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Need a new home but can’t afford the rising costs of housing? Englishman John Forth of the University of Leeds has invented Bitublocks, made of recycled glass, sewage sludge, and incinerator ashes. The engineer is hoping that his creation will provide a replacement for concrete blocks.
“Less energy is required to manufacture the Bitublock than a traditional concrete block, and it’s about six times as strong, so it’s quite a high-performance product,” Forth said.
Bitumen, a substance used in road paving, binds the trash together in a mold which is then heat-cured into a solid. Forth also has future plans to develop Vegeblocks, made of waste vegetable oil. While we applaud the concept, we just aren’t sure we want to live in a house made of discarded Skippy peanut butter jars.
Read More 
| Live Science
Gallery: Bitublock Makes Trash Buildable
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Tahoe Prepares for DARPA Race
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Science, Transportation, Wireless / WiFi,
This is one remote control vehicle we just can’t wait to try out. Carnegie Mellon’s Tartan Racing team, in cooperation with GM, is preparing a Chevy Tahoe for a November outing sponsored by DARPA (Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.) The desert race consists of navigating vehicles through a 60 mile course that resembles a city street.
The Tahoe will be equipped with automatic steering, brakes, and throttle, and its challenge will be to stay on the road while avoiding obstacles such as other vehicles and oversized cacti. The winner of the race collects a cool $2 million. DARPA foresees this as a way of improving humans’ safe driving habits in heavy traffic conditions. We just see it as an expensive Hot Wheels racetrack for bigger boys and wonder what connections you have to have to become a team member.
Read More | CMU
Gallery: Tahoe Prepares for DARPA Race
It’s never too early to batten down your hatches. Weather forecasters predict a busy hurricane season, which begins June 1 and runs through November 30. Colorado State University experts William Gray and Philip Klotzbach have moved up their findings for 2007 because they see a rapid dissipation of El Nino conditions. They expect as many as 17 already-named tropical storms. Nine have been predicted as possibly reaching hurricane status.
Last year the CSU experts wrongly predicted a bad season, but this year London-based Tropical Storm Risk concurs with the team’s conclusions. Although it may be true that no forecaster can accurately predict the weather 100%, we are nonetheless going to run out and buy our duct tape early, just in case.
Read More | BBC
Gallery: Experts Predict Heavy Hurricane Season
James Doohan is finally going to “see” space. The actor, who played Scotty on “Star Trek,” died July 5, 2005. A few grams of his ashes, those of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, and about 200 others were loaded into a rocket. The canister and its cremated space travelers are to be launched from New Mexico on April 28.
Celestis arranges these final trips with various rocket firms. “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s ashes were sent into space in 1997. If you would like to make space your final destination, you’ll need $495.00. That’s not a bad price when you consider you will finally be in a place that you won’t spend half your time looking for parking.
Read More | CNN
Gallery: Scotty To Go To Final Frontier
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have come up with universal blood. The team has discovered two enzymes that cut the A and B sugars off of red cells. Massachusetts-based ZymeQuest has licensed those enzymes and developed a machine to treat eight units of blood within 90 minutes.
Team leader Henrik Clausen claims that other researchers have failed in their efforts thusfar because they have been using blood from non-humans. Expect the universal blood to be on the market in Europe in 2011 and in the United States a few years later.
Read More | Technology Review
Gallery: Universal Blood To Become Available
Toaster Pops Sideways
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Science,
Consider no longer having to deal with excess crumbs, burnt Pop-Tarts, partially-frozen waffles, or oversized bagels stuck in your toaster. Alas, it is still only a dream. Designed by Turkey’s Atil Kizilbayir, this ingenious device won the recent 2007 Immib Product Design competition. Put your bread in it at one end and a few seconds later the carriage pops not up, but out of the hooded toaster. Props to Atil, and here’s hoping that his concept will become reality in the near future.
Read More | Atil Kizilbayir via Design Spotter
Gallery: Toaster Pops Sideways
Mouseless Media Player Aids the Visually Impaired
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Science,
IBM will soon be launching a browser to make audio and video material easier to access for the visually impaired. The Accessibility Browser was created by Dr. Chieko Asakawa, a blind employee in the company’s Tokyo research lab. Dr. Asakawa had become increasingly frustrated when she could not access certain web sites. She decided to improve the situation by first developing a media player that could be totally accessed with only shortcut keys, instead of searching for control buttons by using a mouse. IBM will be making the A-browser available later in the year, and is counting on it being cost-free to those who want to utilize it.
Read More | BBC
Gallery: Mouseless Media Player Aids the Visually Impaired
After a hospital is equipped with a receptionist bot and a tissue-offering bot, what more could it possible need? That would be a human-sized android room attendant that can lift a 66 lb. package or a 145 lb. doll. Yasuo Kuniyoshi and his University of Tokyo team of engineers have developed the bot that stands an 61-inches tall and weighs 154 lbs. Sensor-based control gives the robot its strength.
“Large motors are not safe for use in household robots,” explains Kuniyoshi. “Only a small amount of power is applied at each of this robot’s joints, but it can successfully move heavy objects by using the tactile sensors to regulate how it lifts and carries things.”
The team is hoping that further work on their technology will allow the droids a place in the nursing or moving industries. We could certainly use one around here to take out some trash or carry us to our cars when it snows.
Read More | Pink Tentacle
Gallery: Superbot Has Super Strength
Soldiers Test Bomb-proof Vehicles
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science, Transportation,
Soldiers at Ft. Lewis, Washington have gotten to test two prototype utility trucks and two maneuverable sustainment vehicles as part of the Army’s new $60 million modernization program. These vehicles come equipped with remote weapon systems, video cameras, touch screen control, night vision capability, and what they feel is enough strength to sustain a concussion of a roadside bomb. They also feature diesel-electric hybrid engines.
Tim Conner, the Defense Department contractor who is overseeing the project says, “If you want to sneak up on someone, you turn on the electric ... which also boosts the horsepower,” he said.
The Marine Corps is also planning to test the vehicles during the last two weeks of April, then they will be displayed at the Pentagon. Look for them soon in a war near you.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Soldiers Test Bomb-proof Vehicles
Smart Sunglasses Allow Color Change
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science,
Newly designed “smart” sunglasses can change from transparent to dark or shades of purple, green or yellow with the touch of a button. Developed by researchers at the University of Washington, the prototype utilizes an organic oxide to create a new material that can block up to 95% of UV rays. The glasses were designed for construction workers, athletes or anyone with sensitive eyes.
“These lenses are more active, more intelligent, than today’s sunglasses” said University Professor Chunye Xu. “But because of the materials we’re using we don’t think the price is going to be very different.”
Although photochromic lenses are already available that darken in response to light, the user cannot adjust its shade. Look for the real thing to be on the market after a couple more years of research.
Read More | Terra Daily
