Acoustic levitation (also: Acoustophoresis) is a method for suspending matter in a medium by using acoustic radiation pressure from intense sound waves in the medium. Sometimes ultrasonic frequencies can be used to levitate objects, thus creating no sound heard by the human ear, such as was demonstrated at Otsuka Lab, while others use audible frequencies. There are various ways of emitting the sound wave, from creating a wave underneath the object and reflecting it back to its source, to usin...

The MIST therapy system is a low-frequency, noncontact ultrasound device. The generator converts voltage to high-frequency electrical energy. The electrical energy is transmitted to a piezoelectric transducer (lead zirconate titanate PZT), where it is changed to mechanical energy. The transducer operates at 40 KHz with a distal displacement of 60 to 70 microns. The mechanical energy is transferred to a transducer horn (titanium alloy) that vibrates longitudinally, creating an acoustic pressure o...

Peter Davey, a 92 year old saxophone player and resident of Christchurch, New Zealand, invented a device that boils water using sonic waves. The sonic boiler is simply placed into a container of water – it can then boil it within seconds. Since there is no steam produced, the starting amount of cold water is the amount you will drink once boiled. He calls it the "sonic boiler" because he claims it uses the power of sound. How the heater actually works has confounded experts. The device loo...

Genetic engineering is a process in which recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology is used to introduce desirable traits into organisms. A genetically engineered (GE) animal is one that contains a recombinant DNA (rDNA) construct producing a new trait. While conventional breeding methods have long been used to produce more desirable traits in animals, genetic engineering is a much more targeted and powerful method of introducing desirable traits into animals. FDA issued guidance for industry on the ...

SUPERHEADZ CLAP CAMERA Even if you are a camera head this one is a surely needed addition. Its tiny size alongside its ease of use make it one of the most convenient digital cameras we have been using for dreamy snaps. There is never going to be the oft lived story of not finding the right cable for your camera as this one as a USB port built right in. You can then use this USB connection to transfer files as well as charge the camera. The Clap is about as big as a regular USB flash drive,...

Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) is a bidirectional, high speed and fully networked wireless communication technology similar to Wi-Fi. The term was coined by Harald Haas and is a form of visible light communication and a subset of optical wireless communications (OWC) and could be a complement to RF communication (Wi-Fi or Cellular network), or even a replacement in contexts of data broadcasting. It is so far measured to be about 100 times faster than some Wi-Fi implementations, reaching speeds of 224 gi...

Robot creator Masahiko Yamaguchi has demonstrated a robot which can balance, steer and correct itself while riding a fixed-gear bike. "A feature of this robot is, it pedals the bike with its own feet, and keeps its balance just by using the handlebars. I think this is probably a world first." This robot system consists of a commercially available two-legged robot and a bicycle made by Yamaguchi. To detect how much the robot is tilting, the TAG201 gyro from Tamagawa Seiki is used. Based on ...

Hologram or Holography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed. The image changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes, thus making the recorded image (hologram) appear three dimensional. While this technique is able to create 3D holographic picture of a static object since the 1960s, Research and Development at Intel, IBM, ARM and Nokia promises that in five years, it will be available on Mobile Phones to prod...

Fiber, also known as roughage, is the part of plant-based foods (grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans) that the body can't break down. It passes through the body undigested, keeping your digestive system clean and healthy, easing bowel movements, and flushing cholesterol and harmful carcinogens out of the body. Fiber comes in two varieties: insoluble and soluble. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water. It is the bulky fiber that helps to prevent constipation, and is found in who...

While there are many packaging methods to extend a food product's life, the main objective is clear -- to retard microbial spoilage and provide the freshest, safest product possible to consumers. Although modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) -- the insertion of a mixture of gases usually including oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen into a package to preserve food -- is a popular method that appeals to consumers' preference for fresh and additive-free foods, other food preservation techniques in ...

Heated electric socks have significantly grown in popularity over the past few years. What started as a niche product has now developed into a highly sought item popular among senior citizens, outdoor workers, bikers, sportsmen and even military personnel. Even people who suffer from chronically cold feet or poor circulation can finally be at rest and keep their feet warm at all times. They are powered by batteries which are usually rechargeable and replaceable meaning you can even carry a sp...

Sugar is an excellent energy source. As a culture we’ve probably known about it since before we were Homo sapiens. The problem is, unless you’re a living organism or some kind of incendiary device, extracting that energy is difficult. In nature, an enzymatic pathway is used — a production line of tailor-made enzymes that meddle with the glucose molecules until they become ATP. Because it’s easy enough to produce enzymes in large quantities, researchers have tried to create fuel cells that use ar...

Aquacell batteries just need ordinary water to start working.  These batteries use copper-magnesium cells activated by water or a liquid. Another water-activated battery had been invented by Susumu Suzuki of Total System Conductor. Aluminium anodes are used on many water-activated batteries designed for use with salt water such as seawater. The HydroPak uses water-activated disposable fuel cartridges as an alternative to lead acid battery packs and portable generators. It uses water added ...

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...