Category: Science & Technology News

Impact Lab > Science & Technology News
Food, Plant Life, Science & Technology News, Space

NASA plans to grow vegetables in space

NASA is organizing the Vegetable Production System (VEGGIE) program that will send packs of seed material to the ISS.

When humans begin colonizing space there is one challenge we’ll be facing, how to get food to those colonies. The idea of farming in space is hardly a new one.  Astronaut Don Pettit successfully grew a zucchini, broccoli, and sunflower on the ISS, but NASA is now researching how vegetables may be grown in space for consumption.

 

 

Continue reading… “NASA plans to grow vegetables in space”

Breakthrough Thinking, New Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

FINDER can detect heartbeats hidden beneath rubble

FINDER was created to detect a human heartbeat buried beneath 30 feet (9 meters) of crushed material.

Search and rescue teams immediately set out to find victims trapped beneath the wreckage of trapped buildings caused by natural disasters or human-made catastrophes. During these missions, time is imperative, and the ability to quickly detect living victims greatly increases the chances of rescue and survival.

 

Continue reading… “FINDER can detect heartbeats hidden beneath rubble”

Business, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

BMW to have 10 million connected cars within 5 years

More than 90 percent of BMW’s cars will have connectivity built into them.

BMW has around 3 million vehicles that are directly connected to their data centers, according to BMW’s VP of IT Infrastructure Mario Mueller at GigaOM’s Structure Europe conference in London. That number will grow to 10 million connected vehicles by 2018, meaning BMW will increasingly be operating as an IT and cloud-focused company,

 

 

Continue reading… “BMW to have 10 million connected cars within 5 years”

Analysis, Business, Energy, Robots, Science & Technology News

Self-destructing microbial robots turn wastewater into high value products

A company called Pilus Energy has a new technology for harvesting renewable energy from wastewater. The company has tweaked bacteria to come up with proprietary energy-harvesting organisms it calls BactoBots™, leading to a new generation of high efficiency microbial fuel cells.

 

 

Continue reading… “Self-destructing microbial robots turn wastewater into high value products”

Business, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

Virgin Mobile’s ‘blinkwashing’ ad changes scenes when the viewer blinks

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKJbGhlqmaw[/youtube]

Virgin Mobile decided to harness our contempt for advertisements into nothing other than another advertisement: 25, to be exact. There is something different about this ad campaign, though. If you blink just once, you just might miss it. Using the power of your webcam and your eyes, the phone company created something called “blinkwashing,” which kinda sounds like some sort of psychological torture. As the final installment in Virgin’s “Retrain Your Brain” campaign, the ad’s premise is to persuade consumers to ditch their current “controlling” pricey mobile plans for Virgin’s no-contract ones.

 

 

Continue reading… “Virgin Mobile’s ‘blinkwashing’ ad changes scenes when the viewer blinks”

Great New Product, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

A new smarter way to 3D print unveiled by MIT researchers

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/74499770[/vimeo]

When it comes to 3D printing there seems to be few limits to what the technology can do or what range of products it can spawn, from lampshades to lunar bases.  It’s easy to neglect one key factor amid all the hype: Printing capabilities are directly wedded to the size of one’s printer. As home printers become more readily available, the size of their printing beds shrink. Any budding designer with a desktop 3-D printer can create an intricate scale model of the Millennium Falcon, but what about something as straightforward yet functional as a chair? It simply won’t fit inside the printing box.

 

 

Continue reading… “A new smarter way to 3D print unveiled by MIT researchers”

Analysis, Business, Energy, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

The future of the energy infrastructure in the U.S.

The U.S. has massive renewable energy potential.

Transmission lines hold much of the same challenge and promise of the interstate highway system a century ago. The transmission network – the high voltage, long distance power lines that carry electricity from power facilities and into communities – is currently a patchwork system, lacking centralized organization or planning. Assuming that America cannot achieve 100% clean energy with distributed resources, the transport of renewable electric energy across state lines is a major hurdle to realizing a future without fossil fuels.

 

 

Continue reading… “The future of the energy infrastructure in the U.S.”

Great New Product, Health & Fitness, Nanotechnology, New Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

Scientists create first smartphone attachment that can detect a single virus, nanoparticles

UCLA smartphone virus scanner

Scientists have finally developed a technology that makes it possible to avoid a trip to the doctor.  The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science scientists have created a lightweight, virus-detecting device that attaches to a common smartphone and is able to scan the human body for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) particles. The troublesome virus is the root of various illnesses, including birth defects like deafness and brain damage. HCMV can also expedite the death of adults who have HIV, a weak immune system and those who have undergone organ transplants, making early detection of the virus useful.

 

 

Continue reading… “Scientists create first smartphone attachment that can detect a single virus, nanoparticles”

Analysis, Big Problems, Health & Fitness, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Hospitals now a major source of contracting antibiotic-resistant infections: CDC

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are prevalent in the U.S.

Antibiotic-resistant infections are rapidly increasing in the United States, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  In the U.S., more than two million people get drug-resistant infections every year. About 23,000 die from these diseases that are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics in doctors’ arsenals.

 

 

Continue reading… “Hospitals now a major source of contracting antibiotic-resistant infections: CDC”

Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.