When smartphone meets PDA, you get Planet Computers’ Astro Slide 5G. This transformer smartphone features a RockUp sliding hinge mechanism that enables the touchscreen to slide up, revealing a backlit QWERTY keyboard that turns it into a mini laptop of sorts. In this mode, the hinge tilts the brilliant 6.53″ (2,340 x 1080) display at the perfect angle for maximum productivity. Read more for two videos and additional information.
James Dyson and his team have designed a completely new ventilator suited to the needs of COVID-19 sufferers from scratch in just 10-days, and will deliver the first batch in early April. These ventilators support a patient who is no longer able to maintain their own airways, and this particular model boasts a bed-mounted design. Read more for a video and additional information.
Italy-based startup Isinnova has started to 3D-print valves that transform snorkeling masks into functional CPAP ventilators to save COVID-19 patients. What is a CPAP mask used for? It’s to helps aid patients who can still breathe spontaneously on their own, but need help keeping their airways unobstructed. They’ve created 500 of these 3D printed respirator masks so far and distributed to hospitals in Italy to those needed. Read more for a video and additional information.
German engineering and technology company Bosch has developed a new coronavirus test system that delivers results in under 2½ hours, instead of 24 hours that current tests require. It’s expected to roll out next month and enables a doctor take a swab from a patient’s throat, insert it into a prepared cartridge which, in turn, is inserted into a free-standing console for analyzing. Read more for a video and additional information.
Running is great exercise, but not everyone’s body is up for the task. Engineers at Stanford University want to boost physical activity and possibly creating a new mode of transportation, so they are studying devices that people could strap to their legs to make running easier. What they came up with are exoskeleton emulators, which when powered by a motor, reduced the energy cost of running by 15 percent. Read more for a video and additional information.
Belgium-based software and 3D printing company Materialise wants to stop the spread of COVID-19, starting with its new 3D printed hands-free door opener. The plans are free for anyone to use, and enables one to open or close doors using just their arm, thus eliminating the need for direct contact with handles. Read more for two videos and additional information.
A team of astronomers studying data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered the most energetic outflows ever witnessed in the universe. They emanate from quasars and tear across interstellar space in tsunami-like fashion, wreaking havoc on the galaxies in which they live. In addition to emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy, quasars contain supermassive black holes fueled by in-falling matter that can shine 1,000 times brighter than their host galaxies of hundreds of billions of stars. Read more for a video about quasars and additional information.
Photo credit: Sapphire Nation | Stanford
If you’re unfamiliar with the [email protected] distributed computing project, it’s now more powerful than the world’s top supercomputers combined. This project is mainly used for for performing molecular dynamics simulations of protein dynamics, with its initial focus being on protein folding, but has shifted to more biomedical problems, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more for an in-depth video about [email protected] and how you can help.
Photo credit: Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech professor Gil Weinberg created an innovative prosthesis for Jason Barnes, a drummer who was electrocuted and lost his right arm below the elbow. Simply put, it’s a single-stick device with sensors that responds to Barnes’ bicep muscles. When he flexes, it sends signals to a computer that tightens or loosens the stick and controls the rebound. Read more for a video and additional information.
The 2021 Roland Gumpert Nathalie is probably one electric vehicle you’ve never heard of, but definitely not one to pass on. Featuring a 2Way energy system that consists of four motors, one on each wheel, for propulsion, all powered by a battery located on the floor of the vehicle. You recharge the Nathalie using a hybrid system with methanol fuel cells situated underneath the car’s carbon hood. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.