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Over the course of his candidacy, President-elect Donald Trump has scorned automakers—particularly Ford— who “send jobs elsewhere†by building plants outside of the U.S. Now that Trump will be the next president, the industry is concerned about its copious investments outside of the U.S.
from Gizmodo http://jalopnik.com/auto-industry-fears-trumps-tariffs-could-add-5-000-to-1788813831
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When is comes to HIV tests, a drop of blood and a USB stick may be all patients need in the near future. Scientists at the Imperial College London developed a device with the help of medical testing company DNA Electronics that detects HIV levels in the bloodstream and creates a signal that can be read using a computer or handheld gadget. The disposable testing units could be used to help HIV patients monitor their treatment as well as improve how doctors manage the virus in remote locations.
The compact device monitors the amount of the HIV virus that’s present in a patient’s bloodstream, a measurement that’s essential in keeping tabs on how effective treatment is battling the virus. Monitoring the amount of the virus that’s present in a blood sample can let doctors know if a patient stops taking their medication or if the current course of action has stopped working. Researchers are also hoping that the technology can be used to test for hepatitis and other viruses. DNA Electronics is already using the setup to develop a testing method for sepsis and antibiotic resistance.
The USB stick is not only very accurate, but it can offer results on HIV levels in less than 30 minutes. In fact, the average wait time for results was just over 20 minutes during the research phase. That’s a huge improvement from the current wait time of about three days, mostly due to the fact that a blood sample has to be sent to a lab for analysis. As you might expect, those types of labs don’t exist in certain parts of the world where HIV rates are highest.
Driven by a mobile phone chip, the gadget only needs a small amount of blood to perform its analysis. When the HIV virus is detected in the blood sample, the USB stick triggers a change in acidity which the aforementioned chip transforms into an electric signal. That signal is then translated into a reading for a program on either a computer or other electronic device. During the latest round of trials, the setup tested nearly 1,000 samples with 95 percent accuracy. In the meantime, scientists are hard at work on a cure for HIV, but a solution there could still be a long way off.
Via: Phys.org
Source: Imperial College London
from Engadget https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/10/hiv-test-usb-stick/
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Silicon Valley is right to be rattled by the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. But some in the Valley are now suggesting that California secede from the U.S.—a small-minded, knee-jerk response that a community of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists should know better than to embrace.
Both Bloomberg and the New York Times say that “Silicon Valley reels†following his election. That’s understandable. Views in the tech industry are certainly at odds with the public sentiment that propelled Trump to victory. They tend to embrace global intellect, overseas manufacturing, and offshore banking—all of which run counter to the Trumpian world view. And the populist vote clearly rallied against the coastal elites amassing fortunes while creating few new jobs.
Tensions between the industry and the incoming government that never existed with Obama in office are unavoidable.
To be sure, Trump will harry tech companies in California, the Pacific Northwest, and elsewhere. He will likely pursue Amazon over antitrust claims, chase tax payments from the likes of Microsoft and Google, and may try to halt AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. A doubling down on issues such as immigration, trade, and more directly tech-related concerns such as encryption and privacy will all ruffle the tech world’s feathers.
But there’s murmuring from some members of the Silicon Valley elite, among them Hyperloop co-founder Shervin Pishevar, that the state of California should secede from the U.S. It even has a snappy name: Calexit.
Sure, California could easily got it alone. It’s certainly rich enough: according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, it had a gross state product of $2.5 trillion in 2015. That makes it the sixth largest economy in the world.
But the proposal to exit the U.S. is an immature response to a grown-up problem. Really, the suggestion is little better than the “us and them†sentiment that underpins Trump’s questionable desire to build a wall between America and Mexico. Silicon Valley has already created huge tensions within its own state; a splinter would exacerbate those problems and hurt America, too.
The future for technologists does look uncertain, and their relationship with government is about to change. Calexit, though, is not the answer. Instead, “regardless of which candidate each of us supported as individuals, the only way to move forward is to move forward together†No, that’s not Donald Trump’s rhetoric (though he did say something similar during his acceptance speech). It’s actually a quote from Tim Cook’s memo to Apple staff yesterday.
There are some sane voices in Silicon Valley. The technology industry would be well-served to heed them, rather than building walls of its own.
(Read more: Bloomberg, The New York Times, Guardian, “Bad Math Props Up Trump’s Border Wall,†“The All-American iPhone,†“Six Big Technology Questions for President Trumpâ€)
from Technology Review Feed – Tech Review Top Stories https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602835/silicon-valleys-call-to-secede-shows-how-out-of-touch-it-is/
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While manned and unmanned military aircraft have taken up the lion’s share of press and popular attention at the Zhuhai 2016 Airshow, China is making important leaps in building jetliners and large transport planes. The success of these projects will be critical pillar for both China’s civilian aviation industry as well as Beijing’s plans become a high-tech economy and world power.
The world’s largest military aircraft currently in production, the Y-20, is China’s heavy transport aircraft. Built by the Xian Aircraft Corporation, it has a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 200 tons and a 66-ton payload, and is entering People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) service this year.
The Y-20 made a repeat appearance at Zhuhai 2016 (it debuted at Zhuhai 2014) as the Y-20F-100, which can carry 28 air freight containers with a total weight of 65 tons—enough to transport high bypass domestic WS-20 engines. In addition to increasing its fuel efficiency, this means that China would not need Russian approval to export the Y-20F-100.
The debut of the CAIGA (an AVIC subsidiary) AG-600 seaplane prototype was one of Zhuhai 2016’s pleasant surprises. With a maximum takeoff weight of 53.6 tons and room for 50 passengers, the AG-600 is the world’s largest seaplane, beating out the Japanese U-2. By the end of the show, AVIC claimed to have received 17 orders for the AG-600 from domestic and foreign customers. Here’s why: large seaplanes are well-suited for firefighting, maritime search and rescue missions, anti-submarine and littoral irregular warfare, and resupplying small island bases, like those in the South China Sea.
Zhong Hai Zhi Technology, a private Chinese drone builder, showed off its 3-ton T333 Helicopter cargo UAV. T333 has a payload of 1.5 tons and speed of 300 kilometers (or about 186 miles) per hour. Compared to conventional helicopter layouts, its coaxial rotor saves weight and increases speed. At 3 tons, it is the largest purpose-built helicopter drone (some conversions like the K-MAX are bigger) in the world.
While the smaller T220 is already in service with Chinese civilian and military customers, the T333 may be joined by even bigger cousins in the years to come. Chinese military users would find that the T333’s small size and respectable payload well suited for both unmanned aerial resupply of Chinese troops in difficult-to-reach mountain and urban areas, as well as for naval uses, like anti-submarine warfare, on warships too small to carry manned helicopters.
One of the true stars of Zhuhai 2016 was the C919 jetliner, China’s modern passenger jet, which garnered 56 orders at the event. Following on the much-delayed regional ARJ-21 jet, the 75-ton C919 is in the same class as the Boeing B737 and Airbus A320, seating up to 156 passengers in its basic two-class configuration. It has a wingspan of 117.5 feet and a length of 130.6 feet.
After a couple of years of delay, the first C919 prototype rolled out of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China’s (COMAC) Shanghai factory in November 2015, and is undergoing extensive ground testing before its maiden flight in the first half of 2017. While most of its 573 current orders are from Chinese airlines, the global success of the C919 as a lower-cost alternative to western aircraft would be a political and technological triumph for China. In addition, experience from the C919 will give COMAC the base to build larger next-generation jetliners.
On Nov. 2, Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov announced that COMAC and its Russian counterpart, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), will form a $12 billion to $20 billion joint venture to build a Sino-Russian wide body jumbo jet. COMAC Vice President Guo Bozhi said that the jumbo jet, tentatively named "C929", will enter service around 2025 and be assembled in Shanghai.
The C929 will have a range of 7,456 miles and will have three variants, seating 250, 280 and 320 passengers respectively. This would roughly place the C929 in the same weight class as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. China and Russia hope that combining Chinese resources with past Russian experiences, along with foreign inputs like western Rolls Royce and General Electric engines, will help them produce a high-tech jetliner that’s 10 percent cheaper than its western competitors. In addition to providing a cheaper option for civilian long haul flights, the C929 could serve as a fuel efficient platform for large Chinese or Russian military aircraft like airborne early warning command and control, aerial tankers, surveillance, electronic intelligence gathering, and VIP transport.
You may also be interested in:
China and Russia Joins Forces to Build New Jumbo Jet
Not as Sexy as Stealth but Maybe More Important: China Shows Off New Cargo Planes
China’s Next Generation Jetliner Takes a Big Step
China Builds the World’s Largest Seaplane
New Chinese Twin Engined Jetliner C919 Moves Forward
China Builds Power Projection Foundations With New Cargo Plane and Warship
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now http://www.popsci.com/mega-planes-zhuhai-chinas-shows-off-its-next-generation-air-cargo-and-transportation?dom=rss-default&src=syn
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Water. Its absence has ignited wars and leveled societies. It’s our most precious commodity and one that is growing increasingly scarce.
What if you could pull it out of thin air?
Cody Friesen, founder of Arizona startup Zero Mass Water, is on a mission to do just that.
“Drinking water is a fundamental human right,†Friesen said. “We intrinsically own the air we breathe by just taking a breath, and almost no one on the planet owns the water they drink.â€
Friesen developed Source, a solar panel that draws moisture from the air we breathe and condenses it into drinkable water.
“Anybody who has an air conditioner makes water from air. There’s nothing magical there,†said Friesen. “What we set out to do is to develop a solar panel that makes drinking water instead of electricity.â€
How does it work? Imagine a salt shaker with grains of rice interspersed among the salt. The rice absorbs moisture, keeping the salt dry. Zero Mass Water developed a material that acts like those grains of rice, absorbing water from the air.
Water is extracted from that material and purified. Source adds calcium and magnesium to match the flavor and pH of bottled water, producing 5 liters each day – enough to sate a family of four.
Because Source is powered entirely by solar energy, it can operate far from a power grid or centralized water supply. It is a leapfrog technology much like solar panels and cell phones, which have allowed those in developing countries to generate electricity and connect to the internet without constructing power plants or installing phone lines.
Friesen says panels are built to last and maintenance is easy. Refill the mineral supplement every now and then and look out for repairs, and things should stay nice and wet.
“Anyone who can use a Phillips-head screwdriver can do maintenance on the system,†he said. “It’s all within arms reach and very, very simple.†Before long, he says, replacement parts will be available online.
Friesen, a professor of engineering at Arizona State University, developed Source in the dry Southwest. The invention has already garnered interest from consumers in California and Arizona who want to use it replace bottled water.
Source will prove even more valuable to consumers in developing countries. Roughly one in ten people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Climate change threatens to exacerbate this problem by fueling drought in vulnerable regions. A machine that can draw moisture from the air would be eminently useful for families in poor, remote areas.
Zero Mass Water has already installed panels in the United States, Mexico, Jordan, and Ecuador. Friesen recalled the story of one family in Ecuador that installed a panel, and the impact it had on their young daughter.
“It fundamentally changed that little girl’s life,†said Friesen. “She went from having no clean water… to, all of a sudden, having perfectly clean, beautiful drinking water.â€
Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture. You can follow him at @deaton_jeremy.
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now http://www.popsci.com/this-machine-turns-sunshine-and-air-into-clean-water?dom=rss-default&src=syn
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Whether for cars, trucks, aircraft, or wind turbines, aerodynamics is a critical aspect of improving energy efficiency. Aerodynamics is a complex science — calculations need to be performed with a high degree of precision and accuracy, since every 1 percent of change in aerodynamic drag or lift has enormous implications on machine performance. Aerodynamic simulation, therefore, requires accurate flow solvers, comprehensive turbulence models, and precise geometry handling.
from NASA Tech Briefs http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1228-ntb/webcasts/upcoming-webinars/25691-a-new-paradigm-in-turbulence-modeling-for-aerodynamic-simulation?Itemid=131
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One of the most unsettling moments in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is when it’s revealed that HAL 9000 can read lips, leaving no secrets between the astronauts and the ship’s computer. That might have been science fiction, but 15 years after the events of that film, researchers in the real world have finally taught computers how to read lips.
from Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/researchers-just-created-the-most-amazing-lip-reading-s-1788748163
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