Important Innovations

N ew Research Says It's a Real Possibility Mars, the Red Planet Evidence of Support for Underground Martian Life New research by Brown University scientists has discovered that ancient Mars had a plentiful supply of key ingredients for microbes to live under the surface of Mars for millions of years. Just Published Research Based on basic physics and chemical calculations, the Brown researchers found that the subsurface of Mars had more than enough dissolved hydrogen to support microbial life.  Their study was just published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Core Findings The scientists found that radiolysis, which is a process by which radiation breaks down water into its basic particles of hydrogen and oxygen, would have created plenty of hydrogen 4 billion years ago on Mars.  They believe the Martian subsurface had the capability to support life for hundreds of millions of years. Intriguing One Step Closer Let's face it.  We are intrigued by the

Facebook Believes VR is Next Big Thing Quest Headset Quest Facebook unveiled a wireless VR headset this week called Oculus Quest.  The company is pushing to popularize the emerging technology by taking it to a mainstream audience.  Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014.  The headset Quest will be available in the spring of 2019. Facebook Goals Facebook leadership believes that VR is the next big thing in human communications after the mobile phone.  The company's goal is to get 1 billion people involved in VR.  Quest offers 6 degrees of freedom and Touch controllers.  It allow you to jump into action with no PC wires or external sensors. VR Future There are expert forecasts that VR headsets and devices will grow in sales by 31% for 2018 over 2017.  A number of heavyweights are investing in the field including Google, Sony and Apple.

Erica Makes Robotic News Erica - The Robot TV News Anchor First Robot TV News Anchor The world has its first robot news anchor.  Nippon Television, the Japanese TV network, has hired Erica to deliver the nightly news.  Erica is a highly advanced robot.  It was developed by the Director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University, Hiroshi Ishiguro.  He says Erica has one of the most advanced artificial speech systems in the world. Likes to Chat The news robot is loaded with the latest tech.  It's capable of holding conversations with humans thanks to speech generation algorithms, facial recognition technology and infrared sensors that track faces across a room. Even Tells Jokes - Robot News Network This robot is no joke.  Erica actually likes to tell jokes.  For now, she'll serve as a news reader. No on-the-road reporting assignments yet but that can't be too far behind on a potential channel called Robot News Network (RNN).

Beachbot Cleans Thailand's Beaches Courtesy PTTEP:  Thailand's Beachbot Beach Cleaning Robot Beach Cleaning Robot Thailand, with its beautiful beaches, is one of the world's top tourist destinations.  But as the crowds grow so does the debris left behind on the beach.  Thailand has dispatched a new cleanup crew -  the beach cleaning robot. Bot Partnership Thai oil and gas exploration company PTTEP and Prince of Songkla University have partnered to create the beach cleaning robot.  They're calling it the PTTEP Love Sea Love Beach project and it's proving effective. WiFi Controlled Beachbot can be controlled remotely by WiFi.  It travels along the beach using a vibrating sleeve to separate the trash from the sand.  It works on dry and wet sand and has a rechargeable battery that lasts for 2 hours. More Beach Patrols The team behind Beachbot are expanding its capabilities and plan to deploy more on Thai beaches.  It's robotic innovation maki

LifeStraw - Personal Water Filter Technology Source:  LifeStraw Don't Drink the Water Dirty water kills millions of people every year.  2.1 billion people globally don't have safe water to drink.  In fact, more people die from contaminated water than from anything else, including war and violence.  A Danish entrepreneur has developed a high tech straw that makes dirty water clean and drinkable. Innovative Technology The straw kills millions of microbes as the water passes through it.  It works like a normal drinking straw.  But it traps contaminants in a number of long, hollow fibers inside the plastic tube.  The company says it traps 99.9% of parasites and 99.9999% of bacteria, including those that cause cholera and typhoid fever. 3rd World Use This technology is of particular importance to developing countries where clean, drinkable water is a scarce commodity.  By 2025, half of the world's population will live in regions where the demand for safe water exc

Design with Rotors that Pop Out of the Wheels Toyota's Flying Car Design Concept Toyota's Quadcopter Toyota has applied for a patent on its flying car design.  The wheels have spring-loaded, pop out helicopter rotors.  It has the appearance of a quadcopter.  If you decide you want to fly and get out of a traffic jam, you switch on the flying mode.  The wheels start to fold upwards.  Then, the wheels sprout rotor blades and spin up, providing lift. Drives Like a Tank According to the patent filing, the wheels and rotors would be electric powered.  It's not clear what type of engine would generate the electricity.  The source could be hydrogen fuel cells, EV batteries or some type of combustion engine.  In driving mode, the flying car would steer in a manner similar to tracked vehicles such as a tank. Crowded Skies There are quite a few flying cars getting close to entering the airspace.  Volvo announced it will start selling sister company Terrafugia's fl

Promise of New & Better Blood Pressure Treatments Source:  OSHU Breakthrough Research by Oregon Health and Science University New research by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland reveals the 3-dimensional structure of a membrane that controls blood pressure.  The membrane is called the human epithelial sodium channel.  It has never been so precisely isolated and detailed as that done by the OHSU researchers. Membrane Is Critical to Human Health Using a cyro-electron microscope, the researchers generated a 3D model of the channel.  Besides being critical to controlling blood pressure, it's also impactful on other functions in the body. The channel enables sodium ions to be absorbed into tissue throughout the body including the kidney.  As such it's critical to human health by regulating sodium balance, blood volume and blood pressure. Great Potential for New Therapies This discovery is expected to lead to new and better blood pressu