The United States is currently debating a law that prohibits the export of electronic waste. Much of computers, mobile phones and other devices high tech often fail in China, Pakistan and other Asian countries or Africa. There, armies of workers trying-often in small shops, to recover metals (copper, gold, silver, lead) that contain these products. An activity which if not conducted carefully and taking precautions, is at high risk to the health of “boning”, their families and people living near these landfills electronics.

In February, a study conducted on behalf of the UN showed the extent of the wave of electronic waste that is sweeping the world, and particularly the South.

Click to continue »

The Korean scientists of the Korea Institute of Science and Tehnology (KIST) has created a humanoid robot capable of cleaning, put the clothes in the washing machine and even warm meals in the microwave. Mahru-Z would be able to “see” objects in three dimensions and recognize the work that needs to be done. With a height of 1.3 meters and weighing 55 kilograms “Mahru-Z” is the most advanced domestic robot in terms of imitation of human movement and autonomy. “The distinctive feature of Mahru-Z is its ability to visually observe objects, to identify tasks and execute them. It also recognizes individuals, use the microwave, washing machine and toaster, He also knows to take a sandwich or a cup and can understand any other subject, “said You Bum-Jae, director of the section of the KIST robot. “The other force Mahru-Z is its autonomy, allowing them to navigate in the room using its visual sensor and taking things with him.”

Click to continue »

The quick attachment mechanism could lead to applications such such as shoes or gloves to join and emerge from walls, or notes Self-adhesive removable but able to hold heavy objects. So believes Paul Steen, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, who invented the device in collaboration with Michael Vogel.

The device is inspired by a natural beetle Florida, which can adhere to a leaf vegetable with a force of 100 times its own weight, but while maintaining the ability to detach itself instantly.

The device consists of three basic parts: A flat plate with diminutive size holes, the order of microns, a plate containing a lower water tank, and another layer in the middle porous. An electric field applied by an ordinary pile of 9 volts, pumps water through the device and causes it to tighten drops through the top layer. The surface tension of the exposed water droplets makes the device is affixed to another surface.

Click to continue »

Scientists from the University of Glasgow, University of Oxford and the National Institute for Medical Research (UK) found a way to hear the sounds of the microcosm and even write them.

New technology is based on the idea of optical tweezers. It represents the device used to move microscopic objects focused laser beam. Near the point of focus the laser beam, like a tornado, introvert all that is around. The force with which the light acts on the surrounding objects, is small, but it is enough to “catch” a tiny particle whose mass is negligible. Once the particle is “caught”, it can be moved together with the laser beam. With the help of optical tweezers can be controlled to move the particle size from 10 nanometers to 10 micrometers, to study their behavior, and if you wish – even to collect them from different structures.

The authors plan to use multiple laser beams, which will be located around the interests of experimental facility, said compulenta. Each beam has to hold the particle diameter of 1.2 microns. Disturbances caused by an object in the surrounding fluid will be transferred to particles, and they start to deviate from the initial position.

Click to continue »

Once the exhibition opens, the Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe will present his invention: a system of “silent sound” to capture the movements of the lips in order to transcribe text or words.

The principle is as follows: the electrodes, glued to the skin of the face, analyzing the movements of the muscles of the mouth, translated into electrical impulses which are then transcribed as text or an artificial voice. Thus, it becomes possible to be heard without making any sound. This technique could allow people who have lost their voices continue to speak by example. Furthermore, if on that day the presentation that we made is shown electrodes glued to the skin, this technique could also eventually be integrated with mobile phones to conduct a discreet conversation.

Click to continue »

Parkinson’s patients for example, or people who suffer from chronic cluster headache, sometimes help only implanting electrodes in the brain. The electrode then provide permanent high-frequency, short electrical pulses. Thus, the suffering is bearable. Previously, these so-called deep brain stimulation (THS) is mainly used against movement disorders. But this is changing slowly. Meanwhile, psychiatric disorders are treated with THS.

For more than 20 years, the THS is practiced. First, a team at the neurosurgeon Alim Louis Benabid from the University of Grenoble, so that the movement of Parkinson’s patients for whom no medication helped reduced.

Click to continue »

French researchers have tapped into a cactus and converted a finding of the photosynthetic energy into electricity. Normally occur in a plant when light and oxygen, the chemical energy of glucose. Enzymes in the electrodes, however, allow researchers to transform the chemical into electrical energy. The technique could one day generate clean electricity, but it is still primarily to researchers is to understand better the process of photo synthesis.

Victoria Flexner and Nicolas Mano by the Universite de Bordeaux, used an enzyme that is specialized to oxidize glucose molecules chemically, and another, reduces oxygen to water. Electrons are released or captured. Depending on one of the enzymes embedded them into the anode and cathode, as a carrier material used was a gel-like substance, which established the contact with metal conductors.

The so prepared, they implanted electrodes into the leaf surface of a cactus. Switched them then the light of a desk lamp, the current flow rose and sank again when the lights went out.

Click to continue »

This morning there has been an unscheduled performance of the system of nuclear reactor protection I Almaraz (Caceres) because of an impact on a steam generator, as reported by the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) in a statement. The event adds to the manual shutdown of the reactor on 11 February by an abnormality in an electric generator system.

The owner of the nuclear plant Almaraz I (a society composed of Iberdrola, Endesa, Union Fenosa, and Cantabric Hydroelectric Nuclenor), Caceres, followed the statutory procedure and informed the National Security Council (NSC) that at 02.35 hours Early yesterday morning there was “an unscheduled performance of the reactor protection system,”

Click to continue »

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be launched this month at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) and work nonstop the next 18 to 24 months. Then stop business for a long period and will operate at higher energy. This has been agreed LHC makers at the meeting held last week in Chamonix (France).

“The most important decision we have made is to operate the LHC from 18 to 24 months at a collision energy of 7 TeV (3.5 teraelectronvoltios beam), then we will make a long stop to perform all work necessary to enable us to achieve provided the collision energy in the LHC, 14 TeV in the next period of operation, “said Steve Myers, head of the CERN accelerators and technologies, following a meeting of scientists at the LHC at Chamonix (France), where a meeting held annually .

“This means,” Myers continued, “that when beams back to move this month by the LHC will enter the longest phase of operation of the accelerator in CERN’s history, we will take until summer or autumn of 2011.

The director recalled in a statement that the LHC, which stopped its activities in late 2009, is unlike any previous machine at CERN: “It is a cryogenic plant, each phase is accompanied by long phases of cooling and heating, and for that reason The traditional operating model of CERN’s running during the summer and winter stop ‘was already in doubt. ”

Click to continue »

The research work carried out for two years by a Spin off University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) has created a new device platform for creating wireless sensor networks. The applications of these networks are huge, which allow monitoring of parameters in places never before possible.

A good example is the detection of forest fires in order to be placed in the treetops with CO and CO2 sensors or accurately record the noise level in every street of a city.

Click to continue »