unique inventions and discoveries in science.doc

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Angellie Faye V. Sale June 7, 2013 IV-Einstein 1. Most Earthlike Planets Found Yet: A "Breakthrough" New exoplanets are at right distance from sun to support life, scientists say. Marc Kaufman for National Geographic News Published April 18, 2013 Planet hunters are significantly closer to their goal of finding an "Earth twin" with the discovery of two planets similar in size to our own, astronomers withNASA's Kepler mission announced today. NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered three exoplanets that may be capable of supporting life, and one of them is perhaps the most Earth-like alien world spotted to date, scientists announced today (April 18). That most intriguing one is called Kepler-62f, a rocky world just 1.4 times bigger than Earth that circles a star smaller and dimmer than the sun. Kepler- 62f's newfound neighbor, Kepler-62e, is just 1.6 times larger than Earth, making the pair among the smallest exoplanets yet found in their star's habitable zone — the just-right range of distances where liquid water can exist on a world's surface. Kepler-62e and f, which are part of a newly discovered five-planet system, "look very good as possibilities for looking for life," said Kepler science principal investigator Bill Borucki, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The planets, described at a NASA press conference, orbit a sun that's cooler than ours but is at the right distance to allow water to remain liquid, which is considered essential for a planet to support life. And because of their sizes and orbits, the newfound planets are likely either rocky—like Earth—or watery, NASA scientists said. The two planets are located 1,200 light-years away in a five-planet system orbiting a star dubbed Kepler-62. Called Kepler-62e and -62f, the planets "are by far the best candidates for habitability of any found so far," said William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center, the science principal investigator for the agency's Kepler Space Telescope. "If you were on Kepler-62f and looking at the sun, it would be a little less yellow than ours," said Borucki, whose announcement coincided with the release of a study on the topic in the journal Science. "And at sunset the sky would be more red. But otherwise it would basically look and feel the same," he said. "I would call this a breakthrough discovery." The press conference also introduced another study released today in theAstrophysical Journal, which involves a related discovery of a sun very much like our own named Kepler-69. 2 .LONG BEACH, Calif. – Astronomers have discovered a giant asteroid belt circling the bright star Vega, a find that may ultimately reveal an entire solar system of planets, scientists say. Vega is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and located about 25 light- years from Earth. It gained fame as the fictional source of an alien signal in the science fiction novel “Contact” by famed astronomer Carl Sagan, which was

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Page 1: unique inventions and discoveries in science.doc

Angellie Faye V. Sale June 7, 2013IV-Einstein

1. Most Earthlike Planets Found Yet: A "Breakthrough" New exoplanets are at right distance from sun to support life, scientists say.Marc Kaufmanfor National Geographic NewsPublished April 18, 2013Planet hunters are significantly closer to their goal of finding an "Earth twin" with the discovery of two planets similar in size to our own, astronomers withNASA's Kepler mission announced today.

NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered three exoplanets that may be capable of supporting life, and one of them is perhaps the most Earth-like alien world spotted to date, scientists announced today (April 18).That most intriguing one is called Kepler-62f, a rocky world just 1.4 times bigger than Earth that circles a star smaller and dimmer than the sun. Kepler-62f's newfound neighbor, Kepler-62e, is just 1.6 times larger than Earth, making the pair among the smallest exoplanetsyet found in their star's habitable zone — the just-right range of distances where liquid water can exist on a world's surface.Kepler-62e and f, which are part of a newly discovered five-planet system, "look very good as possibilities for looking for life," said Kepler science principal investigator Bill Borucki, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

The planets, described at a NASA press conference, orbit a sun that's cooler than ours but is at the right distance to allow water to remain liquid, which is considered essential for a planet to support life. And because of their sizes and orbits, the newfound planets are likely either rocky—like Earth—or watery, NASA scientists said. The two planets are located 1,200 light-years away in a five-planet system orbiting a star dubbed Kepler-62.Called Kepler-62e and -62f, the planets "are by far the best candidates for habitability of any found so far," said William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center, the science principal investigator for the agency's Kepler Space Telescope."If you were on Kepler-62f and looking at the sun, it would be a little less yellow than ours," said Borucki, whose announcement coincided with the release of a study on the topic in the journal Science."And at sunset the sky would be more red. But otherwise it would basically look and feel the same," he said."I would call this a breakthrough discovery."The press conference also introduced another study released today in theAstrophysical Journal, which involves a related discovery of a sun very much like our own named Kepler-69.

2 .LONG BEACH, Calif. – Astronomers have discovered a giant asteroid belt circling the bright star Vega, a find that may ultimately reveal an entire solar system of planets, scientists say.Vega is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and located about 25 light-years from Earth. It gained fame as the fictional source of an alien signal in the science fiction novel “Contact” by famed astronomer Carl Sagan, which was adapted into a film starring Jodie Foster.The star’s newfound asteroid belt layout suggest that Vega is surrounded by an icy outer belt of asteroids, as well as a warm inner space rock belt, researchers said. Their presence is also a clue that Vega could be surrounded by multiple undiscovered planets, they added.

3. An HVAC system powered by an 18-wheeler’s exhaust.By Sarah FechtPosted 05.14.2013 at 1:55 pm5 Comments

Semitruck drivers idle their engines to heat or cool their vehicles’ cabs—a practice that burns a billion gallons of fuel each year. Small engines on the back of a cab, called auxiliary power units (APUs), get the job done with less fuel, but they’re loud and smelly. A team of five Ontario-based engineers and mechanics has devised what may be a better solution: an APU called HYPER that runs on waste heat.The group originally formed to build a 100mpg car for the 2008 X Prize competition. During one brainstorming session, someone wondered aloud: Why not use energy from a vehicle’s exhaust to run an HVAC system? “We did a lot of modeling and realized that the energy numbers made sense,” says team member Jack MacDonnell. He and two others decided to work full-time to develop a new kind of APU.Like a household refrigerator yet a third the size, HYPER chills air by depressurizing a liquid refrigerant under high pressure into a gas—a process that absorbs energy. The gas then condenses to start the cycle anew. But instead of using electricity to drive the process, HYPER does it with a semitruck’s 660°F exhaust heat. MacDonnell says the APU stores between six and 10 hours of heating or cooling capacity after an hour of driving. Based on early tests, he thinks the device could cut a trucker’s yearly fuel consumption by 9 percent and carbon emissions by about 20 tons.The team is testing HYPER on a retrofitted semi in hopes of selling road-ready devices in 2014. With 2.5 million trucks on U.S. roads, HYPER could make a significant impact—but the team also hopes to retrofit buses, RVs, passenger vehicles, and more. “We would drastically cut emissions, fuel consumption, and be less dependent on foreign oil,” MacDonnell says.

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HOW IT WORKS1) 660°F semitruck exhaust heats a refrigerant mixture [red] flowing through an exchanger. The refrigerant’s solvent boils from its solute, pressurizing the HYPER system.2) A second exchanger uses a fan to help cool and condense the refrigerant into a high-pressure liquid.3) The refrigerant [yellow] passes through a nozzle, flashing it into a gas [blue]. This draws heat from an adjacent fluid loop, cooling it to about 23°F [green].4) A reservoir stores the chilled fluid.5) Air blown across an evaporator (fed by chilled reservoir fluid) cools the truck cab.6) A final exchanger condenses the refrigerant into a liquid to restart the cycle.INVENTORSJack MacDonnell, Dave Gibbs, John StannardCOMPANYEnerMotionINVENTIONHYPER APU

4. U.S. businesses use about 21 million tons (19 million metric tons) of paper every year -- 175 pounds of paper for each American, according to the Clean Air Council. This has led to office recycling programs, "please think before you print" e-mail signatures and printers that offer double-sided printing. Now a trio of Chinese inventors hopes to add another device to the cubicle environment: the P&P Office Waste Paper Processor, which turns paper destined for recycling into pencils. The machine, looking a bit like a three-hole punch crossed with an electric pencil sharpener, was a finalist in the 2010 Lite-On Awards, an international competition that seeks to stimulate and nurture innovation.Here's how the pencil-making gadget works: You insert wastepaper into a feed slot. The machine draws the paper in, rolls and compresses it, and then inserts a piece of lead from a storage chamber located in the top of the device. A small amount of glue is added before -- voilà -- a pencil slides out from a hole on the side. It's not clear how many pieces of paper form a single pencil, but you figure the average office worker could generate a decent supply of pencils in a month.And that seems to be the biggest drawback to the pencil-producing gadget. How many No. 2 pencils can an office really use, given that most workers take notes on their tablet PCs or laptops? And how much glue and lead core do you need to buy to keep up with the overflowing paper recycle bin? Too much, we would suspect, which is why you may never see this gadget in your office supplies catalog [source: Bonderud].

5. 2013 Invention Awards: Ballast BulbA household lamp powered by a bag of rocks.By Amanda TustPosted 05.06.2013 at 10:00 am12 Comments

More than 780 million people rely on kerosene to light their homes. But the fuel is pricey and is toxic when burned—not to mention a fire hazard. In 2008, London-based product designer Martin Riddiford and his colleague Jim Reeves decided to create a cheap, safe alternative.Riddiford knew a falling weight could produce enough energy to run a grandfather clock, so why not a light? To find out, he attached the crank of a wind-up flashlight to a bicycle wheel. He hung a weight from the wheel to cause it to spin; the wheel cranked the flashlight, and the device lit up.Over the next four years, Riddiford, Reeves, and a small team spent their downtime between projects in a basement, refining the GravityLight. To use it, a person hangs the device and fills an attached fabric bag with up to 28 pounds of rocks, dirt, or other material. Lifting and releasing the bag steadily pulls a notched belt through GravityLight’s plastic hub; the belt spins a series of gears to drive a small motor, which continuously powers an LED for about 30 minutes.The team used crowdfunding to manufacture 1,000 GravityLights, which it plans to send to developing countries for field testing—plus 6,000 more for backers. “It’s exciting to witness so much positive reaction to what we’re doing,” Riddiford says. Besides remote villages, the lamp could prove handy in campsites, closets, and any dark nook far from a socket, so Riddiford also hopes to license a retail version for less than $10.GravityLight:  Graham MurdochHOW IT WORKS1) As a weighted bag descends, it tugs a belt to turn a series of plastic gears.2) The gears work in unison to spin an electric motor.3) The motor powers a small yet bright LED, providing continuous illumination for about 30 minutes—the maximum amount of time that the bag can take to descend.4) External connectors can power low-voltage devices, and the entire system is designed to work for thousands of lift-and-drop cycles.INVENTORSJim Reeves, Martin RiddifordCOMPANYTherefore

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INVENTIONGravityLight

6. 2013 Invention Awards: Smart BallA wireless data-gathering grenade to toss into danger.By Gregory MonePosted 05.10.2013 at 9:04 am3 Comments

After an earthquake devastated Haiti in 2010, search-and-rescue teams descended upon Port-au-Prince to look for survivors. Francisco Aguilar, a graduate student in public policy at the time, was shocked to read stories about crews relying on complex, expensive imaging systems. “Only a few teams had them, and you had to be really well trained to use them,” Aguilar says. He soon launched a start-up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to develop a simple way to explore hard-to-reach places: a throwable, expendable, baseball-size probe.The Bounce Imaging Explorer has a shock-absorbing shell embedded with six cameras, plus clusters of near-infrared LEDs to light up dark rooms (for the cameras). To deploy the Explorer, an emergency worker links it to a smartphone or tablet and chucks the ball into danger. It immediately begins taking photos and testing for methane, carbon monoxide, and dangerously high temperatures. A microprocessor inside the ball then stiches the photos together and converts the raw data for transmission over Wi-Fi. Just seconds after the toss, a wrap-around panorama—complete with environmental warnings—appears on the synced device.Aguilar quickly imagined applications beyond disaster areas, such as burning buildings, hostage crises, and combat zones, so he sought feedback from potential customers. His start-up cranked through dozens of prototypes in the first 18 months, tweaking the design as requests poured in. When several police officers said they wanted to be able to hear inside a room, for example, Aguilar added a digital microphone.Police, firefighters, soldiers, and nuclear-plant inspectors have offered to test the device, which Aguilar is determined to keep between $500 and $1,000. “We want to get it as cheap as possible so it can be as broadly deployed as possible,” he says.

INVENTORFrancisco AguilarCOMPANYBounce ImagingINVENTIONBounce Imaging Explorer

7. Touchscreen interface for seamless data transfer between the real and virtual worlds- 15 APRIL 2013

With a webcam, a projector, and special software, researchers from Fujitsu Laboratories have made an awesome (and unexpected) mix of dead-tree and digital tech: a system that turns paper into touchscreens.Put your documents under the machine while motion trackers determine where your finger is and, with a series of gestures, users can highlight images or text, then automatically digitize what they select. The machine can pick up on either a flat sheet of paper or adjust to the curve of a real book.We've seen inventions like this before, and they always seem like they're caught between two worlds. The technology is amazing, but can't you just digitize text and make that digital version into a touchscreen? Maybe you're really attached to your tattered copy of The Sun Also Rises but want a little more functionality.

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a next generation user interface which can accurately detect the users finger and what it is touching, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system, using objects in the real word."We think paper and many other objects could be manipulated by touching them, as with a touchscreen. This system doesn't use any special hardware; it consists of just a device like an ordinary webcam, plus a commercial projector. Its capabilities are achieved by image processing technology."Using this technology, information can be imported from a document as data, by selecting the necessary parts with your finger.This technology measures the shape of real-world objects, and automatically adjusts the coordinate systems for the camera, projector, and real world. In this way, it can coordinate the display with touching, not only for flat surfaces like tables and paper, but also for the curved surfaces of objects such as books."Until now, gesturing has often been used to operate PCs and other devices. But with this interface, we're not operating a PC, but touching actual objects directly, and combining them with ICT equipment.""The system is designed not to react when you make ordinary motions on a table. It can be operated when you point with one finger. What this means is, the system serves as an interface combining analog operations and digital devices."To detect touch accurately, the system needs to detect fingertip height accurately. In particular, with the low-resolution camera used here (320 x 180), if fingertip detection is off by a single pixel, the height changes by 1 cm. So, the system requires technology for recognizing fingertips with high precision.

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"Using a low-res webcam gives a fuzzy picture, but the system calculates 3D positions with high precision, by compensating through image processing."This system also includes technology for controlling color and brightness, in line with the ambient light, and correcting for individual differences in hand color. In this way, it can identify fingertips consistently, with little influence from the environment or individual differences.Also, in situations that don't use touch, the system can be operated by gesturing. In this demo, when you move your fist, you can manipulate the viewpoint for 3D CAD data. So, there could be applications for this touch system by combining it with current gesture systems."For example, we think this system could be used to show detailed information at a travel agent's counter, or when you need to fill in forms at City Hall.""We aim to develop a commercial version of this system by fiscal 2014. It's still at the demonstration level, so it's not been used in actual settings. Next, we'd like to get people to use it for actual tasks, see what issues arise, and evaluate usability. We want to reflect such feedback in this system."

8. Cure For Insomnia A Step Closer After Scientists Discover The Enzyme That Wakes Us UpSleepless nights could soon be a thing of the past as scientists discover a key chemical trigger that

suppresses sleep and wakes people up.Researchers from Boston University found that when the body has too little of the calcium kinase enzyme, it causes the brain to nod off to sleep.Scientists tested the power of the enzyme on lab rats and found that when they blocked the chemical from reaching the brain, it helped to induce sleep."Sleep, one of the most mysterious regular shifts in consciousness, is regulated by a delicate balance between biological processes, the environment and behaviour, but the mechanisms involved in the regulation are not well understood," said study author, Dr Subimal Dutta."The ultimate goal of my research is to deepen the understanding of how sleep is regulated at the cellular level, which could lead to finding the causes and cures for a variety of sleep disorders."It could be some time before the powers of the enzyme have been harnessed and bottled so in the meantime, take a look at our expert sleep tips - and if you do manage to get a good night's sleep,

9. Gastric Pacemaker To Fight Obesity By Convincing Brain That Stomach Is FullA stomach implant that can trick the brain into thinking the stomach is full is the latest hi-tech gadget that experts hope will help fight the flab and beat obesity.The Abiliti, or 'Gastric Pacemaker', is a credit card-sized implant, inserted using keyhole surgery, which detects when food has been eaten and sends signals to the brain to create the feeling of fullness.The device is made by US company, IntraPace and consists of a lead, a food sensor and an electrode.When food is ingested, the sensor is tripped and instantly sends a signal to the device that triggers a series of electrical pulses to the electrode. These stimulate the vagus nerve and cause hormone changes that trick the brain into thinking it's full.Health experts hope that this bulge-battling device will become a popular alternative to the gastric bypass, where the stomach is surgically made smaller, as this carries potential health risks.They also hope that it will train obese people to eat normal-sized portions and feel full up without the need of stomach shaping surgery.The £10,000 device is already available at selected private hospitals and will be carried out on obese patients who have a BMI of 35 or above. Experts believe that looking into the future, the fat-buster may be offered to the merely overweight to ensure they don't become obese.The device is already proving a success as during trials in Europe, people fitted with the gastric pacemaker ate 45% less. 

10. World AIDS Day 2011: New Once-Daily HIV Pill Available In UKEviplera, a new once-daily pill for the treatment of HIV has been made available in 27 countries of the European Union following approval by the European Medicines Agency.The new drug, from Gilead Sciences, combines three antiretroviral treatments in a single tablet so HIV patients only need to take one tablet a day to treat their condition.Fifteen years ago HIV patients were required to take as many as 20 tablets.Although this will be the second single-tablet regimen available on the market, the first also being from Gilead, Eviplera marks a giant leap forward in the advancement of this form of treatment, thanks to its tolerability and reduced side effects.In clinical trials, the treatment has shown to be well tolerated by patients. This is particularly significant as the intolerable side effects associated with HIV medication, such as vivid nightmares, poor sleep and anxiety, have been known to cause patients to choose to start treatment later, or even to discontinue it altogether.Whereas early treatment can reduce viral load to nearly undetectable levels, significantly reducing a patient's prognosis as well as reducing the risk of infecting a sexual partner with HIV.Dr Macky Natha, Consultant Physician in Sexual Health and HIV, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation

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Trust, told the Huffington Post: "It's estimated that there are almost 90,000 people in the UK living with HIV. A quarter of these remain undiagnosed. For some, this is for fear of being tested and fear of the treatments available."He added: "With HIV patients now living well into their sixties and seventies, a tolerable form of treatment is vital. Eviplera offers greater tolerability and fewer side effects which will have a huge impact on the quality of life for such patients."Jason Warriner, Clinical Director at the Terence Higgins Trust, said: "HIV drug treatments give people with HIV the chance to lead longer and healthier lives. This new option which involves taking just one pill a day is good news for people who may have difficulty managing the number of pills that they currently have to take."The UK has seen a surge in the number of people infected with HIV, which has trebled in ten years. Thirty years ago HIV was an acute, fatal condition that mainly affected white, homosexual men. However, today the rate of HIV is rising across a broader range of groups including the over 50s, heterosexuals and black & Asian ethnic minority groups.HIV emerged 30 years ago. Although huge advancements have been made in the treatment of the condition, awareness of HIV and AIDS has fallen off the public radar and more needs to be done to tackle the surge in infection. Today (1 December) is World AIDS Day, a global initiative to raise awareness of HIV.Eviplera, the second single-tablet HIV regimen to be authorised in the EU, is now available for newly diagnosed patients who have had no previous treatment.

11. Street SmartsHow intelligent roads—not just cars—will change transportation.Every year, cars become more sophisticated. They can adapt to the speed of traffic, generate power from braking, and even park themselves. But the roads are pretty much made of the same stuff that was under your grandparents’ wheels, even though today we drive an average of 13,000 miles a year. Not since the 1800s, when we started replacing dirt and rocks with asphalt, has the driving surface seen a major change. But now, inventors, designers, and engineers are trying to make roads more useful, more visible, and less expensive.

The cost of energy is a major factor. Cash-strapped communities in the United States and Europe are so desperate to cut costs that they’ve recently started shutting off streetlights, even though lighting has been shown to reduce accidents. Jacksonville, Florida; Santa Rosa, California; and Highland Park, Michigan, have all turned off lamps in an attempt to save money. Communities like these need new ways to keep the lights on. Piezoelectric materials can harness vibrations and pressure from passing cars and convert that energy into usable power. In 2008, a rail station in Japan used piezoelectrics in its floors to take advantage of the vibrations from footsteps, generating enough power to run holiday displays. In 2009, an Israeli company tested these materials in a 10-meter strip of road and reported generating an average of 2,000 watts, enough to theoretically power 30 60-watt lightbulbs. And now, the California Energy Commission is currently studying whether piezoelectric materials will be economically feasible to use on the state’s roads.