"Skullcap" for Athlete's Protection

Most of the researches in the past shows athletes who are involved in impact sports are prone to long-term brain injuries. Until now there wasnt any solution other than watching from the sidelines even if it is a coach or a physical trainer. 

But now time changed. There is a good news coming up for the everyone. An IEEE member Roozbeh Ghaffari, a biomedical engineer, also co-founder of the five-year old Materials Company (MC10), in Cambridge,  have developed a skullcap which can be worn alone or underneath a helmet. It detects how hard a player is hit. Depending on the impact severity, different coloured LEDs light up on the back of the cap for all to see. 

According to the Brain Trauma Foundation, in New York City, almost 2 to 4 million sports-related brain injuries occur around the world each year. All these lead to the research conducted by MC10  In the early days of their research they already mentioned that a cap worn close to the head would be better for monitoring hard hits than a helmet embedded with sensors. But for athletes to wear the cap, MC10 had to make it comfortable as well as practical. With the help and collaboration of Reebok, MC10 modelled its cap after the beanie, or skullcap, made with elastic that many athletes wear alone or under their helmets to keep hair and sweat from their faces. 

The researchers then developed an electronic monitor packed with sensors that fits inside the cap. The device incorporates a semiconductor tri-axial accelerometer to measure acceleration of the skull, which occurs when the head is hit hard. There is also a semi-conductor gyroscope to measure rotational acceleration when an athlete's head snaps back or hits the ground after a fall. These sensors are integrated with a microprocessor that calculates the impact using an algorithm similar to the head injury criterion used to assess the intensity of impact in sports. The cap has three LEDs that appear below the helmet line on the back of the neck. The GREEN light represents the cap is on and working, YELLOW indicates that the player experienced a moderate impact and RED indicates that the head has received a severe hit.  

                                                           Check out this video

"Nano-camera" that can operate at speed of light

A new device that can play a major role in medical imaging, collision-avoidance for cars, interacting gaming and further more have been developed by a group of researchers at MIT Media Lab. 

The three dimensional camera was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong. The camera works on the concept "Time of Flight" technology like the one used in Microsoft's recently launched second generation Kinect device. 

In a conventional Time of Flight camera, a light signal is fired at a scene, where it bounces off an object and returns to strike the pixel. Since the speed of light is known, it is then simple for the camera to calculate the distance the signal has travelled and therefore the depth of the object it has been reflected from. But there were some issues when the environment changes, different surfaces in contact etc. It made it difficult to determine the correct measurement etc. 

But now time changed. The new device uses an encoding technique commonly used in the telecommunications industry to calculate the distance a signal has travelled. The idea is similar to existing techniques that clear blurring in photographs. This development gives us a lot of hopes in my variety of fields. We can expect a commercial version soon. :) :D 

3Doodler : Pen Draw objects in Midair

3Doodler is the world's first 3D printing pen. This device is so user friendly that we doesnt need any technical knowledge, software or computers to learn its usage. This amazing device was developed by WobbleWorks, founded in 2010 with big ideas. The company is a combined effort of Maxwell Bogue (the maker of 3Doodler), Peter Dilworth (Chief inventer and CTO) and Daniel Cowen (Co-founder of 3Doodler). 

So how does it works? 

                              As a 3Doodler draws, it extrudes heated plastic, which quickly cools and solidifies into a strong stable structure. This allows you to build an infinite variety of shapes and items with ease. Most people will instantly be able to trace objects on paper, and after only a few hours of practice you will be able to make far more intricate objects. 3Doodlers can be created as flat forms and peeled off a piece of paper, as freestyle 3D objects, or in separate parts, ready to be joined together using the 3Doodler. 

3Doodler Trailor Video

World's First Magnetic Ultra thin Cellulose Loudspeakers

Throughout the ages, Swedes have relied on their country's vast forests as a source of sustenance and economic growth. A new development adds to their credit. A research team at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, have developed the world's first magnetic cellulose loudspeakers.

These speakers are made with a new material derived from pulp-magnetic cellulose gel. Hence they are eco-friendly as well as cancels out noise too. Currently the speakers are producing a good quality sound when compared to conventional speakers. But the main idea behind this development is to show the potential of natural and eco-friendly sustainable materials in everyday products. This new material can open the way for innovations in areas such as acoustic applications for auto mobiles which also includes more research in the form of damping for cars and trains.  

The  KTH speaker has coil, but it has no direct contact with the cone, so the only thing that creates sound is the movement of air. All of these components can be manufactured in a very small scale. This is a major breakthrough and you can read more about it on Cellulose loud speakers

Do you wanna protect your gadgets???

A new super weird (what I felt when I first saw it :D :D ), rubbery non-Newtonian fluid have been developed, which could be the next great material to protect your gadgets. This crazy material was seen in one of the CES's auxiliary events. When one of the tech teams arrived there in centre of attraction, they noticed a guy standing with his finger wrapped with a handful of orange goo. He was also having a hammer to hit. When the tech team asked what they were selling, the answer was a great surprise. It was a company called Tech21 and they make protective cases out of this crazy goo and the guy was showing a demonstration about this crazy protective material. :D :) 

Tech21 has been around for a long time now, starting as a supplier to OEMs who wanted to offer protection for their laptops and notebooks. But when the iPhone 3G came out in 2007, the company saw an opening for something more. The original impact earned due fame when they introduced this shock-absorbing material into a protective band. They were experimenting a lot such things until they introduced this idea based on non-Newtonian fluid, which is soft to be pliable, but then locks up firmly upon impact. What I said crazy before, now became impressive, right? Yes, it is. Really an impressive development and Tech21 is expecting a lot of magic from this material in the future soon. Cant wait.... :D 

"Choo-choo" Nanotrain on the way

"Attention Please! All board the nanotrain asap" :D :) 

You may 'wonder' what I am talking about? Everyone have run their on train in their childhood. Holding the shirt one behind the other....mimicking the sound of train and running around. Quite fun.. isn't it? I really miss those days!!! :D 

Scientists at Oxford University and Warwick University have developed tiny self-assembling transport networks, powered by nano-scale motors and controlled by DNA. The system can construct its own network of tracks spanning tens of micrometers in length, transport cargo across network and even dismantle the tracks. 

The news came in Nature Nanotechnology and was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. 

So, From where the researchers got such an inspiration? They were inspired by the 'Melanophore', used by fish cells to control their colour. Tracks in the network all come from a central point, like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Motor proteins transport pigment around the network, either concentrating it in the centre or spreading it throughout the network. Concentrating pigment in the centre makes the cells lighter, as the surrounding space is left empty and transparent. 

Green dye-carrying shuttles sit idle on the tracks before refuelling

The system uses 'Kinesin', a motor protein, powered by ATP fuels. Kinesins move along the micro-tracks carrying control modules made from short strands of DNA. 'Assembler' nanobots are made with two kinesin proteins, allowing them to move tracks around to assemble the network, whereas the 'shuttles' only need one kinesin protein to travel along the tracks. 

'DNA' is an excellent building block for constructing synthetic molecular systems, as we can program it to do whatever we need,'said Adam Wollman, who conducted the research at Oxford University's Department of Physics. 'We design the chemical structures of the DNA strands to control how they interact with each other. The shuttles can be used to either carry cargo or deliver signals to tell other shuttles what to do. 

'We first use assemblers to arrange the tracks into 'spokes', triggered by the introduction of ATP. We then send in shuttles with fluorescent green cargo which spread out across the track, covering it evenly. When we add more ATP, the shuttles all cluster in the center of the track where the spokes meet. Next, we send signal shuttles along the tracks to tell the cargo-carrying shuttles to release the fluorescent cargo into the environment, where it disperse. We can also send shuttles programmed with 'dismantle' signals to the central hub, telling the tracks to break up.' 

Their demonstration used fluorescent green as cargo, but the same methods could be applied to to other compounds. As well as colour changes, spoke-like track systems could be used to speed up chemical reactions by bringing the necessary compounds together at the central hub. More broadly, using DNA to control motor proteins could enable the development of more sophisticated self-assembling systems for a variety of applications. 

A lot to come on our way and we might see some unimaginable applications on the way. For the moment... keep guessing...!!! :D :) 

Notes:

Melanophores: Fishes and amphibians possess specialized cells called Melanophores which contains hundreds of melanin-filled pigment granules termed melanosomes. The sole function of these cells is pigment aggregation in the center of the cell or dispersion throughout the cytoplasm. This alternative transport of pigment allows the animal to effect colour changes important for their camouflage and social interactions. They also transport their pigment in response to extracellular cues: neurotransmitters in the case of fish and hormonal stimuli in the case of frogs. In both cases, melanosome dispersion is induced by elevation of intracellular cAMP (Cyclic adenosine monophophate) levels, while aggregation is triggered by depression of cAMP. 

Kinesin: It is a protein belonging to a class of motor proteins found in eukaryotic cells. Kinesins move along microtubule filaments, and are powered by thr hydrolysis of ATP. The active movement of kinesins supports several cellular functions including mitosis, meiosis and transport of cellular cargo such as axonal transport. 

Animation of Kinesin walking on a microtubule

Kinesin dimer attaches to, and moves along, microtubules

Wanna Suck Wine Without Removing the Cork? I have a solution for you.

Do you want to suck wine without removing the cork? It's a very strange question, but its possible. And I do have a solution for you. Greg Lembrecht, a medical-device entrepreneur, figured out a way to do this. His Coravin Wine Access System uses the technique to draw wine from a bottle without uncorking it. 

So why do we need such a system? I know this will be the question for most of the people. Once the wine bottle is opened, the wine starts to oxidise and lose its flavour. No rubber stopper can stop this process, leaving most of the opened bottles to waste. So this system help to keep the wine with its flavour at the same time we can enjoy the moment. To pour a glass, a user places the Coravin on top of a bottle, pushing its hollow 2mm-thick needle through the cork. A capsule then releases argon, an inert non poisonous gas, into the bottle. The pressure forces out the wine. In all, it takes about 20 seconds per pour, when the needle is removed, the cork reseals itself. 

Next time try this Coravin and enjoy the moment. One more thing, you doesn't have to waste wine heart broke. 

Boosting batteries with the help of Biology? Electric cars with longer driving range? Really???

Research in Lithium-air batteries have been going on for a long time. The area of research was so hot mainly due to its application in electric cars and so on. Just imagine if these batteries were much more powerful, it may have lead to greater driving range etc. But there were a lot of challenges to bring this dream into reality. 

Time changed. :D :) MIT researchers have found a way to add genetically modified viruses to the production of nanowires- the wires that are about the width of a red blood cell, and which can serve as on of a battery's electrodes-could help to solve these problems. 

The new work is described in a paper published in journal Nature Communications. The key area of their work was to increase the surface area of the wire, thus increasing the area where electrochemical activity takes place during discharging or charging of the battery. The researchers produced an array of nanowires, each about 80 nanometers across, using a genetically modified virus called M13, which can capture molecules of metals from water and blind them into structural shapes. Another important point is the ability of the viruses to increase the surface area of nanowires which posses a rough, spiky surface due to its effect. The viruses naturally produce a three-dimensional structure of cross-linked wires, which provides greater stability for an electrode. 

In lithium-air batteries this method of increasing the surface area can provide a big advantage, says the co-author Professor Belcher. Not only that, this process can be carried out at room temperature using a water-based process. 

A final part of the process includes addition of a small amount of metal, such as palladium, which greatly increases the electrical conductivity of the nanowires and allows them to catalyze reactions that takes place during charging and discharging. Altogether we can say that these batteries with modifications have the potential to produce a battery that could provide two or three times greater density which in turn increases the amount of energy stored. 

There is a lot of research still going on in this field so that it can be introduced for commercial production. We can hope for a eco-friendly less polluted future where cars run a longer distance without petrol or diesel and a safe Mother Earth.  

"inFORM" to "Wolverine" & more: a new interaction technique

I was always a great fan of Hugh Jackman and one of his iconic characters "Logan" in the movie named "Wolverine". Even though its a movie involved as action, adventure and fantasy, it's a pretty decent work. When I saw the latest release in 2013, there were some impressive techniques which caught my attention. In fact, some amazing works. In those, one of the scene which I saw, the character who is also the villain ( Hal Yamanouchi as Yashida) of the movie meeting our Hero, inside a lab. While their conversation were going on, Yashida suddenly got up with a special technique that supported his entire body. That impressive technique got my attention and I had a research on it. It was inspiring and pretty impressive.

The scene from the movie Wolverine, where Yashida tries to get up with the help of a technique to have a conversation with Wolverine character Hero Logan

Ok! Now let us go through the impressive technique which I was talking about. "inFORM" system is a state of art 2.5D shape display that enables dynamic affordances, constraints and actuation of passive objects. Its too scientific. Let me make it simple for you. Its a technique that create an interface that brings computer generated 3D objects and motions to life via real world shapes and movements. It's a technique where we can even control 3D objects virtually through the help of a computer and actuators. Pretty amazing, right? :D :) 

inFORM new interaction techniques for shape changing

"inFORM system" was born in an MIT lab under the team Sean Follmer, Daniel Leithinger, Alex Olwal, Akimitsu Hogge and Hiroshi Ishii. Past researches were primarily focused on rendering content and user interface elements through shape out-put, with less dynamically changing User Interfaces. But this research propose on utilizing shape displays in three different ways to mediate interaction: 1) To facilitate by providing dynamic physical affordances through shape change 2) To restrict by guiding users with dynamic physical constraints 3) To manipulate by actuating physical objects. They introduced Dynamic affordances and Constraints with their inFORM system. 

Dynamic affordances function both as perceived affordances and "real" affordances. They are rendered physically and provide mechanical support for interaction. The team combined the graphical perceived affordances with Dynamic Affordances and sometimes switching between the states. Some of the User Interface controls that the system support with respect to dynamic affordances are 

• Binary switches:Buttons- Buttons are formed by raising pins from the surrounding surface. Users activate a button by touching it or by pushing it into the surface, which is registered as binary input. 

Button

• 1D input: Touch tracks- Touch tracks consists of a line or curve of adjacent raised pins which the user can touch at different locations or slide over. 

ID Touch Track

• 2D input: Touch surfaces- Touch surfaces are created using multiple pins, which are aligned to form surfaces.

• 

  2D touch surface

• Handles- They provide interaction in the Z dimension. These raised pins can be grabbed and then pulled up or pushed down along with one dimension. 

Handles

• Interactions with dynamic affordances can change shape or to reflect a changing program state. While dynamic affordances facilitate user interactions, dynamic constraints limit the possibilities, making some interactions difficult or impossible to perform. The dynamic constraints make the system more legible, but also guide the user in performing certain interactions through physical interaction with the constraints. They can also mediate interactions through tangible tokens or tools. 
• The system can sense how tokens interact with constraints. Some of the techniques include: Holding tokens and sensing presence, restricting movement to 1D, affecting movements, interaction with dynamic physical constraints etc. 

The depth of a well affords if the user can grasp a token contained in it.

Slots with indentations and ramps can be used to guide the user's interactions or to provide haptic feedback

There are a lot of parameters that are take into account while implementing this system. For example, let us consider the implementation of Shape Display. The system uses 30by30 motorized white polystyrene pins, in a 381by381 mm area. The pins have a 9.525 mm square foot print, with 3.175 mm inter-pin spacing, and can extend up to 100 mm from the surface. Push-Pull rods are used to link each pin with an actuator, to enable a dense pin arrangement independent of actuator sixe, giving the system a height of 1100mm. The linkage, a nylon rod inside a plastic housing, transmits bi-directional force from a motorized slide potentiometer through a bend. Six slide potentiometers are mounted onto a custom-deigned PCB, powered by an Atmel ATMega 2560 and specialist motor drivers. The linear positions are read by the 10 bit A/D converters on the microcontroller, and allow for user input, in addition to servoing their position using PID control. 150 borads are arranged in 15 rows of vertical panels, each with 5by2 boards. The boards communicate with a PC over five buses bridged to USB. For each pin, we can update the position and PID terms to provide haptic feedback and variable stiffness. The system interact with different application with minimal power consumption based on the requirements. 

The inFORM system actuates and detects shape change with 900 mechanical actuators, while user interaction and objects are tracked with an overhead depth camera. A projector provides visual feedback. 

The system uses an overhead depth camera to track user's hands and surface objects. A Microsoft Kinect with a depth sensor is mounted above the surface and caliberated for extrinsic and intrinsic camera parameters. "We are using two Kinects- one mounted in a remote location to capture the remote user, who had two video screens so they can see both the inFORM table surface and other participants," said Follmer. He said that the remote Kinect is mounted on the ceiling and captures the depth image and 2D colour image of the user's hands or any other objects placed under it. This captured data is sent over the network to the inFORM surface, which renders it physically on the inFORM pins. A projector above the inFORM projects the colour image of the remote user's hands onto the rendered shape. The second Kinect is mounted above the inFORM surface. This allows users collocated with the inFORM to interact with the inFORM gesturally.

inFORM actuate devices, for example by sliding and tilting a tablet towards the user

The development is a major breakthrough and I can say what we saw in Wolverine can be just a beginner's application and more to come. Shape displays allow for new ways to create physical interactions beyond functionality alone. We can hope a major development in this field which can be a major breakthrough in a wide variety of applications and helpful in medical, IT and industrial fields. Let's hope for the best. :D :)  

Invisible Bike Helmet: Welcome to Fashion and Safety

Most of the time Bike Helmets takes our joy away (but please use helmets always). Of course we all know that helmets are for assured safety and I know its for our future. But still for some it was too much to bear. This went to the invention of a new remarkable product and I would love to call it "The Invisible Bike Helmet". 

The invisible Helmet, real name "Hovding" was an idea of a pair of Swedish women Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin. "Hovding" was born as a master thesis in 2005 of this pair while they were studying Industrial Design at the University of Lund. The idea was born as a response to the introduction of a law on mandatory helmet use for children up to the age of 15 in Sweden, which triggered a debate on whether cycle helmets should be mandatory for adults too. 

How does the "Hovding" works? 

It consists of a lot features. And first I will begin with the Airbagsystem. The airbag is designed like a hood and made in an ultra-strong nylon fabric that wont rip when scraped against the ground. It protects nearly all of the head while leaving the field of vision open. The inflated airbag covers much more larger area. The protection is very good, at the same time soft and gentle shock absorption. 

There is a gas inflator that inflates the airbag. It is kept in a holder in the collar on the cyclist's back. It uses helium and remains cold in every condition. Hence we doent feel any sort of temperature on our body. There is a ON/OFF switch on the zip tag that activates "Hovding" when its attached to the right-hand side of the collar. At the front of the collar there are LEDs showing the battery level and whether "Hovding" is ON or OFF. The battery arrangement that "Hovding" posses is easily charged through a computer using the USB cable (after 18 hours of cycling). 

We dont have to get tensed about getting wet too. Collar is made of waterproof functional fabric that provides the best possible protection for the built-in airbag system. It is also protected from wear, sweat and dirt by the surrounding fabric shell. The main purpose of shell is to make it possible for you to change the appearance of your "Hovding". 

So next time, you doesnt have to sacrifice your look or fashion. You will be really proud to wear this new invisible helmet. :D :) 

Japan's Largest Solar Plant: Thanks to Kyocera

The Mega power plant is covering an area about 1,270,000metre square, that is almost 27
baseball stadiums. It can produce almost 78,800MWh. 

Globally diverse businesses giant Kyocera launched the Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant, a 70 megawatt facility in Japan that can generate enough electricity to power about 22,000 homes. 

The move comes as Japan struggles with energy sources as nuclear power plants were shut down after meltdowns hit Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima plant in 2011. 

The Solar plant went online on November 1 and is operated by a special purpose company established by Kyocera and six other companies to sell the electricity to a local utility under Japan's feed-in-tariff program. 

The power plant consists of 290,000 solar panels which can be viewed by the visitors and other people associated with education and research, from an elevated vantage point. It is surely a great view with the beautiful ocean bay and Sakurajima Volcano in the background. 

Public tour facility

You can make your computer display "stealth": really? :) :D

An additional layer of security can be added to your computer. Sometimes it can be beyond your imagination. But still its amazing and fun to do such a master piece of security. :D :) 

Your LCD computer display can be provided with an extra security by following the lead of Brusspup, a well-known online illusionist and computer artist. You have to just remove your display's outer polarizing filter, and use polarizing sun glasses to view your display. It easy....right... :D :) 

without voltage and with voltage

An LCD display depends on liquid crystals that can rotate the polarization axis of light as it passes through. In fact LCD pixels are made up of numerous layers, a pair of linear polarizers and a thickness of nematic liquid crystal with transparent electrodes that can apply a voltage across the liquid crystal. What happens when a voltage is applied? the voltage causes the liquid crystal's rodlike molecules to line up with applied field. In that configuration there is no structure to alter the polarization of the light, so that light leaving the liquid crystal is still horizontally polarized. This light cannot pass through the vertical polarizer P1, so this appears as a dark pixel. Based on the voltage level, the pixel can let any amount of light pass through, from bright to dark. At the same time without voltage, the light is polarized horizontally by horizontal polarizer P2, then passes through a liquid crystal LC. The thickness of the liquid crystal is set to that it rotates the polarization of the light by 90 degrees. This converts the horizontally polarized light leaving polarizer P2 into vertically polarized light ready to enter vertical polarizer P1. Finally light passes through P1 and appears as a bright pixel. 

Brusspup who is also specialized in optical illusion noticed that if you completely remove polarizer P1, an LCD display shows uniform illumination with a varying pattern of polarization over the screen. However, our human eye is not very sensitive to the polarization of light with which it sees the world. The same way you might feel the LCD display to be bright and featureless when the final polarizing film of the display is removed. 

It means if you wear vertical polarizing filters over your eyes, you will see the original image and image is not visible to anyone else who is not wearing polarizing glasses. Interesting!! isn't it? Now you try at home... :) 

Its gives you a stealth display and added security along with fun too.... :D :) 

                                              Check out this video

Surfaces that cool before you think: From MIT

MIT researchers have come up with a way to cool hot surfaces more effectively by keeping droplets from bouncing. 

When an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan's Fukushima nucleur power plant in 2001, knocking out everything on the way, crews tried to spray seawater on the reactors. But everything was in vein. One possible reason can be droplets not able to fall or land on surfaces that are hot. Because they instantly begin to evaporate, forming a thin layer of vapour and then bouncing along it, juts as they would in a hot cooking pan. 

But now, MIT has come up with a new solution. Their solution is, decorate the surface with tiny structures and then coat it with particles about 100 times smaller. Using that approach, they produced textured surfaces that could be heated to temperatures at least 100 degrees Celsius higher than smooth ones before droplets bounced. 

"Our new understanding of the physics involved can help people design textured surfaces for enhanced cooling in many types of systems, improving both safety and performance," says Kripa Varansai, the Doherty Associate Professor of Ocean Utilization in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the lead author of the study. Their research was to find a way to increase the temperature at which water droplets start bouncing. Past research indicated tough materials would add more surface area to hold onto droplets, making it harder to them to bounce. But the research team discovered that not just any rough surface will do. They found that installing microscale silicon posts on a silicon surface raised the temperature at which droplets transitioned from landing to bouncing. But it worked best when the posts were relatively diffuse. As the posts got closer together, the transition temperature gradually dropped until it was no higher than that of a smooth surface. 

"The result was surprising," says Bird, who is now assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Boston University. "Common knowledge suggests that the closely spaced posts would provide greater surface are, so would hold onto the droplets to a higher temperature." 

Upon further analysis the researchers concluded that closely spaced posts do provide more surface area to anchor the droplets, but they also keep the vapour that forms from flowing. Trapped by adjacent posts, the accumulating vapour layer under a droplet builds up pressure, pushing the droplet off. When the force of the vapour exceeds the attractive force of the surface, the droplet starts to float. "Bringing the posts closer together increases surface interactions, but it also increases resistance to the vapour leaving," says Varanasi. 

Experiments confirmed their approach. when they sprayed water on their micro-nano surfaces at 400 degree Celsius (the highest temperature their experimental setup could provide), the droplets quickly wet the surfaces and boiled. Interestingly under the same conditions the droplets did not wet the surfaces of samples with either the microscale posts or nanoscale texture, but did wet the surfaces of samples with both. 

In addition to the nuclear systems, this work has a lot of future applications for steam generators, industrial boilers, fire suppression etc. The research was supported by a Young Faculty Award from the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the MIT Energy Initiative and the MIT-Deshpande Centre. 

Micrographs  showing water droplets landing on specially designed silicon surfaces at different temperatures.
At higher temperatures, the droplets begin to exhibit a new behaviour" instead of boiling, they bounce on a layer of vapour, never really wetting and cooling the surface. At 400 degree Celsius the droplet continues to boil only on the surface  that combines microscale posts with a coating of nanoscale particles (last column). These results demonstrate that this micro-nano surface can be effectively cooled even at high temperatures.

We must appreciate this DJ: Making the word "Impossible" to "Possible"

Intel IQ have started a unique 'Creative Technology Series' where they interview artists with extraordinary talents, whom use 'tech' in an extra ordinary way. In this series we can see how people overcome their limits and enhance creativity. While I was going through the series I came to notice a talent who had overcome his limits through an extra ordinary skill. 

'Robbie Wilde' is a deaf DJ. He has been working on his craft for about 10 years. He lost hearing at the age of 7 due to ear infections and is completely deaf in his right ear, while 80% deaf in his left ear. Starkey Hearing Foundation had sponsored him with an hearing aid, and he also communicates through reading lips. His love for music was born with him. His dad had a great love for beat. And hence his home was filled with music. But for Robbie, it wasn't easy. But still he tried to listen to his love the way he could. His parents were his inspiration. They taught him to give always 110%  and to move ahead in his life. 

I know, you will be having a question about how Robbie challenged his limits. What made him so special? Robbie's ability to play music in 'open format' which is an electric, difficult combination of different genres made him special. He had a partnership with SubPac, a backpack-like device that sends out just bass frequencies into your back without all the other noise. You can get a perfect feel for a song with it. Its like headphones for the deaf community, and when hearing people use it without headphones they get to experience music as Robbie feel always. 

When mixing and performing, he used a program called Serrato because the waveforms, the images of the sound, are colored. This allows him to separate the vocals, which he cannot hear, from the bass and instrumental parts. These visuals substitute for his hearing. This technology has definitely helped him to upgrade his skill and talents. 

See how Robbie used 'tech' for his life and taste. His philosophy is, whatever the new gadgets and software that come out, think outside the box and go beyond what it was built for. I think there is a lot to learn from Robbie Wilde, one of the best DJs. :) :D 

A synaptic transistor that learns while it computes

Material scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have now created a new type of transistor that mimics the behaviour of a synapse. The  device simultaneously modulates the flow of information in a circuit and physically adapts to changing signals. We do have a lot of undiscovered as well as unusual properties in modern materials. The synaptic transistor could mark the beginning of a new kind of artificial intelligence: one embedded not in smart algorithms but in the very architecture of a computer. 

"There's extraordinary interest in building energy-efficient electronics these days," says principal investigator Shriram Ramanathan, associate professor of materials science at Harvard SEAS. "Historically, peole have been focused on speed, but with speed comes the penalty of power dissipation. With electronics becoming more and more powerful and ubiquitous, you could have a huge impact by cutting down the amount of energy they consume." 

The human mind, for all its phenomenal computing power, runs on roughly 20 watts of energy, so it offers a natural model for engineers. "The transistor we have demonstrated is really an analog to the synapse in our brains," says co-lead author Jian Shi, a postdoctoral felllow at SEAS. "each time a neuron initiates an action and another neuron reacts, the synapse between them increases the strength of its connection. And the faster neurons spike each time, the stronger the synaptic connection. Essentially, it memorizes the action between the neurons." 

In principle, a system integrating millions of tiny synaptic transistors and neuron terminals could take parallel computing into a new era of ultra-efficient high performance. 

So how does a synaptic transistor works? The synaptic transistor has a structure which is almost similar to that of a field effect transistor, where a bit of ionic liquid takes the place of the gate insulating layer between the gate electrode and the conducting channel, and that channel is composed of samarium nickelate (SmNiO3 or SNO) rather than field effect transistor's doped silicon. 

A synaptic transistor has an immediate response and a learning response. The immediate response is basically same as that of a field effect transistor- the amount of current that passes between the source and drain contacts varies with the amount of voltage applied to the gate electrode. The learning response is that the conductivity of the SNO layer varies in response to the STDP history of the synaptic transistor, essentially by shutting oxygen ions between the SNO and the ionic liquid. 

The electrical analog of strengthening a synapse is to increase the conductivity of the SNO, which essentially increases the gain of the synaptic transistor. Similarly, weakening a synapse is analogous to decreasing the electrical conductivity of the SNO. thereby lowering the gain. The artificial synapses have the flexibility to learn "more or less" how to perform a task, and then to learn how to improve its earlier performance etc. While the physical structure of Harvard's synaptic transistor has the potential t learn from history, in itself it contains no way to bias the transistor so as to properly control SNO's memory effect. This function is carried out by an external supervisory circuit that converts the time delay between input and output into a voltage applied to the ionic liquid that either drives ions into the SNO or removes them. In response, the synaptic transistors become self-optimizing within a circuit being subjected to learning experiences. 

The new transistor is inherently energy efficient. The nickelate belongs to an unusual class of materials, called corelated electron systems, that can undergo an insulator-metal transition. At a certain temperature when exposed to an external field the conductance of the material suddenly changes. "We exploit the extreme sensitivity of this material," says Ramanathan. "A very small excitation allows you to get a large signal, so the input energy required to drive this switching is potentially very small. That could translate into a large boost for energy efficiency." The beauty of this type of a device is that the 'learning behaviour is more or less temperature insensitive, that's a big advantage," says Ramanathan. 

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Army Research Office's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The team has also benefited from the facilities at the Harvard Centre for Nanoscale Systems, a memeber of the NSF-supported National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network. 

Ink-Based Circuits on the way

Researchers from Georgia Tech, University of Tokyo and Microsoft Research have developed a novel method to rapidly make electrical circuits by printing them with inkjet printers and off-the-shelf materials. This may in turn reduce the fraction of time and cost. A wonderful idea isn't? :) :D 

The technique called instant-inkjet circuits, allows the printing of arbitrary-shaped conductors onto rigid or flexible materials and could advance the prototyping skills of non-technical enthusiasts and novice hackers. "We believe there is an opportunity to introduce a new approach to the rapid prototyping of fully custom-printed circuits," said Gregory Abowd, Regents' Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech and an investigator in the study. "Unlike existing methods for printing conductive patterns, conductivity in our technique emerged within a few seconds and without the need for special equipment." 

We know that there are a lot of advancements in the field of nano engineering. Researches have used the latest advancements in chemically bonding metal particles to their concept. They used silver nanoparticle ink to print the circuits and avoid thermal boding, or sintering, a time-consuming and potentially damaging technique due to the heat.  Printing the circuits on resin-coated paper, PET film and glossy photo worked best. Researchers also made a list of materials to avoid, such as canvas cloths and magnet sheets. 

"Everything we introduced in our research is available in the market and makes it possible for people to try this at home," said Yoshihiro Kawahara, Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo and the primary investigator who developed the methodology while in Atlanta. "This method can be used to print circuit boards, sensors and antennas with little coat, and it opens up many new opportunities." 

Once printed, the circuits can be attached to electronic components using conductive double-sided tape or silver epoxy adhesive, allowing full-scale prototyping in mere hours. The home made circuits might allow tinkerers to quickly prototype crude calculators, thermostat controls, battery chargers or any number of electronic devices. "Using this technology in the class room, it would be possible to introduce students to basic electronic principles very cheaply, and they could use a range of electronic components to augment the experience," said Steve Hodges, a team member from Microsoft Research. 

Inkjet circuits can be used for a wide range of applications: 

• Rapid prototyping electronic circuits
• Inter-digitated capacitive touch sensing: Capacitive touch sensing has become an important way of detecting touch-based interaction between a user and all manner of digital devices. Using inkjet printing technology, we can fabricate uniquely shaped capacitive sensing electrodes which are optimized for a particular application. 
•  For manufacturing Printed antennas: An antenna is an electronic component that converts electrical energy into electromagnetic radiation in the form of radio waves and vice-versa.

A lot of researches are currently going on, which include a combination of inkjet printing and laser cutting. Hence we are looking for a future where we can develop 3D prototypes etc. All I can say is, this invention can bring a lot of advancements in the field of Electronics and I cant wait to see the magic of Inkjet printing technology. :) :D