Posted on November 23rd, 2010 by axb
How do cats drink? Is the “wet dog shake” an effective drying mechanism? These may have fleetingly crossed your mind, but it took an engineer to get to the bottom of such creature curiosities.
The ability of felines to lap up an entire bowl of liquid may seem to defy gravity. But four engineers at MIT, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and Princeton have proven that it’s not so. Their study was inspired by observing one of their cats, Cutta Cutta.
The team used high-speed photography to capture and analyze the mysterious cat lap’s fluid dynamics. Since a cat’s tongue is not large enough to create a ladle that can “scoop” water into its mouth, kitties lightly touch the tip of their tongue to the surface of the water, and then quickly dart it back, drawing a column of liquid into their mouths.
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Filed under: e-News, Explore Engineering, Mechanical | 4 Comments »
Tags: Biomimicry, Mechanical
Posted on November 22nd, 2010 by jxh
This brings a whole new meaning to “freeze frame”: a team of engineers in Finland has created the world’s first ice touchscreen.
The device was inspired by the Finnish tradition of building snow and ice sculptures during long winters and built by a team of Nokia researchers. In a New Scientist interview, a team member says of the inspiration for the project: “We decided to see if we could make an ice sculpture that was interactive.”
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Filed under: Computer, e-News | 3 Comments »
Tags: Art, Computer
Posted on November 18th, 2010 by axb
Fit and athletic amputees – like sprinter/long-jumper Aimee Mullins – have proved over and over that the loss of a limb is no reason to give up sports. Earlier this year, Colombian Nelson Cardona became the first amputee to climb Mt. Everest, Earth’s highest peak.
But prostheses for swimmers have remained clunky, at best.
That’s why Richard Stark, an industrial design student at Sweden’s Umea Institute of Design, was inspired to create Neptune, a specially-designed prosthesis that helps amputees swim.
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Filed under: Biomedical, e-News, Mechanical | 3 Comments »
Tags: Biomedical, Design, Mechanical, Prosthetics
Posted on November 17th, 2010 by jxh
Going to the movies is always fun, but would you still enjoy it if you knew the movie was watching you?
Soon, movie theaters may be equipped with cameras that will use facial recognition technology to monitor which way you are facing; if you’re laughing, scared, or bored; and if you came alone or with friends.
In order to monitor facial expressions, the theater cameras will illuminate the audience with infrared beams and create 3-D stereoscopic images of each viewer. Aralia Systems, a British security firm, received a $350,000 grant to develop the system.
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Filed under: Computer, e-News | 7 Comments »
Tags: 3D, Computer, Entertainment, Movies
Posted on November 17th, 2010 by jxh
Isn’t it time that band-aids, which have changed little since their invention in 1920, got a high-tech update? German engineers certainly think so, and that’s why they have created “smart” bandages that turn purple at the first sign of infection.
The new bandage insulates injuries just like any other bandage, but the dressing also contains a special dye that reacts to different pH values.
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Filed under: Biomedical, Chemical, e-News | 1 Comment »
Tags: Biomedical, Chemical
