Extinguish a fire by blasting it with sound Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV Forget blasting out your favourite tunes, you could now use speakers to put out a fire. A new video from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) shows how to extinguish burning fuel by trapping it in an acoustic field generated by surrounding speakers. By using specific frequencies, a fire is killed in a two-pronged attack. First, sound increases the air speed, thinning the layer where combustion occurs and thus making it easier to disrupt the flame. But the acoustics also disturb the surface of the fuel which increases vaporisation, widening the flame and cooling its overall temperature. Whereas typical firefighting techniques disrupt chemical reactions involved in combustion, DARPA has been looking at approaches like this one that exploit physics. If you enjoyed this post, watch a knitted suit resist 1000 ˚C flames or see how to fight a fire in space.
Generation Z Terminology[edit] USA Today sponsored an online contest for readers to choose the name of the next generation after the Millennials. In the article, Bruce Horovitz wrote that some might call the term "Generation Z" rather "off-putting" and a name that is "still in-the-running" for the next generation. The article proposed some alternate names including: iGeneration, Gen Tech, Gen Wii, Net Gen, Digital Natives, Gen Next, Post Gen.[1][3] In 2013, Jeanine Poggi reported in Ad Age that Nickelodeon channel is looking to serve a new breed of kids born after 2005 who it dubs "post-millennials".[2] "Scholars Generation" was proposed by a writer at A Time to Succeed coalition who "works to ensure that all children in the nation’s high-poverty communities have better learning time in school".[4] Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe wrote several popular books on the subject of generations. Plurals is a name coined by marketing firm Frank N. Traits and trends[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]
10 Mind-Blowing Discoveries This Week | Environment Photo Credit: Sabino Parente/Shutterstock.com July 20, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. We’ve talked about this before. 1. This week saw a lot of encouraging news on the disease-eradication front: the FDA approval of Truvada , the first HIV preventative drug and the possibility that a peptide in spider venom -- specifically that of the Chilean rose tarantula -- could thwart the progression of muscular dystrophy. Did I lie? Most cases occur in South Sudan and people who get it try to stem the pain of the exit by putting their feet in water -- and guess what happens? But through the efforts of the Carter Center and other groups the guinea worm is on its way out…of the world. “We are approaching the demise of the last guinea worm who will ever live on earth,” says former US president Jimmy Carter, namesake of the Carter Center. One thing’s for sure. 2. A2I Labs in Boise, Idaho has come up with a pair of glasses called 02AMPS.
100 Websites You Should Know and Use In the spring of 2007, Julius Wiedemann, editor in charge at Taschen GmbH, gave a legendary TED University talk: an ultra-fast-moving ride through the “100 websites you should know and use.” Six years later, it remains one of the most viewed TED blog posts ever. Time for an update? We think so. Below, the 2013 edition of the 100 websites to put on your radar and in your browser. To see the original list, click here. And now, the original list from 2007, created by Julius Wiedemann, editor in charge at Taschen GmbH. In the spring of 2007, Julius Wiedemann, editor in charge at Taschen GmbH, gave a legendary TED University talk: an ultra-fast-moving ride through the “100 websites you should know and use.” To see the original list, click here. And now, the original list from 2007, created by Julius Wiedemann, editor in charge at Taschen GmbH.
Meteorite Hunter Discovers New Mineral | Wired Science Hidden within a rock from space is a mineral previously unknown to science: panguite. The new mineral was found embedded in the Allende meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1969. Since 2007, geologist Chi Ma of Caltech has been probing the meteorite with a scanning electron microscope, discovering nine new materials, including panguite. Ma and his team have determined that panguite was one of the first solid materials to coalesce in our solar system, roughly 4.567 billion years ago. The mineral’s name is a reference to Pan Gu, a primitive, hairy giant from Chinese mythology who separated yin and yang with a swing of his enormous axe, thereby creating the Earth and sky. Panguite’s primordial nature means that it was actually around before the Earth and other planets formed, meaning it can help scientists learn more about the conditions in the cloud of gas and dust that gave rise to our solar system. Image: Chi Ma/Caltech
Augmented Grocery Shopping: How a Korean grocer moved virtual shopping to the subway It’s the kind of experiment that seems like it was hatched for a satirical spoof video, but the results were anything but funny. Home Plus, the 2nd largest grocery chain in South Korea formerly known as Tesco, needed to increase their market share without building more stores. The idea they had was simple and elegant, albeit completely offbeat and somewhat insane. “Let the store come to the people.” They created virtual stores to make grocery shopping something that could be done without while performing other duties such as waiting in the subway. As you can see by the video, the results have been extraordinary with over 10,000 people visiting the online Home Plus mall using smartphones.
10 Mind-Blowing Discoveries This Week Photo Credit: Faiz Zaki/Shutterstock.com June 29, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Bad things may happen to you this week. 1. It’s true: ABC News blogs reported on a paper from the Journal of Parasitology (which is an awesome name for a very bitter love story) that a 63-year-old Korean woman bit into a piece of par boiled squid and felt “severe pain” and a “pricking and foreign body sensation in her oral cavity.” But wait! “Twelve small, white spindle-shaped, bug-like organisms stuck in the mucous membrane of the tongue, cheek, and gingiva were completely removed." Eep indeed. Enter io9 with a wonderfully detailed story by Danna Staaf of the Squid a Day blog, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of squid sperm. So that’s how they embedded themselves in the mouth of the unfortunate diner: it’s what they do. You’ve heard it before, but yes -- things can be transmitted orally so do yourself a favor: practice safe cephalopod. 2.
[CES 2010] RCA Airnergy Charger Harvests Electricity From WiFi Signals By Evan Ackerman This thing is, seriously, the highlight of CES for me (so far) this year. 3D TVs and eBook readers are fine, but there’s nothing amazing about them. The Airnergy Charger is amazing. This little box has, inside it, some kind of circuitry that harvests WiFi energy out of the air and converts it into electricity. The Airnergy has a battery inside it, so you can just carry it around and as long as you’re near some WiFi, it charges itself. Here is the really, really unbelievable part: RCA says that the USB charger will be available this summer for $40, and a battery with the WiFi harvesting technology will be available soon after. We didn’t think you’d believe all this, so we made RCA explain it all on video:
9 Implants that make human healthy body even more useful Here’s a list of 9 ways you can modify your body to be even more useful, from bionic implants to portable power generators. 1. RFID Chips – A nice and easy way to start out with body hacking is to implant an RFID chip into you. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Source