tech e blog

We have seen the future of chimps, and it's looking a lot like the characters from Planet of the Apes. Fortunately, this hyper intelligent "11-year-old chimpanzee in no stranger to the spotlight as back in 2007 he was featured on MSNBC's Are you smarter than a chimp? segment where scientists had two young adults compete against Ayumu and another chimp in a series of short-term memory tests. Guess who won? Yup, the chimps." Continue reading for the video.

So how does he do it exactly? Scientists aren't entirely sure but there are a couple theories. The first is something called "eidetic imagery" which, in poor latent terms, means Ayumu is able to commit to memory a complete picture of intricate pattern or scene.

The NASA-inspired "Zero Gravity Roller Coaster" will cost approximately $50-million to build and "travel up a steep track at speeds of 100 miles an hour before beginning a controlled drop that would essentially put its passengers into zero gravity for eight seconds." Continue reading to see how passengers would look inside the ride.

To create that illusion, a linear induction motor system would speed coasters up the track with unprecedented precision. As the coaster approached a top speed of more than 100 mph, it would suddenly and ever so slightly decelerate - just enough to throw the passengers up from their seats, like stones from a catapult - and then quickly adjust its speed to fly in formation with and around the passengers.

Unlike other medical devices used to treat burn victims, this groundbreaking skin gun by Jorg C. Gerlach and colleagues at Stem Cell Systems GmbH in Berlin uses "individual adult stem cells from the patient's uninjured skin are applied to the wound site, where they differentiate into normal skin." Continue reading for the video -- warning, not for the squeamish.

The newly introduced stem cells are able to regenerate and differentiate into their respective parts in a matter of days. The first phase of gathering the patient's stem cells, creating a solution, and applying the stem cells takes approximately 1.5-2 hours. Within a week, the wound dressing procedure allows the stem skin cells to fully generate normal skin, and after a couple of months the skin regains its color and texture.

You read that right, "armed with a 3D printer, Jim Scanlan from the University of Southampton and his team designed and built a drone in just a week; even moving parts were produced all in one go." Continue reading to see it in-action.

[via NewScientist]

Thanks to heated sheets of carbon nanotubes, underwater invisibility cloaks on a large scale could be closer to reality than you think. In technical terms, "Ali Aliev and colleagues at the University of Texas in Dallas embedded a sheet of carbon nanotubes into aerogel, a foam-like material; when electrically heated, the nanotubes bent light waves to create a mirage, effectively cloaking the sheet and anything behind it." Video after the break.

Aliev says the mirage forms because the nanotubes transfer heat to the surrounding air more efficiently than regular metals, allowing a steeper temperature gradient to form near the device's surface. Because photothermal deflection depends on light's ability to propagate faster through hotter, less-dense material, the device works better when the temperature gradient is steeper. Plus, he adds, because carbon nanotubes do not store heat well, the mirage can be turned on and off quickly.

That's right, "it's not just flat stones that can skip across the surface of water; despite their spherical shape, water-bouncing balls can jump across ponds just as seamlessly." This super ball was developed by Tadd Truscott and his team at Brigham Young University in Utah." Video after the break.

The water-bouncing ball, however, was able to maintain a crushed shape for longer to help it scoot across the pond. Its contact area with the water increased when it was squished, helping it to ride along. The ball sprung from the water over 20 times, covering a stretch of nearly 60 meters.

The U.S. Navy has developed an electromagnetic weapon that "launches and accelerates conductive projectiles along pairs of metal rails using the effects of a strong magnetic field; it can accelerate a seven pound projectile to a speed of 5,600 miles per hour." Continue reading for a video.

Navy officials said that the range of a railgun is up to 20 times greater than that of conventional weapon systems. A projectile could reach a target 290 miles away in less than six minutes and impact it with incredible force.

Yes, Sandia researchers have created "a dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that could hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile (about 2,000 meters)." Continue reading for a video demonstration -- "The first bit of footage shows the plastic sabots, which protect the delicate steering fins, drop off after the bullet emerges from the firearm's barrel. The second portion of the footage shows the bullet curving slightly into its designated target."

Their bullet works much like a precision guided aerial bomb might function. An optical sensor in the nose of the bullet detects a laser beam painted on a target and sends that information to a guidance and control system also packed on board. An eight-bit CPU commands electromagnetic actuators to adjust tiny fins that deploy from the round immediately after it exits the muzzle. From there, the on-board electronics aerodynamically guide the bullet home to its target, allowing the shooter to adjust a round's trajectory in flight to correct on a long shot or to stay with a moving target.

Thanks to the advancement of USB drive technology, it's now easier than ever to create your own homemade versions, like this wooden masterpiece, inspired by designs from the Victorian-era. Click here for more pictures. Continue reading to see how Kingston makes USB drives.

[Sources 1 | 2]

That's right, researchers have developed a "bioengineered skin so tough that it stops a speeding bullet from penetrating." In the first segment, the bullet is moving at half speed; "repeated with a round moving at a full 1,080 feet per second, the skin gives way." Continue reading to watch.

But both half-speed and full-speed tests were also conducted with real human skin and human skin augmented with regular silkworm silk, as well as with piglet skin. In all cases, the bullet won out. The only exception was the bioengineered spider silk tissue.