Important Innovations

Japan and China Collaboration Toyota and BYD New E-Cars This is another important milestone in the future of electric vehicles which are zooming to a car dealer near you.  Japan's Toyota and Chinese electric car maker BYD are joining forces.  The deal is to create new batteries to power and develop your new electric vehicle. The two companies are accelerating their push for production of green, zero emissions vehicles. They just announced a new joint venture research project to drive it home in months for retail. Delivery in 2020 Their timeline is impressive. They expect to deliver their new vehicles in 2020.  Included are their electric sedans and low floor SUVs coming to market with the Toyota brand in early 2020. Important news on the future of driving electric.

Fictional Adventure Story for Children, Narrated by me TV Journalist Maryanne Kane Today Went Live on Audible, iTunes and ACX I’m pleased to announce that the children’s fiction adventure book “How Dare You” by my brother and fellow TV journalist Edward Kane is now up live as an audiobook on Audible, iTunes and ACX.   The narrator is me, US TV journalist Maryanne Kane.  What I like so much about the book is the unique journey it takes with a young girl facing a very common but difficult situation - loneliness - , her choices, her enchanting adventures and the lessons everyone learns along the way. Story Line The story showcases the adventures of Cordy and how she overcomes loneliness in her new neighborhood.   Cordy helps form her school’s cross country team and starts running through an enchanted, magical forest that comes alive.   Along the running route, many friendships are made and important life lessons are learned. I think the lessons are for all of us.  That

Important Wearable Device Breakthrough Source:  Wrist Watch Bionic from Nanjing University Safe, Low Power Display Screens on Your Skin This is fascinating new innovation from Chinese researchers at Nanjing University.  They've invented a new way to put displays like a wrist watch bionic or real time medical readouts on your skin.  The extremely thin device is said to be safe, flexible and requires very little power to operate.  It's a new wearable similar to a temporary tattoo but it displays electronic data like time. Tech that Could Revolutionize Wearables This new technology could revolutionize wearable devices for many users.  For runners, it could mean a bionic watch taped on your hand to watch your times as you run.  For health care tracking, it could mean real-time displays on your skin of medical data from already flexible medical devices. What Makes This New The Chinese researchers have overcome the need for high voltage to operate skin wearables, which

Microrobots with Controlled Flight Source:  Harvard University Search & Rescue Missions Harvard's RoboBees are the first microbots powered by soft actuators to achieve controlled flight. They have soft artificial muscles that enable them to survive crashes and collisions making them perfect for search and rescue missions in dangerous, cluttered environments. The robobees are so sturdy, dexterous and resilient they can even crash into a wall or collide with another robobee without any damage. Hoverbots The tiny robots are equipped with actuators made from dielectric elastomers that deform when hit with an electrical current.  The actuators are soft and the Harvard team says they're easily assembled and scaled up.  Unlike other drones made with soft actuators, the robobees have enough power density to hover in place. Going for Commercialization The Harvard team has created a number of models including one with 8 wings and 4 actuators that can

Revolutionary New Electric, Self-Heating Battery Source:  Penn State University Recharges in 10 Minutes with Up to 300 Mile Range The future of driving green and emissions free is electric.  Now a team of engineers at Penn State University has invented a new battery to make that future a lot closer and more doable.  Their new lithium-ion battery can be charged in ten minutes, self-heats and provides a driving range up to 300 miles.  They envision this being done at local service stations with electric charges for EV's. Revolutionary New Tech This new battery is revolutionary.  It can be recharged over and over again for up to 500,000 miles of travel.  That's a big deal.  Some lithium-ion batteries rapidly degrade based on ambient temperatures.  This battery overcomes current limitations.  The Penn State team has installed nickel foil on the batteries, eliminating lithium plating. The nickel warms quickly through resistance to 140F. That triggers rapid charging bu

Far Better Mapping of Wet Road Conditions Source:  Toyota Toyota's New Tech Innovation Toyota's connected windshield wipers are designed to create far more accurate weather maps when the wipers are operating.  They're part of a joint project between Toyota and Japan-based Weathernews, which offers app based weather reports.  The 2 companies are currently conducting what they call a "verification test" using wiper data to provide drivers with real-time information about road weather risks.  They say the tech is designed to increase driver safety by increasing the accuracy of available weather forecasts and data. Lots of Tech Involved The system uses the onboard loT communications in most new Toyota models, along with Big Data and artificial intelligence.  It can detect whether wipers are on or off in designated regions.  By using data on the operational status of wipers, Weathernews weather data and vehicle data

Aeroponically Grown Vertical Vegetables and Herbs Source:  Prague University Scientists From Prague University, Important Food Science Czech scientists from Prague University have created a new lab to experiment on growing food for very constrained and extreme conditions with a lack of water like on Mars.  But the utilization is also for back on Earth to boost agricultural output in places hard hit by urbanization and Climate Change. Marsonaut Experiment The Czech scientists call it the Marsonaut Experiment and it's being led by their top life scientists.  They're using aeroponics which grow plants in the air, without any soil and very little water.  To minimize space, they grow the plants in vertical units stacked one on top of the other. Harvest Time The team has succeeded in growing salad leaves, mint, basil, mustard plants, herbs and radishes.  They enjoyed the fruits of their harvest last week and said it tasted great. Their next big crop is strawberries.  Th

Betting Big on Electric Vehicles Driv ing to an All Electric Market Over the next five years, GM CEO Mary Barra expects to spend more money on research, development and selling electric vehicles than gas powered cars.  She also thinks the production of electric cars will be less labor intensive than gas powered vehicles.  GM has 20 electric models in the pipeline that will be on the market in 2023.  Barra believes the future of driving and the future for GM is fully electric. UAW Contract:  No Limits on Electric Vehicles CEO Mary Barra shared her vision of the future of electric vehicles with the Wall Street analyst community.  She forecasts that electric vehicles will start becoming an increasingly larger part of the sales mix by 2030.  Barra just signed a labor contract with the UAW union that is concerned about its membership losing jobs because of the less labor intensive manufacturing of electric vehicles.  However, the new UAW contract does not limit the number of electri

New Tech from MIT Enables Self-Driving Cars to See Around Corners Early Warning System to Prevent Accidents MIT engineers and computer scientists have invented an advanced early warning system to make autonomous cars safer and prevent collisions.  The device is called ShadowCam and can read tiny changes in shadows on the ground to detect an oncoming car or pedestrian that isn't yet visible. This is an advanced early warning system that's been successfully tested on autonomous vehicles in enclosed parking garages.  It's capable of alerting an autonomous vehicle to slowdown or stop for oncoming vehicles and walking pedestrians in blind-spots.  For a great news blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Making Autonomous Cars Safer : ShadowCam - New MIT Technology Source:  MIT Cars That See Around Corners MIT engineers and computer scientists have invented a new d...

"Important Innovation Collection" - Audiobook Series on Innovation Source:  Important Innovations Collection by Edward Kane/Maryanne Kane New Free Codes from ACX  National TV journalists Ed Kane and co-author/narrator Maryanne Kane have just received new free codes from ACX for listeners to enjoy for free our audiobooks on new innovations in travel modes, robotics and renewable energy.  Just email either Ed at ejkane2@gmail.com or me at mdkane26@gmail.com to get a great resource audiobook on the latest in global innovations. Important Innovations Collection: ACX Free Codes - My Audiobooks : Important Innovation Collection Audiobooks By Journalists Ed Kane, Maryanne Kane Robotics, Energy and Travel - Three New Audiobooks on t...

Takes off Like a Rocket Monday But Hits a Little Choppy Air Tuesday Source:  NYSE Listed on the NYSE Virgin Galactic is the first space tourism company to land on Wall Street.  It's listed on the NYSE as SPCE.  It began trading on Monday and right out of the launch pad it soared up 5% at its debut.  It has a market cap of $1 billion. This underscores the interest of investors and the public in space tourism.   On Tuesday, the stock hit a little choppy air and as of 3PM Eastern Time is trading in the day range of $12.51 - $10.50.  Founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic CEO George Whiteside were on hand to ring the First Trade Bell on Monday to commemorate the occasion.  Sir Richard commented:  "Now anyone can invest in the future of space". Space Tourism Plans Virgin Galactic has intergalactic plans. It first wants to offer space flights to six passengers at a time for $250,000 each for trips to the weightless outskirts of space.  Trips begin in the sum

US Air Force's X-37B Spaceplane - Clouded in Mysteries & Missions Successfully Lands After Record Orbit The US Air Force announced that its top secret, experimental spaceplane - the X-37B - just successfully landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in FL after a record flight. The spaceplane has been more than two years - 780 days - in orbital flight.  This is its longest test mission for a group of military technologies.  The X-37B is an experimental, test spaceship.  It was built by Boeing, is operated by the US Air Force and was launched into its latest mission aboard a SpaceX rocket. Clandestine Missions This is the spaceplane's 5th mission.  What the missions have entailed are for the most part a mystery.  They are top secret missions.  But we do know the purpose is to demonstrate new technologies, such as propulsion systems, avionics and spacecraft reentry systems for what the Air Force hopes will be a "reliable, reusable, unmanned space test pl

New System to Fight Climate Change Source:  MIT image of the system New Carbon Capture Technology from MIT Engineers This new technology is from MIT engineers to clean the air of CO2 and fight climate change.  Their invention removes CO2 from air streams at almost any concentration levels from the open air to emissions from power plants.  MIT says it works like a large battery and it requires low energy and low money to operate when compared to other approaches. Like a Battery Like a very large battery, the MIT system absorbs CO2 from a gas stream that passes over its electrodes as it charges up.  While going through the process, the device alternates between charging and discharging.  During the charging cycle, fresh air blows through the system.  During discharging, concentrated carbon dioxide blows through.  As the process is done, pure carbon dioxide is discharged.  The MIT engineers say their carbon capture tech shows the power of electrochemical approaches