Technology tidbits
- Gasoline/compressed-air hybrid vehicles may prove more cost-effective than gas-electric hybrids.
- Bigelow Aerospace wins challenge against export control regulations that would have required non-U.S. passengers on space flights to be treated as recipients of technology transfers, which would have required an onerous approval and monitoring process. (Not reported in the story is that Robert Bigelow is now funding MUFON to pay UFO researchers.)
- Delay-tolerant network protocol (DTN), developed with assistance from Vint Cerf, has been tested to transfer data between NASA's EPOXI probe and earth-based stations, which will lead to an interplanetary internet that includes the International Space Station.
- The heart of the cockroach has been used as the model for a new type of low-cost artificial heart for humans.
- Researchers are devising a laser-based defense mechanism to shoot down mosquitoes rather than missiles. Funded by the Gates Foundation, the prototype cost is only about $100. We'd like one.
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The Revetech engine, first developed in Australia, is 60% more fuel efficient than conventional petrol engines. This one uses a three-loved cams instead of the grossly inefficient crankshaft. See how it works and a prototype in action.
The colour-changing cuttlefish has inspired a TV screen design that uses only 1% of normal power. In particular, one colour-change mechanism of the cuttlefish is the iridophore, tiny parallel plates that act a variable diffraction grating. The TV screen uses applies a voltage to thicken multiple polymer layers, which changes the observed light wavelength.
There are mosquitoes in Phoenix? Wouldn't think that there was enough standing water.
There are lots of mosquitoes in Phoenix, and lots of standing water in swimming pools of foreclosed homes.
Maricopa County has regularly been a leader for number of cases of West Nile Virus.
We were just getting buzzed by them last night... a few years ago we had to use mosquito netting over our bed, it was so bad.
Sure, Jim. If cockroaches had hearts, they wouldn't be constantly trying to invade my home. Nice try, Economist!
Queensland, Australia: experts “have created the world's first artificial heart which fits inside a human body and can mimic the pumping fluctuations of a healthy heart.”
This BiVACOR has a twin impeller mounted on both sides of a central wall; one half pumps deoxygenated blood from the body to the lungs, and the other half pumps oxygenated blood from the lungs to the body, just like our hearts. It works a bit like a revolving door, and has a variable speed and tilt, so it can cope with varying needs of the body. The tilting and spinning is achieved with electromagnetism, so the blades are not in contact with the walls, which minimizes damage to the blood cells.
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