Arduino wirelessly? Yes it can. That's how.

Arduino is an opensource framework that allows rapid prototyping and quick learning of the fundamental principles of electronics and programming. It is composed of a hardware platform for physical computing developed at the Interaction Design Institute, an institute based in Ivrea, founded by Olivetti and Telecom Italia. The name of the card derives from that of a bar in Ivrea frequented by some of the founders of the project. (source: wikipedia). The Arduino system offers an open source method for programming… Read more

Connectomics – Building a map of the mind

There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the brain of an adult human, and each of these neurons is connected to hundreds of others for a total of approximately 150 billion connections in total. Neuroscience is discovering that it is the pattern of these connections, the structure of this immense neural network, that is largely responsible for the functionality of the brain, in other words for our mental life: everything we feel, think, experience or do. Our … Read more

After the guinea pigs also the monkeys: the anti-fat drug works

fat burning

Recent tests on obese monkeys show an 11% reduction in body weight after just a few applications. The drug works in totally different ways compared to other discoveries of the kind, which try to replace or substitute the ways in which human beings eat, altering the sense of appetite or metabolic levels: the action is internal and surprising. The principles of the researched substance seek the blood supply that binds to fatty tissues, and apply to these a peptide that kills … Read more

Is it necessary for engineers to also know how to write?

The user writes in a comment on an engineer's blog: Do (electronic) engineers also have to be able to write well in Italian or is it enough that they know how to 'do arithmetic'? Let's start from a comment left on a blog article, with rather harsh and reproachful tones for all the young engineers who, according to the author, would not make appropriate use of the Italian language. Inevitably, a real discussion broke out regarding the skills of those who, as a profession, design and... Read more

The greenest fuel there is? Made with air and water.

clean petrol

AFS (Engineers at Air Fuel Synthesis) based in the north of England claims to have produced 5 liters of synthetic oil in the space of 3 months. It's a little bit, you might say. And give me a break. The technique consists of extracting carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from the water, then combining them in a reactor which produces methanol with the help of a catalyst. The methanol is then converted into oil. Now have you understood why it takes 3 months for 5 liters? Not exactly the time that… Read more

You move on to artificial blood

Artificial blood could soon become a reality thanks to the first successful human transfusion. Dr. Luc Douay of the Parisian University 'Pierre et Marie Curie' extracted stem cells from bone marrow and 'encouraged' them to grow and transform into blood cells by administering a cocktail of growth factors: finally he injected 10 billion of these cells (the equivalent of 2 milliliters) in the donor's spinal cord. After 5 days 94% of the cells were still alive and… Read more

To study methods to communicate with patients in a vegetative state

A group of English neuroscientists has discovered that it is possible to establish a two-way 'conversation' with people in a permanent vegetative state, thanks to a device already present everywhere capable of reading their brain activity. Researchers have noticed how some individuals in this state are able to understand what they are told and follow commands to perform certain actions: the project can radically change the way these patients are treated. In the experiment, 16 were asked… Read more

Sodium ion batteries, studies continue with a sweet discovery.

Na (Sodium)

Lithium, the main element in the composition of the batteries that power our devices (and also in the war against bipolar personality disorder) is not omnipresent on Earth: several countries are forced to import it from abroad, and this shortage leads to notable swings in the prices of technological devices: the signs of its future scarcity are already there in the ever-increasing price that quality batteries present to buyers. A group of researchers from Tokyo University led by Professor Shinichi Komaba may have… Read more

Within 10 years, solar panels in orbit and clean energy on Earth.

solar orbit

Already heard it and does it sound like science fiction to you? According to the results of a 3-year study with 10 nations involved conducted by the International Academy of Astronautics, it could be a reality within 10 years. The biggest disadvantage of today's solar energy is that it doesn't work in the evening or when the sky is cloudy: in space, on the contrary, the Sun is present 24 hours a day, 24 days a week. No storms, no clouds. The obvious solution to the problem, therefore, is to move all PV capacity… Read more

The beauty of landing on a flying airport.

Size matters, even when it comes to aircraft: the bulkier the aircraft, the better they fly, with more stability and efficiency (think of the recent, enormous Airbus A380). Nothing prevents us from imagining, therefore, a timeline in which we will aim to create increasingly larger aircraft, to the point of launching real flying airports, capable of hosting and landing other planes on top of them. This is the underlying reason for the 'Airborne Metro' concept: it is, in fact, ... Read more

Lumineyes: in 20 seconds the eyes change color (forever).

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Have you always dreamed of having a beautiful pair of blue eyes, but were you born with dark eyes? A Californian doctor has patented and developed a method capable of changing dark eyes to blue (forever) in just 20 seconds. How does Lumineyes work? Dr. Gregg Homer is an optical specialist at the Stroma Medical Institute in California. He has patented and uses a technique called Lumineyes to remove the brown pigment (melanin) from the top layer of the iris using a unique laser. … Read more

Bovine blood bricks

brickblood

I make this premise for all those, including myself, who have turned up their noses at handling such news: the existence of hamburgers is not my fault, and the slaughter processes in the world occur independently of us. We can and must ask for fairer conditions for the breeding and treatment of animals, even those that constitute food, and this is beyond doubt: once this is done, if you are not a vegetarian, a bovine is raised to make steaks. An adult bovine… Read more

5 skills to survive the future

5ability

What skills need to be developed? Surviving is a relative concept: you can do without a lot, but beyond easy philosophy, an immersive world like ours characterized by an enormous amount of information is a jungle that is difficult to cross without having strong shoulders. Here are 5 skills to focus on for society in the coming years: 1 – Knowing how to manage communications According to Nielsen, in the first quarter of 2010 European teenagers sent and received… Read more

When Thomas Edison wanted to build houses

edison

Yesterday's dreams are today's reality: we live in the age of mechanical, electrical, chemical and psychic wonders. In every field of knowledge the human mind is solving the problems it finds in nature: the dreamer dreams, the businessman has the duty to transform and sell these new ideas. What will be the point of view of those who are able to do both, to imagine and realize what the world needs? The article refers again, between… Read more

Smart steering wheel controls vital signs while driving

We have already said a lot about devices that check if you are too drunk to drive, but today a group of German researchers want to take this concept a little further: their 'intelligent steering' constantly monitors the driver's vital functions and changes behavior of the vehicle in their operation. Developed by the Munich Technical University in collaboration with BMW, this steering is equipped with numerous sensors capable of measuring heart rate, oxygenation levels and blood pressure: if … Read more

ATLAST, Hubble 3.0 will put its nose everywhere

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ATLAST (The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope) is the acronym that distinguishes the project of the next Hubble space telescope: a little gem capable of studying and mapping the atmosphere and surface of habitable exoplanets within a radius of 200 light years. The ability to capture light in all its spectrum and the very advanced technologies are two particularities that can easily be summarized in a feature that will make ATLAST the largest human eye on the universe: the size of the optics. The 'old' Hubble 2.0 has the lens … Read more

Intel's new 3D transistors

The 3D transistors are made thanks to Intel's revolutionary technology called Tri-Gate which, thanks to a 22nm technological process, allows us to keep up with Moore's law. Topic to be explored both from the Moore's law side (Will the development of chips follow Moore's law?) and the scientific side with the discovery of 3D crystals. Mark Bohr, who has been at Intel for some time, explains everything to us: here is a small excerpt from the interview, while you can find the complete interview (complete with video) on ... Read more

Extraterrestrial life: the radio bubble hypothesis

where are they

The question was referring to the fact that it seemed strange to him that we were not receiving any extraterrestrial transmissions from space. If it is true that there are millions of planets similar to ours out there and if at least a small percentage of them have developed intelligent life, why don't we receive any radio transmissions? This inconsistency was later called the “Fermi Paradox”. It is clear that if intelligent life develops on a remote planet, once technological development has been reached, it will necessarily have to... Read more

Vertical bed, relaxation becomes urban

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New York inventor Jamie O'Shea will not be remembered for giving the world civil flight, nor electricity: he probably won't be remembered at all. His creation, the Vertical Bed, is exactly what can be deduced from his bare name: a bed that allows you to sleep... while standing. The brilliant invention can support the weight of an individual's body simply by attaching its bases to a manhole. Let's be honest, I have no idea who I might find comforting... Read more