Posted on December 23, 2017  Comments (1)

Very cool. This next video gives a bit more information on how these amazing parts of our cells move material around inside or cells.

This stuff is so interesting. I wish this type of interesting material and informative animations was what my biology education was like in k-12 instead of the boring stuff my classes were instead. I hope students today have better science classes than I did.

It is amazing how such mechanisms evolved to “walk” along transportation microtubules inside our cells.

Related: Molecular Motor Proteins webcast by Ron Vale, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco (35 minutes) – Looking Inside Living Cells – Science Explained: Cool Video of ATP Synthase, Which Provides Usable Energy to Us – Exploring Eukaryotic Cells

Posted on November 22, 2017  Comments (1)

T-HR3 reflects Toyota’s broad-based exploration of how advanced technologies can help to meet people’s unique mobility needs. T-HR3 represents an evolution from previous generation instrument-playing humanoid robots, which were created to test the precise positioning of joints and pre-programmed movements, to a platform with capabilities that can safely assist humans in a variety of settings, such as the home, medical facilities, construction sites, disaster-stricken areas and even outer space.

“The Partner Robot team members are committed to using the technology in T-HR3 to develop friendly and helpful robots that coexist with humans and assist them in their daily lives. Looking ahead, the core technologies developed for this platform will help inform and advance future development of robots to provide ever-better mobility for all,” said Akifumi Tamaoki, General Manager, Partner Robot Division.

T-HR3 is controlled from a Master Maneuvering System that allows the entire body of the robot to be operated instinctively with wearable controls that map hand, arm and foot movements to the robot, and a head-mounted display that allows the user to see from the robot’s perspective. The system’s master arms give the operator full range of motion of the robot’s corresponding joints and the master foot allows the operator to walk in place in the chair to move the robot forward or laterally. The Self-interference Prevention Technology embedded in T-HR3 operates automatically to ensure the robot and user do not disrupt each other’s movements.

Onboard T-HR3 and the Master Maneuvering System, motors, reduction gears and torque sensors (collectively called Torque Servo Modules) are connected to each joint. These modules communicate the operator’s movements directly to T-HR3’s 29 body parts and the Master Maneuvering System’s 16 master control systems for a smooth, synchronized user experience.

Learn more on Toyota’s news site.

Related: Toyota Develops Thought-controlled Wheelchair (2009) – Robots for Health Care from Toyota (2017) – Toyota Human Support Robot (2012) – Lexus Has Built a Working Hoverboard (2015)

Posted on November 11, 2017  Comments (0)

Everyone should appreciate the value of cats (as we do, honoring cats in our blog’s name); yet some people seem oblivious to the greatness of cats. In another demonstration of what we gain by associating with cats, research has shown living with cats as newborns helps protect those with a specific gene variation from developing asthma.

Mia and her wonderful cat Pippa, the cat alerts Mia’s family if their diabetic daughter is in danger (the cat can sense dangerous blood sugar levels).

Cats protect newborns against asthma

The research indicates that cats reduce the risk of childhood asthma, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis in genetically susceptible subjects.

And no, dogs do not provide this protection. As with most research the scientists have new paths of inquiry to follow based on these results. Lead author Jakob Stokholm suspects that the reasons cats have this effect but dogs do not, “could be related to the bacteria that cats carry and perhaps fungi or viruses that they bring into the home”. Those questions can be the topic of further research.

Related: Cat Allergy Vaccine Created (2011) – Awesome Cat Cam – The History of Domestic Cats – Parasites in the Gut Help Develop a Healthy Immune System – Hypoallergenic Cats (2006) – The Amazing Reality of Genes and The History of Scientific Inquiry

Posted on October 25, 2017  Comments (0)

This is a cool product at a very reasonable price: $30.

The device offers a 1080p HD smart home camera with 14 days of free rolling cloud storage, wide-angle lens, two-way audio and the ability to send alerts to your phone. You setup the device to use a local wifi network and control it via a smartphone application.

I have long wanted such a product (they have been available for a few years but haven’t been cheap) and now they are available at a great price. The main drawback I see is that it requires a power connection (it doesn’t have a battery option). So setting it up as a doorbell is a bit of an issue (you have to get power to it somehow).

Order your camera. Learn more about the device from Wyzecam

Related: Camera Trap Images of Very Rare Wild Cats – Answer Your Doorbell with Your Smartphone Wherever You Are (and see video of who is at the door) (from 2015 – Video Cat Cam – Canon PowerShot SX60 HS Digital Camera

Posted on October 1, 2017  Comments (1)

Guest post by Aron Alba

“Roads must go 3D” – Elon Musk

The Boring company plans to build the network of tunnels under the ground in order to combat traffic congestions all over United States. As seen in their presentation video, the idea is to construct a system of tunnels in which electric vehicles autonomously zip around cars, people and cargo transport in high speed under the surface (like a scene from a science fiction movie).

The ride would begin with the lift that lowers the vehicles from the surface into the tunnel system. These lifts could be a possible bottleneck for the entire system, but it may be the best solution. To secure the vehicle to the autonomous pod and possibly select the end destination would take some time anyways, so this transition into the tunnel system could go unnoticed. Pods could travel at higher speeds than those allowed for the human driver, since the system is autonomous and completely monitored. The scenery wouldn’t be much though, so probably not the most interesting ride, but certainly fast.

Why build a tunnel network in the first place?
Traffic congestion is a very common nuisance in american lives. With the problem just getting worse. In order to solve this problem you have to build more roads or have fewer cars on them with arranging a better public transport. The land for the roads is scarce. The alternative of going up using drones to fly people around may not become possible due to safety concerns in a long time. Where to go then? Underground.

This has not been done before for obvious reasons, it is really expensive. The most expensive roads to build are tunnels and bridges. Tunnels have even more problems the larger they get. With people driving inside of them there needs to be proper ventilation to get rid of the carbon-monoxide. Resting stops for people. Great deal of risk with so many people driving inside a closed tunnel. The subway system is one solution to many of these problems. Except subways lack the flexibility and require substantially more infrastructure.

Elon Musk’s big plan is to use the technology that his other company Tesla already has developed. Instead of trains like in a subway system, Musk plans to have autonomous pods that run on battery power to zip along the tunnels. This has several advantages. First the battery powered pods to not require power lines to be continuously run through the tunnel like the train does, this saves on the costs of the tunnel. Also since the pods will be autonomous, this saves on personnel needed to operate the system. But probably the smartest idea behind the Boring company’s plans is to build a tunnel with a smaller bore diameter. Probably large enough to fit a pod with a largest planned Tesla vehicle but certainly smaller than the current tunnels for trains.

The Boring company plans to build the tunnel network using a tunnel boring machines. These machines are massive systems build to bore tunnels with circular cross section. They consist of cutting head system, a system for removing earth, systems for advancing the cutting head, systems for laying the concrete walls around the bore. At the end these machines leave a tunnel pretty much ready to use.

Read more

Posted on September 2, 2017  Comments (2)

Dr. Steve Goodman‘s work is a legendary Field Biologist and spends 9-10 months out of the year conducting research in other countries, with a focus on Madagascar for nearly 30 years. Learn more about the future of Madagascar’s biodiversity and research.

This video is from the great Brain Scoop channel with Emily Graslie; if you are not following that channel I highly recommend doing so for people interested in science.

Related: The Michael Jordan of Field Biology – Insect Architecture – New Life Form Found at South African Truck Stop – Neil Degrasse Tyson: Scientifically Literate See a Different World

Posted on August 24, 2017  Comments (0)

Readers of this blog know I am fascinated by the human microbiome. It is amazing how much of our biology is determined by entities within us that are not us (at least not our DNA) (bacteria, viruses etc.). This whole area of study is very new and we have quite a bit to learn. There are scientists across the globe studying this area and learning a great deal.

Stanford study indicates that more than 99% of the microbes inside us are unknown to science

Related: We are Not Us Without The Microbes Within Us – Webcasts on the Human Microbiome – People are Superorganisms With Microbiomes of Thousands of Species (2013) – We Have Thousands of Viruses In Us All the Time (2015) – Tracking the Ecosystem Within Us (2007)

Posted on August 5, 2017  Comments (0)

Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio communications signals are transmitted from ground stations at huge powers to communicate with submarines deep in the ocean. While these waves are intended for communications below the surface, they also extend out beyond our atmosphere, shrouding Earth in a VLF bubble. This bubble is even seen by spacecraft high above Earth’s surface, such as NASA’s Van Allen Probes, which study electrons and ions in the near-Earth environment.

The probes have noticed an interesting coincidence – the outward extent of the VLF bubble corresponds almost exactly to the inner edge of the Van Allen radiation belts, a layer of charged particles held in place by Earth’s magnetic fields. Dan Baker, director of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, coined this lower limit the “impenetrable barrier” and speculates that if there were no human VLF transmissions, the boundary would likely stretch closer to Earth. Indeed, comparisons of the modern extent of the radiation belts from Van Allen Probe data show the inner boundary to be much farther away than its recorded position in satellite data from the 1960s, when VLF transmissions were more limited.

With further study, VLF transmissions may serve as a way to remove excess radiation from the near-Earth environment. Plans are already underway to test VLF transmissions in the upper atmosphere to see if they could remove excess charged particles — which can appear during periods of intense space weather, such as when the sun erupts with giant clouds of particles and energy.

Related: NASA’s Van Allen Probes Spot Man-Made Barrier Shrouding Earth – Astronaut Selfie – Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth (2008) – Webcast of Man Landing on the Moon – NASA Biocapsules Deliver Medical Interventions Based Upon What They Detect in the Body (2012)

Posted on July 16, 2017  Comments (1)

Scientists and engineers in Germany have created the largest battery in the world with redox flow technology.

Redox flow batteries are liquid batteries. The Friedrich Schiller University of Jena has developed a new and forward-looking salt-free (brine) based metal-free redox flow battery. This new development will use salt caverns as energy storage.

Schematic for salt-free (brine) based metal-free redox flow battery by Ewe Gasspeicher. Two caverns each have a volume of 100,000 cubic meters.

A redox flow battery consists of two storage tanks and an electrochemical cell in which the reactions take place. Storage for solar and wind sources of power is an important challenge being explored in many ways today. Efforts such as this one provide a path to continue the rapid adoption of more solar and wind power.

In the electrochemical cell the two storage liquids – catholyte and anolyte – are separated from one another by a membrane. This prevents the large storage liquids from mixing with one another. The ions, however, can pass unimpeded through the membrane from one electrolyte solution into the other.

When charging the battery, the charging current ensures that electrons are deposited on the polymers of the anolyte. At the same time, the catholyte releases its electrons.

The charged catholyte and anolyte molecules are pumped from the cell into storage containers and replaced by uncharged ones. When the battery is discharged, the reaction is reversed. The anolyte molecules emit their electrons, which are available as electrical current.

Both charged electrolytes can be stored for several months. The maximum storage capacity of this redox-flow battery is limited only by the size of the storage containers for the electrolyte liquids.

The project is being ramped up now, going through a test phase before bringing the full system online; they are aiming to achieve this in 6 years. The electrical capacity of 700 megawatt hours will be enough to supply over 75,000 households with electricity for one day.

Related: Molten Salt Solar Reactor Approved by California (2010) – Battery Breakthrough Using Organic Storage (2014) – Chart of Global Wind Energy Capacity by Country from 2005 to 2015

Posted on July 8, 2017  Comments (4)

You may well not be familiar with the growing vanlife community, but I learned of it and see it as an intriguing lifestyle possibility. It allows you to travel and stay in National Forest and BLM land for free (in the USA) and relatively cheaply at campgrounds etc.. People also live in them in cities while traveling stay at welcoming businesses like Walmart. Anyway you can read more about the vanlife in posts on my Freelance Lifestyle, Finance and Entrepreneurship Blog.

This video shows a cool way to wire a thermometer to your car/van so that the van starts when the AC (or heat) is needed. This is some cool home engineering.

Most pursuing the vanlife now use solar energy, which is great in many ways. It is difficult (expensive) to create a solar based system that can run an AC. The option in the video is intriguing. And it is a cool illustration of home engineering. I hope you enjoy it.

Related: Home Halloween Engineering: Gaping Hole Costume (2010) – Home Engineering: Bird Feeder That Automatically Takes Photos When Birds Feed – General Relativity Einstein/Essen Anniversary Test – EZ-Builder Robot Control Software

Posted on July 1, 2017  Comments (0)

Dogs and wolves share sense of fair play

Gray Wolf by Gary Kramer (USFWS), public domain

This is a similar result as that found with Capuchin monkeys that don’t like being paid less than others.

It is fun to see these results mirror aspects of our psychology. It is fun to see how these experiments test out animal’s responses.

Related: Goats Excel at Learning and Remembering a Complex Tasks – Rats Show Empathy-driven Behavior – Insightful Problem Solving in an Asian Elephants – How Wolves Changed the Yellowstone Ecosystem