Minhas músicas preferidas– 3 – Olhos castanhos -

PS – Na falta de castanhos podem ser azuis mesmo. Ou verdes…

Want muscles? Rice is the new meat

Darin Goka personifies everything about modern fitness. He does CrossFit. In fact, he loves CrossFit so much, he competes in a league. He's up to date on diet trends. Paleo was nice for a while, but he's kicked it up a notch to vegan. "No animals were harmed in my training," he boasts. So how does this muscle-bound, fat-free specimen of modern manhood get enough protein? Rice. "I feel better," Goka said one afternoon while lifting barbells, jumping rope, and reaching for rings at Valley CrossFit in Los Angeles. The US people have been on a protein-adding craze, throwing powder into smoothies, sprinkling it on foods. General Mills even added protein to Cheerios. One report suggests the whey protein market could hit $12 billion globally by 2017. Soy protein adds a few billion more. However, not everyone wants to get their protein from animals, and some have problems with soy. Leeching protein from sources like wheat or peanuts doesn't help those who can't tolerate gluten or have nut allergies. That leaves rice.   Darin Goka "A long time ago, I realized there was a need for a plant-based protein," said David Janow, CEO of Axiom Foods, the largest producer of plant based proteins in the country. He chose to focus on rice because he thought it would be a great source for boosting protein in animal feed. However, in 2005, "I realized there was a need in human nutrition." Axiom now produces Oryzatein Brown RiceProtein Powder, which it sells under its own Growing Naturals line. It's also sold in products made by manufacturers like Garden of Life and NutriBiotic. Janow estimates 2014 sales of $100 million will double this year. One big reason is that the market is moving beyond just customers with nutritional concerns to fitness enthusiasts. A study published in the Nutrition Journal found that exercise subjects who worked out using whey protein and rice protein had the same performance and recovery. "I feel that it's easier on my stomach," said Goka. Most people think of rice as a carbohydrate, but about eight percent of each grain is made up of protein. Axiom uses a fermentation method to extract and concentrate the protein, and the rest of the grain is used for things like rice syrup. The husks are burned to create power. "Every part of the grain of rice is used," Janow said. Products containing Axiom's Oryzatein are sold in Whole Foods, Sprouts, and small health stores like The Vitamin Barn in Malibu, where it appears in powders sold by NutriBiotic. "In the last five-plus years we've really seen the rice protein just take off in sales as more people become aware of how great the product is," said Kenny Ridgeway, NutriBiotic's director of Purchasing and Manufacturing. "The organic sales since 2011 have increased 204 percent, and actually last year the sales increased 72 percent." Read More : McDonald's to workers: Don't suggest the salad Axiom also sells hemp and pea protein, but rice has the greatest promise. "Rice is very high in leucine, which builds muscle," Janow said. As for cost, Janow claims rice protein is less expensive to manufacture than whey powder. "When they actually polish rice, and they take care of the rice to make it really nice and pristine in the bags, what you see is some of the broken parts. We take a lot of the broken parts, and that's where the value comes in." CNBC.com

Why a latte is less likely to spill than a coffee

Scientists have found that just a few layers of bubbles can significantly dampen the sloshing motion of liquid. The research, reported in the journal Physics of Fluids, from AIP Publishing, may have applications far beyond breakfast beverages, including the safer transport of liquefied gas in trucks and propellants in rocket engines. Emilie Dressaire, now an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering, remembers first thinking about foam as a damping mechanism when she was handed a latte at Starbucks and told she probably would not need a stopper to keep it from spilling. When Dressaire began working in the complex fluids group at Princeton University, she learned that her colleagues had noticed a similar phenomenon with a different foamy beverage: beer. "While I was studying for my Ph.D. in the south of France, we were in a pub, and we noticed that when we were carrying a pint of Guinness, which is a very foamy beer, the sloshing almost didn't happen at all," said Alban Sauret, who is currently a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The scientists took their observations from the coffeehouse and the pub to the laboratory, where they built an apparatus to test the damping power of foam more systematically. They constructed a narrow rectangular container made of glass, which they filled with a solution of water, glycerol (a common substance that increases the fluid viscosity) and the commercial dishwashing detergent Dawn. By injecting air at a constant flow rate through a needle located at the bottom of the rectangular cell, the team created uniform layers of 3-millimeter-diameter bubbles. "The dishwashing foam is very stable, which allowed us to conduct the experiments without the bubbles disappearing," said François Boulogne, another member of the team. The researchers experimented with two types of movements, either jolting the apparatus with a quick, side-to-side motion or rocking it steadily back and forth. They recorded the resulting waves with a high-speed camera. They found that just five layers of foam were enough to decrease the height of the waves by a factor of ten. The team believes that the foam dissipates the energy of the sloshing liquid through friction with the sides of the container. More than five layers of bubbles did not add much additional damping, because the top layers of foam didn't really move, they said. The team also found that bubbles that do not make contact with the walls of the container do not contribute much added damping. The problems caused by energetic sloshing go beyond the annoyance of spilled beverages to questions of safety when transporting hazardous liquids like oil and liquefied gas in large tankers. Sloshing can exert considerable pressure forces on the walls of a tanker, which could cause a rupture or disrupt the motion of the vehicle, the researchers say. The authors hope their research on foam may one day lead to cheap and easy ways to transport large amounts of fluids with minimal sloshing. "The potential applications are much bigger than just beer," Sauret said.

Using 'fuzzy logic' to optimize hybrid solar/battery systems

This image shows the fuzzy logic algorithm which reads the consumption energy and the monthly average of daily solar radiation and gives the output of the system which is the PVP surface and the battery capacity. How did fuzzy logic help a group of researchers in Tunisia and Algeria create an ideal photovoltaic system that obeys the supply-and-demand principle and its delicate balance? In the Journal of Renewable & Sustainable Energy, from AIP Publishing, the group describes a new sizing system of a solar array and a battery in a standalone photovoltaic system that is based on fuzzy logic -- a many-valued logic system designed to reason outputs by considering a range of possibilities rather than a simple, binary yes or no, as with classical logic. "The fuzzy logic system accepts the consumed energy and the monthly average of daily solar radiations as inputs and then outputs photovoltaic panel surfaces and the battery capacity," explained Chokri Ben Salah, a researcher in the Control and Energy Management Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National School of Engineers of Sfax, as well as an assistant professor at the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology of Sousse in Tunisia. "Our method applies Matlab/Simulink interfaces, which aren't complicated compared with other forms of simulation and model-based design," said Ben Salah. In fact, it's possible to build up a graphic integrated user interface to facilitate the usage of the proposed system. The group verified system performance with different inputs by simulations using calculated outputs. Their results demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach, Ben Salah added. For example, an expansion-planning model of photovoltaic panels and battery systems for a domestic "smart" house performed well in simulations. The sizing photovoltaic/battery system provides the capacity of batteries used in the hybrid system and determines the surface of the PVP to be used. Its primary significance is "characterized by its simplicity in the usage and its efficiency in optimizing the cost and losses," they report. In terms of applications, the system may find use in a number of areas, including domestic dwellings, public buildings and industrial electrical settings, as well as for agricultural water pumping in the field. What's the next step for the team's work? "An extension of the present system is possible -- such as appending a wind or fuel cell energy source," noted Ben Salah. "Our system can also be improved by adding an electrolyzer system to permit it to convert lost photovoltaic solar energy into hydrogen that can be stored in a special tank and then be used elsewhere." Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by American Institute of Physics (AIP). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Chokri Ben Salah, Kheireddine Lamamra and Anis Fatnassi. New optimally technical sizing procedure of domestic PVP/Battery system. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2015 DOI: 10.1063/1.4907923

Intelligent tree inventory detector

Planning and managing vegetation in urban area is complex, yet it can be seamlessly done using computerized tree inventory and Geographic Information System (GIS). In order to manage the urban forest it is vital to know and understand the resource. It is the structure of the urban forest that provides the basis for its functions and subsequently its value as a resource. It has been stressed that inventories are an important component in the management of the urban forest. As such urban tree inventory would be the first step in planning and managing the urban forest for its functions and value in creating a balanced environment. The management of any resource needs to begin with an inventory of that resource. Planning and managing vegetation in urban area is complex, yet it can be seamlessly done using computerized tree inventory and Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS may enhance the tree inventory system with the application of mobile -based QR code technology, which could provide effective management of inventory elements, tree in particular, in urban areas to avoid project budget cutback, improve the efficiency of an existing program and educate and provide information to the public. GIS is able to store, manipulate, analyse and communicate between user and data, while mobile-based QR codes technology can be read by an imaging device (such as a camera) and processed using Reed-Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted about the tree; data is then extracted from tree patterns present in both horizontal and vertical component of the image. Urban park inventory and diversity assessments are essential to understand tree population structures and the plant diversity status of the park and provide information for biodiversity recovery planning. Unfortunately, the vast majority of park in developing countries lack inventory records and detection data. Consequently the tree population structure and diversity status of these parks are often insufficient for management (Appiah, 2013). The aim of the study is to design and develop a proposed system that can help the agency in managing the inventory of tree. The system could allow for the creation and maintenance of the inventories with attributes for each item. Botanical names and other attributes are included, and digital photo can be incubated with each item. The objectives of this invention are to create a systematic Geodatabase of urban tree. It is also to develop and design, 3D urban tree inventory systems for management. Lastly, it is to create digital matrix bar codes for urban tree identification and classification. Using GIS as tools may help in managing system as well as increasing the ease of the park management process. This system can replace the conventional method for smart management were computerized and systematic approach of database system will accelerate the tree assessment. The novelty of this invention is it can help improve the existing systems in conveying information globally. The animation can spread the uniqueness of the park and also the information about the park which indirectly help in planning. The QR code gives a better interpretation where it will enhance the visitor experience. This idea addresses the issue of the vast majority of forests or Public Park in a developing country which lacks a data inventory. The invention benefits Park Manager, Local Authority and Landscape Architect.

Novel pretreatment could cut biofuel costs by 30 percent or more

This is a diagram of a proposed biomass conversion process that integrates CELF pretreatment with Simultaneous Saccharification Fermentation to produce ethanol. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have invented a novel pretreatment technology that could cut the cost of biofuels production by about 30 percent or more by dramatically reducing the amount of enzymes needed to breakdown the raw materials that form biofuels. As partners in the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC), the team from the Bourns College of Engineering Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) have shown that this new operation called Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF) could eliminate about 90 percent of the enzymes needed for biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels compared to prior practice. This development could mean reducing enzyme costs from about $1 per gallon of ethanol to about 10 cents or less. The BioEnergy Science Center is a U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center focused on enhancing science and technology to reduce the cost of biomass conversion through support by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Department of Energy Office of Science.. "As recent months have shown, petroleum prices are inherently unstable and will likely return to high prices soon as expensive sources are taken off line," said Professor Charles Wyman, the Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering at UC Riverside. "We have created a transformative technology that has the potential to make biofuels an economic sustainable alternative to petroleum-based fuels." The findings by Wyman's research group were outlined in a just published paper, "Co-solvent Pretreatment Reduces Costly Enzyme Requirements for High Sugar and Ethanol Yields from Lignocellulosic Biomass," in the journal ChemSusChem. Co-authors with Wyman are: Thanh Yen Nguyen, Charles M. Cai, and Rajeev Kumar, all of whom are students or research engineers in Wyman's lab. Research by the Wyman team focuses on turning agricultural and forestry residues and other non-edible plant matter, known as lignocellulosic biomass, into liquid transportation fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass is attractive because it is sustainable and abundant and inexpensive compared to oil. For example, lignocellulosic biomass costing about $60?a dry ton is equivalent in unit energy costs to oil at about $20?barrel. (Oil is currently selling for about $55 a barrel but has hovered around the $100 per barrel mark in recent years.) The challenge is to lower the cost of processing low cost biomass sources into fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass is composed of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, and biological processes favored for making liquid biofuels convert the hemicellulose and cellulose into sugars that can in turn be fermented into biofuels. However, the complex structure of lignocellulosic biomass makes it difficult for enzymes to release these sugars, and a pretreatment step using heat and chemicals is needed to reduce this recalcitrance enough to realize the high yields vital to economic success. The lignin left in biomass after most pretreatments presents a particular problem by impeding enzyme access to hemicellulose and cellulose, thereby hurting product yields and requiring more enzyme at a substantial cost. CELF, the pretreatment developed at UC Riverside, solves those problems. In the ChemSusChem paper, the UC Riverside researchers outline laboratory results in which they compared the total achievable combined sugar yields between CELF pretreatment and dilute acid pretreatment, a current leading strategy, coupled with subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis in three timeframes with three levels of enzymes. Using the dilute acid method, the sugar yield was only about 70 percent of the maximum possible after 14 days when two milligrams of enzymes were used. That percentage increased to about 85 percent in 14 days when 15 milligrams of enzymes were added. By contrast, CELF pretreatment increased sugar yields to about 95 percent of the maximum possible regardless of whether two milligrams, five milligrams, or 15 milligrams of enzymes were added. Furthermore, the time required to reach these high yields dropped to five days when five milligrams of enzyme were used and two days when 15 milligrams of enzyme were used. In addition to such drastic cutting of the amount and cost of enzymes needed to realize nearly theoretical sugar yields, CELF is capable of dissolving and extracting up to 90 percent of the lignin in corn stover and even more for woody biomass. After pretreatment and enzymes release of the sugars from hemicellulose and cellulose, previous process strategies have focused on burning the residual lignin, which is a low value proposition. However, lignin has promise as a resource from which to make additional high value chemicals and fuels once it is extracted and depolymerized with CELF. "These findings are very significant because they establish a new pretreatment process that can dramatically reduce enzyme loadings and costs, thereby improving the competitiveness for biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels," said Wyman, who has focused on understanding and advancing biofuels technologies for more than 30 years. "Understanding the mechanisms responsible for achieving these intriguing results can also suggest even more powerful paths to improving the economics of converting non-edible biomass into sustainable fuels."

Splenda supplier launches 'low-cal sugar'

Bruce Horovitz Source: Dolcia Prima Dolcia Prima Allulose. The battle to sweeten food and drinks naturally—but without a lot of calories—got a new jolt Tuesday. Tate & Lyle—the British food ingredient behemoth that supplies Splenda sucralose for Splenda Sweetener maker McNeil Nutritionals — announced the launch of another sweetener product. This one is a sugar with 90% fewer calories than typical table sugar. The product, Dolcia Prima Allulose, is made from corn (no comparison to corn syrup). Carbohydrates from corn go through a special enzyme conversion process to produce the allulose sweetener. Allulose, itself, isn't new. The low-calorie sugar was identified more than 70 years ago and is found in small quantities in everything from figs to raisins. What's new is Tate & Lyle's proprietary process to produce allulose from corn. Sugar, sweeteners and sugar substitutes are a $4.3 billion market in the U.S, estimates researcher Packaged Facts. Tate & Lyle aims to sell Dolce Prima to the big food and beverage makers that are ever eager to cut calories but retain taste. The move comes at a time when consumers are increasingly clamoring for natural sweeteners—even as they demand fewer calories. "We believe that it can do what food and beverage manufacturers have been trying to do for a long time," says Abigail Storms, vice president of platform management and sweeteners at Tate & Lyle. "This is on-trend in terms of providing solutions that are not artificial." But the bigger deal, she says, is calorie reduction. "Calorie reduction is one of the biggest challenges the industry faces," says Storms. One gram of Dolcia Prima has 0.39 calories vs. 4 calories for one gram of table sugar, says Storms. Tate & Lyle has spent more than three years working on Dolcia Prima says Storms, who notes "Dolce" means sweet in Italian; and Prima means "first." The product is sold as a syrup, she says. While there are no immediate plans to sell Dolcia Prima as a table sweetener, "it absolutely could be in the future," Storms says. About 43% of adults say they look for the amount of sugar a product has on its label, says Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst at NPD Group. And an estimated 25% of consumers say they are "cautious" about serving foods and beverages made with sugar vs. 8% who had such concerns in 2000, he says. Dolcia Prima "has the potential to avoid the negative baggage that has grown to accompany low-calorie sweeteners in general," says Tom Vierhile, innovation insights director at DataMonitor Consumer. Many consumers are downright afraid of artificial sweeteners, says Vierhile. Consumers are twice as likely to say they avoid low-calorie sweeteners entirely than they are sugar, he says. About 27.6% of U.S. consumers said they avoid low-calorie sweeteners entirely, vs. just 10.3% that said the same for sugar, according to Datamonitor Consumer's 2013 global consumer survey. Those are fighting words in the world of sweeteners. Especially to beverage behemoths like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The soda giants are urgently seeking low-cal sweeteners that are natural and taste good. The industry impact of the new brand has yet to be determined, says John Sicher, publisher of the trade magazine Beverage Digest. "If you can tell me how good it tastes and how much it costs, I can tell you how big a deal it will be."   source : www.cnbc.com

Ukraine PM to Russia: 'Get out of our land'

CNBC.com As the cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia looks shaky at best, the prime minister of Ukraine told CNBC that Russia was not withdrawing heavy weaponry from the east of the country and needed to end its "illegal invasion." "I have a key aspiration, and this is the aspiration of the entire Ukrainian nation: Russians, get out of our land. But they are still in Ukraine; Russian military and boots are still on Ukrainian ground," Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told CNBC Tuesday. Less than two weeks ago, Russia and Ukraine signed a peace deal, brokered by France and Germany, which was meant to see the withdrawal of heavy weaponry by both sides from the eastern region of Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukraine military has been concentrated. Speaking of the deal, Yatsenyuk alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin had "cheated and outplayed" those involved in peace talks, including Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, the leaders of France and Germany who helped broker the deal, "and the entire European Union." Although he said he supported Poroshenko's efforts to try to find a solution, and that peace was needed for Ukraine and for the "free world," he added that Putin presented a "threat to the entire western civilization." Read MorePutin says leaders have agreed on Ukraine ceasefire The conflict, which started last spring, prompted the West to impose economic sanctions on Russia, which is believed to be supporting the rebels despite denying involvement. More than 5,000 people have died in the fighting so far, according to the United Nations. In an effort to show they were honoring the truce, pro-Russia separatists Tuesday invited reporters to witness the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line in east Ukraine, as agreed under the cease-fire deal. But Ukraine accused the rebels of using the cover of withdrawal to reinforce for another advance, Reuters reported. Speaking to CNBC in Kiev, Yatsenyuk said he was wary about Russia's intentions and that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not abiding by the ceasefire deal, known as "Minsk 2" as it was the second attempt to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. Read MoreWhat is Russia's Vladimir Putin playing at? "The Russian president hasn't executed any deal - either 'Minsk one' or 'Minsk two' - and Russian aggression severely affected Ukraine," he said, adding that he was "absolutely sure" the Ukrainians who wanted to join Russia had been affected by "Russian propaganda." "This is not about the aspirations of some Ukrainians who still believe they have stronger links with the Russian Federation. This is Russian propaganda, and Russian illegal annexation and the illegal invasion of Ukraine. And Russia misused these people to legitimize it's invasion and annexation of Crimea," he said. Crimea, in the southern part of Ukraine, was annexed by Russia following a referendum last March, although the vote is disputed by Ukraine which says Russia illegally seized the region. Vadym Prystaiko, deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, told CNBC that Ukraine's 46 million population would like to know "what is in Mr Putin's mind and how far he's going (to go)." "What we know for sure is that he will go and grab as many lands as we will allow him," he told CNBC in Kiev Tuesday. "We don't know whether he wants to stop at some point." He reiterated Ukraine's desire to reintegrate the Crimean region back into wider Ukraine. Ukraine's economy has been hit hard by the ongoing tensions, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $40 billion financial aid deal for the country earlier this month, although it depends on certain reforms being implemented. In terms of military support, the U.S. has said it was considering arming Ukraine, although Europe is wary of such a move. On Tuesday, however, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said British military personnel were to be sent to Ukraine to provide training and advice to the Ukrainian troops. Yatsenyuk said he was confident that, with the help of the West, Ukraine could rid itself of Russian forces. "My primary target is to get peace in my country, to pull back Russian forces, to restore the territorial integrity and the independence of Ukraine. Is it doable? Yes, if we act…with our Western partners," he said. Written by Holly Ellyatt, reported by Steve Sedgwick. Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld

Google, Gehry and BMW among Designs of the Year 2015 nominations

The nominations for the London Design Museum's Designs of the Year 2015 have been announced London's Design Museum has announced the nominations for its Designs of the Year 2015. Now in its eighth year, the awards recognize innovative, interesting and forward-looking designs from the last 12 months that promote or deliver change, enable access, extends design practice or capture the spirit of the year in the categories of architecture, digital, fashion, product, graphics and transport. Last year's overall winner was Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. Amongst the other category winners were the Portable Eye Examination Kit (PEEK) for eye examinations, the Seaboard Grand piano keyboard and Volkswagen's efficient XL1 car. This year, a total of 76 projects have been nominated, all having been delivered between November 2013 and November 2014. We've selected a few of the nominations that caught our eye, some of which had done so previously.   Architecture Beijing No.4 High School Fangshan Campus, otherwise known as the Garden School, was designed by Open Architecture. It is part of a wider scheme to build a healthy and sustainable town outside Beijing and has an organic farm on its roof. Designed by Frank Gehry, the Fondation Louis Vuitton opened last year as a new space for art and culture in Paris, France. The building features twelve huge glass sails with a total surface area of 13,500 sq m (145,300 sq ft). House for Trees is located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and seeks to bring greenery back into a built-up area. Designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, it has green roofs and rooftop trees incorporated into its design. MVRDV's Markthal in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, is a covered market. The structure itself is a huge arch that not only provides shelter for the market, but houses residential apartments. Glass façades at each end let light in and give the impression of the market being open. One Central Park in Sydney, Australia, is a sustainable mixed-use development. Along with features such as water recycling and a tri-generation energy plant, it features a vertical garden and a heliostat frame for redirecting sunlight onto the gardens below. The Waterbank Campus, designed by PitchAfrica, is a school designed specifically for semi-arid regions. In addition to providing education spaces, the buildings are designed to collect, store and filter water for irrigation use. Digital Megafaces is an artwork that debuted at the Sochi Olympics. Created by Asif Khan, it comprises a large LED display, small areas of which move outwards. Individuals can have their faces scanned and a portrait is created using both the screen's graphic and 3D capabilities. Responsive Street Furniture is designed to make streets easier to use for disabled people. Users can register their smartphone or a key fob and then request services that are activated when they approach, such as additional places to sit, brighter street lighting or longer crossing times at traffic lights. Boyan Slat's Ocean Cleanup seeks to rid our oceans of plastic waste. The project would use natural ocean currents to push the debris into long barriers on the surface of the water. These would direct the pieces of plastic towards a central platform where they could be collected.   Product The Air-Purifying Billboard looks like a regular billboard but has built-in technology that purifies the air around it at a rate of 100,000 cubic meters per day. That is claimed to be equivalent to the work of 1,200 mature trees. Designed by The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and Vienna-based design firm EOOS, the Blue Diversion is essentially an off-grid toilet. It separates urine, feces and flush water before storing the first two for the production of fertilizer and processing the water for reuse. Bioengineers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have created a miniature platform and software, which mimic the mechanical and molecular characteristics of human organs. Organs-on-Chips seeks to help analyze the impact drugs have on different organs as they are distributed and metabolized throughout the body. Project Daniel is a 3D-printing lab for creating prostheses that was set up in Sudan after a teenage boy lost his arms in a bomb blast. In addition to providing artificial limbs for people, the project has provided equipment and trained individuals to use it. Transport Google now has a first complete prototype of its Self-Driving Car. The company expects the car, replete with a host of sensors, to hit the streets of California for testing this year. BMW's plug-in hybrid sports car, the i8, is slick, quick and sustainable. A variety of innovations come together to create the vehicle, including a lightweight body, an aerodynamic design and BMW's eDrive technology. The Tesla Model S is an all-electric premium sedan with plenty of power and range. It is packed with technology, including dual front and rear motors, a forward looking camera, radar and 360 degree sonar sensors. That is just a selection of the 76 nominees in four of the six categories being contested (we didn't look at any from the fashion and graphics categories), with an exhibition showcasing the nominees to run from March 25 to August 23 at The Design Museum. The jury for selecting this year's winners includes artist Anish Kapoor (Chair), sculptor and fashion designer Nicole Farhi and architect and professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design Farshid Moussavi. Category winners will be announced on May 4, with the overall winner being revealed at a Design Museum event on June 4. Source: Design Museum

NASA will pay you $18,000 to stay in bed for 70 straight days

January 29, 2015 By Robin Hoffman Usually at some point in the day (and for some of us, multiple points) many of us find ourselves wishing we could abandon our responsibilities to return back to our beds to live out the rest of the day under a quiet refuge of blankets. Despite the guilt of chronic laziness, a day in bed sounds pretty darn relaxing—if only we could financially support ourselves by doing so. Turns out, NASA might have the answer we’re all looking for—although it might require a little more relaxation than originally imagined. NASA is currently looking for volunteers to participate in their “Bed Rest Studies”, in which participants will have to spend 70 straight days in bed, receiving $18,000 for the period of aggressive bodily atrophy. Participants are allowed to read books, Skype, play games, as well as use their phones and computers throughout the duration of the study. Pretty much anything is fair game, so long as you remain in bed, earning a cool $1,200 per week. So what are the exact purposes of these studies? SEE ALSO: NASA has begun planning the first manned mission to Mars The experiments are designed to find ways of preserving astronauts’ health and safety during periods of extended space travel. “Head down” bed rest is a good way of simulating travel through zero gravity space. Think about it, zero gravity means zero weight or strain on your muscles. It’s a more accessible way of analyzing the bodily changes that occur during space travel. This study is designed to achieve three core tasks: 1) Understanding how one’s changing physiology in space may affect the process of certain missions. 2) Understanding the impact of one’s physiological state on their ability to perform in particular tasks. 3) Preparing countermeasures to combat any impairment that these physiological conditions may impose. Within the experiment there are two study groups: exercising and non-exercising. While the exercising group will be subject to exercise training (on special equipment to maintain the laying down position), the non-exercising group will remain completely at ease. The entire duration of the study actually lasts between 97 and 105 days, depending on whether you’re a non-exercising or an exercising subject, respectively. For the first 13 days for non-exercising subjects and 21 days for exercising subjects, you’re able to move freely (in and out of bed) within the bed rest facility. However, after this period you will be prohibited from leaving the bed for the next 70 days, aside from a few specified tests, where you must lay with your head back and feet up. Throughout the entire duration of the study, you will be subject to bone, muscle and heart tests, as well as tests of your circulatory and nervous systems, your nutritional condition, and your body’s capacity to fight off infections. So is it worth it? Although spending two months in bed would realistically be excruciating, at least you can rest easily knowing you’re making the sacrifice of grueling laziness for the purpose of furthering human space exploration. This is the only time you could claim to have helped send the first astronauts to Mars by doing absolutely nothing but sitting on your ass.

Scientists find cancer weak spots for new targeted drugs

Dr Frances Pearl, Bioinformatics Academic Research Manager at the University of Sussex. Scientists have identified weak spots in cancer cells that could be targeted and attacked by new precision drugs. A major computational analysis by scientists at the University of Sussex and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has found a number of potential targets for drugs that exploit the inherent weaknesses of cancer cells. The findings could lead to personalised medicine that 'reads' a cancer patient's DNA and only attacks defective cells -- in contrast to the scattergun approach of conventional chemotherapy, which attacks all dividing cells, including healthy ones. The study is published today (Tuesday 24 February 2015) in the journal Nature Reviews Cancer. Scientists from the University of Sussex and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) analysed the patterns of mutations found in the DNA sequences of tumours from more than 5,000 cancer patients. The team, jointly led by Dr Frances Pearl (Sussex) and Dr Bissan Al-Lazikani (ICR), focused on the 'DNA repair' systems that protect the genetic information of the cell, and are mutated in almost all cancers. Breaking these systems for DNA repair allows cancer cells to divide uncontrollably and generate even more mutations -- helping them become resistant to chemotherapy and radiation treatments. "Knowing which DNA repair processes are defective in an individual tumour allows us to target new drugs that are only toxic to cells with a particular pattern of mutations -- ie cancer cells," said Dr Pearl, who heads the Bioinformatics Research Group at Sussex. One class of drug called PARP inhibitors already target DNA repair systems. They are being used in clinical trials to treat women with breast or ovarian cancers that have mutations in BRCA genes, and one of the class, olaparib, has recently been licensed for women with ovarian cancer in Europe and the US. But the development of new targeted drugs like these relies on identifying good targets. It is only because of huge advances in technology that such a large-scale analysis is now possible. By using cutting edge computing techniques, the team have been able to examine much larger data sets than ever before. Dr Pearl said: "This analysis shows that there are many other cancers where new targeted drugs could selectively kill tumours with DNA repair defects. "This potentially means thousands more cancer patients could be saved from the horrible side-effects of chemotherapy by receiving precision medicine, which doesn't kill the body's healthy cells." Study co-leader Dr Bissan Al-Lazikani, Team Leader in Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "Only a small fraction of the proteins involved in cancer are targeted by current drugs, and we urgently need drugs that hit new targets. DNA repair proteins hold particular promise as new drug targets, and there are already some drugs coming through that exploit cancer's inherent weaknesses in DNA repair. "Using 'big data' analysis, our study has identified untargeted DNA repair proteins that look especially promising as the targets for new anti-cancer drugs. Such drugs would not only prove useful in their own right, but also potentially in combination with radiotherapy or other drugs to overcome treatment resistance. We hope this study will help speed up the development of new personalised cancer treatments." The University of Sussex is home to the world-leading Genome Damage and Stability Centre, one of the largest concentrations of scientists studying DNA repair in the world. Centre Director Professor Tony Carr said: "Understanding the responses of cells to genome damage is critical in our fight to beat cancer and other life-threatening diseases. "The University of Sussex is playing a vital role in this war against cancer, not just through cutting edge scientific discovery but through the work of our drug discovery colleagues at Sussex and ICR who are creating new medicines that have a real impact in the treatment and diagnosis of major human diseases. "The more we discover, the more intelligent our weapons against cancer become, and the closer we get to the day when cures for this major killer will be found." The Institute of Cancer Research, London, discovers more new cancer drugs than any other academic centre in the world. Since 2005, the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) has successfully discovered 17 drug candidates, and progressed seven drugs discovered at the ICR into clinical trials. Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "It is faults in their DNA repair systems that allow cancer cells to accumulate mutations so rapidly, and to evolve in ways that make them hard to treat. But these deficiencies in DNA repair can also leave cancers vulnerable to attack, and this analysis shows how we could design drugs to further weaken cancer cells' repair systems -- and drive them to their deaths." Professor Laurence Pearl, Head of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex, and a co-author of the research, commented: "I am particularly delighted with the burgeoning collaboration between world-class research groups at Sussex and ICR which will be critical to bringing forward a new class of anti-cancer drugs to target the DNA damage response." The study was jointly funded by the Medical Research Council, via the Daphne Jackson Trust, and Cancer Research UK. Dr Pearl was able to carry out her role in the research thanks to a fellowship from the Daphne Jackson Trust, which promotes men and women returning to science after career breaks.

GE RFID tech turns stickers into explosives detectors

Example of a wireless, battery-free RFID sensor tag for detection of chemicals such as explosives and oxidizers (Photo: GE) A global economy brings many benefits, but it also makes international terrorism extremely difficult to combat. With more goods passing through the world's shipping terminals and airports than ever before, hunting explosives with large, static detectors or teams of inspectors armed with detecting devices and reagents is a bottleneck that increases the chances of evasion. To help US counterterrorism efforts, GE has developed RFID stickers that act as wireless, battery-free explosives detectors that can be placed almost anywhere. Based on previous GE research on self-contained RFID sensor tags, the new explosives detectors were developed by GE Global Research and partners in the US government and industry. Costing 5 to 50 US cents per sensor, depending on configuration, they're designed to be cheap, ubiquitous, and easy to use. Though inexpensive to produce, they have the ability to wirelessly detect and measure very low concentrations of explosives, oxidizers, and other chemicals in real-time. According to GE, they require no batteries; can operate continuously in areas with heavy, multiple sources of interference; and can be read with a device the size and portability of a mobile phone. The sensors consist of a flexible substrate produced by roll-to-roll fabrication, with each sensor the size of a US penny. The sensor proper is made of a material that changes its electrical properties when an explosive or oxidizer is in the immediate vicinity. The tags can be stuck on cargo containers, packages, walls, and other surfaces, and when a contraband chemical is detected, the RFID sends a signal to an in-range handheld detector. "In airports today, bulky, stationary desktop systems typically screen for explosives," says Radislav Potyrailo of GE Global Research. "Suspicious surfaces are swabbed and separately analyzed, consuming substantial time, space and power. Compared to a conventional desktop detector, our system is 300 times smaller, and reduces weight and power use 100 fold. To achieve needed accuracy, GE’s approach simplifies detection by using an individual sensor rather than relying on arrays of multiple sensors." GE sees the sensor technology as having applications beyond security. Because of their inexpensiveness and ability to be stuck just about anywhere, the company says that they could also be used to look out for gas leaks, degrading electrical insulation, and bacteria and mold growth, as well as determining if surfaces in healthcare facilities have been properly sanitized. Source: GE

Sony announces pre-order of Smart Eyeglass Developer Edition

Sony's Smart Eyeglass is now available in a Developer's Edition for the creation of applications making use of binocular AR Image Gallery (4 images) In September, Sony announced its augmented reality wearable Smart Eyeglass, but at that time only the Software Development Kit (SDK) was available for those interested in creating apps for this new Sony platform. Now developers can get their hands, ears, and eyes on the Developer Edition of Sony's chunky AR specs. The overall design and specs haven't changed much from initial reports, with the holographic goggles about the size and shape of a large pair of glasses and weighing in at 77 g (2.7 oz), with a connected control pack housing the microphone, touch controls, battery, and speaker. The wearable portion of the unit also contains a camera with a 3-MP CMOS image sensor, an accelerometer, gyro, electronic compass, and brightness sensor. In comparison, Google Glass is 43 g (1.51 oz), and my funkiest hipster eyeglasses are still a miniscule 25 g (0.9 oz), though Smart Eyeglass is striving for full binocular AR, not the HUD effect of Glass. However, Eyeglass won't work for users already wearing glasses. And unlike Glass, Sony's offering is not standalone, relying on a Bluetooth or WLAN connection with a host Android phone. Just last month Google halted sales of Glass, though asserted the project was still alive, potentially leaving the field wide open for Sony for the time being. Pre-orders for the Developer Edition can be made through the Sony website for either Germany or the UK, at €670.00 (US$750) and £520 (US$805) respectively, with USA and Japan pre-orders forthcoming.   Source: Sony