diesel. E-diesel is considered to be a carbon-neutral fuel as it ...

Innovative Package Design for Products Shirt packaging that can also be a hanger Apple Baguette The design process resulted in the 'baguette' package, developed for apples, but at a later stage also to be used for other fruits. The cardboard packaging offers more protection to the apple, as well as more communication space. "We had several ideas," says designer Aster Witteman, "but this particular design was chosen because of its natural look, the innovative design, the stacking a...

Photons — the bulk of the internet and telecommunications backbone consists of photons traveling down fiber optic cables. Rather than single photons, though, these signals consist of carrier light waves of millions of photons, with the wave being modulated by binary data. These pulses are never stored, either; when they reach a router, they’re converted into electrical signals, and then stored in RAM before being converted back into light. Quantum networks form an important element of quantum...

  Drosophila Motility, Behaviour and Ageing The main scientific objectives of the experiment are to study in more detail the mechanisms of the abnormal motility response encountered in space by young flies with consequences on the posterior aging response of the flies. For this purpose, three different fly strains with different phenotypes are used, in four configurations. The three strains are a long-lived strain, a short-lived strain and a strain showing an abnormal gravitropic resp...

Space tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, such as Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace, hoping to create a sub-orbital space tourism industry. Only through the exploration of the unknown can we continue to grow and evolve. Space is not only important for the future of transportation, commerce, and science; it’s also important for the future of imagination. We still know so little about space and ho...

3D PRINTED SOLAR ENERGY TREES Very decorative prototypes of what is called “energy harvesting trees”. The tiny leaves generate and store solar energy and can be used to power small appliances and mobile devices. They flourish indoors and outdoors and can also harvest kinectic energy from wind and temperature changes in the surrounding environment. http://www.vttresearch.com/ 3-D Printed Prosthetics Bespoke Innovation treats artificial limbs like works of art and the e-Nable pro...

KymoGen Mechanical Engineer David Hartmann and Craftsman Jason Ballash have designed a new wave power technology called the KymoGen, which has the potential to produce clean, low-cost energy using the constant power of waves. Key to the design is its simplicity. A portable 8’x8′ platform is tethered to a mooring on the sea floor. Inside the floating platform, the tether is connected to a drive system which spins a flywheel as the waves rise and fall, providing constant power between waves....

Portable water heater from Zwilling A battery-powered portable water heater from Zwilling that slips onto the side of a mug and uses battery power to heat your drink. An indicator light comes on when the water reaches an ideal temperature. Flat pack instant ĉoffee and cup Instant coffee has gone from jars to single-use bags, but there are still a few missing elements: hot water and cups on the go. This nifty design addresses the latter, at least, bringing us one step closer to...

As natural air outside becomes more polluted, many are turning towards indoor air purifiers for clean oxygen. The Oxygen of Green concept is a coffee table that grows Air Plants (which do not need soil) and produces oxygen at night so you can wake up every morning to clean and fresh air. Designed by Devon Mingling Wang, the “Oxygen of Green” low table, essentially uses a soil-less plant called Tillandsias to purify air. The Tillandsias plant produces a decent amount of oxygen, particularly...

Smart Finger turns your fingers into a digital ruler Distance measuring device," which combines the natural human urge to measure things by eyeballing them with the ruthless precision of electronics. Data is obtained by beaming a signal from one of these thimble-shaped finger straddlers to the other and calculating how long it takes to traverse the gap between the two. Then you can get fancy by storing distances inside these silicone shells' built-in memory and using them to work out the volu...

IBM announced its development of a fingernail-size computer chip that has roughly four times more processing power than ever before. The transistors in IBM’s new chip clock in at a size of 7 nanometers long—an industry record. According to IBM, the company was able to make its breakthrough due to the use of silicon-germanium, a material that has lower power requirements than silicon and also speeds up transistor switching. Fourteen-nanometer transistors were the previous industry standard. As...

Automatic stereotyping Most of us sincerely believe that we aren’t prejudiced, Psychologists have studied automatic stereotyping — the fact that just having knowledge of a stereotype automatically triggers prejudiced thoughts and behaviors when we see a person from a stereotyped group. They suggest that these stereotypes have become so well learned that they have become unconscious. However, on the hopeful side, some researchers believe that conscious cognitive effort to inhibit stereotypes may...

Decision making is the process of making choices by setting goals, gathering information, and assessing alternative occupations. Problem solving and decision-making are important skills for business and life. Problem-solving often involves decision-making, and decision-making is especially important for management and leadership. There are processes and techniques to improve decision-making and the quality of decisions. Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people...

Sony has developed a power outlet that can identify devices plugged into it, as well as individuals using the plug. The company says such technology could allow the electricity usage of individual devices to be monitored so non-essential devices could be switched off remotely in the event of limited electricity supply, or for the billing of customers charging their electric vehicles or mobile devices in public places. The Authentication Power Outlet relies on Sony’s FeliCa technology – a cont...

MIT Researchers have developed a new type of transparent solar cell. You might be You might be wondering, if solar panels absorb sunlight then how is it possible to make them transparent unless they are extremely inefficient? Well, light from the sun contains more than just visible light; it also contains ultraviolet rays and infrared rays which are invisible to the human eye. Transparent solar cells work by absorbing these forms of the electromagnetic spectrum instead of the traditional visi...

Taiwanese firm Polytron Technologies has revealed the world's first fully transparent smartphone prototype. As you can see in the pictures above and below, the prototype device is almost fully transparent. The only components visible on the device are the board, chips memory card and camera. The rest of the device is a piece of glass that sports a small touchscreen (also transparent) located in the center of the device. According to Polytron, its technology may be available by the end of 2013...

BMW Motorrad is developing 'head-up display' helmet with “mini-computer” and integrated speakers. In the case of BMW, its biggest interest in the technology is to provide the rider with pertinent information that would otherwise require a glance away from the road. The BMW helmet will be paired to the motorcycle so that information such as tire pressures, oil level, fuel level, speed, gear position, and speed limit can be displayed inside the rider’s faceshield as conditions require. Future p...

Traders with short horizons and privately known loss limits interact in a market for a risky asset. Risk-averse, long horizon traders generate a downward sloping residual demand curve that faces the short-horizon traders. When the price falls close to the loss limits of the short horizon traders, selling of the risky asset by any trader increases the incentives for others to sell. Sales become mutually reinforcing among the short term traders, and payoffs analogous to a bank run are generated. A...

Normal laminated safety glass consists of two or more sheets of glass bonded together by one or more layers of PVB, which is then sealed under heat and pressure. The interlayer is highly resistant and elastic, giving the glass robust qualities. SentryGlas® interlayers are five times stronger and up to 100 times stiffer than conventional laminating materials. With this kind of strength, SentryGlas® interlayers help create stronger laminated glass that protects against storms, impacts and pow...

  1. Nuts Nuts are loaded with healthy monounsaturated fats, proteins, fiber, nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants. One should include a handful of nuts in daily diet. Peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans, and other nuts reduce blood cholesterol. Studies have revealed that eating a quarter cup of almonds a day can lower LDL by 4.4 percent. Moreover, you can consume some roasted almonds without oil. Walnuts contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Chomp them to ...

Sphero SPRK Edition App-Enabled Ball Learning can be fun – get hours and hours of action packed entertainment as you learn with the Sphero SPRK Edition App-Enabled Ball. This smart gadget helps to teach code so you can alter and combine commands with ease. Using the easy text based code viewer, you can configure Sphero SPRK in the app to teach this clever robot to roll, flip, spin, and even change color, all with your control. Available for all ages, the Sphero SPRK Edition App-Enabled Ball u...

PlantLink links (which can be used for indoor or outdoor plants) collect soil moisture levels and communicate with the basestation wirelessly (up to 100 yards away) using the Zigbee specification. This specification has a lower demand on power when compared to WiFi or Bluetooth and allows the link to work for over a year using two AAAA batteries. It is necessary to setup one link with each plant you wish to monitor and there are currently over 50,000 species of plants in the PlantLink database e...

iBlinds Home Automation for Your Window Blinds Make your existing blinds smart. Convenience. Privacy. Energy savings. Out of the box integration with your Z-wave controlled devices. The iBlinds kit is made for homeowners and landlords who would like to save time and money on energy bills and to have an automated solution which makes their lives more comfortable and secure. It is designed for the busy lifestyle of contemporary people but will also be hugely appreciated by your elderly parents ...

Canadian startup tech company Smartiphy, is taking home automation to new levels with their unique technology that can distinguish who you are in your own home along with your vital signs through its Wireless Activity Recognition Technology. It’s indoor activity recognition software uses your home’s Wi-Fi to detect the “ambient information” of the home owner so that it always knows where a person is always. According to the company, the home automation systems they use has technology that ...

Vital signs (often shortened to just vitals) are a group of the 4 to 6 most important signs that indicate the status of the body’s vital (life-sustaining) functions. These measurements are taken to help assess the general physical health of a person, give clues to possible diseases, and show progress toward recovery. The normal ranges for a person’s vital signs vary with age, weight, gender, and overall health. Vital Connect uses Band-Aid-like wearable strip to monitor your vital signs. Vi...

EyeRing is a wearable, intuitive interface that allows a person to point at an object to see or hear more information about it. We came up with the idea of a micro-camera worn as a ring on the index finger with a button on the side, which can be pushed with the thumb to take a picture or a video that is then sent wirelessly to a mobile phone to be analyzed. The user tells the system what information they are interested in and receives the answer in either auditory or visual form. The device also...

Japanese scientists have found a way to decipher dreams for the very first time. Their report shows that patterns of activity in certain visual parts of the brain are the same whether we are awake or dreaming. Researchers from ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, scanned three male volunteers' brains in an exhausting test over several days to examine how activity could be related to their dreams. Analyzing more than 200 dream reports—some 30–45 hours of interview...

Prolonged exposure to stressful environments can lead to serious health problems. Therefore, measuring stress in daily life situations through non-invasive procedures has become a significant research challenge. In this paper, we describe a system for the automatic detection of momentary stress from behavioral and physiological measures collected through wearable sensors. The system's architecture consists of two key components: a) a mobile acquisition module; b) an analysis and decision module....