Technology Innovation Today – Page 19 – Technological Advances Worldwide

Driving while intoxicated isn’t the only cause of alcohol-related transportation deaths in Japan. Over half of the 221 passengers who were killed by trains in the country last year were drunk. In an effort to aid these inebriated commuters, Kyobashi station in Osaka isinstalling 46 cameras that automatically scan for signs of drunkenness and alert staff to intervene if necessary. West Japan Railway said that in addition to spotting passengers who are stumbling around the station, the cameras are also programmed to detect commuters who stand on the platform for extended periods of…

Transport Tech

Levitating Rocket Sled Breaks World Speed Record

September 25, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

A levitating rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico recently broke the world speed record for maglev tracks, clocking in at 633 mph. The rocket sled, which is basically a rocket bolted to a small platform, achieved such high speeds thanks to supercooled magnets that hold the sled about an inch off of the rails, allowing it to hover in midair. With only wind resistance holding it back, the sled and its rocket booster surpassed the previous record — set earlier this year by the same sled —…

Medical Tech

Gold and Lasers Produce Plasmonic Nanobubbles to Kill Residual Cancer Cells

September 24, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

A team of scientists headed by folks at Rice University have developed a way of killing off neoplastic cells that often remain after surgical procedures and end up causing a recurrence of cancers. The investigators managed to produce gold nanoparticles with cancer antibodies attached to them that seek out specific cancer cells. The gold nanoparticles are sensitive to laser light, quickly heating up and producing a so-called plasmonic nanobubble within surrounding liquid. This destroys the cancer cell to which the antibody was attracted, but it also pinpoints the location where the killing occurred.…

The Growing Potential of Quantum Computing

September 23, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

As modern computers continue to reach the limits of their processing power, quantum computing is starting to offer hope for solving more specialized problems that require immensely robust computing. Quantum computers were once thought an impossible technology because they harness the intricate power of quantum mechanics and are housed in highly unconventional environments. But these machines now have the potential to address problems ranging from finding drugs that can target specific cancers to valuing portfolio risk, says Vern Brownell, founder and CEO of D-Wave Systems, the Canadian company that in…

Other Tech

We hereby announce Tech Innovation Today’s Spring 2018 Technology Essay Contest!

September 22, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

We hereby announce Tech Innovation Today’s Spring 2018 Technology Essay Contest! Technological innovation is occurring at a pace faster than ever before. We awake to news of some breakthrough medical technology or success in next-generation computers or smartphones. Massive advances in the transport sector is giving us a clearer glimpse into what the future holds. It is simply awe-inspiring to witness the reusable rocket booster by SpaceX land safely back on earth on a tiny platform floating on the ocean. And each month we are greeted by the discovery of…

Other Tech

ARmKeypad Air keeps your grubby mitts off the interface

September 18, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

Making interfaces touch-free is a problem with a number of solutions, such asvoice control to hand gesture recognition. NEC’s ARmKeypad brings augmented reality (AR) into the mix to display a virtual interface onto the user’s arm, with input registered through vibrations from the tapping of fingers on the arm. Now the company has announced a new, tap-free version called the ARmKeypad Air that provides a completely contact-free interface. After we first heard about the ARmKeypad back in 2011, things kind of went quiet until November last year, when it resurfaced in the form of…

Medical Tech

Microneedle Patch for Painless Monitoring of Drug Intake

September 13, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

A collaboration between researchers at the University of British Columbia and Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland has developed a microneedle device for drug monitoring. The device is in a form of a patch that’s stuck onto the skin, painlessly pushing microneedles through to sample the interstitial fluid. A number of microneedle patches already exist, but those have been developed for delivering drugs and vaccines, not sampling the body for their presence. The proof-of-concept device reported by the team was used to measure the concentration of vancomycin, an antibiotic that usually requires…

Transport Tech

You Don’t Like Sharing Your Car. But Can Elon Musk Change Your Mind?

September 6, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

Last week, tech wonderboy Elon Musk released his much-awaited Master Plan, Part Deux, a wildly ambitious blueprint to change American mobility as we know it: autonomous buses that might appear on-demand, and new electric big-rigs, pick-ups and SUVs. Oh, and sharing. Lots of sharing. Anyone will be able to use the Tesla app to add their self-driving Tesla to the wider Tesla fleet, Musk says. It will allow cash-poor wannabe Tesla owners the chance to take one for a spin while its real owner is, say, disrupting the Silicon Valley…

Other Tech

New Gorilla Glass Smartphone Screens Promise To Be Stronger Than Ever

August 31, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

Imagine this: It’s late, you’re tired. You reach for your phone in your pocket. You go to grab it and before you realize it, your grip has loosened and your precious cargo is on the ground ― facedown. That next moment, before you turn it over to assess the damage, is terrifying. Is it shattered? Have I broken it? Have I just ruined everything? Well, the glassmaker behind Gorilla Glass is about to make those moments a lot less scary. Corning, the company behind the chemically strengthened glass known as Gorilla Glass that’s…

Transport Tech

Step Aside, Rockets – Ion Engines Are the Future of Space Travel

August 26, 2022February 20, 2024 admin

The NASA spacecraft Dawn has spent more than seven years traveling across the solar system to intercept the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Now in orbit around Ceres, the probe has returned the first images and data from these distant objects. But inside Dawn itself is another first – the spacecraft is the first exploratory space mission to use an electrically-powered ion engine rather than conventional rockets. Such ion engines will propel the next generation of spacecraft. Inside an Ion Engine Ion engines use electric power to create charged…