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Will There Be an Internet Death?
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Internet
Have you ever wondered if the Internet will run out? We have and noted that others are concerned as well. Arbor Networks recently measured interdomains IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. We won’t bore you with all the vital statistics, but suffice it to say the the end of IPv4 may come by 2011. Arbor claims that there must be a shift to IPv6 to allow “a total of 340 billion billion billion billion addresses” before that time by either the government or large corporations, but that hasn’t happened yet.
As a footnote, if you would like to find out if you will make it to the Internet’s demise, check out The Death Clock, a clever little application that may make you change your evil ways of smoking and eating too much.
Read More 
| PC Mag
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Scientist Study Ants in 3D
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
GPS,
Science
Researchers from Texas A&M have been utilizing radar to map a leaf-cutting Atta ant colony. They then digitize the images and turned into an interactive visualization system without displacing them. The results are a vertical slice of dirt with tunnels showing as low density, the food fungus, higher, and the earth surrounding the tunnels even higher. By shifting the GPR device, they get 3D.
“Leafcutting ant nests can hold a 3-story house—the rural legend is that tractors can disappear into them,” says team leader Dr. Carol LaFayette.
That makes you wonder just what is down there, doesn’t it?
Read More | BBC
Scientists Develop Eye-Shaped Camera
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Misc. Tech,
Science
Working under a grant from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, scientists Yonggang Huang and John Rogers have made an eye-shaped camera that they say could improve digital cameras and enhance imaging. They designed a mesh-like material with tiny squares connected by wires. This prevents breakage that would occur with simple bending. The pair are hoping that someday their eye cam can be used as an artificial retina or bionic eye.
Read More | Reuters
iShoe Detects Balance
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Clothing,
Design,
Science
Erez Lieberman, a Harvard-MIT graduate student, has devised the iShoe that will help physicians detect balance problems before falls occur. Given a $50,000.00 grant from the Lunar Ventures Competition to take it past the prototype stage, Lieberman originally developed the shoe for NASA to help them monitor balance problems incurred by astronauts after they return from space. While there he managed to come up with a new system for collecting data and an algorithm to analyze it.
Because his own grandmother had a bad fall a while back, Lieberman realized that the tech could help others. The iSole may also be equipped with an alarm that would let other family members know that a fall has occurred.
Read More | MHT
Scientists Believe Mars May Sustain Veggies
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Science,
Transportation
Now that the Phoenix Lander has found possible evidence of ice, scientists are even more optimistic now that they have taken soil samples that shows a high alkaline level. Sam Kounaves, lead investigator for the wet chemistry laboratory, claims “It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well ... it is very exciting.”
The soil also showed traces of sodium, potassium, and magnesium, among other elements. We are not so sure it is all that exciting. How many people do you know that want to grow asparagus?
Read More | Couriermail
MIT Makes Inexpensive Solar Dish
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Design,
Editorial,
Misc. Tech,
Science
A team of MIT students has successfully tested a prototype solar dish by lighting a plank of wood on fire. The system is a 12 ft. wide mirrored dish made of thin, inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror. It concentrates sun rays by a factor of 1,000, enough heat to melt a steel bar. Because water in the tubing turns to steam, the team is hoping that could revolutionize energy production as we know it. We think it’s great and would certainly opt for solar panels over building more nuclear power plants, as was recently suggested by a certain presidential contender.
Read More | MIT
Those Who Dig Gadgets Make Better Leaders
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Internet,
Misc. Tech
A recent online study took 25,000 American adults and found that the ones who purchased a lot of techie products tended to score higher in the traits of leadership, dynamism, and assertiveness. The research, done by a collaboration between Mindset Media and Nielsen Online, found that it is not just based on age and gender. We know that you have been telling people this for years and, by the way, the study also concluded that another trait found in the same group of people was a lack of modesty.
Read More | Reuters
Is There Ice on Mars?
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Editorial,
Rumors,
Science,
Transportation
NASA believes that material found on Mars recently may really be ice. When images from the trench dubbed “Snow White 2” were received from the Phoenix Mars lander, scientists believed the white surface shown was either salt or ice clumps. Because many of them were gone the next day, the researchers ruled out the presence of salt, although the soil sample didn’t yield evidence of water.
Because the Phoenix is undergoing adjustment to its software, it has been a bit lax in its duties. We suspect that when it gets going it will get right on it, unless those pesky Martians try to sabotage the project again before the 90 day time frame is complete.
Read More | CNN
Xeros Washing Machine Needs Only 1 Cup Water
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Design,
Household,
Misc. Tech,
Science
Imagine having a washing machine that only needs one cup of water for a full wash. That may not be so far away since researchers at Leeds University in the UK are already working on it. Xeros uses thousands of 1/2cm plastic chips to absorb and hence remove dirt. When the water heats up, about 20 kilos of chips are added to the water and detergent. The chips can be used up to 100 times, about 6 month’s worth. The team is hoping to bring the prototype out to the public by 2009. The scientists say that it could save billions of gallons of water a year, not to mention how it would cut down on your electric bill.
Read More | Far East Gizmos
Flame Walks Like a Human
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Categories:
Misc. Tech,
Science
ASIMO eat your heart out. Flame is now the most advanced walking robot to date. Created by Dutch PhD student Daan Hobbelen of TU Delft, his bot is both stable and energy efficient. To accomplish his objective, he studied how people walked for the first time. He then gave Flame seven motors and a balance mechanism created with stability algorithms. Daan is hoping that the technology will be used to help treat those with walking disabilities.
Read More | Physorg
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