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Latest Gear Live Videos
Bees Affected by Cell Phone Radiation
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Science,
I remember reading an article last week that said that there was a definite decrease in the number of bees on the planet. It now turns out that there is a link between their deaths and cell phone usage, since the radiation emitted is apparently destroying the ecosystem of the bees. How honestly scary is this? Not only the obvious, possibly losing a whole species of insects that cross pollinate many of our food crops, but think of the effects on other insects as well. Let’s hope that researchers are working somewhere to correct the problem before bees make it to the endangered species list.
Read More 
| Trendhunter
Gallery: Bees Affected by Cell Phone Radiation
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The town of Liverpool has released Robops on their rooftops. Following the same principle as keeping ceramic owls to scare away smaller birds, these next-generation robotic falcons are meant to deter a number of obese pigeons in the city who seem to be growing of late because of their fast food diet. The bots screech and flap their wings to scare them away.
The City Council is hoping that the pigeons, who swoop down on residents and leave their droppings everywhere, will relocate to greener spaces, where they will only be subjected to a better diet of seeds and insects. That might work, but we bet there will be a few renegades who will seek out fish and chip vendors.
Read More | BBC
Gallery: Robops Let Loose in Liverpool
Corn Resin Bottle Can Help Save the Planet
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Science,
In honor of Earth Day, we have chosen a product from New Wave Enviro Products that, if everyone could adopt, could help save the planet. The Corn Resin Bottle is made of PLA (polyactide), which is a polymer that acts like P.E.T. (petroleum-based plastic,) but can biodegrade in 80 days. Fill the bottle with ordinary tap water and its cartridge will filter out the impurities for over 2 months. It also frees you from that foul plastic taste that most bottles have after sitting out too long.
Enviro will also and let you know when its time to change your cartridge via postcards and offers a 30-day guarantee. We think that this idea is a bargain for ~ $8.99. You can find them at non-discount chains and online outlets, for New Wave believes in actual customer service.
Read More | New Wave
Gallery: Corn Resin Bottle Can Help Save the Planet
New documentation suggests that chimpanzee genes have evolved more than human ones. At this week’s proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Michigan researches analyzed DNA from 14,000 protein coded genes from both species and presented their findings. They concluded that genes in chimps evolved in more ways that were beneficial to them than in their human counterparts. The results of the study suggests that they could possibly be based on the fact that overall humans had a smaller population size when compared with the chimps. We are thinking that perhaps we just need a smidgen more evolution time to catch up to our Darwinian cousins.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Chimps May Have Evolved More Than Humans
New Glasses Offer Select Subtitles
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Movies, Science,
For those who are hard of hearing or are afraid of missing a line or two when Jack Nicholson mumbles his way through the action, Madrid’s Carlos III University for the Spanish Center for Subtitles and Closed Captions has come up with a solution. A computer installed in the theater emits close-captioning if you are within 50 meters (~54 yards) of the screen. With the touch of an on/off button, glasses that house receptors catch the signal and project it onto a microscreen in the right lens. If you want subtitles only during select scenes, the glasses will keep up and project what is going on at that point. Now if they could just invent something that will make violence a little less of a bloodbath on screen.
Read More | El Mundo (Spanish) via Gizmodo
Gallery: New Glasses Offer Select Subtitles
Former Astronaut Buzz Aldrin has announced that he wants to organize a lottery that would allow the winner a trip to the final frontier. He would do so through his ShareSpace Foundation, which promotes science and space travel through schools. Aldrin says the legal status of the institute’s selling of those tickets has yet to be determined, but feels that this way others could go even if they cannot afford the price of a ticket.
The winner of the lottery has to be in good physical shape, over 18 years of age, and cannot resell the ticket on eBay. We’re thinking that his foundation could simply sponsor a poor person, and want him to know that we fit the criteria and volunteer to go first.
Read More | CNN
Gallery: Space Lottery Proposed by Buzz
There is finally a device that can deal with all your miscellaneous chargers in a diminutive size. The Georgia Institute of Technology has created a small nanogenerator prototype that can produces a continuous supply of electricity by harvesting energy from surrounding ultrasonic waves, mechanical movement, or your own blood flow.
Professor Zhong Lin Wang says, “If you had a device like this in your shoes when you walked, you would be able to generate your own small current to power small electronics.”
We can embrace that concept if we just remember not to keep it on during our early morning wake-up showers.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Charge It With a Nanogenerator
By combining brain surgery and rocket science, Canadian researchers have developed a robot that has such a delicate touch that it can perform brain operations. The neuroArm allows an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging machine) to create a 3-D touch screen picture of even the smallest of nerves and can then be moved in any direction. The neurosurgeon utilizes handles which allow her/him to feel pressure and texture.
The $24 million robot was created by the same team that built CanadArm, which is used in NASA space shuttles. The neuroArm will be making its debut this summer at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital, where the University of Calgary medical school’s research facility is housed. We certainly wouldn’t want to be its first guinea pig, but maybe we can just view the operation from a distance.
Read More | Reuters
Gallery: This Truly is Rocket Surgery
Solar Power to be Utilized by the Air Force
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science,
The Air Force has decided to go solar. The largest solar power plant in North America will soon be providing electricity to Nellis Air Force Base.
“It allows the Air Force to show its leadership in applying renewable energy and new technology to reduce our needs to use traditional forms of electric power,” said Major Don Ohlemacher, acting commander of the 99th Civil Engineer Squadron at the base.
Although solar power is still rather expensive to utilize, takes up a large amount of space, and won’t work well in areas where skies are often overcast, we figure that the Nevada desert can probably handle the extra load. Although we’re not exactly sure that “showing its leadership” is the proper phrase to use, we applaud the effort anyway
Read More | USA Today
Gallery: Solar Power to be Utilized by the Air Force
Japanese Bots Point Out Adult Entertainment
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science,
Because it is illegal in Osaka, Japan to solicit customers to local sex clubs, they are now utilizing robots to do the job for them. The bots direct potential clients to such places as massage parlors, “love” hotels, and cabaret and image clubs. Approximately 175 of the robots work the streets, waving and holding up bright yellow “Ask Me” signs. We think this idea might translate into other applications here in the U.S., where people are hired to stand in the cold in Big Boy costumes just to let us know that the restaurants are child-friendly.
