LONDON: Next time your cellphone runs out of battery, you can charge it by just holding it in your hand, as scientists claim to have developed a new technology that turns body heat into electricity. Researchers say they have developed a way to turn body heat into electricity using nanotechnology to put tiny carbon tubes into miniscule plastic fibres and made them look like a fabric.
The 'Power Felt' can keep your phone going for up to 20% longer just through the power of touch, meaning simply holding one, or even sitting on it, could recharge the cell, the 'Daily Mail' reported. The technology has been created by professor David Carroll of Wakeforest University's centre for nanotechnology and molecular materials in the US.
According to Carrol, it could be the first wave of inexpensive ways to produce electricity that were far more affordable than current renewables such as solar, which was being held back by the high cost.
This helmet lets you think fake scenes are real
LONDON: Scientists have developed a new 'Inception'-style TV helmet which can decieve the human mind into thinking that fake scenes are real. Using the device, a wearer is unable to differentiate between a live and a recorded feed on TV. Even after the mechanism of the experiment was explained, some test subjects were not able to distinguish between the two.
Scientists said that it was effectively the same process as that which takes place in the movie 'Inception', the high concept thriller from 2010. In the film, Leonardo Di Caprio plays an industrial spy who is hired to plant an idea in the mind of a businessman by one of his rivals, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
The central conceit, is that in a powerful dream state we are unable to tell what is real and what isn't. The test involved a system known as Substitutional Reality which has been developed at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute's Laboratory for Adaptive Intelligence in Japan. Researcher Keisuke Suzuki told 'The Guardian' that it could be a 'powerful tool to investigate how our conscious experiences are constituted in daily scenes'. "In a dream, we naturally accept what is happening and hardly doubt its reality," he said. "Our motivation is to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying our strong conviction in reality. How can people trust what they perceive? Answering these questions requires an experimental platform which can present scenes that participants believe are completely real, but where we are still able to manipulate the contents," Suzuki said.
Scientists said that it was effectively the same process as that which takes place in the movie 'Inception', the high concept thriller from 2010. In the film, Leonardo Di Caprio plays an industrial spy who is hired to plant an idea in the mind of a businessman by one of his rivals, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
The central conceit, is that in a powerful dream state we are unable to tell what is real and what isn't. The test involved a system known as Substitutional Reality which has been developed at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute's Laboratory for Adaptive Intelligence in Japan. Researcher Keisuke Suzuki told 'The Guardian' that it could be a 'powerful tool to investigate how our conscious experiences are constituted in daily scenes'. "In a dream, we naturally accept what is happening and hardly doubt its reality," he said. "Our motivation is to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying our strong conviction in reality. How can people trust what they perceive? Answering these questions requires an experimental platform which can present scenes that participants believe are completely real, but where we are still able to manipulate the contents," Suzuki said.
A spray that can repair body parts
LONDON: Scientists have developed a range of sprays that can help repair body parts, heal wounds, protect teeth enamel and even prevent post-surgery complications.
Researchers have developed a spray-on bandage for minor cuts and scrapes that helps to keep them clean and free from infection.
Based on a plastic that is used in Lycra, called polyethylene glycol, the thick liquid is sprayed on to the wound and sets within five minutes, the Daily Mail reported.
When the plastic sets it pulls the edges of the wound together, aiding healing and helping to prevent infection.
"Sprays allow more accurate and consistent delivery of the drug or treatment, and allow it to be held in the controlled sterile environment of a spray can," Sam Shuster from the Newcastle University said. Spray-on teeth are also being developed by scientists at King's College London and Imperial College London.
The spray contains a type of calcium and helps repair damage to the tough outer coating of teeth - the enamel - and may help repair any exposed dentin. Scientists have also devised a non-stick coating for organs that prevents them sticking together after surgery.
The coating prevents adhesions - a common side-effect of surgery that causes tough scar tissue to form between organs, which pulls them out of shape.
A study of cases where the spray has been used showed that 90% of patients were adhesion-free seven days after surgery. A trial at Loma Linda University in the US is looking at a similar product for use in adhesions in paediatric heart surgery.
To treat burns, a silicone spray is being used by doctors. In a US Army Institute of Surgical Research trial, patients will be treated with the spray or a placebo each day for three months.
Researchers have developed a spray-on bandage for minor cuts and scrapes that helps to keep them clean and free from infection.
Based on a plastic that is used in Lycra, called polyethylene glycol, the thick liquid is sprayed on to the wound and sets within five minutes, the Daily Mail reported.
When the plastic sets it pulls the edges of the wound together, aiding healing and helping to prevent infection.
"Sprays allow more accurate and consistent delivery of the drug or treatment, and allow it to be held in the controlled sterile environment of a spray can," Sam Shuster from the Newcastle University said. Spray-on teeth are also being developed by scientists at King's College London and Imperial College London.
The spray contains a type of calcium and helps repair damage to the tough outer coating of teeth - the enamel - and may help repair any exposed dentin. Scientists have also devised a non-stick coating for organs that prevents them sticking together after surgery.
The coating prevents adhesions - a common side-effect of surgery that causes tough scar tissue to form between organs, which pulls them out of shape.
A study of cases where the spray has been used showed that 90% of patients were adhesion-free seven days after surgery. A trial at Loma Linda University in the US is looking at a similar product for use in adhesions in paediatric heart surgery.
To treat burns, a silicone spray is being used by doctors. In a US Army Institute of Surgical Research trial, patients will be treated with the spray or a placebo each day for three months.
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