Study Finds Enzyme That Operates with a Caloric Restriction Diet

Researchers have been studying why a caloric restrictive diet makes people healthy and live longer.  Resveratrol has been found to work (it is an ingredient in red wine and it is still in trials with a lot of  back and forth on its merits) in making people age better. But they are not sure why.

Now a new study finally has found the enzymes responsible for caloric restrictive diets making people healthy:

http://www.gizmag.com/aging-process-enzyme-identified/20359/

This is very exciting. This discovery could make us all healthier and age better. Not sure if this could be a supplement. Can you eat an enzyme and have it get into your blood stream through the digestive tract? Not sure, not my area of expertise. But I will keep an eye on this one.

-Wanting to get old Gracefully (no drool) and die in my sleep Dennis

 

Carbon Nano-tubes for Transmitting Electricity

While this technology could just keep getting better, they have hit a milestone. The cables they make now are as good as copper.

 http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/38615/?p1=MstRcnt

This is very exciting. For the aviation industry this could be a boon. Airbus is using aluminum wiring in some of their aircraft for weight reasons, even though aluminum does not transmit electricity as well as copper. If the cost is even in the ballpark, we could see the aviation industry switching quite rapidly.

Obviously there are cost, longevity and maintenance issues that will have to be resolved. Production issues as well.

But the benefits are so obvious, I see a lot of money being thrown at this to get it into production and into vehicles.

 

Steel Gets a 7% Strength Boost from New Process

Steel has been around for a while. With all the people who have worked on it over the centuries and the large institutions who have focused on it, you would not expect a breakthrough right now.

Well you would be wrong. A small mill in Detroit,  SFP Works, has found a way to make the strongest steel 7% stronger. That may not sound like a lot, but it is. Here are the links:

http://www.gizmag.com/stronger-steel-in-a-flash/18882/

http://www.bainitesteel.com/default.asp

I find it fascinating that they claim it would do the job of aluminum (same strength) and be lighter. This is going to change things. Really fast. 

Hold on!

-Lover of small modified work trucks Dennis

 

University of Texas Finds Graphene Makes an Amazing Super Capacitor

The folks at the University of Texas, Austin have found that Graphene has the characteristics that would allow an amazing super-capacitor.

This may be what we have all been waiting for (or you should be if you know anything:).  An energy storage  material that is cheap, light and will last for just about ever.  

http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/microscopy-reveals-source-of-extraordinary-nanomaterials-capabilities

While still in the lab, this knowledge is going to cause a “gold rush” of research and testing. Everyone from DARPA; the auto manufacturers to power production companies will be on this like velcro.  

While just at the beginning, the technology has the potential to rapidly change the world for the better. I am going to keep a sharp eye on this one….. 

-Tech Dennis

 

New Caltech Process to Shape Metallic Glass

Once again we see a new process that will make a known material a real player.  The article is well written, so I will let it speak for itself:

http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13415

This could have wide ranging implications. Just the fact that it brings light weight with great strength without corrosion problems is just amazing.

Hopefully this new process will bring the cost of the material, and it ease of manufacture, into the realm of making it an everyday item.

I can think of many uses right off the top of my head. Artificial knees, hip’s?  Engine blocks? Golf Clubs? Train wheels? The list is endless….

It may take time, but this may be transformational technology. I guess we shall see.

-Tech Dennis

 

University or Illinois Creates Batteries that Recharge in Minutes, Not Hours

I went back and forth on this one. Granted it is amazing battery technology and they do have working prototypes.

But the big question is can the process be made to be economical enough for mass production? I decided to post it since even if the batteries are expensive, they will be used in high end products like military vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.  Or even high end electric super-cars.

So even if it never becomes cheap enough for large scale mass production, it will effect us all in one way or another:

http://www.economist.com/node/18437910

    Lets just hope they can simplify the process enough for large scale mass production.  Because then most of us will be driving a pure electric car. Recharging along the way…..

-Tech Dennis

 

Carbo Tech and McLaren Create New Process. The Age of Carbon Fiber?

Many times the ability to make a material is not what brings about great changes. Many times it is having a cheap, easy to work manufacturing process that makes a material become commonplace.

Carbon fiber has been around for a while. But it has been religated to products that have very long term use; or the need for corrosian resistance; or for very light weight.

Many times it is a combination of those engineering needs that make carbon fiber a standard product. A good example is aircraft are now using carbon fiber for all those reasons.

But now a new process has been developed that may make carbon fiber a real alternative to metal or plastic in the future:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/03/carbon-fibre_composites

This may be a real game changer for the Truck, aircraft, boat and even the building market. Eventually we may even start seeing carbon fiber in production autos.

Suddenly, once again, I look forward to the future!

-Master of useless knowledge Dennis

 

Stamford University Figure out How to Transmit and Receive at the Same Time.

So I am going to break one of my own rules. This Technology is still in the lab, not at the prototype phase.

However, I do think it will change our lives in the next five years. So I am posting it.

These Fellows have figured out how to transmit and receive signal at the same time. This in effect could double how fast our wireless communications are.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/february/duplex-radio-transmission-021411.html

Granted, quite a bit of work to do to make it come to market.

But once these folks get a patent, the big boys in telecommunications with all their millions will be straining at the bit to be the first to get these systems into the market……

Wireless data transmission has in a very short time radically changed our society on a very personal level. I see this trend only continuing.

One to watch.

Update: 9/8/11- They are taking the breakthrough to the next logical step and seeing how it would be integrated into our existing cell phone structure:

http://www.gizmag.com/full-duplex-radio/19765/

-Tech Dennis

 

Eurocopter X3

I am posting this one for the same reason I posted Sikorskies X2. Namely that both platforms could fill a huge hole in our military and civilian aviation sectors.

They will allow for fast midrange transport without the need for a landing runway and associated airfield.

Take a look:

http://www.eurocopter.com/site/en/ref/Videos_1101.html

Both companies have working prototypes of small helicopters.

I do not foresee a true impact until they start building medium and large sized models. The small ones will only be good for combat attack helicopters and search and rescue.  Once the mid-sized ones come online they will fill the roll the H-60 fills for the military right now as the platform that can be configured to just about any role. Except of course these will be much faster and have much better range.

The traditional shortcomings of helicopters……

Update: 5/18/11: Aircraft breaks 253MPH:

http://www.gizmag.com/eurocopter-x3-hybrid-helicopter-232-knots/18669/

-Tech Dennis

 

The Mating of the Cloud and Mobility

There has been a great deal of talk about cloud computing lately. Up to this point I was not very impressed with it.

I thought it would be great for large institutions like universities who which to try and figure out the universe, but what am I going to do with a huge amount of processing power?  Why would I put all my information into the cloud? What can the cloud do that my home computer cannot?

Then I read this:

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/26852/?p1=A1

Suddenly the cloud is amazingly useful! It will make it so I can have a low power consuming, light, portable computer with the processing power of a desktop!

The best part is the idea is app based. You will be able to pay a monthly fee for the high processing power application you wish to run on your device. So in this regard the hardware does not change, it is a software modification. This is brilliant in so many ways.  The whole concept is flexible and based on what people really need. It keeps the hardware simple and cheap while allowing you to expand the devices capabilities as needed.

I can only image the apps that will evolve from this……

 

Update: 10/12/11 The New Amazon Kindle Fire has cloud boosted browsing:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/09/28/kindle_fire_features_amazons_cloud_accelerated_silk_web_browser.html

-Dennis

 

Tiger Stone Road Machine

It should have been obvious all along.

Concrete is a much better material than asphalt. It lasts much, much longer than asphalt but it is hard to lay and can be a nightmare to repair. Asphalt can be scrapped up and laid down again quickly.

Now comes along the Tiger Stone:

http://www.gizmag.com/tiger-stone-lays-paving-bricks/16951/

This could change road building as we know it. The machine will allow for fast laying of concrete pavers at a speed equivalent to asphalt paving.  But have a better ease of repair than asphalt, with the wear of concrete.

Not to mention this is a first generation machine. They may be able to automate the process of actually putting the bricks in place. That would speed the process up even more….

It will be very interesting to see how this develops as a technology and as the social process of maintaining and building roads.

-Tech

 

Sikorsky’s X2 Helicopter

This is an older post which I have moved to the top due to the product reaching a milestone. Sikorsky’s X2 recently broke the “unofficial” helicopter speed record.

http://www.gizmag.com/sikorsky-x2-demonstrator-250-knot-milestone/16424/

 

Update: January 11, 2011: First glimpse of a militarized version of the technology. Granted, just a mock up. But it shows intent:

http://defensetech.org/2011/01/07/video-of-sikorskys-s-97-armed-scout-chopper-demo/

Original Post; January 2009:

Sikorsky has finally decided to stop just screwing the government and actually push technology forward:

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004627.html#comments

There have been other helicopters to use twin rotor designs. The Soviets had a model and right here in Connecticut Kaman Helicopters had a great one.

But Sikorsky has political clout, and Kaman has been unable to break in. The K-Max did sea trials with the Navy for resupply work.  It was much better suited for the work than the H-47′s they use, which are much larger.

Take a look at the K-max:

http://www.kamanaero.com/helicopters/kmax.html

In all fairness the X2 will be much faster than previous twin rotor designs. And much simpler than the Osprey…..

Update: 10/6/09: Even though I think there are better designs on the table, these guys have a working model and connections….

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8pmyx_aerotv-sikorsky-x2-update-progress_news

-Tech Dennis

 

LED Developments and Major Efficiency Jump

This is an older post with multiple articles. Due to a huge Breakthrough in LED efficiency, I have moved it to the top.

The article posted below is still in the lab, but is such a huge leap in efficiency I felt compelled to post it.

http://www.gizmag.com/efficient-light-extraction-from-semiconductors-leds/16208/

Original Post; February 2009:

Well I have been waiting for this for quite some time. The folks at Cambridge University have created a new process and materials to make cheap LED’s:

http://www.gizmag.com/3-led-light-bulb-lasts-60-years-and-could-end-battle-of-the-bulbs/10879/

Cheap LED’s will make electric cars more feasible with longer range (less drain for headlights, tail-lights…ect.)

Cheap LED’s will slash your electric bill (don’t worry, they will just raise rates…) and make it easier for the US to go green since the demand for electric power will not increase as fast as the population.

Until everyone starts plugging in their car that is….

Flashlights have already latched onto LED’s as a standard feature. Due to the lower power demand the first Capacitor based flashlight is out:

http://www.511tactical.com/lightforlife.html

Good stuff. This gives us a glimpse of how the future will be engineered.

Update: 4/12/2010:  Green LED breakthrough:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/25028/?a=f

Update: 4/16/2010:  LED structure breakthrough:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/25060/

-Tech Dennis

 

Alnylam has a Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment

Like most great breakthroughs, this one is based on a better understanding of  the subject; it is a better process than the previous; and it simplifies things greatly:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/rx-every-disease

This is very, very encouraging.

-Tech Dennis

 

CVT with Neutral and Reverse

The Constant Variable Transmission (CVT) with no wearable parts,has been the focus of generations of inventors and engineers. This fellow seems to have it.

However, I posted this earlier and then took it down. Why? The problem with the design is the input will also put its input pressure back onto the control devise.

http://www.gizmag.com/steve-durnin-ddrive-d-drive-infinitely-variable-transmission-geared/15088/

http://www.gizmag.com/d-drive-redux/15120/

My take on this is it does need work. However, electric motors have a huge amount of instantaneous torque. So using an electric motor to control the output of a gas or diesel engine would not be such an issue. The power lost to the control motor would be worth not having wear plates or the complexity of  todays transmission.

I look forward  to seeing this technology progress and be applied in a real world application.

Update: May 15, 2011: Not a whole lot of progress here. It would make me feel better if a couple organizations or people with real money got on-board and pushed this forward. In many respects I think he should forget about building a few of his own and just sell the right to use the design to a couple manufacturers. They would push it along much faster….

http://infinitelyvariabletransmission.com.au/ivt/the-company/

-Dennis

 

Memristors in Prototyping

Short for Memory Resistor. Can not only save a state of one or zero, but can also save multiple states in between. Plus it can save much more data than Flash.

I am writing about them since they are going from research to prototyping.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/25018/?a=f

If these work out (I know, a huge if) they have the ability to radically change computing for the better. In five years they could replace what is available then and be better. In ten it could make the computer you have in front of you (or smart-phone/tablet/laptop)  look like a Commodore 64…..

-Tech Dennis

 

New Solar Power…Electricity and Hot Water

This falls into the “why didn’t they think of that before” category.

Solar companies have known for some time that they can focus the rays of the sun onto a smaller section on photovoltaic material they can cut down on the expensive materials and produce comparative energy.

Only one problem, they get too hot and become much less efficient and physically start to break down.

So finally, someone decided combine these two properties and produce power and hot water. The technology was originally developed at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and will be commercially produced by a spinoff company called Technique Solar :

http://www.gizmag.com/cuess-solar-panel-photovoltaic/14507/

Good stuff. I want a couple….

Obviously this is a more complicated technology. It is in effect two systems. Not only do you need an inverter to control the electrical production, but you will also need a circulating pump and heat sensor to keep the temperature of the panels within heat tolerances.

The addition of extra water tanks is also probably necessary. Without enough water in the total system the panels will overheat.

This is why they are not selling directly yet. They do not want amateurs screwing it all up and giving their new technology a bad reputation.

I think this is going to be a tipping point for solar.  I think the larger building/organizations are going to jump on this and prices will come down quickly.

Update November 15, 2010: Another “Hybrid”  Solar Company Builds a Test Bed Plant:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/26708/?p1=A2

-Tech Dennis

 

Bloom Fuel Cells

 

Well, it seems someone finally cracked the fuel cell problem.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/18/60minutes/main6221135.shtml

The dig at solar in the interview is unwarranted. This fuel cell technology acts as energy converter. Solar makes the power from a free source. It is not an apples and apples comparison.

As the price comes down this will change how electricity is created and distributed. It will cut down on our coal usage and increase the use of natural gas and propane.

-Tech Dennis

 

Tablet Wars

With batteries holding more power; processors using less power;  touch screens becoming common (along with the software/apps to go along with it); new types of low power touch screens; the next great leap in electronics is the tablet PC.

Bigger than your smart phone, easy to read; can fit in purse or brief, surf the internet, possibly make phone calls and can operate like a computer to do real work.  The future formula may be having a powerful desktop, and an ultralight tablet.

Update 1/28/10: Apple has come out with the I-Pad:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/

Even though it does not have a camera or a low power screen, I am impressed. If it had a low power screen I would say it is revolutionary, but it does not….

I do not have an I-phone or a Mac. Cannot afford the Mac laptop, and do not want to pay the fees for an I-phone. But with this I could see doing the work of both devices. So I could see paying the initial price and the monthly fee for that…..If I ever have the money:)

Update: May 14, 2010: Apple I-Pad Contenders. I am updating this since it changes monthly due to companies dropping out and others stepping up….

http://techd.in/gadgets/top-10-contenders-to-the-apple-ipad/

Update: September 2, 2010:  Latest I pad Contenders:

http://telecominformatics.com/2010/09/11/top-five-apple-ipad-rivals/

Rant! :4/12/2010: I have decided to Rant. This is where I try and predict the future. I think the min-laptops and laptops themselves will probably go away. The Tablet PC with touch panel and 3G/4G will become the standard. The market may break down into light tablets and heavy tablets, just like the laptop  market is now. It is just a better format.

Update: 4/27/10:  I have a friend who is a programmer. He has purchased a Apple I-Pad. I had a chance to play with it the other day for about a half hour. It is revolutionary. I know, I am a bit disappointed by the lack of some things also. But my initial reaction is, this is what we all have always wanted computing to be. I think we are seeing a watershed moment in history, as access to any information is portable and easy to use.

-Tech Dennis

 

New Type of Display by Qualcomm

It seems a company called Qualcomm has developed a new type of display. It will display video, allow color and very low power consumption:

http://www.gizmag.com/qualcomm-mirasol-display/13819/

We may be seeing these in E-readers very soon. One has to wonder what the life expectancy of the technology is since there are moving parts. Very small parts; but moving none the less….

Update: 3/28/2010: The video screen in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpJnYWGtXg&feature=fvw

-Master of Useless Knowledge Dennis