Bucket Sandhi

Sorry for the caste specific post. This is something i just wanted to tell ya all.... Im sure no one would feel offended with this. If you find it boring, pl. ignore...

Hey guyz.. 

I know i ain't supposed to b here preaching malice... But just being curious to know if there are others doing bucket sandhi as well...

While I very much wanted to do the Sandhi everyday, the inability of mine added with unavailability of time had forced me to frustration as i found it hard to cope with my otherwise pandemonistic and lazy lifestyle.

Which is when the inventor in me thought about finding a new alternative... 

With credit to my TRIZ skill i found it very convenient to alter the traditional method of doing it in the banks of the river. (there used to be river running around every city, coroporation, village and harmitages those days) which is why brahmins those days were doing it while taking bath.

I was like why not we do it while bathing too... That is when it all started 'The Bucket Sandhi'.... I've been doing it for years now.. I donno if it really violates any of the sacred verses that we insipidly recite day and again. To which i think I do not hold any curses for culpable damage to...

On the other hand i do it seriously without hesistance of any kind twice a day (madhyaniham - never tried that..). I've been doing it for almost 5 yrs now...

Well to those perfectionists pl ignore me as yet another anomalies.... To those fellow Bucket Sandhi performers... Cheerz guyz.....

Tiny Microscope Fits on Your Fingertip

Researchers have developed a "microscopic microscope" - a microscope that's small enough to fit inside a cell phone yet that still delivers top-quality magnifying power.

Optofluidic microscope. .Image: Changhuei Yang, California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology team hopes that the tiny microscope could be appealing for detecting pathogens in developing countries, as well as for being implanted in the human body as a diagnostic tool.

The device is a type of optofluidic microscope because it combines computer-chip technology with microfluidics technology, where a fluid flow is channeled at very small scales. The microscope has no lenses or other bulky optical elements, which have been a staple of microscopes ever since the first ones appeared in the 1500s. Without lenses, microscopes can be much cheaper: the researchers expect their tool can be mass-produced for about $10.

The microscope design consists of three layers: a microfluidic channel on top, then a metal coating, and then a CCD sensor, which is similar to the sensors used in digital cameras. The metal layer has lots of tiny holes (one-millionth of a meter in diameter) that correspond to the pixels on the CCD array. The microfluidic channel carries the liquid sample, such as blood or water, to be investigated.

To image the sample, the microscope is simply positioned in sunlight or another light source. As the liquid sample flows through the microfluidic channel, a few cells pass over the holes in the metal and block the sunlight from passing through to the CCD sensor below. As the researchers explain, these shadows produce images similar to those from a pinhole camera.

This imaging part of the microscope is actually much smaller than the chip it's mounted on, so that thousands of the microscopes could be incorporated onto a single chip the size of a quarter. This could allow many samples to be analyzed simultaneously, such as blood samples for malaria, water samples for giardia, and - when in vivo - the bloodstream for spreading cancer cells.

Changhuei Yang, a lead researcher, is currently discussing the possibility for mass-production with biotech companies.

The study is published in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

via: California Institute of Technology

Noah: High Performance Personal Vehicle

Designer Andrei Fraça’s has created Noah, a high performance vehicle that looks like a unicycle. However, on closer examination, it can be seen that there are actually two tires mounted on a tandem. Noah’s basic design is meant to have a human driving and controlling it. It is controlled by the person leaning forward, backwards, or side to side. These factors control acceleration, braking, and turning. Everything is done without pedals or buttons. The tires act as stabilizers for the vehicle through turns as they shift up and down against one another to give more control to the driver. Zoom on!

Small Wonder - Solar Powered Cell Phone Charger

No power? No problem... the sun is there!
The new, compact portable solar cell phone charger from Japan's Strapya World is without a doubt, the right product at the right time. With "eco" the trendy buzzword of the moment in Japan, this lightweight (40gm, or less than 2 ounces) power source absolutely fills the bill. Clean, environmentally friendly power from the sun... now, at last, you CAN take it with you!



The 2.16 inch (5.5 cm) tall charger comes in black or white, and there are two versions available depending on what type of Japanese cell phone you own. That's right, "Japanese" cell phone - the charger is compatible with either FOMA/SoftBank3G or AU/CDMA phones; there's a complete model listing at the Strapya product page.



This revolutionary new portable power source will absorb its maximum amount of solar energy in 6 to 10 hours, perfect for a day at the beach. If you don't have that amount of time or it's a cloudy day, just attach it to an AC adaptor and fill it up in only 3 hours. It takes roughly 15 to 25 minutes to charge up a dead cell phone and once charged, you've got 40 minutes of talking time.



Strapya and Tokyo Coil Engineering have partnered on the development of this very cool little device, and you can be sure that upcoming versions will not only be compatible with foreign cell phones, but other personal electronic devices like mp3 players. Pricing, at least for the current model solar charger, is surprisingly cheap at just 1,995 yen ($19.75). Free power, low initial cost and never needing to buy a cell phone battery again? Priceless!

Picture it - thousands of Mickey Mouse heads floating over Orlando, Florida. That is the plan for later this month when Walt Disney Co. uses a new invention to promote Disney World. Now picture the Nike logo or the Apple Logo or even your logo taking to the air. How? Flogos!

What is a Flogo? It's lighter than air foam, made from proprietary surfactant (fancy word for soap), and pressed into the shape of a logo.

Source: WTPOP News

Flogos have a life expectancy of minutes to an hour or more, depending on wind speed and direction. They travel slowly, can go twenty to thirty miles in distance and as high as twenty-thousand feet in the air.

Source: ABC News

First conceived of in the 1990s by Francisco Guerra and Brian Glover, two international special effects inventors, it takes about ten days for the in-house Flogo art department to create your Flogo stencil, then a certified Flogo tech will place a Flogo generator in the optimum location, and Presto, Flogo! Sky trash or innovative ads that really soar?

Source: Armageddon

One great thing is they are a Green product, 100% environmentally safe. Currently available in white, in 2009 they will launch a line of colored Flogos. Maybe one day, they'll even figure out how to write messages in the foam.

Source: MSNBC

Flogos come in 24-inch and 36-inch models, but a new 48-inch generator is in development. While the most intricate design I could find was the Olympic circles (picture unavailable) the possibilties seem endless.

What do you think of these innovative soap bubble ads?

Sources: The Denver Post and Flogos

Brilliant Invention! Vanguard System For Better Breast Cancer Detection

If you have breast cancer or other breast disease, the sooner it's found and treated the better. For a patient, the time between diagnostic test appointments and treatment intervention can seem interminable. This new MRI table and accompanying breast detection software not only take better pictures, but they allow immediate medical intervention, if needed. That's why the Vanguard System inventor, Cameron Piron, President of Sentinelle Medical Inc. just received a Best Innovator 2008 Award from the Ontario Premier.

The Sentinelle Vanguard Breast MR Auxiliary Table® (Vanguard) is made for the General Electric (GE) Signa® HDx 1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine. MRI is a non-invasive procedure using a combination of large magnets, radiofrequencies, and a computer to produce detailed images of organs and structures within the body. An MRI can be ordered for any part of the body, but in the case of the breast, a physician would order an MRI if a mammogram or other procedure suggested that further investigation of the breast is needed for an accurate diagnosis.

Additionally, there are many women for whom neither palpation nor mammography are reliable diagnostic tools. Small breasted and large breasted women are two of these groups, but all women under 40 have typically more fibrocystic breasts than older women, and fibrocysts, though generally healthy breast tissue, can mask breast lesions. For women with fibrocystics breast who are at high risk for breast cancer, it is very possible that MRI might be recommended as a breast screening exam.

The Vanguard table is detachable from the MRI machine. It can be customized for each patient, making her more comfortable and her breasts more accessible to the diagnostic tools. The coils that cup the breasts are adjustable on the Vanguard table to fit each patient, whether she has large or small breasts. The adjustable coils enable enhanced imagery in areas that may not clearly be seen in most MRI's, especially when breast lesions are very close to the chest wall.

Offering a multi-plane view of breast tissue, the Vanguard System depends on AEGIS software coupled with Sentinelle's proprietary software, called BReast Imaging and Guidance Help Tool (BRIGHT®) to make very high resolution, real-time, three-dimensional images of breast tissue, so that accurate detection of lesions, biopsy procedures, and lesion removal will be accurate and complete. (Note: Not all breast lesions can be removed through this method, but it seems that small, contained lesions may be removed using the Vanguard System.)

What Mr. Piron and his team of electrical, mechanical, systems, space, and industrial engineers have created is a state of the art system that can detect breast cancer at very early stages. It may be recommended for women who are at high risk for breast cancer (see: American Cancer Society's 2007 high risk guidelines), including those with close family history or mammography or other diagnostic results that indicate need for further exploration.

via Exchange Morning Post , sources: Sentinelle Medical Inc., Hybrid Imaging Guidance System For Biopsy Of The Breast , and GE Healthcare.

Keeping you posted...

Europe Honors Its Best: European Inventor of the Year Awards For 2008

The 2008 European Inventors of the Year were awarded yesterday in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Even if you don't recognize the names of the inventors, you will certainly know their inventions and the contributions those inventions have made to the world during the last 10 to 15 years.

The European Commission and the European Patent Office (EPO) honor inventors that have had a significant impact on people's lives and whose inventions have been patented by the EPO. This year's winners were chosen by a "high-profile" independent jury -- mostly CEO's of major European corporations.

The four categories of awards were: Industry, Small-Medium research institutes, Non-European Inventors, and Lifetime Achievement inventor awards.

The envelope please....

1. Industry Award For Best European Inventor of The Year, 2008: Audi engineer, Germany's Norbert Enning and engineering team.
2008 Audi r8

In 1993, Norbert Enning, and his team of engineers at German car manufacturer Audi Corporation, designed and engineered the first aluminum frame on the Audi R8 sports car, making it the sturdiest, yet lightest and most fuel-efficient petroleum-based car. Everyone in the car industry said it couldn't be done.

2. Small - Medium Research Institute Award For Best European Inventor of the Year, 2008: Optos Corporation founder, Scottland's Douglas Anderson and Team
Optomap®

In 1992, Douglas Anderson's son became blind in one eye after routine eye examination failed to identify that the boy had a detached retina. Mr. Anderson vowed to create a non-invasive, patient friendly, laser examination that would reveal a compete image of the retina in just a few seconds. Since 2000, what is now called the Optos scanning laser ophthalmoscope, that has the capacity to diagnose a host of retinal diseases and abnormalities, has been made available to more that 13 million people in Europe, the UK, Canada, and the U.S.

3. Award for Best Non-European Inventor of the Year, 2008: U.S. bio-engineer Philip S Green.

da Vinci® Surgical System

Phillip S. Green may be called the father of the da Vinci Surgical Robot, a system that allows surgeons to perform microsurgery, using tiny cameras, and miniature robots carrying microtools into the body through small incisions. The surgeon commands the tools, that perform highly accurate movements, while the surgeon observes each movement on an imaging screen. Mr. Green's efforts began in the early 1980's, but it was not until 1999 that Intuitive Surgical introduced the da Vinci Surgical System to the medical community for their use.

4. Lifetime Achievement Award For Best European Inventor: Erik De Clercq, University of Leuven, Belgium

Erik De Clercq made many contributions to modern medicine through discoveries of antiviral treatments, but he is best known for his work in HIV/AIDS. As the developer of the "drug cocktail" that has been assisting millions of AIDS sufferers to lead longer, more fulfilling lives, Dr. De Clercq was honored as "single-handedly help[ing to] overturn the belief that HIV is an incurable plague."

You have to take a deep breath when you review the contributions of these great inventors. They're hard to beat!

Readers may also enjoy:

10 Most Brilliant Inventions of 2007 - R&D Magazine
Amazing Inventions For The Year 2020 by Philips
Audi: A Super-Clean Super Car

Clean Baby - Great Invention for Mother's Day

Have you ever seen a kid so dirty you wish you could just tie him up to a tree and spray him down? Or perhaps the kid in question is too young for such measures, so you think about grabbing the child by the shoulders (neck?) and repeatedly dipping him into a warm tub filled with soapy water. Unfortunately, the modern tub is too big to accommodate little tykes safely for either method.

Once again the United States Patent Office comes to the rescue of American families everywhere; this time with its patent for the Stand Up and Stand Still Baby Shower. The baby shower is a modified version of the tying your kid to a tree and hosing him down approach. You simply prop your child in the restrictive tub effectively rendering him powerless to do anything but stand up straight.

Automatic Baby Bottom Cleaner

Now that little Johnny is nice and still you turn the knob and a showerhead, strategically angled directly at your kid's butt, lets out a blast. And since you're not behaving like a contortionist trying to hold her kid still while she tries to bathe him, you can actually play with your kid without worrying about dropping, or worse yet, drowning him!

This Mother's Day why not treat yourself, or another mom, to the Stand Up and Stand Still Baby Shower? Not only is it a nice thing for mommy and baby, but also less stressful bath time now is sure to result in less psychoanalysis for Junior later! It's win win for everyone - except the therapists of course, but who cares about them?

Image Source:
blog.360.yahoo.com

Scientists Create Apple That Doesn’t Brown

Sometimes you may just want a few bites of an apple, but you feel compelled to stuff down the whole thing since otherwise you'd just have to throw it away.

Picture of an ordinary apple. Now, researchers have created an apple that can be saved without turning brown, which usually occurs due to oxidation reactions. The new apple supposedly takes on a pale pinkish color for several hours after being exposed to air, but doesn't turn brown until much later than normal.

Researchers from Australia bred the apple naturally from a combination of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams varieties.

The researchers plan to sell the apple under the name Enchanted. Since the apple is produced without genetic modification, it will likely be sold throughout the world. Kim Chance, Western Australia's state agriculture minister, suggested that the apple would be popular for lunch boxes and on serving platters.

via: PhysOrg.com

The Answer to Gridlock in the Next Decade

So I was heading across Denver the other day and in the process I must have seen a dozen Smart for2's. So I started to think about how amusing traffic jams are going to look in the next 10 or 15 years. Assuming all of these concept cars make it into production.

Audi Snook Concept Car

Before you erupt into laughter, it should be duly noted that this concept took first place Michelin Challenge Design Award at the Detroit Autoshow this year. This example of a "personal mobility vehicle" uses a a set of gyrospheres to stabilize itself on a single contact point. It rides on a motorized ball that allows for some very precise and agile handling. It might also take some customers away from Segway.

Scion Sports Coupe Concept

The Sports coupe is a deign that you either love or hate. The stying is modern, yet simple for the most part. According to a press release, it combines "entertainment, digital technology, and versatility into one sinister looking package." The jury is still out on that one. I can't really say I understand the rear cargo area. It looks like it could be used for seating as well as hauling groceries, but why?

City Transport Cell Concept

The City Transport Cell by Volkswagen is among a growing number of person transportation devices. It is a plug-in vehicle intended solely for short-range urban use. It produces no emissions and can be easily repaired thanks to a "puzzle-piece" design. The interior is also customizable by using the same snap together design.

Toyota Urban Cruiser Concept

So just in case the tiny little pods aren't you style, Toyota designed a smaller SUV, more similar to the RAV4, that should be enough to keep you busy. According to Toyota spokespeople, it is only "Urban" in name. It has all the capabilities of a normal SUV, just smaller to give it more maneuverability in the "Urban Jungle."

Smart For2....Finally

The Smart For2 has been out and about for a while now, but for some reason we still love to talk about it. Originally designed for easy parking and affordability, the For2 has been under some heavy criticism over it's Crash Test Ratings. It just became available to the US this year as it finally passed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash tests.

Scion Hako Coupe Concept

The Hako Coupe Concept has been met with very little appreciation. Most people have written it off as a slightly modified Scion xB. Its boxy shape and unexciting lines didn't bode well with the judges either. According to the Scion Designers, their inspiration came straight from global youth-inspired trends. How well the study was conducted and where all they went it still open for debate.

Toyota Hi-TC Concept

An interesting concept from Toyota that can best be described as a Golf Cart they rear-ended a Nissan Frontier. It also uses plug-in Hybrid technology for power, which means no emissions and a short operating range. Power goes to all 4 wheels through 4 independent electric motors. The interior is roomy and simple and provides easy operation with little driver input.

Cadillac CTS

For when you really want to show up in style, the Cadillac CTS (shown above) or CTS Coupe are the way to go. They aren't really concepts anymore, but when it comes to cruising downtown, it's hard ot beat a Caddy. With over 300 horsepower going to all 4 wheels and still getting 26 highway miles per gallon, it doens't do all that bad from an environmental standpoint.

Of course there are many more that could also be included into this group. These are just the most intersting to imagine stuck in traffic.

From : AutoBlog , Jalopnik , AutoBlogGreen

Chill Out With Wine Chilled To Perfection

Most of us don't have wine cellars or even wine refrigerators in our homes. But, never mind; the Ravi Instant Wine Chiller chills your wine in just a few seconds, takes up infinitely less space, and saves you a whole lot of money. So chill out! You can drink your wine as you like it.

Invented by Canadian Michel Dallaire, the Ravi looks like a wine pourer with a stopper for the wine bottle. Those functions are accurate, but the wine pourer is actually the chilly component of the Ravi through which the wine must pass. Kept in your freezer for ready access when needed, the Ravi not only pours the wine, but chills it to its perfect drinking temperature!

Made primarily for red wines, the Ravi has controls for just the variety of wine you are drinking. If your choice of wine is a young red varietal, like a Beaujolais or young Bordeaux, the proper drinking temperature is between 12° and 15°Celsius (53° - 59° Fahrenheit). If the wine is more mature, like a Burgundy or fine Bordeaux, the perfect temperatures for serving would be between 16° and 18° C (60° - 64° F).

Here is an interesting chart showing the temperature effects of the Ravi on a red wine, compared to that of serving from a wine cellar storage or after the bottle has been kept in an ice bucket.

If you are currently serving red wines at room temperature, let's say at 21° to 24° C (70° - 74° F), you are likely missing out on the best taste of your wine, because at room temperature the alcohol overtakes the taste of fruit, spices, and barrel so distinguishing in each wine. Using the Ravi Instant Wine Chiller, you can serve wine at optimum temperature for its particular variety and, if poured within an hour of freezing, the wine will be chilled exactly as it was meant to be tasted.

White wines are consumed at cooler temperatures than reds, so whites are generally chilled in regular kitchen refrigerators, kept at about 1.7° to 3.3° Celsius (35° - 38° Fahrenheit). The Ravi will not chill a wine to a temperature lower than 12°C (53° F), but it certainly can be used to pour and chill white wine if the wine bottle has been standing around too long without a wine cooler or ice bucket to chill it.

For $49.95, the Ravi promises a little change in lifestyle that may help a red wine drinker you know chill out. The Ravi is available online at The Wine Enthusiast or in many stores throughout Canada and through Amazon .

Source: Ravi via Kaboodle

This Tea Is Smoking!

If you've quit smoking, but still miss the trappings -- the feel of the package, the confidence you got from knowing there were still 18 cigarettes left in the package, memories of your passionate romance with James Dean or Sharon Stone, or just the excuse to take a short break from work -- there's still hope for you, according to at least one concept developer.

Russian industrial designer, Anton Schnaider, originated the concept of Cigarettea, as it is illustrated in the above delightfully clever "Don't smoke tea. Drink cigarettes" ad. His idea is that the cigarette portion would contain the tea leaves, and the filter would act as a floater device, so that the cigarette would not sink - no need for a string to pull out the used Cigarettea.

Cigarettea could restore some of the trappings of cigarette smoking that you miss... the feel of the box, the confidence of knowing that there are still several cigarettes left in the box, for as long as that were the case, and the excuse to take a short break from work to grab a cigarette, uh Cigarettea. As for memories of a smoke-filled bedroom after passionate love-making with James Dean or Sharon Stone? I'm just not sure about that.

via Trends Now sources: Schnaider Live Journal, and AntonSchnaider.com.

Nanomachine Kills Cancer Cells With Exposure To Light

At the University of California, Los Angeles, a non-invasive means of cancer drug delivery is currently under development. Scientists present what they named “nanoimpeller,” a nanomachine which can operate inside a living cell. This nano-sized machine is designed to combat one of the most prolific killers of today—cancer. UCLA’s nanoimpellers are created to work pretty much like how IntelliDrug does. However, while IntelliDrug releases drugs as controlled remotely, said nanoimpellers release cancer cell killers based on light stimulus. In other words, the nanoimpellers release the drug upon exposure to light. The dosage and amount of drug released could be controlled by the light intensity and specific wavelengths.

Image: Discovery.comNow, it’s at the pores of the nanoimpeller that drugs are equipped. In order for the system to work, the scientists had to make the pores photoactive (or light reactive). To do that, the scientists coated the inside of the pores with azobenzene, and used mesoporous silica nanoparticles. When the impellers are exposed to light, a wagging motion occurs which leads to the release of the medicine. To date, scientists have tested the system on pancreatic and colon cells, wherein which it was able to successfully kill the targets. The researchers have great faith in their invention. To quote: "This system has potential applications for precise drug delivery and might be the next generation for novel platform for the treatment of cancers such as colon and stomach cancer.”

Source: UCLA and Discovery

New Wireless Adapter Promises 6x the Range

Wireless internet has revolutionized the way we work, play, and interact with each other via computers. Wireless internet is what allows me to roam about the house and experiment with different chairs and/or tables for writing. Distance away from the wireless access point, or range, is one of the biggest obstacles to a new wireless internet utopia. To further complicate the issue, I'm loathe to buy multiple routers or access points to extend coverage throughout my abode.

Range issues, however, could be a thing of the past if you're using the new Hi-Gain Wireless-300N USB dish adapter from Hawking Technology. The company boasts that the Wireless 300N can boost a Wi-Fi signal's range by a factor of six.

The Hawking Hi-Gain Wireless-300N utilizes second generation dual antenna dish technology to achieve such remarkable distance, reportedly up to 4,000 feet on blazing fast 802.11n technology. It is capable of up to 300mbps of throughput but can easily scale back to your Wi-Fi setup. It's also backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g networks. With support for WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security standards, what's not to love? There's always the added bonus of having the ultimate nerd trump card in your bag - a portable satellite dish to connect you to the cloud.

Setup, the company claims , is a snap! "Installation of the HWDN1 Wireless-300N Dish Adapter is simple and straight forward - run the setup CD and connect the Dish Adapter to your notebook or desktop through an available USB port." For $99, I might just be willing to take them on their word on that.

Via Coolest Gadgets

Fully Capable Second Life on Mobile Phones

The company Vollee is creating a client that offers cellphone users full access to Second Life. The company is accepting registrations for their beta rollout that begins in May. In short (and they provide all in short): All heavy lifting (graphics rendering etc.) is done on their servers and then streamed to the user’s phone. They’ve published a video which is embedded below.

The requirements of their system is 3G phone (for rapid streaming), is less than 100k and runs on “any platform”, and their service is free — at least during the beta. Martin Dunsby, CEO of Vollee, presented at GDC’08 which resulted in reports such as the following:

“The results are stunning. A PC-perfect version of Second Life runs on a phone that could barely handle some of the most elemental mobile games. Vollee also optimizes the controls and user interface for phones, so in Second Life’s case, instead of having pop-up windows for chatting or maps, a tabulated system lets you switch between each screen. It may not have keyboard-and-mouse support, but Vollee tries to make the keypad perform most of the same functions, so moving and flying around in Second Life felt quite natural and looked great to us.
[1UP on Vollee’s SL at GDC’08]”

3G Focused, Wi-Fi Enabled

Being interested in the emerging world of mobile computing, and not being an owner of a 3G phone, I dropped Vollee an email and asked whether they didn’t support Wi-Fi access, as most major cities now have Wi-Fi covering large portions of urban areas.

Their answer was yes. And this lead to even more curiosity. I expected a no because there is no mention of Wi-Fi on their pages (you’d think that’d be mentioned, right? Even if 3G is the focus). So this raised more questions that are not explicitly answered in their FAQ; specifically the following three which I’m now waiting for an answer to:

1. Could you provide me with any kind of technical explanations of what your software is? Is it Java?
2. With Wi-Fi connections possible, is it a requirement that the phone is 3G [enabled or that people have] a 3G contract with their carrier?
3. Will it technically be able to run on iPhones currently in circulation; and if not, will it be able to run on iPhones after a software update from Apple?

I’m really pushing it with that last one, I know. It’s not too far fetched that they’re collaborating with Apple, but if they were they’d hardly reveal anything. The answers, when and if I get them, will be posted here. In the meantime enjoy this video of the system in action on a Motorola phone.

http://www.youtube.com/v/XwRnjbkljnc&hl=en">>http://www.youtube.com/v/XwRnjbkljnc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355">

On April 25, We Commemorate the Invention of the Guillotine

On this day in 1792, the infamous guillotine claimed its first victim - a robber named Jacques Nicolas Pelletier. The guillotine remained France's number one method of execution for the next 189 years. To commemorate the role Pelletier played in history, let's take a look at the invention of the guillotine.

A public guillotining in 1897
Though not the first device in history to execute people by decapitation, the guillotine is certainly the most memorable. France worked to improve it and it was the first country to adopt it as a main method of execution. In 1791, during the French Revolution, France's National Assembly worked to find a new execution method. The old way was the breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel, where the condemned would be strapped to a wheel to be clubbed to death. The problem with this, however, was that the prisoner could be freed. This is precisely what happened in 1788, when a mob released the prisoner and broke the wheel.

Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a member of the National Assembly, was also a professor of anatomy in Paris. It was his idea to come up with a new execution method. He was a member of the committee charged with inventing this new method that would quickly end the condemn's life rather than cause pain. Earlier types of guillotine used blunt force to remove the head, used an axe-shaped blade. This was the problem presented to Guillotin's committee.

An officer of the Strasbourg criminal court can be said to have invented the guillotine - he developed the initial design. However, it was a German harpsichord maker named Tobias Schmidt that invented the horizontally-slanting blade that is characteristic of the guillotine. It was this signature blade that contributed to its reputation as a humane form of execution, as it worked quickly and accurately. It was also the great equalizer, as executions before its invention varied based on social class.

In the throes of the French Revolution, the country erupted into chaos and guillotine beheadings happened frequently. Political prisoners and collaborators were executed using this invention. Even King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette went down in history as people sentenced to death by the guillotine. During this time, guillotinings were crowd-pleasing events, drawing regular spectators and even children.

In 1939, the last public beheading by guillotine occurred, but it was France's official execution method until 1981.

Strangely enough, the machine is named after Dr. Guillotin even though he didn't design it. The guillotine was originally named after Antone Louis, who developed the prototype. It was a comedic song about Dr. Guillotin that made the name stick - proof that a catchy name for an invention is important!

Source: Wikipedia

Nanowires Grown to Absorb more Sunlight

Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario have grown light-absorbing nanowires that can absorb more energy from the sun than the silicon ones. The challenge for the researchers is to improve the nanowires' efficiency without bringing up the cost. Can they do it ???

The research team, led by Ray LaPierre, a professor in the engineering physics department, has three years and $600,000 to try to achieve this goal. If they succeed the nanowires will be more efficient (about 20 % -40% efficiency). This will also allow solar panels to be inexpensive and flexible hopefully making it more affordable for consumers.

The nanowires contain several multiple layers of materials including: gallium arsenide, indium gallium phosphide, aluminum gallium arsenide, and gallium arsenide phosphide. This multilayer of material is what allows the nanowires, which grow upward, to absorb more light than a solar cell . For more information on nanowires visit Technology Review .

Via Treehugger

Robotic Snake Can Perform Heart Surgeries

A lot of people are scared of going under the Knife for a variety of fears which grip them. That’s why scientists are constantly trying to find a way to create surgical methods with lower risk factors. At the Carnegie Mellon University, a snakelike robot called “CardioArm ” was devised to aid in heart surgeries. The only contact the surgeon makes with the patient’s body is to make an incision so the robot can enter the system. Once inside, CardioArm is controlled by a joystick and a computer for monitoring.

CardioArm is a jointed robot, allowing you to control its head while the rest of its joints follow exactly where the head has been to avoid any accidental internal injuries. The robot wraps itself around the heart until it finds what it’s sent inside the body for (i.e., to remove damaged tissues). The only problem is that being jointed, the CardioArm will have size constraints. As of current, the smallest prototype made measures 12 mm in diameter and 300 mm in length. The end goal, however, is to create a robot tiny enough to fit inside blood vessels.

Other end goals for this future surgical medicine technology constitute modifications for truly non-invasive surgeries. These modifications include the ability of the robot to pass through natural openings like the mouth, as well creating a model with multiple tentacles able to enter through a single opening, but branch out to where they’re supposed to go once inside the body.

Indian origin US scientist sees Tumors deep inside the body

It's a double joy for Indians as "Indian-origin" US scientists along with his team of US researchers has discovered a new technique that can further be useful in the cancer surgery more efficiently.

Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, the team leader of researchers and the professor of Radiology in Stanford University school of Medicine have developed a new technique that can magnify the tiny diminutive tumors by 1,000 times molecules deep inside the human body, which has paved the way for more efficiently cancer surgery.

Sanjiv and his team have used the ‘Raman Effect’ technique that has not been used so far in biological microscopic viewing but vastly used in other scientific researches. Raman Effect was invented by great Indian scientist Chandrashekhar Ventak Raman in 1920 for which he had won Noble prize in Physics.

According to Sanjiv, “Raman spectroscopy expands the available toolbox for the field of molecular imaging.” “This is an entirely new way of imaging living subjects, not based on anything previously used.”

Illustrating the Raman effect, the lead researcher Gambhir said that signals from Raman spectroscopy were stronger and longer-lived than other available methods, and the type of particles used in this method could transmit information about multiple types of molecular targets simultaneously.

Generally scientist can measure one or two things at a time from the current available techniques, but “With this, we can now likely see 10, 20, 30 things at once,” said Gambhir.

The researchers team of Stanford University School of Medicine had tested the system on mice through injecting them with various engineered Raman nanoparticles and then analysed the anesthetized mice under a special microscope where they were exposed to laser light.

The Scientist found that there were several nanoparticles tagged with the different pieces of proteins probing towards different tumor molecules.

Describing about the ‘Raman Effect’ Sam cited that Stanford researchers team has utilised this technique in the innovative way in which the light (laser) hits the object, roughly one in 10 million photons bouncing off the object’s molecules with an increase or decrease in energy is known as Raman scattering. This sort of scattering pattern is unique to each type of molecule and can be measured scientifically, which is also called as spectral fingerprint.

Gambhir has elaborated that this techniques has been developed from currently popular Positron Emission Tomography (PET) techniques that was discovered 20 or 30 years ago but could not be used in this field. Nowadays, PET has become a routine hospital imaging technique that uses radioactive molecules to generate a three-dimensional image of body biochemistry.

“Nobody understood the impact of PET then,” said Sanjiv while “Ten or fifteen years from now, people should appreciate the impact of this.” he indicated the relevance of this technique.

The researcher team of Stanford University is further studying the impact of Raman nanoparticles throughout the body over the course of several days before they are excreted. The team is also optimizing the particle size and dosage and its hazardous effects on the body.

Postdoctoral scholars Shay Keren, Cristina Zavaleta, Zhen Cheng, Adam de la Zerda, and Oliver Gheysens were among the team of Dr. Sanjiv for founding the way to make Raman spectroscopy a medical tool. The research has been published on March 31, 2008 in an advance online issue of the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” and funded by National Institutes for Health and Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

Sources: Press Release of Stanford University, School of Medicine. For more information do visit http://med.stanford.edu/

Ways to Kill Ideas

The realinnovation article is very interesting - it is titled Ten Ways to Inhibit Innovation - the 10 ways are

(1) Criticize
(2) Ban Brainstorms
(3) Hoard problems
(4) Efficiency focus not Innovation
(5) Overwork
(6) Adhere to Plan
(7) Punish Mistakes
(8) Do Not Look Outside
(9) Promote Like people
(10) Do Not Train.

Well to the list we can add following 40 idea killer phrases (from Reference: “What A Great Idea” by Charles “Chick” Thompson, 1992, HarperCollins Publishers)

1. "Yes, but. . . "
2. "We tried that before."
3. "That's irrelevant."
4. "We haven't got the manpower."
5. "Obviously, you misread my request."
6. "Don't rock the boat!"
7. "The boss (or competition) will eat you alive."
8. "Don't waste time thinking."
9. "Great idea, but not for us."
10. "It'll never fly."
11. "Don't be ridiculous."
12. "People don't want change."
13. "It's not in the budget."
14. "Put it in writing."
15. "It will be more trouble than it's worth."
16. "It isn't your responsibility."
17. "That's not in your job description."
18. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
19. "Let's stick with what works."C
20. "We've done all right so far."
21. "The boss will never go for it."
22. "It's too far ahead of the times."
23. . . . laughter. . .
24. . . . suppressed laughter. . .
25. . . . condescending grin. . .
26. . . . dirty looks. . .
27. "Don't fight city hall!"
28. "I'm the one who gets paid to think."
29. "What will people say?"
30. "Get a committee to look into that."
31. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
32. "You have got to be kidding."
33. "No!"
34. "We've always done it this way."
35. "It's all right in theory. . . but. . ."
36. "Be practical!"
37. "Do you realize the paperwork it will create?"
38. "Because I said so."
39. "I'll get back to you."
40. . . . silence. .