Ironing is a tedious chore, but wearing crumpled clothing is unprofessional. That's why "wrinkle-resistant" garments have become so popular. But the current methods for making these textiles often release formaldehyde -- a chemical that in large amounts is hazardous to human health -- into the air and water. Now a team reports in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering a method for making wrinkle-resistant cotton fabrics that is more environmentally friendly and cost effective. Manufactur...

Automatic braking by the system after sensing an obstacle can be executed in two modes. In collision avoidance, the collision is avoided by the automatic braking, but the driver will not be warned in this type of system. There is a very good chance of wrongly interpreting the signals, especially in the case of radars or lasers. So this is not so effective method of automatic braking. In collision mitigation system,the sensors detect the possibility of collision but will not take immediate action...

Scifi movies are sometimes criticized when explosions in the void make noise.  As the old saying goes, “in space, no one can hear you scream.” Without air there is no sound. But if that’s true, what was space physicist Don Gurnett talking about when he stated at a NASA press conference in Sept. 2013 that he had heard "the sounds of interstellar space?" It turns out that space can make music … if you know how to listen. https://youtu.be/jgQ9THRckJ0 What does deep space sound like? A n...

Displair is a 3D interactive raster display technology developed by a Russian company of the same name. The Displair projects images onto sheets of water droplets suspended in air, giving the illusion of a hologram. Unlike other cold fog projecting technologies, the images projected by the Displair can also respond rapidly to multi-touch manipulation, as well as allowing taste and aroma to be incorporated. Maxim Kamanin presented the first prototype of Displair displays, a technological advance...

Do-it-yourself CRISPR genome editing kits bring genetic engineering to your kitchen bench CRISPR genome editing is one of the most significant, world-changing technologies of our era, allowing scientists to make incredibly precise cut n' paste edits to the DNA of living organisms. Now, one synthetic biologist from NASA plans to make it as accessible as a home science kit, so you can bio-hack yeast and bacteria on your kitchen bench. Dr. Josiah Zayner, a research fellow in NASA's synthetic bi...

Gene Therapy for Diseases Gene Therapy has made important medical advances in less than two decades. Within this short time span, it has moved from the conceptual stage to technology development and laboratory research to clinical translational trials for a variety of deadly diseases. Among the most notable advancements are the following: Gene Therapy for Genetic Disorders Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (ADA-SCID) ADA-SCID is also known as the bubble boy disease. Affected children are b...

The first gene identified for graying hair has been discovered by an international UCL-led study, confirming graying has a genetic component and is not just environmental. Published today in Nature Communications, the study analyzed a population of over 6,000 people with varied ancestry across Latin America to identify new genes associated with hair color, graying, density and shape - i.e. straight or curly. "We already know several genes involved in balding and hair color but this is the ...

Team of computer scientists from MIT has been developing technologies that allow for long-distance motion detection for several years; using wireless signals, they created a high-tech motion sensor that could allow parents to monitor their baby's breathing from the other side of the house or firefighters to determine if there are living survivors in a burning building. Now, the researchers have taken the technology one step further, and have used Wifi signals to allow you to see through walls. ...

BRIXO blocks are chrome-coated building blocks that act as electric conductors. They interlock to produce complete simple circuits with no wires involved, adding lights, motion and sound to any construction. The blocks are powered by a low voltage built-in battery and coated in chrome, a non-toxic metal, to ensure your safety. BRIXO include LED lights, motor blocks and even sound, light and proximity sensors. And all are fully compatible with standard building blocks. Brixo are buildin...

“Fliike” sounds like the Norwegian word for a bicycle made of forks, so you may be disappointed to find out that it’s actually the name of a Facebook “like” counter that businesses can display to show off how popular they are on the social network. Created by French start-up Smiirl, the Fliike is now available for pre-order on their website, and it offers something that many stores may find intriguing: A way to showcase a digital presence in a tangible, attention-grabbing way. It’s a physical...

Wind tunnels are machines for "flying" aircraft on the ground. They are tubelike structures or passages in which wind is produced, usually by a large fan, to flow over objects such as aircraft, engines, wings, rockets or models of these objects. A stationary object is placed in the test section of a tunnel and connected to instruments that measure and record airflow around the object and the aerodynamic forces that act upon it. From information gathered in these observations, engineers can deter...

  How great it would be to be able to carry your bike around wherever you go? Just pack it and go on adventures and hikes with your bike on your back. That’s exactly what the company called Bergmönch thought about when they developed this awesome bike that folds into a backpack, named Bergmönch Bike. The company is located in Schrattenbach, Austria, which has designed this bike that can be folded and worn as a backpack. Perfect for camping and hiking, this backpack becomes a bicycle i...

Innovative and creative Ideas that can make life easier.

Innovative Faucets for your bathroom and kitchen. Glowing Faucet: Designed by S Newnam and Touch360 Studio, this modern bathroom faucet's surface glows red or blue to display the water temperature; the water pressure is controlled by moving the ball in or out from the center and moving it around controls temperature. iHouse Smart Faucet: It uses facial recognition technology and recognizes everyone who uses it and once it knows you, the tap will automatically turn on the water to your pr...

Sony announced its Glass Sound Speaker, a vertical round glass tube with an “LED source” on the inside. The Glass Sound Speaker, as the name suggests, is a speaker first and foremost, with the light serving as a gentle accent that blends well with most decor styles. This is part of Sony’s previously announced Life Space UX product lineup. The Glass Sound Speaker is made from what Sony says is “tube-shaped organic glass” that works with the LED to produce a “warm glow.” You won’t be lighting a...

The NASA Clean Air Study[1] has been led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in association with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA). Its results suggest that certain common indoor plants may provide a natural way of removing toxic agents such as benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air, helping neutralize the effects of sick building syndrome. INDOOR AIR POLLUTION IS RANKED AMONG TOP 5 HEALTH RISKS TO PUBLIC HEALTH - WHAT IS CAUSING ...

Artificial Intelligence at Home mycroft is an open source personal assistant that lets you control connected objects through speech. This little robot is equipped with a technology based on Raspberry Pi and Arduino. It transforms your natural language in order to interact with your TV, door lock, light bulb, thermostat, 3D printer and other smart applicances and online services such as YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, social networks, etc.). You just need to speak for mycroft to react. Ask ...

The use of water clocks has its roots from Archimedes during the rise of Alexandria in Egypt and continues on through Byzantium. The water clocks by Persian engineer Al-Jazari, however, are credited for going "well beyond anything" that had preceded them. In al-Jazari's 1206 treatise, he describes one of his water clocks, the elephant clock. The clock recorded the passage of temporal hours, which meant that the rate of flow had to be changed daily to match the uneven length of days throughout...

The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment places four commercially available HD cameras on the exterior of the space station and uses them to stream live video of Earth for viewing online. The cameras are enclosed in a temperature specific housing and are exposed to the harsh radiation of space. Analysis of the effect of space on the video quality, over the time HDEV is operational, may help engineers decide which cameras are the best types to use on future missions. High school studen...

Hurricanes are the most powerful weather event on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) use a variety of tools to predict these storms’ paths. These scientists need a wealth of data to accurately forecast hurricanes. NASAsatellites, computer modeling,...

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), optical scientist Nasser Peyghambarian and his team at the University of Arizona are working to make next-generation holograms possible. Researchers have developed a system that can render an image in near real-time and update the image every two seconds for Hologram. Holo-TV is essentially a real-time, moving hologram, calculated and rendered by the bending (diffraction) of laser light on the fly. And while your knowledge of Holo-TV...

Pixton is a fun way to make a quick comic strip in a matter of minutes. Pixton is easy-to-use comic book software with premade templates and characters. If you’re looking for a little more from this software, you can enroll in Pixton Plus for a small monthly fee and access hundreds of features, layouts and character templates - everything you need to make your own comic book. Pixton is all about pre-made templates. You can choose your character’s gender, hair color, facial features and mor...

Wave systems use a folded waveguide (a series of passages from the speaker driver to the speaker grill), in an attempt to replicate sound from larger systems in a compact design. Bose claims the waveguide "produces full, clear stereo sound from a small enclosure by guiding air through two 26” folded wave guides". The Bose acoustic waveguide concept works on a simple principle which involves the magnification of the air vibrations formed at the rear sides of the speakers. However along with am...

'bttn' is a button directly connected to the Internet. With a simple push, you can launch your coffee machine when you wake up, check in and out of the office, call a taxi, place an order or simply tell your friends and family when you are home, done preparing the dinner or simply that you love them. Bttn: Control Internet-Enabled Devices and Web Services with a Single Button. It uses mobile data micro SIM card or your Wi-Fi connection and can last for months with a set of AA batteries...

Marc Turner and his team at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service are close to developing artificial blood in lab that can be used for transfusions. Artificial blood [is] derived from stem cells that have been made from an adult donor’s skin or blood. These donor cells are genetically rewound to become induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which have the potential to develop into any of the body’s 200 tissues. The iPS cells are cultured for a month in a chemical environment, simi...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is also the name of the academic field of study which studies how to create computers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behavior. Major AI researchers and textbooks define this field as "the study and design of intelligent agents", in which an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. NASA’s Quantum Artificial Int...

Google's robotics arm, Boston Dynamics, has released a video of a new version of its Atlas robot. The video shows the upgraded robot opening doors, picking up boxes and taking an eerily human-like stroll in the woods. One of its greatest achievements is the bipedal Atlas robot, and now there’s a new version that’s even more humanoid than before. It can walk over rough terrain, pick up objects, and wield weapons in the impending robot uprising. The video also shows Boston Dynamics employees...

The Pocket Dermatologist Way helps you to take care of your skin daily. This portable object allows you to monitor the health of your skin. Way has sensors that analyze the state of your skin in 3 seconds and helps prevent diseases such as skin cancer. Way retrieves data on the pigments in the skin, fat, water, wrinkles and compiles, using its mobile application, weather and pollution data to get out detailed and custom graphics. With this information, Way advises and recommends the user the ap...

Every year, as influenza season – and flu shot season—rolls around, medical experts weigh in on just how effective it will be against that year’s particular strain. What if that equation could take into account a person’s own immune response? Emmanuel Mignot, M.D., Ph.D., known for discovering that narcolepsy is related to the immune system, is taking advantage of a unique opportunity to investigate how the immune systems of twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly respond to the seasonal flu vaccin...

Mitra Biotech Pvt Ltd., a translational biology company, focuses on enabling personalized cancer care and rational drug development. The company’s technology enables physicians to make an informed treatment decision for a cancer patient by determining optimal drug combination; and rational drug development by identifying driver pathways/mutations. It offers CANScript, a multidimensional laboratory based screening platform that enables physicians to select the optimal drug combination for a cance...