Futuristic Japanese Cars

Cool designs and bizarre concept cars take the stage at Japan's motor show, including Honda's 'organic' car skin and a rotating Nissan that talks you out of a bad mood.

Possible Cure for Diabetes Found, Ignored by Big Pharma

Irving Weissman discovered a treatment 12 years ago that might have saved the lives of thousands of women with advanced breast cancer, but pharmaceutical companies weren’t interested in developing the therapy. Though that interest is finally being reignited, Weissman doesn’t pull any punches. “I hate to say I told you so,” he said.

Weissman is a professor of pathology & developmental biology at Stanford University, spoke Wednesday & Thursday as part of the Columbia University Department of Religion’s Bampton Lecture series. The lecture series is modeled after a centuries-old Oxford series of the same name, & invites famous authorities in their respective fields to give talks on various issues of interest to the religious community.


In Wednesday’s lecture, Weissman laid out the conceptual foundation of his work—that stem cells are rare, self-renewing, & can regenerate body tissues. Weissman repeatedly expressed frustration that while plenty of of his discoveries seemed to hold remarkable potential for lifesaving treatments, commercial or regulatory hurdles have prevented his scientific research from benefiting human beings.

Weissman’s outspoken disagree with recent reports that adult stem cells can be “reprogrammed,” obliviating the require for the more powerful embryonic stem cells.

“He [Weissman] has a long history of being at the forefront of his field,” Arthur Palmer, professor of structural biology at Columbia said, remarking that Weissman has seldom been afraid to challenge scientific orthodoxy.

Weissman geared his presentation to a lay audience, only occasionally drifting into jargon. Jaffer Kolb, who was visiting his brother at Columbia, enjoyed Weissman’s talk. “I have no science background,” he said, “so I was afraid I would have a hard time. But it was easy to follow.”

The presentation left some audience members with questions. Susan Doubileg, a Columbia alumna, wondered if Weissman’s results were as conclusive as presented. “If they were so useful, why weren’t they picked up in other countries?” they asked, referring to Europe’s less restrictive stem cell regulations. Nonetheless, Palmer cautioned against dismissing Weissman’s research. “He’s been right a lot in the past,” he said.

Coffee may raise child cancer risk

Experts say caffeine may damage the DNA of children in the womb. They become more susceptible to leukaemia, the most common cancer in children.

Women who drink coffee or tea during pregnancy may increase their baby’s odds of developing cancer, doctors believe.

Researcher Dr Marcus Cooke said there was a ‘good likelihood’ the study would make a connection. Previous research has shown that caffeine damages DNA, cutting cells’ ability to fight off cancer triggers such as radiation.

To establish the link, scientists at Leicester University will scrutinise the caffeine intake of hundreds of pregnant women and compare the results with blood samples from their children after birth.

‘Although there’s no evidence at all of a link between caffeine and cancer, we’re putting four and four together and saying: caffeine can induce these changes and it has been shown that these changes are elevated in leukaemia patients,’ added Dr Cooke.

Changes of this kind have been seen in the blood cells of children with leukaemia. Scientists know they occur in the womb, but do not know why.

‘I wonder if caffeine can somehow sensitise cells or increase the risk of leukaemia? The idea seems plausible.

‘It is vital for mothers that they either confirm caffeine as a trigger that can make something happen to a kid while in the womb or rule it out.’

The Food Standards Agency recently reduced the amount of caffeine it advises can be safely consumed in pregnancy from 300mg a day to 200mg. This is equivalent to four mugs of instant coffee, three cups of tea or four cans of cola.

Toshiba SD-PDT12W Portable DVD Player

Toshiba will be release a new portable DVD player SD-PDT12W with compact TV tuner on 1st February.

This super dvd player will be available with 1080i video output and also has composite video output with analog audio RCA output. The measurement of Toshiba DVD player PDT12W 126×126x50 inch with weight only 330gram. There’s no price available yet.

* 26 16 Using Photos to create High-Res Videos from Low-Res Videos

Future Weapons Airborne Laser

Boeings Airborne Laser (ABL) will locate and track missiles in the boost phase of their flight, then accurately point and fire the high-energy laser, destroying enemy missiles near their launch areas.

Dirty Energy in light bulb

What is dirty electricity or electrical pollution?

Electrical pollution refers to low frequency electromagnetic waves that have unwanted effects, such as badly shielded electric cables that induce disturbances in electrical devices nearby.
Imagine turning on a light bulb and within 20 minutes you notice skin problems.



The first concern is what may be coming off from the bulbs. Ultraviolet Radiation. Scientists say the bulbs, give off UV. Like the sun gives off. We know this because Health Canada - they're the people who make sure the products and drugs you use are safe - told us that in an email that "CFLs are not provided with a prismatic diffuser that filters ultraviolet radiation out. Therefore, there may be skin sensitivity issues, especially in people with certain skin diseases"

Health Canada is currently testing the bulbs to see if, and how much, radiation it gives off.

The 'Barack' Obaba Spycam Belt Buckle

I don't really agree with the name, but the idea for this gadget is great. This is a spycam/DVR belt buckle featuring a visage that in no way resembles Barak Obama.

This Buckle was originally carved in WOOD but they changed it to aluminium mould. Now it looks even better and beautiful fashionable belt buckle. This can be wear as a normal belt on your Jeans yet it can record audio and video of your spy need.

[Spy Camera via Red Ferret]

Do you think the future will look like this?

Flying cars, motorcycles and trains and megastructures. Can this be our future? Before this happens, we must overcome the oil crysis. Because flying cars are big oil-consumers.

What has Obama in store for you?

The answer for that will is Net Neutrality, Stem Cell Research, Better Broadband Infrastructure and More!

On his online agenda, Barak Obama sais:

"Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America."

-- Barack Obama, Springfield, IL
February 10 ,2007

And this includes...

- Ensure the Full and Free Exchange of Ideas through an Open Internet and Diverse Media Outlets

- Deploy a Modern Communications Infrastructure

-Employ Science, Technology and Innovation to Solve Our Nation's Most Pressing Problems

You can read the full agenda here

Future Doctors Could Sniff Out Cancer

Skin cancer is on the rise in this country. The disease is currently diagnosed by taking a tissue sample of suspicious moles or lesions on the skin, which can be a slow & painful process. In cases where there are no outward signs of skin cancer, the disease can be difficult to detect, leading to a delayed or missed diagnosis.

Doctors in the future could detect the most common form of cancer in US just by waving a wand-like scanner over patients, researchers claim.

"We're the first to identify & quantify the compounds involved in skin cancer odors," said researcher Michelle Gallagher, an analytical chemist at specialty materials company Rohm & Haas in Spring House, Pa.

Recently, scientists found that dogs can actually be trained to sniff out skin tumors. This suggests the disease leads to changes within ill cells that release telltale chemicals. Medical tools that could detect these differences could give doctors a critical lead in fighting skin cancer.

"Knowledge of a link between odor & disease goes back to ancient Greece & ancient Rome," researcher George Preti, an analytical organic chemist with Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, told LiveScience. For instance, sweet-smelling breath was a telltale sign of diabetes, while a foul odor from a wound indicated infection.


"We found a different profile of chemicals above tumor sites relative to healthy skin," Gallagher said. "The same chemicals are present, but at skin cancer sites some chemicals are increased, while others are decreased compared to healthy individuals."

Gallagher declined to give specific details as to what chemicals we discovered. The researchers have applied for a patent on their technique.

The scientists plan to identify the scents linked with the six other most common types of skin cancer, including squamous cell cancer & melanoma, the deadliest form. If we succeed, we hope to combine their findings with emerging "electronic nose" technology designed to identify odors. Gallagher envisions a wand-like tool that can get waved across the skin & give off an alarm or beep when cancer is detected, similar to the fictional medical "tricorder" from "Star Trek."

CES 2009 in review

This year main topic in CES 2009 was wireless, the web, netbooks and 3DTV are key themes for the year ahead.

The 42nd annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is considerred a roaring success, despite the economic gloom that is all around us at this time.


Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said "it's the power of ideas and innovation that drive us forward, regardless of the economic environment. Companies and industries that continue to pursue innovation will deliver significant competitive advantages."

A lot of clever gadgets and innovative ideas was presented of this year's Ces edition. Here are the three trends that rise from the show:

Notebooks

Ultra-portable-cheap laptop computers were hugely popular with consumers last year, who loved their compact size, internet connectivity and ease of use. Unsurprisingly, a slew of new netbooks made their debut at this year's show, with Asus, in particular, earning plaudits for its swivel touch-screen T91, which transformed from an ordinary netbook into a tablet-style computer. But the star of the show was Sony's Vaio P Series of computers. These tiny letterbox-shaped laptops had an 8in screen, plenty of computing power and a dual operating system that means users can either boot up quickly to tap out a speedy email, or load Windows Vista for a truly rich computing experience. When Windows 7 launches, these will surely be the machines to covet.

3D TV

Televisions traditionally dominate gadget shows, with manufacturers vying to be the thinnest, biggest or highest-definition. This year, however, it was TVs with a twist, as the idea of 3D television made the leap from science fiction to reality. Almost every single manufacturer, including Sony, LG and Samsung, had a 3D television to show off, with a senior LG executive boldly stating that 3D TV would be the "next big thing", in people's homes within the next two years. But whether or not people are prepared to sit on their sofas wearing 3D glasses in order to watch the FA Cup final or latest Bruce Willis film remains to be seen.

Internet everywhere

Our love affair with the world wide web shows no signs of abating, so it's little surprise that consumer electronics companies are keen to build the internet into their products in order to ensure their future. Sony, for example, declared that by 2011, 90 per cent of its products would be able to connect to the internet, and showed of a range of digital cameras and MP3 players with web access built in. Televisions, too, are an internet battle ground. Samsung showed off its new Yahoo!-supported widgets platform, which allows viewers to call up the latest news headlines or weather reports on their television while watching their favourite TV show.

Wire-less home

While the plug will be around for a few more years to come, wires and cables are becoming increasingly obsolete. Tech companies showed off a wide range of home audio systems and televisions that could communicate wirelessly with one another to stream even high-definition audio and images smoothly between devices. With televisions getting thinner, and looking more like giant, wall-mountable digital photo frames, it's imperative that there's not a tangle of cables trailing out the back. Instead, consumers will be able to stash their Blu-ray DVD players and games consoles out of the way, knowing they will be able to wirelessly stream content to the television. It's a huge pity that, in the UK but not the USA, wireless HD is some way off because of regulatory restraints on which bits of spectrum manufacturers can use to transmit signals. Wireless electricity itself, meanwhile, is still in the experimental stages, but a number of exhibitors at CES showed off gadgets that could charge devices such as mobile phones and iPods without the use of plugs.

PillowSonic Stereo Pillow Speaker

Slide the PillowSonic Digital Stereo Pillow Speaker (19,95) under your pillow (or under the sheet, directly under your pillow), connect to your tape or CD player, radio, TV or iPod and enjoy the sounds or programming of your choice in absolute comfort, without disturbing others in the same room or resting next to you,  ALL without the need for headphones. Two digital speakers at approximately 12 inches apart offer more a uniform sound throughout your new sleep pillow than any other pillow speaker on the market. Used by hospitals for alternative pain management treatments. It is ideal for couples, students in dormitories, hospital patients. Great for the elderly and for anyone wanting to relax and relieve tension. Makes a great gift for any occasion. It can also help people with insomnia.

Stereo Pilllow Speaker is great for all people who have trouble getting to sleep. If you combine it with Delta Sleep System CD your sleep will be more profund than ever.

And a review from a user:

I listen to a relaxation CD while in bed and have not liked doing so while using headphones. The reason being that they are uncomfortable if one falls asleep while listening. Also, the sound in the rest of the house is blocked out. The Pillowsonic Pillow Speaker is the perfect solution. I have a very thick pillow and I can hear the music very well and the speaking also well with the volume up high. The person in bed next to me can hear nothing. A+ item.

Ford will release new supercar 2010 - Ford Shelby GT500

Ford says its Special Vehicle Team (SVT) division carried over the gains made with the special edition Shelby GT500KR to the more widely produced Shelby model. The new GT500 also gains the GT500KR’s whopping 510 pound-feet of torque.

Compare with the old GT500, this new supercar model gets more aggressive styling, particularly in the nose. The horizontally mirrored trapezoidal shape of the grille in the upper and lower front fascia is meant to echo the oval shape of the Shelby Cobras of the '60s. The upper grille is tilted forward at a steeper angle than the GT and the grille surround is separated entirely from the hood. The hood of the GT500 still has a functional air extractor allowing some of the massive heat generated by the blown V8 to escape.

The engine for the new Shelby is still a twin cam 5.4L V8 with a supercharger. The updates bump output from from 500 hp at 6,000 rpm to 540 hp at 6,200 rpm. Twisting force also goes from 480 lb-ft at 4,500 rpm to 510 lb-ft at the same peak speed. The iron block from the F-150 was used with the top end of the GT engine, which pushed the car's weight up over 3,900 lbs.

The exterior of the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 draws design cues from the original design cues of the Shelby Cobras of the Sixties while making history of its own with the most aerodynamic body ever on a Mustang. Ford engineers worked to keep the flow of air through the engine compartment to the minimum necessary while also reducing the amount of air under the body.