Gizmorama
February 14, 2011
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Travel Ready 37 pc First Aid Kit - Perfect For On The Go!
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Good Morning,
I have a great video for you to watch today. This must-see
clip is an astonishing display of the advancements in robot-
ics. However, all of you 'Terminator' enthusiasts beware!
Check out the last section for the link to the clip.
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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First French 'designer baby' born
PARIS - French doctors have announced the birth of a baby
selected by genetic sampling who may offer a cure for a
sibling affected by an incurable hereditary disease.The baby
boy, named Umat-Talha, Turkish for "our hope," was born in
Paris Jan. 26, Radio France Internationale reported. In an
in vitro fertilization, the child's embryo was chosen after
determination that he did not carry the gene for beta
thalassemia, a genetic disorder affecting the baby's older
brother that destroys red blood cells and leads to anemia.
"The process consists in sampling an embryonic cell in vitro
and performing a genetic diagnostic," Dr. Rene Frydman said,
to determine whether "the embryo is affected, unscathed or
a carrier of the disease." Through stem cell transplants,
the baby's cells can be used to treat his older brother,
Frydman said. The birth of France's first "designer baby"
has been controversial, particularly among religious groups.
Andre Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris, said he was concerned
over "using someone exclusively for the service of someone
else" and said the baby was "a tool to try and cure another
child." Christine Boutin, president of the Christian Democra-
tic party, was critical of the procedure. "The designer baby
will always ask himself whether he exists for himself or for
another," she said.
Smartphone 'app' will help pollution study
BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. researchers say they're developing a
unique smartphone application that will help them track par-
ticipants in a study of urban air pollution exposure. Scien-
tists at the University of Buffalo say the smartphone appli-
cation will help them in their study of urban pollution,
which can vary from downtown to suburbs and from work envir-
onments to home settings. These variations make it essential
to be able to track study participants' locations and collect
data throughout the day, something smartphones equipped with
GPS can facilitate, a UB release said Tuesday. "There are
many ways to estimate air pollution exposures among humans,"
research leader Carole Rudra says, but most methods "don't
take into account the fact that people don't spend all day
inside their homes. In an urban area, exposure changes sig-
nificantly as people go about their daily activities. "To
overcome this limitation in a way that is convenient for
study participants and feasible for future large studies, we
will use smartphones to track study participants' locations
over 24 hours," Rudra says. "Their location registers auto-
matically, so they don't have to call in or do anything
else." The 40 participants will use their own GPS-equipped
smartphones, which will record their location in Buffalo
several times a day during a three-month study period. The
researchers will then check air pollution monitoring sites
in various locations to determine participants' exposure to
a number of pollutants.
Asteroid's near hit changes its orbit
PASADENA, Calif. - An asteroid passing Earth at just 3,400
miles was the closest near miss on record, and Earth's grav-
ity sent it into an entirely new orbit, U.S. researchers say.
The approach of the small asteroid 2011 CQ1 last week was so
close the object's path through space was bent by 60 degrees,
the biggest orbital change ever recorded by astronomers,
NewScientist.com reported. The change was large enough to
shift the asteroid, slightly more than a yard across, from
one category of objects into another, scientists at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said. "Prior
to the Earth close approach, this object was in a so-called
Apollo-class orbit that was mostly outside the Earth's or-
bit," JPL's Don Yeomans said. "Following the close approach,
the Earth's gravitational attraction modified the object's
orbit to an Aten-class orbit where the asteroid spends almost
all of its time inside the Earth's orbit." However, 2011
CQ1's close approach to Earth will likely be the last time
we'll see it, Emily Lakdawalla of the Planetary Society said.
"We'll probably never be close enough to it again to be able
to pick its dim light out from the background of stars."
VIDEO: Fast Robotic Hand
This neat video is a great display of the limitlessness of
robotic capability. Imagine if an entire robotic being was
programmed with this much detail and precision!
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=18000
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Check out Viral Videos on the Net at EVTV1.com
http://www.evtv1.com/
EVTV1.com