The Future of the Human Body

The future of the human body: From the earliest vestiges of science fiction to current popular media, we’ve been fascinated with that question. That interest generally focuses on two lines of supposition – Making us better, and making our lives last longer. ‘Better’ can mean many things; stronger, faster, and smarter appear to be the big three in this regard. Longer is just that, with the obvious ultimate endgame – immortality. Whatever the specific pursuit, augmentation of the human form is most often posited as some form of synthesis with machines – From the Six Million Dollar Man, to Replicants, to the Terminator – The good, the bad, and the ugly. While advancements in surgery have a team contemplating a human head transplant in the near future, it seems that nothing purely human can enhance to the degree the marriage of mortal and metal can. What humans will become and how we get there is indeed the question.

Natasha Vita-More, has a futuristic proposal for the next gen human, the Primo Posthuman – is this the face of our future? With a Ph.D. focused on human enhancement and radical life extension, an M.Phil. in Media Design, and a Bachelors degree in Fine Art, she certainly has an educational background well suited to her vision, and that vision is, to put it lightly, quite deep. Delving into Vita-More’s numerous papers on the nature of the future of humanity is immersion in some very dense reading, indeed. Consider her explanation of what the concept entails:

“I suggest an approach to the artistic search for a new image, founded on scientific probability and inspired by technological prowess. This approach is a disciplined rationalism of the modernist’s enlightenment of progress and naturalism, and the multi-perceptual character of postmodernism which opens up pathways to express humanity in novel forms. It is the hyper-modern approach of “Primo Posthuman,” as a future body prototype, that combines design with biotechnology.”

Vita-More espouses the use of technology governed by a tight ethical valve. The beauty and curse of such an arrangement is, of course, one’s definition of ‘ethical.’ She and other members of the Humanity+ organization have published a manifesto outlining their take; the gist of this is best summarized in the phrase, “Although all progress is change, not all change is progress,” and to their credit, rather than deciding in detail what the ethics in question should be, they opted to paint a general outline with a rather broad brush; “Policy making ought to be guided by responsible and inclusive moral vision, taking seriously both opportunities and risks, respecting autonomy and individual rights, and showing solidarity with and concern for the interests and dignity of all people around the globe.”

Vita-More’s view of how all this should manifest is the Proto Posthuman. Her perspective, like her education, is a synthesis of technology and art, “a design comprised of elegant strokes.” From plastic surgery and prosthetics, to chemical enhancement and genetic engineering, she sees the human body first as a work of art, and secondly as a platform for wide and varied improvements.

Dive into the links for the source material mentioned herein; you’ll be in for the ride of your life.

The Solar Pocket Factory takes 15 seconds to print out a solar panel

The Solar Pocket Factory is the brainchild of Alex Hornstein and Shawn Frayne who are hoping to change the small scale solar panel business. They developed the photovoltaic panel printer in their backyard and have had it on Kickstarter raising funds for their device that is able to print out a solar panel every 15 seconds.

[Image Courtesy of The Solar Pocket Factory]

The pair has made just about everything solar and they found out that the micro solar panels that they used to power up their devices were expensive, while being made poorly and they were brittle. What makes the majority of panels expensive was the assembly and found that around 15% of panels had flaws and materials often disintegrated within a few years.

[Image Courtesy of The Solar Pocket Factory]

The pair decided that if they could automate production of the panels around 25% of the price could be reduced along with the amount of defects. They chose to use materials of higher quality to create panels and they were more efficient along with lasting longer and being able to gather more light. The Solar Pocket Factory was born through their findings. This is a small machine that automatically sends out panels, rather than making them in a huge factory. The device takes on the appearance of a 3D desktop printer that will be able to make a panel in just 15 seconds with it potentially being able to power around 1 million devices every year.

[Image Courtesy of The Solar Pocket Factory]

Swirl faucet saves water and makes nice patterns

Designer Simin Qiu has designed a tap concept that allows for the saving of water while at the same time making the water coming out of the tap prettier to look at as it makes nice patterns. The student from the London Royal College of Art designed the faucet to limit its water flow amount by 15% over a period of 1 minute. The tap comes with a nozzle allowing the user to choose from three different patterns of swirling water.

[Image Courtesy of ScienceAlert/Behance]

The Swirl tap took the iF Design concept award last year and to stop unnecessary heating of the water it has a pre-set temperature. While it is in the concept stage at the moment it would add a touch of luxury to anyone’s bathroom as the design is one of the most elegant we have seen.

[Image Courtesy of ScienceAlert/Behance]

Simin took inspiration from nature and the fact that a lot of things in nature feature swirls, this includes water going down a drain, swirling of sand along dunes, leaves unfurling and of course the ocean and streams where water swirls along. Water is for the most part gentle and swirls around and it is these two elements that gave the designer the idea to come up with the Swirl faucet.

[Image Courtesy of ScienceAlert/Behance]

Simin thought that water coming out of the faucet should be enjoyable to look at and of course energy saving is something that everyone likes, so this feature was implemented in the concept too. The touch faucet can save15% water during the same pressure within a period of 60 seconds and from a single touch of the faucet the water comes out 0.4 seconds faster than the typical faucet in homes today. The swirling water patterns not only look great but also feel better and are gentler on the hands with better impact when it hits.

[Image Courtesy of ScienceAlert/Behance]

Microsoft building an army of drones to stop mosquito epidemics

There are many uses for drones; with one of the most popular being recording videos, but Microsoft has other ideas for their army of drones that will go by the name of Project Premonition. They plan on using the drones to be able to detect viruses and stop them from potentially infecting a large amount of people.

[Image Courtesy of ScienceAlert]

Drone technology could save many lives in many remote regions where malaria and dengue fever run riot. One of the keys to saving lives is being able to catch the mosquitoes and then study the disease they carry. A single mosquito can often be one of the most dangerous of all animals as it has so many pathogens.

Scientists have been looking for a low cost way of being able to catch and study mosquitoes as right now the only way of doing it is to use traps and suspend them in trees. However, the downside to this is that they have to be collected by hand. If the new project of Microsoft goes to plan the process could be speeded up a great deal and of course using drones would make it easier and cheaper. Drones could be sent out and they would cover a large distance while at the same time coming back with samples that are larger than what the scientists get at present.

Along with being able to monitor the spread of known diseases, new ones could be found and this could stop epidemics from spreading. Scientists are working on developing software to process genetic data more accurately using their UAV mosquito hunting fleet of drones. This would allow scientists to gain a better understanding of viruses along with how those viruses are spread.

In March a feasibility study was undertaken by Microsoft in the Caribbean and findings were then revealed. Microsoft is working alongside academic partners so that Project Premonition can become reality, hopefully within the next five years.

Advanced warnings of an epidemic is critical as clinics could be up and running a lot earlier and vaccines could be made ready, along with travelling restrictions being put in place and stop any situation from becoming worse. Of course if the drones are to have success they would have to be able to work on their own so that they can navigate environments and cover more land. The team behind the drones are optimistic and they are hoping to be able to attach the mosquito traps to the drones.

Why is there a tiny hole in airplane windows?

If you have already traveled by airplane, chances are you’ve noticed a tiny hole on the lower portion of all passenger windows. And, well, you have probably been wondering what on earth is the purpose of a hole on an airplane window. It’s definetly not there because it looks good, it’s actually quite relevant to your safety during the flight.

Marlowe Moncur, the technology director of aircraft window manufacturer GNK Aerospace explained the purpose of the “breather hole” to io9. It’s a hole designed to balance out the pressure between the last two layers -yes, there are a few layers – of a typical pressurized-cabin window.

Before  we go any further into the purpose of the “breather hole“, we will first check out how a window in a pressurized passenger cabin is set up. As shown in the Boeing 737 maintenance manual (the most widely produced jet airliner in aviation history), the window structure consists of three layers of acrylic – a tough, transparent and flexible resin – although only two of them have an actual structural function.

These structural layers are the intermediate and outer ones – while the inner layer (called “scratch pane”) only serves as a buffer between the passengers and the structure of the window itself. These layers prevent the cabin from reaching the external pressures that, depending on altitude, are too low for the vital functions of the human body.

Basically, the primary structural window garantees the cabin remains at a constant pressure equivalent to an altitude of 7,000 feet, which is still quite acceptable for the body. However, in most cases, only the last acrylic layer is responsible for ensuring such conditions; the intermediate layer is just there for extra safety. Having said that, let us get back to the misterious little hole.

As can be noted in the diagram shown above, the breather hole is located in the middle layer of the window. This little puncture acts as a bleed valve ensuring that the pressure between the last two layers and the cabin always remains the same. This is necessary as a way of preserving the middle layer (the extra safety one) so it is only exposed to severe pressure differences in cases of emergency – that is, if the last layer the window is fractured in some way.

However, the effective use of this security layer is incredibly rare. As Moncur explained, all windows are exposed to rigorous testing before receiving the seal of approval.

Furthermore, any possible cracks in the outermost layer of the window is enough to justify an emergency landing – even if the middle layer is fully capable, in principle, to maintain the appropriate cabin pressure conditions. Better safe than sorry, right?

Finally, Moncur also clarifies that the breather hole also serves to prevent freezing and fogging between the outer layers of the window. Of course, that doesn’t always work since it is not rare to find photographs showing some frost on the windows.

Researchers Create Biodegradable Computer Chips From Wood

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a new semiconductor chip model made of wood. The study, which could revolutionize the way chips and gadgets are currently produced, was published in the Nature Communications journal this week.

Image source: Yei Hwan Jung, Wisconsin Nano Engineering Device Laboratory

Regular chips currently available on the market are composed of a non-degradable support layer, which makes the disposal of such products harmful to the environment. The “green chip” replaces this aggressive layer with acellulose nanofibril (CNF), which is a flexible, biodegradable material made from wood.

“The majority of material in a chip is support. We only use less than a couple of micrometers for everything else,” said Professor Zhenqiang Ma. “Now the chips are so safe you can put them in the forest and fungus will degrade it. They become as safe as fertilizer.”

The process also involves further treatment on the small plate to prevent it from having size alterations, since the material can contract or expand according to moisture absorption from the air. The result is a cheaper and less harmful chip.

“I’ve made 1,500 gallium arsenide transistors in a 5-by-6 millimeter chip. Typically for a microwave chip that size, there are only eight to 40 transistors. The rest of the area is just wasted,” said Yei Hwan Jung, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering and a co-author of the paper. “We take our design and put it on CNF using deterministic assembly technique, then we can put it wherever we want and make a completely functional circuit with performance comparable to existing chips.”

Some analysts in the technology industry believe that the development of this new technology could be the first step in making gadgets mostly from bio-degradable materials, replacing the use of highly toxic materials, such asgallium arsenide, a semiconductor that is widely used in the production of electronics.

One factor that may help increase the use of cellulose by industries is the price of the chemical and its effectiveness in electronic circuits, in which case nanofibril is cheaper than arsenide and silicon – the main ingredients of electronic chips – and has a very similar performance.

“Mass-producing current semiconductor chips is so cheap, and it may take time for the industry to adapt to our design,” Ma says. “But flexible electronics are the future, and we think we’re going to be well ahead of the curve.”