Gizmorama

May 4, 2011
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Good Morning,

A new GPS system is the product of development at the
University of Illinois. This neat device not only calculates
your shortest route, but also your most fuel efficient COA.
Check out details in the first article.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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'Green' GPS saves fuel, energy

URBANA, Ill. - U.S. computer scientists say new software for
GPS devices can reduce energy consumption in transportation
systems. The program, GreenGPS, developed by computer scien-
tists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
works like normal GPS navigational devices except that in
addition to calculating the shortest and fastest routes, it
also suggests the most fuel-efficient route, a university
release said Tuesday. The software runs on cellphones linked
to a car's computer using an inexpensive wireless adapter
that works in all cars manufactured since 1996. Information
about engine performance and fuel efficiency is uploaded by
the car's onboard diagnostic system to the phone, which uses
the data to compute the greenest route. "Currently at least
30 percent of total energy in the United States is spent on
cars," UI computer science Professor Tarek Abdelzaher said.
"By saving even 5 percent of that cost, we can save the same
amount of total energy spent on the nation's entire infor-
mation technology infrastructure." A pilot program has seen
units installed on 200 vehicles used by the Urbana-Champaign
campus. "The less money we can spend on fuel, the more money
we can direct toward maintaining other things on campus,"
said Pete Varney, director of transportation and automotive
Services. In preliminary experiments, researchers found that
following the suggestion of Green GPS saved 13 percent more
fuel over the fastest route and 6 percent over the shortest.


Battery can help brain deal with pain

MILAN, Italy - Italian scientists say they've created a
battery for stimulating the brain to treat problems such as
chronic pain, the aftereffects of strokes and depression.
Researchers at the Ca Granda Foundation at Milan's
Policlinico university hospital and the Universita Statale
have established a company to market the device, ANSA news
agency reported Tuesday. "Neuro-stimulation techniques have
been spreading in clinical medicine over the last 20 years,
especially where drugs are not effective or are not well-
tolerated," the scientists said in a statement. The device
consists of two electrodes that are applied to the sides of
the head and hooked up to a weak and continuous electrical
current from a battery. Sessions last a matter of minutes,
the researchers said. "This brings about functional cerebral
modifications, without the individual feeling any sensation,
which persist for hours after the current has been turned
off." The company says its battery is cheaper and easier to
carry from place to place. "It will permit an even greater
spread of these techniques on a wide scale, including outside
specialist research facilities," it said.


Students design solar-powered autoclave

HOUSTON - Students at a U.S. university say sun power could
sterilize medical instruments, helping solve a longstanding
health issue for developing countries. Engineering students
at Rice University have fashioned a sterilizing autoclave
using a Capteur Soliel, a device created decades ago by
French inventor to capture the energy of the sun in places
where electricity -- or fuel of any kind -- is hard to get,
a university release reported Tuesday. The Capteur Soleil is
a steel A-frame with a bed of curved mirrors beneath the
frame that produce steam by focusing sunlight along a steel
tube at the frame's apex. The Rice researchers use the steam
to heat a custom-designed conductive hotplate in an insulated
box to create an autoclave. "It basically becomes a stovetop,
and you can heat anything you need to," said Sam Major, a
member of the team with seniors Daniel Rist, David Luker and
William Dunk. "As long as the autoclave reaches 121 Celsius
(250 F) for 30 minutes (the standard set by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention), everything should be
sterile, and we've found we're able to do that pretty easily.
"We put about an inch of water inside, followed by the basket
with the tools and syringes," Major said. "We've used some
biological spores from a test kit, steamed them, and then
incubated them for 24 hours and they came back negative for
biological growth. That means we killed whatever was in
there." "This is really the latest iteration of a much larger
project," said the team's faculty adviser Doug Schuler. "We
already have a version of the Capteur Soleil being used in
Haiti for cooking, but we felt it could do more."


Densest 'super Earth' planet discovered

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A Canadian space telescope
has discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a distant star, and
astronomers say it's the densest solid planet yet observed.
The researchers say the planet, named 55 Cancri e, whips
around its star in just 18 hours, Postmedia reported Monday.
"You could set dates on this world by your wristwatch," the
University of British Columbia's Jaymie Matthews said.
There's little chance of life on the planet, he said, given
that the surface temperature is believed to be close to 4,900
degrees Fahrenheit. Still, astronomers said, the planet may
have retained an atmosphere due to its strong gravity. "It's
so exotic, it's like the poster child for rocky super-
Earths," Matthews said. Observations indicate the planet's
diameter is only 60 percent larger than Earth's, but it is
eight times more massive. "In fact, 55 Cancri e is the
densest solid planet known, anywhere," the astronomers said.
And it's not all that far from Earth, with its home star, 55
Cancri A, visible to the naked eye. That makes 55 Cancri e a
"unique laboratory to investigate the story of how planets
form and evolve," the researchers said.

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