Dutch startup plans first 3D printed steel bridge to span Amsterdam canal.

Posted on December 26, 2015 by

A Dutch startup has unveiled plans to use robotic printers to weld the structure drop-by-drop in the first large-scale test of the technology. The company has unveiled plans to build the world’s first 3D-printed bridge across an Amsterdam canal, a technique that could become standard on future construction sites. Using robotic printers “that can ‘draw’ steel structures in 3D, we will print a (pedestrian) bridge over water in the centre of Amsterdam,” engineering startup company MX3D said in a st...

Aerion Mouse

Posted on December 21, 2015 by

Aerion Mouse is a gesture-driven computer mouse that’s somewhat smaller than traditional mice. It gets placed between the top of any two of the user’s fingers. The user then points the mouse at the display to operate it and, instead of clicking on any buttons, just leans to the left to achieve what a typical left click on a mouse would and leans to the right for a right click. One main benefits to Aerion is that it allows one to keep fingers close to a typing position without having to grab a se...

ANAMORPHIC ILLUSIONS a form of an optical illusion

Posted on December 11, 2015 by 41629066

ANAMORPHIC ILLUSIONS Creating and Printing Your Own Anamorphic Illusions ANAMORPHIC ILLUSIONS a form of an optical illusion. If you’re looking for something fun and creative to do and want to spend some quality time with your printer, anamorphic illusions are just the thing for you. An anamorphic illusion is an optical illusion whose effect is based on the viewing angle; in other words what seems like a perfectly normal, two-dimensional printed image becomes a stunning, three-dimensional imag...

The birth of a ‘baby planet’

Posted on November 27, 2015 by

Using a novel technique, scientists have observed a "baby planet" being formed nearly 450 light years away. When new planets absorb nearby gases and dust they get hot. A strange light is emitted as a result and that has allowed researchers to watch a distant exoplanet as it is being formed. The plant is circling a star dubbed LkCa 15 and was discovered by astronomers Adam Kraus and Michael Ireland using the Keck II telescope. Named LkCa 15b, and in orbit in a system with two other planets (aptly...

ORNL’s hybrid device combines microscopy and mass spectrometry

Posted on November 18, 2015 by

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have created a hybrid optical microscope/mass spectrometry-based imaging system capable of observing and analyzing specimens simultaneously. They have created a hybrid optical microscope, which also features a mass spectrometry-based imaging system. This new device paves the way for advance developments in the areas of chemical and pharmaceutical sciencesThe new device does not require any type of pretreatme...

An inside look at the Big Bang.

Posted on November 14, 2015 by

The Large Hadron Collider began its second run of experiments in June after a two-year hiatus from being the world’s largest particle accelerator. And the results are promising, achieving the highest energy ever achieved in a laboratory by colliding subatomic particles at 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV), physicists hope that these high-energy collisions may produce entirely new particles and simulate conditions seen in the early universe, according to an MIT statement.Soon to be published in Physics ...

To infinity and beyond.

Posted on November 14, 2015 by

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have designed the first on-chip metamaterial with a refractive index of zero, meaning that the phase of light can travel infinitely fast.,This new metamaterial was developed in the lab of Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Area Dean for Applied Physics at SEAS, and is described in the journal Nature Photonics. “Light doesn’t typically like to be squeezed or manipula...

2015 Nobel Prize In Chemistry awarded for mapping how cells repair damaged DNA.

Posted on November 12, 2015 by

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 has been awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar “for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.” The three scientists outlined chemical pathways that cells in living things, including human beings, use to repair damaged DNA. "Their work has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions and is, for instance, used for the development of new cancer treatments," the academy said. The organization tweeted graphics explaining the scientists'...

Latest Intuos Tablets Make Creative Dreams Come True

Posted on October 23, 2015 by

Wacom®, the world leader in pen-based creative tablets, introduced its next generation Intuos® product family to empower and inspire creative enthusiasts. The new range of Intuos Pen & Touch tablets consists of four models: Intuos Art, (for beginners with a passion for creativity), Intuos Comic, (more advanced painting and artistic skill) Intuos Photo (for photo editors who want to try new creative techniques) and Intuos Draw. (For comic and manga enthusiasts). Each model includes free...

Lifetime of atoms extended using a mirror

Posted on October 23, 2015 by

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in an experiment where they get an artificial atom to survive ten times longer than normal by positioning the atom in front of a mirror. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Physics. The artificial atom consists of a superconducting circuit on a silicon chip. The interaction between the atom and its mirror image modifies the vacuum fluctuations seen by the atom and thus its lifetime. The microwaves that mediate...

Neutrinos scoop the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

Posted on October 20, 2015 by

Neutrinos have the smallest mass of any known particle, and are created in several ways, including during radioactive decay, directly in the Sun’s core, and when cosmic rays from the Sun hit the Earth’s atmosphere. Thousands of billions of neutrinos are streaming through our bodies each second. The prize has been awarded to two physicists who discovered a strange property of neutrinos, which Imperial scientists are still unravelling today. Today’s physics laureates, Professor Arthur B. McDona...

Scientists paint quantum electronics with beams of light.

Posted on October 20, 2015 by

A team of scientists from the University of Chicago and Penn State University have accidentally discovered a new way of using light to draw and erase quantum-mechanical circuits in a unique class of materials called topological insulators. Researchers may be able to "paint" quantum electronics with beams of light. The electrons in topological insulators have unique quantum properties that many scientists believe will be useful for developing spin-based electronics and quantum computers. Howev...

NASA: Studying twins for a year in space

Posted on October 13, 2015 by

A Northwestern-led research team is one of 10 NASA-funded groups across the country studying identical twins Scott and Mark Kelly to learn how living in space for a long period of time, such as a mission to Mars affects the human body. While Scott spends a year in space, his brother, Mark, also a veteran NASA astronaut, will remain on Earth, as a ground-based control. The study will allow researchers to understand how the long-term exposure to space impacts the human brain and body and how the s...

ScanMarker – The incredible digital highlighter.

Posted on October 9, 2015 by

Scanmarker is a pen-shaped digital highlighter. Just slide it across any printed text, and it instantly transfers the text into any application on your computer. The pen tip is clear and relatively slim, allowing the user to see what he/she is scanning. It feels similar to a pen in your hand, but as you move over sentences on the page, it will scan them and type them onto your computer. It can retype text 30 times faster than manual typing, and your computer will read out loud what you have scan...

NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Mars

Posted on October 5, 2015 by

New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars. NASA researchers using an imager aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter confirmed the watery flows by looking at light waves returned from seasonal dark streaks on the surface, long suspected to be associated with liquid water. They detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. The...

Drawing in the third dimension

Posted on September 14, 2015 by

Storybooks and graphic novels could soon be three dimensional. A new software platform from small business Mental Canvas reimagines drawing in the digital age. The company has introduced a new concept of picture books and graphic novels which are not flat two dimensional but could let us spin the whole story in a three dimensional setup. The company believes that digital illustration does not enhance the sketch value whereas if the image is presented in 3D, it acts as a communication tool ...

Smart Bird – the ultra-light robot bird

Posted on September 10, 2015 by

A flying robot that imitates a bird has been created. Plenty of robots can fly but none can fly like a real bird. Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull that flies by flapping its wings. This invention of a flying robot imitates a bird. It takes off, lands and flies like a real bird. The flying robot has a two-meter wingspan, and is made of a lightweight (450 gram) carbon-fiber skeleton body. It uses hybrid drive technol...

Unique 3D Pen that Draws In The Air

Posted on September 8, 2015 by

3Doodler is the world’s first 3D printing pen. The pen, created by science inventors Max Bogue and Peter Dilworth is called the 3Doodler, and allows the user to draw in the air. It does not require any software but simply needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet for use. This pen has been fed into with colorful plastic thread. The thread is then extruded as heated plastic that cools and solidifies instantly as it exits the tip. This allows solid 3D structures to be drawn on any surfac...

Portable Voice Stick Can Read Text Out Loud

Posted on September 6, 2015 by

A promising new voice stick can convert can read what you write--out loud. Invented by Sungwoo Park, this cool new gadget is a portable scanning device that reads printed text and converts it into a voice. The Voice Stick can read any written document including newspapers, books and mail. It is very hard for someone with sight to understand the experience and needs of blind people, who would love to read these same newspapers, books, and mail as we all do. Braille is the most important way...