Thursday, July 21, 2005
FDA OKs Brain Pacemaker for Depression
source:http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/21/1657242&tid=191&tid=14
World of Warcraft For The Win
source:http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/21/1341215&tid=209
Do Not Call List Under Attack
source:http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/21/1439206&tid=158&tid=215&tid=1
Security Hackers Interviewed
source:http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/21/1215217&tid=172&tid=187&tid=158&tid=218
Pay-Per-Click Speculation Market Soaring
source:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/21/124230&tid=217&tid=187&tid=98&tid=95&tid=1
Really cool invention brings teens awards
| Physics students: They came up with an environmentally friendly, economical air conditioner |
Tyler Lyon, Daniel Winegar and Chad Thornley were overtired and giddy as they tackled a science fair project. Their idea: Eliminate the use of Freon in automobile air-conditioning systems by relying on the Peltier effect - of course. "We aren't planning our lives around making air conditioners," Lyon explained. "We wanted to do something to help the environment and the economy." But what began as a Riverton High School physics class assignment nearly two years ago has morphed into an award-winning, internationally recognized invention. Lyon and Winegar, two recent Riverton graduates - Thornley graduated in 2004 and is now on an LDS Church mission - won the first-ever Ricoh Sustainable Development Award in May when they competed against 1,400 other worldwide invitation-only entries at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix. Aside from the $50,000 college scholarship the two 18-year-olds will share, the budding engineers are jetting off to Japan today for a 10-day visit on Ricoh's dime. The office equipment and electronics company, a leader in the field of sustainable development, has invited the Utahns to attend the World Expo, address Ricoh executives, tour their research and development lab, meet with government officials - including the Minister of the Environment - and sit down with Tokyo University professors. "It's been a total, unbelievable dream," marveled Tyler's mom, Diane Lyon, last week. "They're just typical boys. But when someone believes in you, amazing things can happen." Physics teacher Kari Lewis, who recently left Riverton High, said trusting in Lyon and Winegar was easy. "They came up with this idea . . . and they made it work," she said. "It's a perfect solution to an incredible problem." Today, the young inventors say, U.S. drivers use about 7.9 billion gallons of fuel each year to run their air-conditioners, which draw power from the engine. By adopting their contraption - which taps into the electrical system, using fans to blow hot air through five Peltier chips and then releasing cold air - they say the country stands to save 3.9 billion gallons of fuel annually, or about $10 billion based on current gas prices. Furthermore, the product would free drivers from Freon - which despite improvements, remains an ozone-depleting chemical in current air-conditioners. The Peltier chips, which they purchased on eBay for $9.99 each, have a life span of 20 to 30 years and an unfaltering cooling capacity. And like every component in the Space Beast, which can be minimized in size to about 2 inches in width, the chips are recyclable. As a young boy, Lyon's parents said he tore apart and reassembled household electronics - CD players, clocks, an old stereo that didn't work until he fixed it. And while Daniel's mom, LouAnn Winegar, was grateful her son was "not a take-apart-person," she said her boy's love for science, engineering and computers has been consistent. "It's nice to see all of his years of interest and hard work being recognized," she said. The two-year process of fine-tuning, however, was not without its glitches. When the teens were trying to convert a blow-dryer fan from AC to DC power, a miswiring gave Lyon a doozy of a shock - "a low-enough amp that it couldn't really stop my heart," he said. And there was that computer power strip that they managed to ignite, before throwing it outside in the snow, only to retrieve it two days later to recycle its parts. Despite the setbacks, and bouts of procrastination, the teens didn't give up. When they weren't playing computer games, skiing, snowboarding or, in Lyon's case, rock-climbing, they buckled down, sometimes working through the night. Their focus nearly cost them graduation - they had to scramble to make up work in other classes - but they accomplished what others couldn't. After they had already begun their work, Lyon and Winegar learned about a 1964 General Motors analysis that explored the idea before the car company concluded it wasn't possible. Going in with open minds, however, the teens were not deterred and pulled off what GM rejected. "Nobody told them it couldn't be done," Robert Lyon, Tyler's dad, said. The first time he felt a cold gust of air successfully come through the system, Winegar said he remembers saying: "We may actually have something here." Looks like they do. A Salt Lake City attorney is working to secure a patent. The Environmental Protection Agency called to express interest Tuesday morning. And though repeated attempts to communicate with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. have gone unanswered, high officials in Japan - an ocean away - are awaiting the arrival of source:http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2841984 | ||||||||||||||
UH readies first autonomous undersea robot
|
UH readies first autonomous undersea robot
Industry and naval officials are
optimistic despite a failed test
University of Hawaii mechanical engineers and students are close to completing the country's first autonomous robotic vehicle for deep-ocean work.
A sensor failed to work, causing a glitch in the performance of the group's Semi-Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Intervention during a demonstration Friday at the UH Marine Center at Snug Harbor, Sand Island.
But industry and Navy research officials were enthusiastic about the unique vehicle's potential.
"This is technology that the world needs," said Gary Godshalk, of Lockheed Martin, in Kailua. "Underwater vehicles are the future."
Researchers in the UH Mechanical Engineering Department's Autonomous Systems Laboratory have received about $12 million from the Office of Naval Research since 1997 for robotic vehicle development.
The battery-powered aluminum vehicle, about the size of a sport utility vehicle, is the same one shown to Navy and NASA officials two years ago, with a blue and yellow cover and significant technological advances.
Most important, it has computers and sensors to make a decision to perform a task and a 5-foot, 150-pound autonomous manipulator, or arm.
"Everything that goes inside it has changed," said Song Choi, assistant dean of the College of Engineering and director and chief executive officer of Marine Autonomous Systems Engineering.
The UH scientists formed the company to take over the engineering development after conducting the research in the Autonomous Systems Laboratory. Choi is on leave as the laboratory's associate director.
Choi said there is no underwater vehicle with the capabilities of the semiautonomous underwater vehicle. "We'd be the first ones to do it."
Rich Carlin, director of ONR's Division of Mechanics and Energy Conversion, said he is anxious to see the autonomous arm's capabilities. "The ability to do mechanical work underwater is extremely valuable," he said, noting the Navy's obvious interests in underwater mines, surveillance and retrieval.
Underwater vehicles are available to do imaging and surveying, but UH's vehicle would be the first to carry out work in the ocean autonomously, he said.
Choi said 99 percent of the vehicle's system is autonomous, with 1 percent semiautonomous for a communications link for safety. A signal could be sent to the vehicle to stop and return if necessary, he said.
It is designed to operate to a depth of about 4 miles, enabling recovery of wreckage or pipes, sea floor surveillance, or hooking and unhooking instruments on the ocean floor.
It will be able to go to a target automatically, and the arm will deploy to do a task with no humans involved, Choi said. "The ultimate goal is to leave it in the water, and it will come back when the batteries are down. Safety-wise, it can't get better."
Giacomo Marani, who works on the autonomous manipulator, said the new design consumes less power, and the autonomous arm could operate for seven to eight hours. "We're waiting for a fuel cell to do more than one day," he said.
The vehicle was supposed to pick up a tool from the bay and deploy it over a target Friday. Observers could see the arm moving and tracking its target on TV monitors in a small building at the water's edge.
But Choi said there was a communication problem. A sensor that worked fine during tests Wednesday was not reading properly Friday, he said.
He said the vehicle is about 90 percent completed and within the next year or two should have all the tasks, functions and features the scientists want.
It has about 20 to 25 sensors for navigation, mapping and other purposes, Choi said. High-resolution cameras and sonar will prevent collisions with other objects.
Choi said a vehicle about half the size of the semiautonomous underwater vehicle would be easier to launch and commercialize. He said the Department of Defense, treasure hunters and even the entertainment industry are interested in a smaller version.
Carlin said the Navy is interested in long-range vehicles that can stay underwater longer, which requires more advanced batteries and fuel cell technology.
"A lot of work still is needed, but there is tremendous potential. The UH has a fantastic program," he added.
Edward H.W. Young, project manager of the Hawaii Technology Development Venture, an Office of Naval Research project, said the development is great from the standpoint of industry growth in Hawaii.
With a cloud over Pearl Harbor's future, he said, "We have to find other infrastructure capabilities."
Development of robotic vehicles with fuel and sensor technology could start an industry and "provide an avenue for kids to get involved in science," he said.
UH Mechanical Engineering
www.eng.hawaii.edu/ME/
source:http://starbulletin.com/2005/07/19/news/story11.html
Using Google Maps to Get Out of a Traffic Ticket
source:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/20/180231&tid=133&tid=217&tid=1
Congress to add 2 months to Daylight Savings Time
It looks like Daylight Saving Time is about to be extended, and that has child safety and fire prevention advocates riled.
Congressional leaders of both parties have signed off on a proposal, being considered in Washington this week, to start Daylight Saving Time on the first Sunday in March and end on the last Sunday of November. They say it would save energy.
If the president signs the bill, the new law would take effect immediately, extending Daylight Saving Time by one month this fall. Currently, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and ends at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October.
"The more daylight we have, the less electricity we use,'' said U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored the measure with U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).
The pair cited a government study that estimated the additional energy savings at the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day, or about half of 1 percent of the nation's daily oil consumption. Most of the energy saved would be in the form of electricity because lights would be used less in the early evenings, the study projected.
Fire officials argue against plan
The Chicago-based National PTA has opposed Daylight Saving Time for more than 30 years because of concerns about kids walking to school in darkness.
For years, the International Association of Fire Chiefs has framed a widespread public information campaign around Daylight Saving Time, reminding people to change the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors when they change their clocks. The last weekend in November is too late for the reminder, fire officials say.
source:http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-daylight20.html
