Supersharp vision with adaptive optics These specs correct for atmospheric distortion 25 times a second and give humans twice the normal 20/20 vision and should soon be on the market . Guardian.co.uk Dec 21 The worlds largest expo fair with an area bigger than the country of Monaco is taking place now in Hanover , Germany . Its has over 100,000 sq meters of space on new and renewable energy innovations , new farming methods and other scientific and technological displays.
Jan 2000 3 D color TV -more details on Consumer show
Dec 99 The Sony I Recorder and other devices are tiny solid state dictating and note taking machines which fit into a shirt pocket and can take 60mins of dictation .
A 1000hp superpower motor to be used for ships has been built which is one fifth the size of normal motors . Six 1.8MW storers of electric power have also been built to smooth out power usage(businesweek) . Blue tooth is a new short range radio device costing only about $5 which can be built into any computer or printer or peripheral and will connect eg the printer to the computer wirelessly without the need for line of sight .
The new audio DVDs coming out are going to have completely loseless compression due to a system developed by Meridian company .(from Rmim).Also software downloaded from www multimania.com plays any area DVD on the computer .
Oct 99 Flexicold is a clever system of cooling trucks . Dry ice ( carbon dioxide) is stored in fibre glass above the fruit etc. When it warms up the gas is released and goes down to cool the fruit . When the truck doors are opened it evaporates and the fruit is ready faster .It is a lot cheaper than diesel cooling .
Sept 99
Trees planted in iron cones with soil and reserve water can be shot out of planes -one million a day to reforest barren and desert areas quickly . The iron rusts quickly and the tree roots can implant themselves. telegraph.co.uk Sept 2
July 99 Britain has an electric scooter for sale which does 15miles at 15mph and costs $1000 Scientists are surprised to find a device which gives off 2 as much energy as input . It creates vortexes which form microbubbles which when they collapse generate energy . The Russians are selling water heaters based on this principle -independent.co.uk July 9 Honeycomb windmill The Japanese have invented a 26 meter tall honecomb structure which has about 40 combs in it each with its own small windmill . It makes 12kw of electricity in as little as 2.5m of wind speed .
Making own CDs VENDING MACHINE MAKES CUSTOM MUSIC CDS
"MyCD," is a vending machine that makes music
CDs on demand. Hansol Telecom, the makers of the machine, say it's the
"ultimate in personal entertainment" allowing customers to choose their
favorite songs and record them on one compact disk. For customers fond of doing
their own music compilations, the machine is a godsend - and its simple to
operate.
Security cameras controlled with computers monitoring the goings in
and outs at tower blocks have made the people such as drug users who didnt want their
activities monitored moved out of the flats and area . These huge
tower blocks now have 100% occupation as other people have moved in.
Dec 98 A company called Silk Road demonstarted in New York the transmission of 93b its of data over a single light beam a distance of 60 miles or 800 TV channels and says it can multiply that manifold - about a 1000 fold improvement over present technologies. Phone charges could drop to almost zero.
Nov 98
New Spacecraft engine NASA has sent up a xenon ion engined spaecraft . It bombards Xenon gas with electrons and the ions are then accelerated out of the spaceship using negatively charged electrical fields . They exit at 100,00 km per hour , giving the spacecraft a minute thrust about the weight of a piece of paper . Over many months the spacecraft will reach 60,000 mph and photograph an asteroid. The engine needs ten times less fuel than a chemical engine and reduces space exploration costs dramatically.
Tanshiq Gold Karatmeter This device made in Germany is now being used in Bangalore and other parts of India and can determine the gold purity of jewellery using a special light within 3 minutes. Much claimed to be 22kt has been found to be 14kt.
Neem Extract Juice made by stirring the leaves in water from this South Asian tree has been found to protect plants from all insects even locusts.It stops the moulting and shedding of skin by insects. It could replace most pesticides .
Sep 27 98
Telescope larger than the earth Combining radio telescopes on earth and space has enabled astronomers to see new born galaxies at the beginning of the Universe. The resolving power is equal to seeing a grain of rice in Tokyo from Los Angeles. Plans are afoot for huge new ones with one at the orbit near Jupiter. More details on
http://www.sciencedaily.com/ Non gem quality diamonds -good for many industrial uses -can be created in the lab by taking a spoonful of carbon tetrachloride a dry cleaning agent , an ounce of sodium metal and a pinch of nicel-cobalt catalyst and cooking in an oven to 700 deg C for two days - yield is 2% in diamonds sats Dr Li from Unviersity of Science and Tech in China
Aug 17 98 Solar Radio Murphy have brought out a radio powered only by solar cells and costing just $30 . This will mean a lot in the 3rd world where batteries can be scarce. Possesion of a radio during floods etc. can mean the difference between life and death . It can also entetain the people working on the land. A clockwork radio was invented but it was a bit too expensive at over $150
A new taxi has gone into service in London which runs on hydrogen fuel . It emits just water . It costs $4000 more than a normal taxi but uses $5000 less fuel each year as it can be run all day on just $10 worth of hydrogen.
Eye track This new invention by the Japanese fits a pair of spectacles over the eyes and with the eyes can be seen a TV screen which appears to 150 cm over 60 inches. Attached to a portable DVD player commuters can now see crystal clear movies on their way to work -cnn news.
July 5 98 My-fi is the world's smallest hi fi system -smaller than a credit card -costing $500 with memory chips costing $150 to play an hour's music .It takes only a few seconds to record complete CDs on to the cards . Made by Cambridge Design Partnership it can replace whole decks of current hifi equipment (Guardian July 3)
June 14 98 Using Inca technology Cambridge scientists are reclaiming eroded land in the Andes. Already they have managed to get one crop a year where previously there was only one every five year and soon hope to get two a year. Terraces are built to stop soil erosion , trees such as Alnus are planted to fix nitrogen in the soil and canals are being built to channel snow melt ,and grazing animals stopped from uprooting seedlings. Using these methods the Incas had made fertile a land that had been devastated by the previous Huari civilisations and was destroyed by the Spanish who cut down the trees. Inca methods could vastly increase production in Himalayan areas-Guardian June 10
Laser sculpts 3D New laser technology can make 3D copies of statues that are indistinguishable from the original . It is so fine that names can be etched on human hair. The British govt is planning to make exact replicas of the Elgin Marbles and return the original to Greece - times.co.uk June 11
June 7 98 Final preparations for the manufacture of tiny fuel cells in small rechargeable batteries are now being made. A few drops of methanol can keep these batteries active for weeks in mobile telephones , radios etc. When it runs out you just recharge them by adding more methanol
Updated May 24 98 Underwater Windmills There is many times the energy in underwater currents even at 2m per hour as water is much heavier than wind. British scientists have put a windmill with the blades in the middle of the shaft underwater and estimate that they can produce 48 Terrawatt hours of electricity a year from the easily accessible sources around Britain. (Guardian May 18) Flashlight cooking in seconds ! A new oven which uses even less energy than microwaves can cook food in less than 30 seconds compared to 7 minutes for a microwave. It uses high energy visible light to heat the food to half the surface temperature of the sun and an infra red light to brown it. The idea was gleaned from flash cooking of silicon wafers. -Discovery channel -future facts-should be on www.discovery.com soon.
May 10 98 Solar cells cool trucks , buildings
Professor Abu Bakar of London has managed to cool refrigerated delivery trucks using solar cells on the roof ( Financial Times May 6) -www.ft.com . The payback time is only 6 years as large amounts of diesel are saved . Using the sun to cool is a very innovative idea . In the third world use of the solar cells on the roof to cool the house would save huge amounts of electric power. Solar power could be used to run a heat pump to dump heat into metal pipes tens of feet below ground level during the summer as air conditioning costs are unaffordable for most people.
May 3 98 Antimatter trap
Dr Bita Ghaffari of Rice University has succeeded in making a trap for anitmatter which is 50 times more efficient. Antimatter particles given off by radioactive decay are sent spiralling down a metal tube surrounded by electrical and magnetic fields which keep them repelled off the walls. By putting a high eletrical voltage at the entrance she ensured that the antiparticles would need high energy to start the travel and this according to chaos theory helps them to stay confined. She can get 50% of antimatter particles generated to stay trapped. These stores could become the power source of future ships - as was seen in Star Trek's anti matter engines-more details in the Economist Apr 25 Cure for Insomnia A small spoon put in the mouth acts as a radio antenna and causes sleep in a few minutes . More details bbc.co.uk/tw
Robot to catch insects Japanese researchers have fused an insect antenna with a tiny robot. When the antenna detects the scent of a female insect it fires and the robot is activated and goes off in that direction to give an electric shock once it catches the insect. Translators With immigrants from all parts of the world its difficult for doctors and others to find translators. Now people at the other end of the phone are availaible who will translate converstaion from one language to the other. The patient tells his symptoms on the phone to the translator who then relays it to the doctor. It saves the translator having to go to the doctors surgery and may save many lives.
Compressed air car Guy Negre of France has developed a car which runs on 300 litres of compressed air which can run for 200km between charges and the air can be recompressed in less than a minute at a gas station or 4 hours at home. 40,000 such cars have been ordered for Mexico City. (Time Mar 23)
Cosmic rays cause expulsion of neutrons from the moon's soil but some are absorbed by water .Less neutrons were detected by the lunar explorer than expected than if there was no water . So it would appear there is millions of tonnes of water at the North Pole over 18,000 sq miles of area and 7,000 over the moon's South Pole enough to form a lake 4 miles across and 35 ft deep , and that is just in the top meter of soil. Cometary bombardment may have driven a lot more water deeper. Hawaii's Big island a desert where it rains only 4 days a year is being turned into a fertile garden. Cold water at 4C is pumped up from the deep sea . At the top of a tower in pipes it cools warm surface sea water evaporating from the bottom of the plastic tower. The water vapour is helped up by a fan. Cold fresh water thus condensed out is collected and lightly sprinkled on plants.
More cold sea water goes directly into the garden in underground pipes. Water condenses from the atmosphere and and is absorbed by the soil and on to the cold pipes. Plant roots seek out this sourced and yields have been very good. The difference in the temp above and below ground is thought to contribute to this good yield. Vast areas of the earth could be made productive by this technique pioneered by Dr John Craven (bbc.co.uk). The cold water also via air conditioners keeps buildings cool JVC Digital VHS recorder High Storage Capacity for Cost-Effective Video Library is possible with this combination satellite receiver , VHS/Digital video recorder.
In the
D-VHS STD mode, up to 7 hours of excellent quality MPEG-2 digital broadcasts with
digital audio can be recorded on a single cassette . In terms of data, this is an incredible 44.4 GB per cassette! Or in more
common terms, the user can record three full-length movies with room to spare, with
digital quality maintained, all on a cassette the same size as the VHS cassettes that everyone
is so familiar with. It will play VHS tapes as well and costs les than $1000.More info JVC . SpeedMask
An ingenious all-in-one
swimming cap and
goggles combo, right, that
was first thought up by
Oympic swimmer David
Wilkie. It will help beginners keep their eyes open under water . It cuts down drag
from the head, and is said to improve water flowover the eye socket area by more than 50 per cent. Hoovertractors These can glide across fields for sowing and harvesting without compacting the ground and causing damage.
Digital audio Internet Digital audio now being broadcast all over Britain could be a cheap way for third world countries to bring Internet to their people. With a card in the computer data at 640kbs can be downloaded . For news information that most people request or Usenet newsgroups it could be the most efficient way of getting information to the masses without the need to be online. With over 32 channels there is plenty left over for CD quality audio.
Science and Tech exhibition In NEC Birmingham from 11- 15 Feb 1998 showing robots , digital radios and much more . More details on
www.bbc.co.cuk/tw/nec/nec.html or phone 0990 122200
Compressed air car Guy Negre's invention has been chosen to run in Mexico from next month . These cars run on compressed air which can be refuelled in 3 minutes at petrol stations using electric power. The car runs for about 600 miles at 60mph before needing a refill which can be done at home with an electric compressor with electricity worth $2 .The engine is much lighter than in electric cars and is negatively polluting as the air filters remove in coming polluted air while the car itself produces no pollutants.
Kwik Kork This is a new invention - a cork with a hole drilled into the middle and plastic sleeve attached to it which can be pulled out without the need for a corkscrew. The inventor will make millions . In other news a 76 year old man will be sent into space this year -John Glenn America's first astronaut will go up later this year. Technology is now good enough that even oldsters can venture safely into space.Because of cosmic radiation dangers it might even be sensible for letting older people to go up!
Internet watch Many city centers now have cameras with still pictures broadcast every second on the web. these could be watched by people in the third world alerting authorities to any break ins .
Zinc air electic car batteries Are now achieving ranges from 470-800 miles and can be recharged in ten minutes. This is enough for nearly two weeks of travel. It seems likely that we will replace petrol engines soon.
Virtual Surgery Computers hve become so powerful that 3D images from CT scans can now be made of brain tumours . The surgeon can put on virtual reality goggles and practise operating on the tumour in 3D before doing the actual operation on the patient. Getting the cork out
Popping the cork from a wine bottle can be a big hassle. Now tiny hollow needle pushed through the cork pumps air down into the bottle and the air pressure pops the cork out.
Solar power Many oil companies are now starting to getting into developing solar power in a big way. The Rajashtan govt has set apart an area of the Thar Desert of 35,000 sq. km -bigger than Israel and Lebanon put together where companies can get grants to develop solar power. It is one of the sunniest places on earth.
Trikee Sales of this tiny electric three wheeler scooter have taken off in Switzerland . It runs at 25kph for 20 km and can be wheeled the rest of the way , and may lead to a marked reduction in pollution in most countries.
3D Ultrasound An Australian doctor has invented a new 3D ultrasound scan which is now being demonstrated worldwide which shows the front and back of the fetus and enables abnormalities like spina bifida to be spotted early.
Digital VHS Phillips will bring out next year a new digital video recorder which will record 49 hours of perfect broadcast quality TV or 49 hours of VHS , and will also play normal VHS tapes. It can record three TV programmes simultaneously and can make perfect copies. Its hared enough finding the right spot on a three hour tape never mind 49 hours so there will be a new indexing system.
Cyberclean Systems, a Richmond office cleaning company has developd Dottie a $30,000 Robot which cleans offices at half the cost of a regular cleaner. It can plug itself into the power mains to recharge itself and go up and down elevators.A smaller one for the home is also under development.
An air filtration system Developed by Prof Yogi Goswami of the University of Florida uses titanium dioxide-based catalyst and light which reacts with
air passing through. The resulting oxidation destroys microbes by
disintegrating their DNA leaving the air 100% free of bacteria and midges which cause asthma and allergies.
Supersonic car
The ever inventive British have broken through the sound barrier. Using two jet engines with the power of 100,000 horses Andy Green drove a car designed by Ron Ayers at over 760 mph ( 1200km/hr). In the future it is envisaged that simialr train like cars will travel underground with the air partially evacuated to cut resistance, between continents . It takes surprisingly little electric power to travel thousands of miles.
Surplus house power
Photovoltaic panels at a cost of about $20,000 per house have made many houses in Britain energy self sufficient. They generate surplus power in the summer which is fed back by the meter to the electricity company . Total power generated is about 1500 kwh per year .In the winter these triple glazed houses need some power. In South Asian countries with abundant solar power this kind of cost for the more affluent would not be a deterrent. In fact it would remove the hassle of frequent power cuts which disrupt electric equipment , computers etc and these house might even carry a premium on the market well above the cost of installation. The manufacturers of the solar panels gurantee a 20 year life.
Personal DVD player
Hitachi have made as small portable personal DVD less than 5 pounds in weight and about the size of two CDs across, costing less than $700 . This can be linked to any TV and plays better than broadcast quality movies and educational programmes . DVD will have the most profound effect on video programmes -see the film page on ukindia for more details on DVD.
DVD launched
Samsung will become the first to launch DVD players in the UK with a free movie next month. It will be interesting to see if the picture quality is as good as the USA ones . Other companies are expected to follow suit in spring 98
Supersonic car
This week there will be an attempt to break through the sound barrier by driving a car at more than 700 miles per hour in America by a Briton . The car has to be specially designed so that it doesnt take off . Vibrations as it goes through the sound barrier may cause the car to break apart.
Updated Jan 01
Jun 2000
May 99
Jan 99
Making diamonds
July 26 98
17 98
April 26 98
April 12 98
April 5 98
Mar 29 98
Water on the moon
At the poles the sun's rays dont penetrate into the craters and this subsurface ice may have been there for a billion years . Each side of the moon near the equator faces the sun for 14 days and so the soil in those areas gets baked stone dry. To uplift this much water would cost $60 trillion dollars or everything America produces over generations. It is enough water to keep a colony of humans each of whom needs two litres of water a day for 100 years. About 5 gallons of water are present in each cubic meter and will need solar power to extract. Plants can be grown on the moon.
The water can be broken into hydrogen and oxygen which can be used as fuel to explore the solar system as the energy costs for lifting rockets on the moon are one sixth that on earth due to lower gravity. An observatory could be put on the far side of the moon giving resolution better than Hubble.The moon also has an isotope of Lithium in abundance which can be used in fusion reactors which can give us unlimited energy for ever and that may the most important result of all.
Mar 8 98
Turning coastal deserts green
Othere bright ideas for the millenium on the Times web site -Feb 18 Interface
http://www.radix.net/~futurev/zincairnews1.html reports
Despite inclement weather and freezing temperatures of 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (34 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit), the vehicle traveled a record 439 km (272 miles) not including the transport through the Channel Tunnel. The drive involved navigating the streets of downtown London, the highways of England and France, and congested traffic conditions in central Paris. The van, with a gross vehicle weight of 4.5 tons (10,000 lbs), traveled an average 70 km per hour (43 miles/hr).