Gizmorama - July 29, 2013

Good Morning,

Researchers at Georgia Tech claim to be developing technology to aid the ability for an animal and its handler to communicate more efficiently. The technology dubbed "facilitating interactions for dogs with occupations," could revolutionize the effectiveness of rescue dogs.

Learn about this and other interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

P.S. EVTV1 is back and better than ever! This video portal was created to weed through the online clutter to bring you the best animal video clips...funniest videos...most popular...PLUS the most unusual. New videos are added daily! It's the future of entertainment available today, all in one place.

Visit and Enjoy: EVTV1.com

***
*-- Wearable computers could let service dogs communicate with masters --*
ATLANTA - Researchers at Georgia Tech say they're developing technology aimed at easing communication between an animal and its handler. Aimed at rescue dogs and dogs working in security situations, the technology dubbed "facilitating interactions for dogs with occupations," or FIDO, equips dogs with a vest or collar integrated with four sensors that can be activated when the dog bites, tugs or puts its mouth nearby, the researchers said. The sensor causes an audio notification to be transmitted to the handler, who listens through an earpiece. The system could eventually include video, which could be transmitted from a dog to a human monitoring a heads-up display; Google Glass technical lead Thad Starner has been working with the Georgia Tech researchers, PC Magazine reported Monday. Three service dogs participating in a study were quick to grasp the technology, which could eventually allow bomb-sniffing dogs to remotely communicate with their handler about discovered explosives, the researchers said. Rescue dogs could remotely alert a human team upon discovery of an injured party, they said.


*-- Scientists detect magnetic creation of space weather on the sun --*
GREENBELT, Md. - NASA says two of its spacecraft have provided the best data yet on a mysterious magnetic process at the heart of explosions on the sun that power space weather. The phenomenon is knows as magnetic reconnection, when magnetic field lines come together, break apart and then exchange partners, snapping into new positions and releasing a jolt of magnetic energy that can fling radiation and particles across the solar system. The resulting space weather can affect satellites near Earth and interfere with radio communications, NASA scientists said. Magnetic reconnection, which lies at the heart of giant explosions on the sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, is hard to study because it can't be witnessed directly, since magnetic fields are invisible, they said. However NASA's SDO, short for Solar Dynamics Observatory, has now provided images of magnetic reconnection as it was happening on the sun. While the magnetic field lines themselves are invisible, they force charged particles to course along their length, which space telescopes can see as bright lines looping and arcing through the sun's atmosphere. Scientists have used observations of these lines to map out the presence of magnetic field lines and witness magnetic reconnection as it happens. Observations from a second spacecraft, a solar spectrographic imager, helped confirm the SDO's evidence. "This is the first time we've seen the entire, detailed structure of this process, because of the high quality data from SDO," Yang Su, a solar scientist at the University of Graz in Austria, said. "It supports the whole picture of reconnection, with visual evidence."


*-- Apple warns of fake chargers following electrocution death in China --*
CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple has warned Chinese consumers against using non-Apple chargers after a woman was reportedly electrocuted answering a call on her iPhone as it was charging. On its Chinese website, the Cupertino, Calif., firm urged customers to only use its official chargers with any of its products, CNET reported Thursday. Last week, Chinese sources suggested the woman, Ma Ailun, might have been using a third-party charger designed to look like a genuine Apple unit. Cheap counterfeit devices often try to look as much like Apple parts as possible; earlier this year, consumer safety organization Underwriters Laboratories issued a warning that counterfeit Apple USB chargers were appearing on the market. On its Chinese website, Apple offered help for consumers on how to identify a real charger from the company as opposed to a fake alternative.

***
Missed an Issue? Visit the Gizmorama Archives