Gizmorama
September 27, 2010
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The Twister Car Performs Twists, Stunts, and Wheelies...
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/1152/c/186/a/474
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Good Morning,
Aside from our usual intriguing articles, I have included a
video for a really cool new gizmo that has been getting a
lot of hype; performance bracelets. Star athlete Shaquille
O'Neal attests to its flexibility, strength and balance bene-
fits in the clip posted at the end of this issue. Although
what makes this bracelet work is seemingly magic, I agree
that this is one awesome and simple little gadget.
Until Next Time,
Erin
Questions? Comments? Email me at: mailto:gizmo@gophercentral.com
Email your comments
P.S. You can discuss this issue or any other topic in the new
Gizmorama forum. Check it out here...
http://gizmorama.gophercentral.com
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'Helper' robots seen within 10 years
ITHACA, N.Y. - Robots capable of helping people with everyday
tasks could be available and affordable within 10 years, a
U.S. researcher predicts. Ashutosh Saxena, Cornell University
assistant professor of computer science, is working to bring
robots into homes and offices that can clean up a messy room,
assemble a flat-pack bookcase or unload a dishwasher, all
without human intervention, a university release said Thurs-
day. "Just like people buy a car, I envision that in five to
10 years, people will buy an assistive robot that will be
cheaper or about the same cost as a car," Saxena said. A
technical challenge is giving robots the ability to learn
in uncertain environments. It's one thing to make a robot
do simple tasks like "pick up this pen, move to the right,
turn 360 degrees." It's quite another to enable a robot to
understand how to pick up an object it's never come across
before or navigate a room it's never been in. Saxena has
focused on how to make robots gather information in cluttered
and unknown environments. Using a camera, one of his robots
can evaluate an object -- say a cup or plate - and figure out
how best to grab it. This kind of technology will eventually
become the basic capability of a full-fledged dishwasher-
unloading robot, he says.
'Tabletop' science confirms relativity
BOULDER, Colo. - Exploring the peculiar effects of Einstein's
relativity theory is no longer rocket science -- in fact,
U.S. scientists say it can be demonstrated on a tabletop.
Using super precise atomic clocks, scientists have witnessed
the phenomenon of time dilation -- the bizarre speeding up or
slowing down of time described by the theory, ScienceNews.org
reported. "Modern technology has gotten so precise you can
see these exotic effects in the range of your living room,"
says physicist Clifford Will of Washington University in St.-
Louis. The experiments don't reveal any new physics, Will
says, but "what makes it cute and pretty cool is they have
done it on a tabletop." Time dilation happens in two situa-
tions -- time appears to move more slowly the closer you are
to a massive object, such as Earth, and it speeds up for
someone at rest relative to someone moving. Previous experi-
ments with rockets and airplanes have demonstrated these odd
aspects of relativity. Now researchers have used two atomic
clocks sitting atop steel tables in neighboring labs at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder,
Colo. Each keeps time by vibrating an atom of aluminum more
than a million billion times per second. A 75-meter-long op-
tical cable connects the clocks, which allows the scientists
to compare the instruments. The researchers first raised one
clock about a foot in relation to the other and, sure enough,
the lower clock ran more slowly, at the rate of losing a 90-
billionth of a second in 79 years. They then caused one clock
to move -- just slightly -- and predicted, the moving clock
ran slower than the one at rest. "It's pretty breathtaking
precision," says physicist Daniel Kleppner of MIT.
Metal 'foam' developed for bone implants
DRESDEN, Germany - A new material for bone implants could
replace current solid metal implants and improve flexibility
and bone regrowth, German engineers say. Typical solid metal
implants -- usually titanium -- are well tolerated by the
body but cause problems by being significantly stiffer than
bone, NewScientist.com reported. The implant may end up
carrying a far higher load than the bone it is placed next
to, says Peter Quadbeck of the Fraunhofer Institute for
Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials Research in
Dresden, Germany. In a worst-case scenario, he says, the
decrease in stress placed on the surrounding natural bone
means it will deteriorate, while the implant loosens and
needs to be replaced. Quadbeck and colleagues have created
a titanium implant with a foam-like structure, inspired by
the spongy nature of bone. The titanium foam does a better
job than solid metal when it comes to matching the mechanical
properties of bone, they say. And the foam is porous, so the
bone can grow around and within it, truly integrating the
implant with the skeleton. Peter Lee of the Department of
Materials at Imperial College London says he is impressed.
There are applications where inserting one of these titanium
foams "looks like the most promising solution," he says, such
as bridging long gaps between broken bones.
Gizmo Video:
Power Plus - Performance Bracelet
You won't believe the power that this little bracelet can
give you! Basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal agrees that
it makes a big difference in overall performance.
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=17408
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