Automatic Sliding Door System !

Now you can have the doors in your own home automatically slide open just like they do in retail stores with this automatic sliding door system. This DIY kit includes everything you need to upgrade your doors automatic sliders, giving your home a modern feel.

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Smart glasses that help the blind see

These smart glasses could help bring sight to thousands of blind people, by converting visual information into images that can actually be seen by the visually impaired.

When people use the word blind, they don't always quite mean that someone can't see anything at all; often times, people with visual impairment can perceive some light and motion, just not enough to appreciate the world around them particularly well. So, these glasses—developed at the University of Oxford—try and leverage that fact to offer blind people a chance to see more clearly, reports New Scientist.

They use a camera and infrared projector to detect distance, and combine that data with information gathered from an on-board gyroscope, compass, and GPS system. The images themselves are projected on transparent OLEDs, overlaying high contrast color—in shades that work best for wearer—on top of real life.

That means that specific parts of the images can be made more or less clear, highlighting images against the background, say, or picking out distant objects. The project has just won the Royal Society's Brian Mercer Award for Innovation, and the £50,000 prize money looks set to help make them a real product someday soon. [New Scientist]

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Scientists Discover The World’s Strongest Material: Carbyne

To construct we need materials and each material has its own unique properties. Scientists and Engineers have been trying to find out more and more materials which can be used for building purposes and whose properties match their requirements. Recently, the paradigm has shifted to nano-materials which are stepping up to be the strongest materials available on our planet. This entire struggle has led us to Carbyne.

Rice press release says; ‘Carbyne is a chain of carbon atoms held together by either double or alternating single and triple atomic bonds.’ With such a simple and somewhat straightforward structure, carbine is 200 times stronger than steel and has twice the tensile strength when compared with Graphene. Graphene was the champion among the nano-materials until now

Boris Yakobson professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rice said; ‘You could look at it as an ultimately thin Graphene ribbon, reduced to just one atom, or an ultimately thin nano-tube. It could be useful for nano-mechanical systems, in spintronic devices, as sensors, as strong and light materials for mechanical applications or for energy storage.’

Scientists are still working to find a way to start mass production of this material which has been synthesized in the past at room temperature and they have pinned their hopes to this breakthrough which, if achieved, will result in a dawn of a new era since such strong materials would definitely have their affects on industries around the world

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New Glowing Roads At Night Eliminate The Need Of Street Lights

We are all familiar with the the street lights that illuminate our parks and streets at night, but Pro-Teq, a UK company, has developed an alternative to the conventional lighting method. The company has developed a coating which absorbs UV light during the day and releases it at night. The coat can be sprayed on to the pavement and is also water-proof, meaning it is durable enough to last through any weather. When the coating does begin to fade, it can easily be replenished by spraying on again.

The coating is currently being tested at Christ’s Pieces, a park located in Cambridge UK. According to Pro-Teq the coating only took 30 minutes to apply over the area of 150 square meters and was ready to use four hours later. This technology can prove to be a practical and feasible alternative to the street lights we have grown accustomed to. The pavement, once treated with the coating, not only illuminates itself but emits light allowing visibility. The coating adjusts the amount of light emitted according to the surrounding light conditions. The coating, called Starpath, has anti-slip properties which prevent collisions and the surface is non-reflective as well. Starpath is available in 11 different colors and works best on concrete and tarmac surfaces

The coating is cheap to apply and maintain, and glows with the appropriate intensity according to the available natural light. There are a few drawbacks to the technology, which include unavailability of UV light for the coating to absorb on cloudy days and lack of visibility in areas where snow accumulates on streets. Despite these drawbacks, Starpath is still a very practical alternative to power-consuming street lights.

Christ’s Piece park before application of Starpath

Pavement after application of Starpath

Starpath is available in 11 colors

A worker applying the coating on the pavement

Starpath lighting Christ’s Piece at night

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Electromagnetic Device That Harvests Free Electricity

Bremen-based designer Dennis Siegel built special devices that are able to tap into several electromagnetic fields to exploit them, where the energy is stored in typical batteries. Users can then retain the charges from the power supply of any machine, a cell phone or the catenary of a train by holding the harvester directly into the electromagnetic field whose strength is indicated by a LED on the top of the object.

Depending on the strength of the electromagnetic field it is possible to charge a small battery within one day. The system is meant to be an option for granting access to already existing but unheeded energy sources. By exploring these sources it can create a new awareness of the invisible electromagnetic spaces

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No More Needles: Measuring Blood Sugar With Light

German researchers have reportedly developed a novel, non-invasive method that uses infrared laser light to help monitor the blood glucose levels of people suffering from Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Currently, diabetes patients use electronic devices that require a small drop of blood in order to determine sugar levels. However, the new device would apply infrared light to the top of the skin, measuring the amount of glucose in the fluid in and under skin cells. 

“This opens the fantastic possibility that diabetes patients might be able to measure their glucose level without pricking and without test strips,” lead researcher Dr. Werner Mäntele, a professor at the Institut für Biophysik, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, said in a statement Friday. “Our goal is to devise an easier, more reliable and in the long-run, cheaper way to monitor blood glucose.”

The new method developed by Dr. Mäntele and his colleagues uses a process known as photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) to measure sugar by its mid-infrared absorption of light. Their device applies a painless pulse of laser light to the outside of the skin. That pulse is then absorbed by glucose molecules, creating a unique sound signature which the study authors refer to as the “sweet melody of glucose.”

That signal, they explain, enables experts to detect sugar in skin fluids in a matter of mere seconds. The data that shows skin-cell glucose levels at one-hundredth of a millimeter underneath is associated with blood sugar levels, Dr. Mäntele explained. However, air pressure, temperature and humidity changes caused by contact with living skin has hampered previous efforts to use PAS to record skin-cell sugar readings, the authors noted.

“To overcome these constraints, the team devised a design innovation of an open, windowless cell architecture. While it is still experimental and would have to be tested and approved by regulatory agencies before becoming commercially available, the team continues to refine it,” the American Institute of Physics (AIP), which publishes the Review of Scientific Instruments, explained.

Dr. Mäntele and his team are working with Elté Sensoric of Gelnhausen, Germany, and they plan to have a shoebox-sized version of the device ready in three years

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Measuring glucose without needle pricks

Pricking a finger everyday is just part of everyday life for many diabetes patients. A non-invasive measurement approach could release them from the constant pain of pin pricks. The linchpin is a biosensor engineered by Fraunhofer researchers: A tiny chip combines measurement and digital analysis – and can be radioed to a mobile device

Sticking yourself in the finger day after day: For many diabetics, this means of checking blood glucose is an everyday part of life. Especially for patients with Type-1 diabetes, who always have to keep a close eye on their levels, since their bodies are incapable of producing the insulin to break down the glucose in the blood. Several times a day, they have to place a tiny drop of blood on a test strip. It is the only way they can ascertain the blood glucose value, so they can inject the correct amount of insulin needed. And this pricking is not only a burdensome: it may also cause inflammation or cornification of the skin. And for pain-sensitive patients, the procedure is agony.

The daily sticking of the finger may soon become a thing of the past, thanks to a diagnostic system with Fraunhofer technology built-in. The underlying concept is a biosensor that is located on the patient’s body. It is also able to measure glucose levels continuously using tissue fluids other than blood, such as in sweat or tears. The patient could dispense with the constant needle pricks. In the past, such bioelectric sensors were too big, too imprecise and consumed too much power. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg have recently achieved a major breakthrough: They have developed a biosensor in nano-form that circumvents these hurdles.

Diagnostic system in miniature 
The principle of measurement involves an electrochemical reaction that is activated with the aid of an enzyme. Glucose oxidase converts glucose into hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and other chemicals whose concentration can be measured with a potentiostat. This measurement is used for calculating the glucose level. The special feature of this biosensor: the chip, measuring just 0.5 x 2.0 millimeters, can fit more than just the nanopotentiostat itself. Indeed, Fraunhofer researchers have attached the entire diagnostic system to it. “It even has an integrated analog digital converter that converts the electrochemical signals into digital data,” explains Tom Zimmermann, business unit manager at IMS. The biosensor transmits the data via a wireless interface, for example to a mobile receiver. Thus, the patient can keep a steady eye on his or her glucose level. “In the past, you used to need a circuit board the size of a half-sheet of paper,” says Zimmermann. “And you also had to have a driver. But even these things are no longer necessary with our new sensor.”

Durable biosensor 

The minimal size is not the only thing that provides a substantial advantage over previous biosensors of this type. In addition, the sensor consumes substantially less power. Earlier systems required about 500 microamperes at five volts; now, it is less than 100 microamperes. That increases the durability of the system – allowing the patient to wear the sensor for weeks, or even months. The use of a passive system makes this durability possible. The sensor is able to send and receive data packages, but it can also be supplied with power through radio frequency.

The glucose sensor was engineered by the researchers at Noviosens, a Dutch medical technology firm. Since it can be manufactured so cost-effectively, it is best suited for mass production. These non-invasive measuring devices for monitoring blood glucose levels may become the basis for a particularly useful further development in the future: The biochip could control an implanted miniature pump that, based on the glucose value measured, indicates the precise amount of insulin to administer. That way, diabetes patients could say goodbye to incessant needle-pricks forever

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