Author Topic: What next?  (Read 8930 times)

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Offline Ian

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What next?
« on: September 17, 2010, 12:17:52 pm »
Forget weaving and stitching clothes. A new material could be sprayed directly onto your body and have you ready to go out in minutes.

Particle engineer Paul Luckham and fashion designer Manel Torres from Imperial College London combined cotton fibres, polymers and a solvent to form a liquid that becomes a fabric when sprayed. The material can be built up in layers to create a garment of your desired thickness and can also be washed and worn again like conventional fabrics.

In addition to creating instant fashion, the technology could have a range of other uses – spray-on bandages, for instance. "It's a sterilised material coming from an aerosol can, and you can add drugs to it to help a wound heal faster," says Torres.

On Monday, a fashion show at Imperial will feature the first couture collection created with the material.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Paddy

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Re: What next?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2010, 12:47:32 pm »
Sadly, I haven't got the figure fr spray on clothes!


Offline dontheturner

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Re: What next?
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2010, 12:16:36 pm »
Forget weaving and stitching clothes. A new material could be sprayed directly onto your body and have you ready to go out in minutes.

Particle engineer Paul Luckham and fashion designer Manel Torres from Imperial College London combined cotton fibres, polymers and a solvent to form a liquid that becomes a fabric when sprayed. The material can
On Monday, a fashion show at Imperial will feature the first couture collection created with the material.

This sounds very similar in concept, to the Cocooning, of Army 40KVA Generators used by them in tthe 1970's/80's just before i left the Civil Service. ( Delartment_  when they were shipping kit abroad on the open decks of sea-going comtainer ships  0 pperhaps..  Though this stuff was Rubbery and very thick and of heavy grade,  dontheturner ( New member).

Offline DaveR

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Re: What next?
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2010, 01:15:36 pm »
Welcome to the Forum, Don.  :)

Offline Ian

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Re: What next?
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2010, 01:23:05 pm »
Welcome, indeed.  I know the stuff to which you're referring;  something similar is still being used for equipment in exposed locations.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Ian

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Re: What next?
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2011, 08:15:34 am »
A Nobel laureate claims to have achieved teleportation - albeit at the quantum level.  Full story here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927952.900-scorn-over-claim-of-teleported-dna.html
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Merddin Emrys

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Re: What next?
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2011, 08:27:52 am »
A Nobel laureate claims to have achieved teleportation - albeit at the quantum level.  Full story here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927952.900-scorn-over-claim-of-teleported-dna.html

I can't see it without logging on, I remember years ago they said ' if you recreate someone's particles at a remote location, what do you do with the original?  Mind you I would love to teleport so I could visit Australia for a couple of hours without any of the horrors of air travel  D)
A pigeon is for life not just Christmas

Offline Ian

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Re: What next?
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2011, 08:17:14 am »
Letting drivers read a book, surf the net or possibly even have a snooze while behind the wheel may not sound like the best way to improve road safety. Yet that's precisely the aim of an automatic driving system that has just been road-tested for the first time in Sweden.

By linking cars together into road trains or "platoons" to form semi-autonomous convoys under the control of a professional lead driver, the hope is that average road speeds can be reduced, improving fuel consumption and cutting congestion.

In a test performed late last month, Volvo, one of the partners of the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) Project, showed that a single car could join a platoon, be "enslaved" by a lead truck, and then exit safely. Discussions are now under way to carry out tests on public roads in Spain next year.

Platooning is not a new idea, says Tom Robinson of engineering firm Ricardo UK in Cambridge, the co-ordinator of the project, which is funded by €6.4 million of European Commission money. Early small-scale tests, such as the PATH project tested in San Diego in 1991, used induction loops in the road, he says. "We are looking at operating platoons on public highways without having to change the infrastructure".

Some modern cars already come equipped with sensors and actuators to ensure that they don't get too close to the car in front, or don't drift out of their lane, says Robinson. SARTRE was set up to exploit these technologies, but to use them to bring vehicles closer together instead.

Using a wireless standard developed specifically for vehicle-to-vehicle communication – IEEE 802.11p – these systems would be enslaved by the lead vehicle, which would be either a truck or a coach. The car would be placed under the control of that lead vehicle, allowing the driver to take their hands off the wheel until they wish to leave the platoon.

To join a platoon, a car broadcasts its destination as it drives onto the freeway and a computer system tells the driver of any nearby platoons heading that way.

Each car is fitted with a navigation and communication system which measures the car's speed and direction, constantly adjusting them to keep the car within a set distance of the vehicle in front. All commands to steer or change speed come from the driver of the lead vehicle and are carried out automatically.

Both drivers and authorities will need some convincing that the system is safe and able to cope with unforeseen road hazards, says Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the Automobile Association in Basingstoke, UK. But, he says, it makes a lot of sense. Transport authorities always want to find ways for vehicles to travel more closely together while remaining safe, because it means you can cram more cars on the roads without having to build more lanes.

"If vehicles are driving a lot closer together and there's a lot less variation in vehicle speed, we believe it's likely to reduce congestion," says Robinson. And because the lead vehicle will have its speed limited, fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by up to 20 per cent, he says.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Paddy

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Re: What next?
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2011, 09:59:25 pm »
I seem to remember something on Tomorrows World many years ago where Mercedes Benz had built a track with sensors in the road which would guide the vehicle on a predertimined route so it's not a new idea. Personally, I find Cruise Control a bit freaky.!

Offline DaveR

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Re: What next?
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2011, 08:12:06 am »
I understand Toyota are developing a car that wont need constant recalls....  _))*  :laugh:  :P

"Toyota Motor Corp said it was recalling more than 1.7 million vehicles worldwide, the latest in a string of recalls that have ballooned to nearly 16 million since late 2009, further denting the automaker's reputation for quality.

Shares of Toyota extended their decline after the announcement and closed down nearly 2 percent.

The biggest recall among those announced Wednesday was to fix a faulty fuel pump and connecting pipe in 1.34 million vehicles, including the Noah minivan and other models sold in Japan as well as 141,000 Avensis units sold overseas. That is Toyota's biggest recall in six years and its second-biggest ever for a single defect, said Toyota spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto.

The latest recall will make it harder for Toyota to convince investors it has put its quality problems behind it a year after the world's No. 1 car company went into crisis after massive recalls worldwide to fix faulty brakes blamed in the fatalities of several drivers."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70P1IE20110126

Offline Ian

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Re: What next?
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2011, 09:37:20 am »
Star Wars 3-D holography has arrived -albeit not yet very clearly

http://barabas.scripts.mit.edu/holovideo/

"The holographic images are still rather fuzzy. But just a couple of months after the first demonstration of holographic telepresence, the frame rate has jumped a factor of 30, from one frame every two seconds to an impressive 15 frames per second.

Michael Bove's group at the MIT Media Lab achieved the feat by hacking the camera sensor from a Kinect gesture-recognition system for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and crunching data with standard graphics chips.To give their demonstration extra flair, graduate student Edwina Portocarrero dressed up as Princess Leia from Star Wars and recreated the famous holographic projection of a plea for help from the movie.

The real holographic image couldn't match the resolution achieved by special effects in the movie, Bove says, but adds, "Princess Leia wasn't being transmitted in real time. She was stored" in R2-D2's memory. "
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline DaveR

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Re: What next?
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2011, 09:52:59 am »
The real holographic image couldn't match the resolution achieved by special effects in the movie, Bove says, but adds, "Princess Leia wasn't being transmitted in real time. She was stored in R2-D2's memory. "
What a geek.  ;D _))*

brumbob

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A future without car crashes
« Reply #12 on: February 07, 2011, 11:10:52 am »
More than a million people die in car accidents each year but experts in the industry now believe fatal smashes could be eliminated.
Some hope there could be an end to car crashes altogether.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12338590

This new electronic technology is all well and good until it fails and working in the car industry I know just how often this can happen.

There is also talk of 'road trains', where a lead driver takes the reigns and all the following drivers are linked by sensors enabling them to take their hands off the wheel and read/watch tv etc
but what if they are all slowly overtaking me and I want to turn right and what if the lead driver crashes, the train cars will only be inches behind each other, no sensors in the world could stop these cars if the lead car suddenly crashes into a wall.

Offline Ian

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Re: What next?
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2011, 08:44:20 am »
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Ian

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Re: What next?
« Reply #14 on: April 26, 2013, 06:02:56 pm »
For all those concerned about nationalities, language and immigration:

http://www.atlasdna.co.uk/service/ancestry-dna-testing/

Apparently Nigel Farage is from France....
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.