Antonio Pasolini
Text messaging has transformed language into a kind of coded parlance that can be puzzling or outright indecipherable for recipients who do not follow SMS trends, which probably started in school patios across the world. In order to help those with difficulties understanding abbreviations and obscure acronyms used in English, British software developer DCML has greated TextGenie, which translates the increasingly cryptic SMS messages the younger generation tends to use. Read More
Computing guzzles a great deal of electricity and striving for greater energy efficiency both saves money and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Although computers already come with energy-saving mechanisms, such as sleep mode and other power saving features set by users, there's always room for improvement. This is the idea behind Ecobeneficios’s Greencam. The Brazilian company has launched a PC app that automatically turns off the user’s monitor when he or she walks away from it. Read More
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have created a device called the Endurance Bioenergy Reactor (EBR) that can produce bioenergy on location, using waste from kitchens and latrines. The fuel can go directly into engines and generators without any need for refining, avoiding the complications of distribution and supply chains associated with fuel production. The researchers say the EBR can produce 25 to 50 gallons (94.6 to 189.2 liters) of biofuel a day from waste streams or processed cellulosic materials. Read More
With fuel costs continuing to rise, the search is on for ways to make cars lighter and improve fuel efficiency, without compromising strength and safety. NanoSteel, a Rhode Island-based company recently announced the development of new nano-structured advanced high-strength alloys whose strength and ductility meet automotive structural demands. The company plans on marketing its sheet metal products in 2013 and has recently received investment from GM suggesting they could soon be appearing in production vehicles. Read More
BERG's Little Printer, a box-sized device announced last November, is ready to ship. The pint-sized printer, which connects wirelessly to the Internet, takes inspiration from traditional halftone lithography as well as pixel art. It gathers its user-defined content via a cloud-based system to deliver a personalized mini newspaper with puzzles, friend’s birthday reminders, weather info and messages from friends appearing alongside the daily news. Read More
With around 200,000 new cases worldwide of malignant melanoma, the most virulent form of skin cancer, reported in 2008 according to Cancer Research UK statistics, limiting exposure to the sun is vitally important. But keeping track of our exposure, particularly on cloudy days, can be a difficult exercise. New technology developed at the University of Strathclyde makes things easier by providing a visual warning of when to seek some shade or slap on some more sunscreen. Read More
A collaboration between Philips and the Kenyan Urban Roads Authority will see the streets of capital city Nairobi being lit up with solar-powered LED lighting. The pilot project is the first of its kind in East Africa and and was launched during the 40th anniversary of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which is headquartered in that city. Read More
It became an iconic drug that entered pop cultural folklore, but fluoxetine, marketed as Prozac, has put a smile on the faces of researchers for a purpose other than the treatment of depression. Studies carried out at UCLA have found that fluoxetine is a promising antiviral agent, particularly for enteroviruses that can be a cause of death in several parts of the world. Read More
Not even a month since researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) announced a 500 trillion watt laser shot, researchers at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) have managed to deliver a record-breaking petawatt, that is, a quadrillion watts, in a pulse just 40 femtoseconds long at a rate of one pulse every second. To put that in perspective, a petawatt is more than the combined output of all electric power plants in the world at any given time and one femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second. Read More
In order to improve the sustainability credentials of biofuels, experts have been trying to figure out ways to produce them from non-food sources, such as cellulose – the material that makes up the cell walls of plants. Now, researchers from the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology (WIST) at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point have patented a process that they say paves the way for the creation of biofuels from cellulosic plant material. Read More
