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Inhabitat's Week in Green: WarkaWater Tower, kangaroo-like robot and an energy-generating carousel
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. The world is flooded with electronic devices, which add up to a huge e-waste problem -- but if a team of MIT researchers has its way, the gadgets of the future could be made from living cells. The team is working on hybrid materials made from bacteria that could grow anything from solar cells to smartphones. The German engineering company Festo is known for its biomimetic creations, producing everything from flying seagulls to wind turbines that flap their wings like birds. Now the company has developed an energy-efficient robot that hops around like a kangaroo. In green lighting news, Torafu Architects has created a series of recycled glass pendant lamps that are inspired by droplets of water. And Philips has developed a new LED bulb that looks and feels like an incandescent. And for those travelers who just can't seem to fit everything in their carry-on luggage, we present you with the JakToGo, a new jacket that stores up to 10 kg of goods, freeing up space in your suitcase.
Twitch Plays Pokemon: Creating an oral history in real-time
When I began my phone call Sunday evening with T.L. Taylor, an associate professor of comparative media studies at MIT, I opted to check her loyalty to the one, true Helix god. "All sensible people are," she joked. Even when observing Twitch Plays Pokemon from an academic standpoint, it's easy to get wrapped up in the emerging community-crafted narrative surrounding the live, always-on event. The crowd-created stories in Twitch Plays Pokemon are enough to fill four seasons of serialized TV drama, complete with the surprising death of characters and the rise of clearly-defined heroes, villains and idolized "gods" like the Helix Fossil, all caught in a religious war. Yet it moves at a pace that can make some accounts of the multiplayer game seem outdated within hours. In fact, by the time I came back to this very paragraph, the Helix Fossil was revived and turned into the Pokemon Omanyte (affectionately called "Lord Helix" by the players). "[The channel] actually takes one of the kernels of what makes Twitch so interesting, which is turning what would otherwise be your private play into public entertainment for others," Taylor said. "What I think is great about this channel and is so fascinating is that the entertainer also becomes the crowd."
MIT prof and student discover algorithm for predicting trending Twitter topics
Predicting the future of Twitter's trending topics is, as of right now, an impossibility. But two folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have cracked the code with an algorithm they're saying predicts -- with 95 percent accuracy -- the topics that will trend in the next hour and a half. The prediction has even been calculated as high as four to five hours ahead of time with the same level of accuracy. Not too bad! Of course, beyond impressing friends with the predictions, the algorithm has direct implications for the likes of Twitter itself -- being able to sell ads against trending topics could benefit the social media company enormously in its ongoing quest to monetize. At any rate, it's distinctly less dangerous sounding than the last idea we heard involving Twitter and predictions. The algorithm will be presented next week at MIT's Interdisciplinary Workshop on Information and Decision in Social Networks, should you wish to dig into the nitty gritty of the math behind the madness.
The future of higher education: reshaping universities through 3D printing
Featuring four towering limestone columns and classic Flemish-bond brickwork, the century-old Mackay School of Mines Building at the University of Nevada, Reno, has long served as a bastion of Silver State history. Named after Irish immigrant and "Comstock Lode King" John Mackay, notable touches such as a cast bronze statue designed by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum just outside the building helped it earn a spot in the National Register of Historic Places. Within its oak doors, however, are the makings of an intriguing experiment that's decidedly more new school. Like a mini museum, a collection of 3D-printed models are displayed within the building's sunlit, three-story atrium -- attracting a mix of students and teachers. Even more popular than the displays of plastic gears and molecule models, however, are the two 3D printers that made them: a professional-grade Stratasys uPrint SE Plus and a hobbyist 3DTouch machine by 3D Systems Corporation.
MIT pencils in carbon nanotube gas sensor that's cheaper, less hazardous (video)
Carbon nanotube-based sensors are good at sniffing out all kinds of things, but applying the cylindrical molecules to a substrate has traditionally been a dangerous and unreliable process. Now, researchers at MIT have found a way to avoid the hazardous solvents that are currently used, by compressing commercially available nanotube powders into a pencil lead-shaped material. That allowed them to sketch the material directly onto paper imprinted with gold electrodes (as shown above), then measure the current flowing through the resisting carbon nanotubes -- allowing detection of any gases that stick to the material. It works even if the marks aren't uniform, according to the team, and the tech would open up new avenues to cheaper sensors that would be particularly adroit at detecting rotten fruit or natural gas leaks. For more info, sniff out the video after the break.
Alt-week 9.1.12: growing bones, repairing voices, and a pair of satellites
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. There's definitely more than a touch of a biological theme to proceedings this week. In fact, so much so that we thought we might well end up with enough ingredients to make our own cyborg. Or rather, a light-responding canine cyborg with a really cool voice. Yep, science and technology is working hard to make all of these things possible -- albeit independently. If science ever does do the right thing, and pool its resources on such a project, you can thanks us for the tip off. This is Alt-week.
MIT 'microthrusters' are the size of a penny, could reposition tiny satellites
Bus-sized satellites require massive engines for even the slightest movements, but as far smaller structures become a possibility, a tiny driving mechanism can offer usable thrust. To serve this next-gen tech, MIT saw a need to develop "microthrusters," which are each the size of a penny and can be mounted to tiny cubed satellites. With thruster components measuring a few microns each, the magnetic levitation system is able to accommodate 500 microscopic tips that emit ion beams in a very small package, serving to push two-pound structures through space. The tiny devices have not made their way into orbit yet, but they have been tested in a vacuum chamber. Because of their size, it's possible to add several to each satellite, then enabling sophisticated movements for more precise turns. There are currently two dozen "CubeSats" in orbit, each measuring only slightly larger than a Rubik's cube, but without any thrusters to power them, positioning can't be adjusted once they're released. Because of their current location, CubeSats eventually burn up in the atmosphere, but once they're released farther from Earth, they won't be able to enter the atmosphere on their own, remaining in orbit as "space junk" even after completing their missions -- micro thrusters could also serve to move these satellites closer to the planet so they can burn up during re-entry. There's no word on when, or even if, MIT's invention will make its way to the launchpad, but you can take a closer look in the demo video after the break.
Researchers create Meshworm robot, beat it up (video)
We've seen a number of options for controlling real worms, but never a worm robot, until now. Enter Meshworm, the latest creation from researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University. The bot is made from "artificial muscle" composed of a flexible mesh tube segmented by loops of nickel / titanium wire. The wire contracts and squeezes the tube when heated by a flowing current, but cut the power and it returns to its original shape, creating propulsion in a similar way to its living kin. Taking traditional moving parts out of the equation also makes it pretty hardy, as proven by extensive testing (read: hitting it with a hammer). DARPA is known for getting its fingers in all sorts of strange pies, and it also supported this project. We can't see it being the fastest way of gathering intel, but the potential medical applications, such as next-gen endoscopes, sound plausible enough. Full impact tests in the video after the break.
All-carbon solar cell draws power from near-infrared light, our energy future is literally that much brighter
What's this orange-like patch, you ask? It's a layer of carbon nanotubes on silicon, and it might just be instrumental to getting a lot more power out of solar cells than we're used to. Current solar power largely ignores near-infrared light and wastes about 40 percent of the potential energy it could harness. A mix of carbon nanotubes and buckyballs developed by MIT, however, can catch that near-infrared light without degrading like earlier composites. The all-carbon formula doesn't need to be thickly spread to do its work, and it simply lets visible light through -- it could layer on top of a traditional solar cell to catch many more of the sun's rays. Most of the challenge, as we often see for solar cells, is just a matter of improving the energy conversion rate. Provided the researchers can keep refining the project, we could be looking at a big leap in solar power efficiency with very little extra footprint, something we'd very much like to see on the roof of a hybrid sedan.
MIT's LiquiGlide could spell the end of slow-moving ketchup nightmares (video)
A team from MIT has decided to end slow-pouring ketchup problems once and for all with its LiquiGlide project. Instead of karate-chopping the 57 logo on the bottle's neck, a super-non-stick coating is sprayed on the inside of its glass container. It's so good that even highly viscous liquids like ketchup and mayonnaise roll out of the bottle and onto your dinner as if it was water. All the chemicals used are already FDA approved, meaning that it's already safe to be used in food production. If adopted, it'd save around one million tons of trapped sauce from being wasted every year. Since we already have finely-honed ketchup-fu skills, we're hoping the LiquiGlide technique also finds its way into peanut butter jars.
ZeroN slips surly bonds, re-runs your 3D gestures in mid-air
Playback of 3D motion capture with a computer is nothing new, but how about with a solid levitating object? MIT's Media Lab has developed ZeroN, a large magnet and 3D actuator, which can fly an "interaction element" (aka ball bearing) and control its position in space. You can also bump it to and fro yourself, with everything scanned and recorded, and then have real-life, gravity-defying playback showing planetary motion or virtual cameras, for example. It might be impractical right now as a Minority Report-type object-based input device, but check the video after the break to see its awesome potential for 3D visualization.
MIT and Harvard announce edX web education platform, make online learning cheap and easy
We'll forgive you if you failed to take MIT up on its offer take its courses for free when it rolled out its MITx online learning platform last year. However, Harvard took notice of its efforts, and has joined MIT online to form the edX platform and offer courses and content for free on the web. There's no word on the available subjects just yet, but video lessons, quizzes and online labs will all be a part of the curriculum, and those who comprehend the coursework can get a certificate of mastery upon completion. edX won't just benefit those who log on, either, as it'll be used to research how students learn and how technology can be used to improve teaching in both virtual and brick and mortar classrooms. The cost for this altruistic educational venture? 60 million dollars, with each party ponying up half. The first courses will be announced this summer, and classes are slated to start this fall. Want to know more? Check out the future of higher education more fully in the PR and video after the break.
Nanotubes sniff out rotting fruit, your dorm room might be next
Our favorite ultra-skinny molecules have performed a lot of useful functions over the years, but keeping fruit flies away was never one of them. Now MIT scientists, with US Army funding, have discovered a way to give these nanotubes the canine-like sense of smell needed to stop produce spoilage and waste. Doping sheets of them with copper and polystyrene introduces a speed-trap for electrons, slowing them and allowing the detection of ethylene gas vented during ripening. A sensor produced from such a substance could be combined with an RFID chip, giving grocers a cheaper way to monitor freshness and discount produce before it's too late. If that works, the team may target mold and bacteria detection next, giving you scientific proof that your roommate needs to wash his socks.
MIT students hack electric grid, play Tetris on the side of a damn building
What would it be like to play Tetris on an entire damn building? Students using MIT's department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science building found out just that last Friday. See what they hacked just below in our gallery, and a new video just above.
MIT to launch MITx learning platform, offer free teaching materials in 2012
Want a degree from MIT without the expense or notoriously selective application process? Well, you're still out of luck, we're afraid, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new MITx online learning system will at least give you a chance to access a variety of course materials for free. The institution will also make the MITx platform available to other schools for publishing their own content, and will even offer assessments with the option of earning a certificate of completion -- issued by a not-for-profit entity with a "distinct name to avoid confusion," of course. Naturally, "online-only non-MIT learners" will not have the same level of access as MIT students, who will also use the platform to access their own course material, but won't have the option of replacing an on-campus experience with exclusively online classes. MITx is scheduled to go live next spring, but you can get a head start on that fictional MIT degree by checking out OpenCourseWare, which has been serving up similar content for the better part of a decade.
MIT builds camera that can capture at the speed of light (video)
A team from the MIT media lab has created a camera with a "shutter speed" of one trillion exposures per second -- enabling it to record light itself traveling from one point to another. Using a heavily modified Streak Tube (which is normally used to intensify photons into electron streams), the team could snap a single image of a laser as it passed through a soda bottle. In order to create the slow-motion film in the video we've got after the break, the team had to replicate the experiment hundreds of times. The stop-motion footage shows how light bounces through the bottle, collecting inside the opaque cap before dispersing. The revolutionary snapper may have a fast shutter but the long time it takes to process the images have earned it the nickname of the "the world's slowest fastest camera." [Image courtesy of MIT / M. Scott Brauer]
Inefficient? MIT's new chip software doesn't know the meaning of the word
Would you rather have a power-hungry cellphone that could software-decode hundreds of video codecs, or a hyper-efficient system-on-chip that only processes H.264? These are the tough decisions mobile designers have to make, but perhaps not for much longer. MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has developed a solution that could spell the end for inefficient devices. Myron King and Nirav Dave have expanded Arvind's BlueSpec software so engineers can tell it what outcomes they need and it'll decide on the most efficient design -- printing out hardware schematics in Verilog and software in C++. If this outcome-oriented system becomes widely adopted, we may never need worry about daily recharging again: good because we'll need that extra power to juice our sporty EV. [Image courtesy of MIT / Melanie Gonick]
More efficient heat sinks could sport nanowire whiskers
Sintering is a common process for creating copper heat sinks that involves packing powdered metals into a particular shape and baking it in a vacuum. A funny thing happens though, if you leave out the vacuum part of the equation: you don't get a solid shape, but a porous pile of particles with hollow, nanowire whiskers sticking out of it. The serendipitous discovery could lead to a new way to make heat sinks for everything from CPUs to boilers at power plants. Now researchers at MIT are trying the process with practically every material they can get their hands on. Of particular interest is zirconium, which could be used with fuel rods in nuclear reactors to improve efficiency. The idea of whisker-covered heat sinks may sound strange, but the potential for improving thermal management across a range of applications is huge. Just don't try and pet it -- these things tend to get a little toasty.
MIT research team improves wireless security, is starting with the man in the middle
Now that they've finished building a robot capable of making cakes, MIT's researchers can get on with the serious business of improving our wireless security. In a new study it reveals a technique dubbed tamper-evident pairing that stops so-called man-in-the-middle attacks. Put simply, a hacker intercepts your wireless communications, reads it and passes it onto the recipient, pretending to be you. Because the hacker controls the flow of information between the two parties, it's difficult to detect. MIT's process randomizes and encrypts the data with silence patterns and strings of additional information, which a hacker won't be able to replicate. The best part is that the added security measures only add 23 milliseconds of time onto each transmission. As fixing our wireless security problems is now out the door, the team are probably off to solve some more giant Rubik's cubes.
MIT researchers revolutionize solar cell printing, fold the power of the sun into your everyday home (video)
Wouldn't it be neat if you could power a few gadgets around the house with some tastefully chosen, solar cell-embedded curtains? Alright, so this MIT-pioneered tech's not quite that advanced yet, but it's destined to have a Martha Stewart Living future. By eschewing liquids and high temperatures for gentler vapors kept below 120 degrees Celsius, researchers were able to cheaply print an array of photovoltaic cells on "ordinary untreated paper, cloth or plastic." And here's some additional food for thought -- the vapor-deposition process used to create these cells is the same as the one that puts that "silvery lining in your bag of potato chips" -- science, it's everywhere. Despite the tech's home furnishing friendly approach, this breakthrough printing technique can't be done with your everyday inkjet, but it will make the cost of solar energy installations a bit cozier. Its flexible durability aside, the cells currently operate at only one percent efficiency -- so you might want to buy those drapes in bulk to see a real bottom line kickback. Foldable paper video demonstration after the break.
