Researchers at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, Spain, have created what they call an “intelligent t-shirt”, which monitors body functions and provides the data for analysis.
The fabric of the-t-shirt integrates electrodes that record bioelectric power, and there is a thermometer and an accelerometer as well as a periodically active localization device that is used to determine the position of a user. The researchers say that the t-shirt can monitor body-temperature, provide data for an electrocardiogram, measures the physical activity of a body as well as a relative position of a body – whether a person is reclining, standing or lying down.
The scientists believe that the shirts could be used in hospital environments or telemedicine, but they also see use in other areas, such as sports where the shirts could provide early diagnosis of cardiac anomalies in athletes. All information is stored in a information management system, where it can be accessed for analysis. For example, physicians could examine how a particular patient’s level of physical activity affects the quality of the electrocardiogram.
So far, only a prototype of the technology exists. There was no information when these shirts could be available for purchase.
German researchers believe they can use a technology called “Time Domain Reflectometry” to integrate touch-sensitive objects in clothing, furniture or even cardboard. Time Domain Reflectometry, or TDR for short, has been employed for decades in deep sea cables to detect damages. Electric impulses sent through the cables provide feedback when reflected and the location of damages can be determined depending on the travel time of the signal.
Scientists at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich and the Hasso-Plattner-Institute (HPI) in Potsdam said that a similar approach also works over shorter distances, which opens up interactive applications for TDR.
The researchers said that they are currently working on a concept to shrink TDR technology enough to fit it on a computer chip and employ light impulses in a similar way as electric signals are used in deep sea cables. At least in theory, TDR could become a possibly solution for the integration in touch applications on virtually any surface material.
The organization hopes to use the new material to be able to look deeper into space and discover objects that cannot be detected in visible light or high-contrast areas.
Super-black materials are likely to help scientists to discover faint signals in their data, which is difficult with current black paint that only absorbs 90 percent of light. NASA also mentioned that black paints do not remain black in cryogenic temperature environments and change to a “shiny, slightly silver quality” instead.
To create the new material, NASA used a coating based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which are placed vertically on various substrate materials such as silicon, silicon nitride, titanium, and stainless steel. This positioning enables the material to capture stray light. According to NASA, the gaps between the tubes trap light and prevent it from “reflecting off surfaces and interfering with the light that scientists actually want to measure.” Since only a minimal portion of the light is reflected, the human eye sees the material as being black.
Such developments may have applications that go well beyond space applications. For example, the blacker the material, the more heat it can dissipate, NASA said. “Super-black materials, like the carbon nanotube coating, can be used on devices that remove heat from instruments and radiate it away.”
For NASA’s purposes this benefit mainly relates to an effect that helps cooling instruments in space, but we are sure that there will be applications in everyday life as well.
We’ve seen them in movies and video games for quite some time now, but it looks like the military is getting closer and closer to developing real life insect drones. Insect-sized surveillance drones could be quite dangerous seeing as how they will be virtually undetectable and indistinguishable from real life insects. Along with the fact that their sheer size would make them difficult to shoot down, it’s no surprise that the military is pouring resources into miniaturization.
After fitting the walls with ultra-precise motion capture sensors capable of tracking the position of small aircraft within a tenth of an inch, scientists at the base have been able to create tiny, flapping-wing vehicles such as the robotic dragonfly pictured above. Although the dragonfly doesn’t appear to be much more than a pair of robotic wings and a circuit board, it is just one of many prototypes being developed at the base which will eventually be equipped with surveillance technology.
No official photos were released yet, but we can imagine future applications of this technology turning into swarms of insects invading enemy territory and capturing sensitive information disguised in plain sight. No additional information was given on availability or pricing, but seeing as how the applications are meant for military use; it’s likely to remain classified.
The problem with Microsoft Surface is that it looks too much like fun. NEC has the right idea: affix some trolley wheels, brush some aluminum, give it a sedate name like “X-info Table” and then maybe, just maybe, traditional businesses will start buying into the idea. The specs, however, are easily sufficient to handle a few rounds of office Pinball HD (as in the photo above): a Core i7 CPU running Windows 7 on the 52-inch full HD screen, 6GB of RAM, three USB ports, support for multiple sub-displays, and a scanning function. There’s no price yet, but you can probably expect to pay more for the 350-pound frame than for the computer itself.
Are you fed up with your current ECG sensor? Tired of all the mess of electroconductive gels, sticky electrodes and tangled wires? How about this: Britain’s Plessey Semiconductors offers an ECG sensor that promises heart-monitoring without the hassle. We’ve seen similar technology before, but according to the company, the Electric Potential Integrated Circuit — or EPIC, as it’s humbly called — can read heartbeats even through a sweater; future versions might be embedded in hospital gurneys for constant, unobtrusive monitoring. Like an extremely sensitive voltmeter, it detects tiny changes in electric fields, which means it could also be used for Kinect-style motion interfaces. The company even imagines a future system where firefighters can use the EPIC to find humans in a smoke-filled room.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced that it has developed a “fully flexible” non-volatile resistive random access memory (RRAM) device.
According to a press release, a research team was able to integrate a memristor, which is considered to be a possible material for next-generation memory elements, with a high-performance single-crystal silicon transistor on flexible substrates. The result was a fully functional memory that enabled writing, reading and erasing of data.
The scientists said that their discovery showed for the first time that transistors built on plastic substrates can achieve a performance level that is good enough to be considered for computer memory devices. Keon Jae Lee from KAIST’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, said that the “result represents an exciting technology with the strong potential to realize all flexible electronic systems for the development of a freely bendable and attachable computer in the near future.”
There was no information about the performance of the memory or the manufacturing of the device. The research was published in the October issue of Nana Letters ACS.
Scientists at the University of Toronto claim to have discovered a method to manufacture flexible OLEDs that could lead the way to more durable and “impact-resistant” displays.
Zhibin Wang and Michael Helander used in their invention a 50-100 nm thin layer of tantalum oxide on plastic to achieve a refractive index that was previously only delivered by heavy metal-doped glass.
The researchers believe that the technology can reduce the cost of production of OLEDs and bring the vision of flexible OLEDs to the mainstream market. According to the University of Toronto, their display is the first high-efficiency OLED on plastic ever demonstrated.
There was no information when the display technology could become commercially available. Detailed findings of the research project are published in the current issue of Nature Photonics.
Taste tests are fun — unless you’re in Italy, in which case they’re drawn-out and rancorous. That’s why scientists in Milan are trying to remove humans from the equation, by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to reveal objective “metabolomic fingerprints” for different foodstuffs instead. In their latest experiment, NMR succeeded in predicting how human testers would judge 18 different canned tomato products, including sensory descriptors such as bitterness, saltiness, “redness” and density. Like Caesar always said, technology that knows a good ragu is technology we can trust.
The BBC is reporting on a fascinating development with repercussions for everything from medicine to video game plotlines. A team at the Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble, led by Dr. Serge Cosnier has developed a working biofuel cell that draws power from glucose and oxygen at levels also found in the human body. Their battery was first implanted in a living rat in 2010; after 40 days, it continued to generate a consistent electric current with no measurable psychological or physiological side effects for the rat. It was developed thanks to the recent discovery that the enzyme glucose oxidase is “very efficient at generating electrons,” and to the greater availability of carbon nanotubes, allotropes of carbon that demonstrate enormous thermal conductivity.
Though the science behind it is very complex, the battery itself is relatively simple; The team created a paste of two carbon nanotubes, one mixed with glucose oxidase and the other with glucose and polyphenol oxidase (which, oddly enough, is the enzyme responsible for browning in plant life). The current is delivered to the battery’s circuit via a platinum wire inserted into the paste, and the battery is wrapped in materials that prevent the components from leaking into the host body, and the host’s immune system from rejecting it. If a working biofuel battery could be developed for human use, it would profoundly affect the use of artificial organs and prosthetics. Such devices are currently be powered by bulky batteries that must be replaced periodically. A biofuel cell could be powered by the patient’s own body, reducing further need for invasive surgery and offering potentially cost-saving as well.
The technology could have tremendous nonmedical benefits as well. Dr Cosnier made the point that “If you were in a country without electricity, and needed to re-charge a bio fuel cell, all you would have to do is add sugar and water.” However, before we get too excited about our cybernetic destiny, it must be noted that direct benefits for humans are still years away. Given the size of the host, the battery used in the rat was quite small and very weak; the team now plans to test a much more powerful batter on cattle, with the eventual goal of creating one suitable for human use. Eventual volunteers are not advised to join Sarif Industries’ security team.
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