Monday, May 05, 2014

drag2share: Forget flexible: stretchy electronics will make devices truly wearable

Source: http://gigaom.com/2014/05/05/forget-flexible-stretchy-electronics-will-make-devices-truly-wearable/

Flexible electronics are all the rage these days, as their development could boost a generation of devices that can be worn on our wrists or embedded in our clothes. But a laboratory at the University of California, San Diego wants to move beyond flexible electronics into devices that are actually stretchable, allowing them to conform to almost any shape instead of just bending.

UC San Diego nanoengineering professor Darren Lipomi likened flexible electronics to folding a piece of paper around a basketball. Stretchable electronics, on the other hand, are more akin to wrapping rubber around the ball; they conform perfectly with no wrinkles.

Stretchy materials would also have the benefit of being far less breakable. If you dropped a heavy object on your current phone, you would probably worry about the screen breaking. But a stretchy device would just bend around the object instead of breaking. As a result, the lab’s flexible materials could be used to create objects like solar cells that are less vulnerable to damage.

“I am personally excited by the potential for molecularly stretchable electronics because the most sophisticated devices that we know of–that is, biological organisms–are soft and compliant,” Lipomi said. “Our interest in compliant and fracture-proof solar cells excites me and many of my students because we want to contribute in a unique way to the production of clean energy.”

The team’s work will compliment other early forays into stretchable electronics. Cambridge-based startup MC10 is already commercializing a group of stretchable devices that includes skin patches that can monitor the human body. Graphene and carbon nanotubes, both emerging materials renowned for their impressive electrical and physical properties, are also inherently stretchable. Large companies like Samsung are pushing to integrate them into devices.

But creating perfectly stretchy electronics involves diving down to their molecular structure and optimizing every single material that goes into them for stretchability and electronic properties. In a paper published in the journal Chemistry of Materials (subscription required), Lipomi’s team weighed different methods for creating flexible materials. The group found that there are already several combinations that could be suitable for personal devices or solar cells, though future work could further improve their properties. Lipomi noted the prototypes his lab has made (pictured above) are not quite ready to jump from the lab to our personal devices just yet:

“Barriers that remain before this technology can be commercialized involve protecting the sensitive stretchable semiconductors from oxygen and water vapor, which degrade the properties of the devices,” Lipomi said. “So, we need barriers in the literal sense: stretchable, transparent films that exclude water and oxygen.”

Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
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drag2share: 15 Emerging Agriculture Technologies That Will Change The World

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-emerging-agriculture-technologies-2014-4

Policy Horizons Canada worked with futurist and data visualizer Michell Zappa of Envisioning to produce a report called MetaScan 3: Emerging Technologies and accompanying infographics. We are reproducing the summary for emerging agriculture technologies.

robotic farm swarmsBelow are technologies related to agricultural and natural manufacturing under four key areas of accelerating change: Sensors, Food, Automation and Engineering.

Sensors help agriculture by enabling real-time traceability and diagnosis of crop, livestock and farm machine states.

Food may benefit directly from genetic tailoring and potentially from producing meat directly in a lab.

Automation will help agriculture via large-scale robotic and microrobots to check and maintain crops at the plant level.

Engineering involves technologies that extend the reach of agriculture to new means, new places and new areas of the economy. Of particular interest will be synthetic biology, which allows efficiently reprogramming unicellular life to make fuels, byproducts accessible from organic chemistry and smart devices.

cattleWe have included predictions based on consultation with experts of when each technology will be scientifically viable (the kind of stuff that Google, governmen! ts, and universities develop), mainstream (when VCs and startups widely invest in it), and financially viable (when the technology is generally available on Kickstarter).

Sensors

Air & soil sensors: Fundamental additions to the automated farm, these sensors would enable a real time understanding of current farm, forest or body of water conditions.

Scientifically viable in 2013; mainstream and financially viable in 2015.

Equipment telematics: Allows mechanical devices such as tractors to warn mechanics that a failure is likely to occur soon. Intra-tractor communication can be used as a rudimentary "farm swarm" platform.

Scientifically viable in 2013; mainstream in 2016; and financially viable in 2017.

Livestock biometrics: Collars with GPS, RFID and biometrics can automatically identify and relay vital information about the livestock in real time.

Scientifically viable in 2017; mainstream and financially viable in 2020.

Crop sensors: Instead of prescribing field fertilization before application, high-resolution crop sensors inform application equipment of correct amounts needed. Optical sensors or drones are able to identify crop health across the field (for example, by using infra-red light).

Scientifically viable in 2015; mainstream in 2018; and financially viable in 2019.

Infrastructural health sensors: Can be used for monitoring vibrations and material conditions in buildings, bridges, factories, farms and other infrastructure. Coupled with an intelligent network, such sensors could feed crucial information back to maintenance crews or robots.

Scientifically viable in 2021; mainstream in 2025; and financially viable in 2027.

test-tube lab-grown artificial burgerFood

Genetically designed food: The creation of entirely new strains of food animals and plants in order to better address biological and physiological needs. A departure from genetically modified food, genetically designed food would be engineered from the ground up.

Scientifically viable in 2016; mainstream in 2021; and financially viable in 2022.

In vitro meat: Also known as cultured meat or tubesteak, it is a flesh product that has never been part of a complete, living animal. Several current research projects are growing in vitro meat experimentally, although no meat has yet been produced for public consumption.

Scientifically viable in 2017; mainstream in 2024; and financially viable in 2027.

Automation

Variable rate swath control: Building on existing geolocation technologies, future swath control could save on seed, minerals, fertilizer and herbicides by reducing overlapping inputs. By pre-computing the shape of the field where the inputs are to be used, and by understanding the relative productivity of different areas of the field, tractors or agbots can procedurally apply inputs at variable rates throughout the field.

Scientifically viable in 2013; mainstream in 2014; and financially viable in 2016.

Rapid iteration selective breeding: The next generation of selective breeding where the end-result is analyzed quantitatively and improvements are suggested algorithmically.

Scientifically viable in 2014; mainstream and financially viable in 2017.

Agricultural robots: Also known as agbots, these are used to automate agricultural processes, such as harvesting, fruit picking, ploughing, soil maintenance, weeding, planting, irrigation, etc.

Scientifically via! ble in 2 018; mainstream in 2020; and financially viable in 2021.

Precision agriculture: Farming management based on observing (and responding to) intra-field variations. With satellite imagery and advanced sensors, farmers can optimize returns on inputs while preserving resources at ever larger scales. Further understanding of crop variability, geolocated weather data and precise sensors should allow improved automated decision-making and complementary planting techniques.

Scientifically viable in 2019; mainstream in 2023; and financially viable in 2024.

Robotic farm swarms: The hypothetical combination of dozens or hundreds of agricultural robots with thousands of microscopic sensors, which together would monitor, predict, cultivate and extract crops from the land with practically no human intervention. Small-scale implementations are already on the horizon.

Scientifically viable in 2023; mainstream and financially viable in 2026.

Engineering

Closed ecological systems: Ecosystems that do not rely on matter exchange outside the system. Such closed ecosystems would theoretically transform waste products into oxygen, food and water in order to support life-forms inhabiting the system. Such systems already exist in small scales, but existing technological limitations prevent them from scaling.

Scientifically viable in 2015; mainstream in 2020; and financially viable in 2021.

Synthetic biology: Synthetic biology is about programming biology using standardized parts as one programs computers using standardized libraries today. Includes the broad redefinition and expansion of biotechnology, with the ultimate goals of being able to design, build and remediate engineered biological systems that process information, manipulate chemicals, fabricate materials and structures, produce energy, provide food, and maintain and enhance human health and our environment.

Scientifically viable in 2013;! mainstr eam in 2023; and financially viable in 2024.

01 Bosco verticaleVertical farming: A natural extension of urban agriculture, vertical farms would cultivate plant or animal life within dedicated or mixed-use skyscrapers in urban settings. Using techniques similar to glass houses, vertical farms could augment natural light using energy-efficient lighting. The advantages are numerous, including year-round crop production, protection from weather, support urban food autonomy and reduced transport costs.

Scientifically viable in 2023; mainstream and financially viable in 2027.

SEE ALSO: These beautiful charts show the emerging technologies that will change the world

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drag2share: Meet the Teenage Engineering PO-12: a $49 card-sized drum machine

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/05/teenage-engineering-po-12-drum-machine/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

Tucked neatly into a panel discussion at last week's Moogfest, Teenage Engineering outed its latest synthesizer effort. The unit, labeled the PO-12, was intended to be a giveaway during the festivities ("moogfest special" is printed on the built-in hang tag), but the units got caught up in a customs delay, so we're left with details nabbed by attendee Robert Pluma. Here's a quick rundown of some of the reported specs: a Silicon Labs 32-bit ARM microcontroller, wire stand that doubles as a pitch bender, 23 switches, two optimization knobs, beats-per-minute LED and 1/8-inch audio jacks. There also appears to be options for hip-hop, disco and techno on the gadget that's said to be priced at $49. While Teenage Engineering isn't confirming the details, it did tell Synthtopia that Pluma "more or less nailed it regarding the details of this product." The folks at Create Digital Music report that the device will also harness parameter lock, just like the original Machinedrum. We'll have to wait a bit longer for formal availability info, but this tease is certainly enough to whet the ol' appetite... for now.

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drag2share: This Tiny Metal Pill Is the Smallest Pacemaker Ever Implanted

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-tiny-metal-pill-is-the-smallest-pacemaker-ever-imp-1571945295

This Tiny Metal Pill Is the Smallest Pacemaker Ever Implanted

The world is one step closer to a future where tiny ship-like vessels travel through our veins and fix our health problems. Recently, doctors across the United States implanted the world's smallest pacemaker into cardiac patients. The device is roughly the size of a large vitamin and is attached directly to the heart without invasive surgery.

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drag2share: IBM's Watson supercomputer can help settle your debates

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/05/ibm-watson-debater-mode/

IBM Watson has a beef with you

IBM's Watson supercomputer is already good at finding answers to tough questions, but it's going one step further: it can now argue an issue when there's no clear answer. A new Debater feature lets the machine take a given topic, scan for relevant articles, and automatically deduce the pros and cons based on the context and language of any claims. In a demo, Watson took 45 seconds to scour millions of Wikipedia articles and make cases both for and against limiting access to violent video games. It's likely that many people would take much longer, even if they're well-informed on the subject.

The Debater technology isn't so sophisticated that Watson will make a judgment call -- much to the relief of some, that's still up to humans. However, it should be useful for organizations that want to make decisions based on impartial reasoning. IBM noted in its demo (at the 45:25 mark in the video below) that doctors could use the artificial intelligence to shape policies on sensitive topics, for example. While it's doubtful that we'll see many institutions using a computer as their sole guide, the breakthrough could avoid quite a few unnecessary shouting matches.

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Via: Yahoo Finance

Source: Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence

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