Cryonics. Technicians prepare a patient for cryopreservation Cryonics (from Greek κρύος kryos- meaning icy cold) is the low-temperature preservation of humans who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future.[1][2] Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology.
The stated rationale for cryonics is that people who are considered dead by current legal or medical definitions may not necessarily be dead according to the more stringent information-theoretic definition of death.[3] It is proposed that cryopreserved people might someday be recovered by using highly advanced technology.[4] The future repair technologies assumed by cryonics are still hypothetical and not widely known or recognized. Premises[edit] Obstacles to success[edit] Preservation injury[edit] Long-term cryopreservation can be achieved by cooling to near 77.15 Kelvin, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. Aerogel. A block of aerogel in a person's hand Aerogel was first created by Samuel Stephens Kistler in 1931, as a result of a bet with Charles Learned over who could replace the liquid in "jellies" with gas without causing shrinkage.[3][4] IUPAC definition Gel comprised of a microporous solid in which the dispersed phase is a gas.
Note 1: Microporous silica, microporous glass, and zeolites are common examples of aerogels. Note 2: Corrected from ref. [4], where the definition is a repetition of the incorrect definition of a gel followed by an inexplicit reference to the porosity of the structure. [6] Properties[edit] A flower is on a piece of aerogel which is suspended over a flame from a Bunsen burner.
Aerogels are good thermal insulators because they almost nullify two of the three methods of heat transfer (convection, conduction, and radiation). Owing to its hygroscopic nature, aerogel feels dry and acts as a strong desiccant. Knudsen effect[edit] Adam: Robot. Prototype[edit] As a prototype for a "robot scientist", Adam is able to perform independent experiments to test hypotheses and interpret findings without human guidance, removing some of the drudgery of laboratory experimentation.[9][10] Adam is capable of: hypothesizing to explain observationsdevising experiments to test these hypothesesphysically running the experiments using laboratory roboticsinterpreting the results from the experimentsrepeating the cycle as required[8][11][12][13][14][15] While researching yeast-based functional genomics, Adam became the first machine in history to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of its human creators.[3][16][17] Adam and Eve[edit] Adam's research studied baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)[2] and is one of two robot scientists along with "Eve"[11] (named after Adam and Eve), a robot currently doing research on drug screening.
Binaural recording. Dummy head being used for binaural recording; the second microphone is obscured.
Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments. This effect is often created using a technique known as "Dummy head recording", wherein a mannequin head is outfitted with a microphone in each ear.
Binaural recording is intended for replay using headphones and will not translate properly over stereo speakers. The term "binaural" has frequently been confused as a synonym for the word "stereo", and this is partially due to a large amount of misuse in the mid-1950s by the recording industry, as a marketing buzzword.
Examples[edit] Recording technique[edit] In the late 1960s, Aiwa and Sony offered headphones with a pair of microphones mounted on the headband around two-inches above the ears.