What if someone told you that you would never have to wait in a long line at the grocery store ever again. Most people would be thrilled to find out more. In todays times people look to technology to make everyday things in life faster and more effiicient. Inventors and engineers seem to have responsed to this desire yet again with the creation of a radio frequency identification tag.
This super fancy bar code uses ink made with carbon nanotubes to print electronic information on paper or plastic. The ink is a semiconductor and is thus able to store electric charge.Being a semiconductor and not a full conductor is the only way to make sure that information is able to be stored without filitering out. The research done James tour allowed for the creation a coating for the nanotubes to make sure that they are semiconductors. For everyday people this means in a grocery line someone could just run their cart through some kind of scanner and the cashier would instantly have all the information about the groceries within the cart.
The tags have already been proven to be effective as seen in their widespread use on library books and passports. However this are silicon tags with the frequency technology. The ones that will hopefully revolutionize grocery shopping researchers were able to create on paper. With the ability to store 1 bit of information at 3cents compared to 50cents for silicon tags the new invention will be really affordable for food packagers. This could also mean that implementation may not be to far into the future.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
The time it takes to do the right thing
I came across a article about the difference between the Lusitania and the Titanic ship wrecks. Scientist now believe that more women and children suvived the Titanic simply because the Titanic took more time to sink. The Titanic sank in 2 hours and 40 minutes however the Lusitania went down in 18 minutes. Australian scientist analyzed the two ships survival records. They were able to properly compare the two ships because although the ships sank for different reasons they had similiar numbers and types of passengers. To me this reflects responsible research where scientists compare situations and that can actually be prepared.
Scientists analyzed the data on surviving passengers based on age, sex, and cabin class. They found that on the titanic women were 50% more likely to survive than on the Lusitania. The cabin class also meant differing things for the Lusitania and the Titanic. On the Lusitania whether or not the passenger was first class had no effect on survival. On the titanic however first class passengers were 44% more likely to survive. Much like in the Titanic movie women and children were put in the lifeboats first. This explains the study's findings that 31% of the children survived on the Titanic, much more than those on the Lusitania.
The study concluded that in emergency situations were time is a huge factor people think about themselves first rather than trying to create organized safety plans. The general consensus being that "coordinating social norms takes time." This study can prove to be important in understanind social behaviors in all kinds of disaster situations. These understandings can apply to anything from terrosit attacks to natural disasters. The study said that social norms take time. With this knowledge evactuation and safety techinques can be created to optimize the most amount of social norms in the least amount of time. This can lead to a totally new way of handling crisises and potentially saving a lot more lives.
Scientists analyzed the data on surviving passengers based on age, sex, and cabin class. They found that on the titanic women were 50% more likely to survive than on the Lusitania. The cabin class also meant differing things for the Lusitania and the Titanic. On the Lusitania whether or not the passenger was first class had no effect on survival. On the titanic however first class passengers were 44% more likely to survive. Much like in the Titanic movie women and children were put in the lifeboats first. This explains the study's findings that 31% of the children survived on the Titanic, much more than those on the Lusitania.
The study concluded that in emergency situations were time is a huge factor people think about themselves first rather than trying to create organized safety plans. The general consensus being that "coordinating social norms takes time." This study can prove to be important in understanind social behaviors in all kinds of disaster situations. These understandings can apply to anything from terrosit attacks to natural disasters. The study said that social norms take time. With this knowledge evactuation and safety techinques can be created to optimize the most amount of social norms in the least amount of time. This can lead to a totally new way of handling crisises and potentially saving a lot more lives.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Copernicum: Element 112
After 14 years of research and testing scientists have now created the heaviest element on record. The element has an atomic mass of 278 and is named after famous scientist and astronomer Copernicus.
To create the new element German scientist had to break the repulsive electrostatic force. After doing this they could get to the heart of the atom where the attractive forces are. With the combination of the repulsive and attractive forces scientist were able to fuse two nuclei together. With careful tracking of steps scientist then try to classify what element they actually created. Uranium is actually the heaviest element that can actually be found naturally with an atomic mass of 92. It will be placed on the periodic table near transition metals and may possibly have similiar properties to other elements in that group such as zinc and mercury.
I thought this article was really interesting because it shows how science often pushes limits and dares to create things never imagined possible. I think that as long as scientist keep striving for higher heights of scientific discovery then solutions to practical problems will continue to be possible. I have a feeling that scientist wont stop at copernicum. The periodic table will continue to expand and maybe a stable wonder element can be created that will give significant benefits to mankind.
To create the new element German scientist had to break the repulsive electrostatic force. After doing this they could get to the heart of the atom where the attractive forces are. With the combination of the repulsive and attractive forces scientist were able to fuse two nuclei together. With careful tracking of steps scientist then try to classify what element they actually created. Uranium is actually the heaviest element that can actually be found naturally with an atomic mass of 92. It will be placed on the periodic table near transition metals and may possibly have similiar properties to other elements in that group such as zinc and mercury.
I thought this article was really interesting because it shows how science often pushes limits and dares to create things never imagined possible. I think that as long as scientist keep striving for higher heights of scientific discovery then solutions to practical problems will continue to be possible. I have a feeling that scientist wont stop at copernicum. The periodic table will continue to expand and maybe a stable wonder element can be created that will give significant benefits to mankind.
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