NEURAL LACE: USB TO THE BRAIN

A thoroughly amazing concept and exciting prospect. The technology to connect the human brain to the computer is just inches away from being achieved. It is always fascinating to access infinite knowledge inside our brain like in many sci-fi movies like Lucy and Limitless. Imagine Terminator like humans or human cyborgs who have enhanced brains. For those of you who have played the game Halo, might be familiar with these neural implants. This device has the capability to mingle with the neural networks inside the brain and get connected to external computers as well. It is popularly known as the ‘neural lace’.

A research team from the Harvard University and the National Center for Nanotechnology and Science in Beijing have developed mesh shaped electronics that can fit inside a 0.1 millimeter syringe. This electronic mesh is super thin and so flexible that it can be inserted into the brain through the syringe and the mesh quietly gets interfaced with the internal structure of the brain. The work of these researchers have been published in the paper ‘National Nanotechnology’. This neural lace is said to inter-connect with the neural networks of the brain and peacefully monitor the neural activities without any disturbance. Also it could lead to the connection between our mind and the data or information found in the computers or better, the internet.

So is this device ready for humans? It has already been successfully tested on mice. These mice did not show any degradation in their activities and their brains remained healthy and normal. Their brain cells grew around the mesh and got intertwined with the neural lace. They also thrived normally when compared with other mice.  The scientists were able to track and monitor the activities of the brain.

The connection to the computer from the brain was by wire. Soon it could become wireless which could be of critical importance. Once it becomes a wireless implant, doctors can use it to treat neurological disorders or diseases without the need for surgery or insertion of devices with a risk of brain damage. Moreover, it can also mean that our brain stays connected to computers which allows us access to any kind of information or knowledge. Scientists can then research on the inaccessible parts of the brains of animals previously only accessible by cutting a portion of the brain. So the ideas to use these implants are numerous but this futuristic device is still in development. Hopefully one day we might be able to see the neural lace come into reality.

Written by: Akash Gopalakrishnan
Website: www.thepapers.in

The Future Armor: ALON

Yes believe it or not…transparent aluminium!! It is an absolute delight when science fiction become true. Star Trek fans would get the reference here but for those who do not…in the movie Star Trek IV:The Voyage Home, one of the central characters gives away the secret to manufacture a tank using a relatively futuristic element to carry hunchback whales required to get back and save their home! The secret given by the way, was of course, to build a transparent aluminium tank.Well we could say that it is in the act of becoming real.

                      The concept is relatively an old one which came about in the 1950s but implementation took time. The Star Trek movie came about in 1986 so we know it was already in the mind of scientists for quite some time. Basically the entire idea doesn’t mean using only aluminium, instead it is combined with ceramic material to give the transparency and also significant properties. So the material is actually a transparent alumina ceramic, scientifically known as Aluminium oxynitride or AION. It is a ceramic which composes of aluminium, oxygen and nitrogen. Commercially, it is known as ALON which is being marketed by Surmet Corporation. Its crystal structure, mechanical and optical properties make it one of the lightest and hardest transparent materials. According to Wikipedia, AION is the hardest polycrystalline transparent ceramic available commercially. So where does its significance lie?

              It is found to be four times harder than traditional glass…or transparent silica glass and 85% as hard as sapphire which is one of the most hardest substances found on earth. So the dual property of being a light material which is at the same time really hard gives it pretty cool applications. In military, it is currently being tested in comparison with the usual bullet resistant glass. As expected it was found to resist bullet fire rounds that usually pierce the bullet resistant glass. Moreover, it’s lightweight property made it a very light fit in the armory tank. It can work as a transparent aluminium armor on the whole. A big plus is the fact that it rarely needs replacement and lasts long unlike glass. But why the hold up in its widespread production?

              The main reason behind its stagnancy in production is huge expenditure. The development of this material requires a considerable amount of money. Also, the infrastructure required to produce this material in bulk has not yet been manufactured. For the material to work, it requires the base elements in the right composition and also the manufacturing process needs to be meticulous.

             The idea of AION seems good and hopefully when scientists find a way to weigh down costs in production, it may come to the fore. Till then, transparent bulletproof glass will remain the primary material in need. Check out the .50 caliber test on ALON.

Water On Mars

Man is exploring,and now exploration is beyond the planet. Mars,one of the nearest planet of the earth have been declared to have traces of water present on its surface. Mars could have entire oceans’ worth of water locked deep inside the rocks. Water almost exists in the form of ice. However some amount of liquid water and vapours are also present on its surface.

Nasa’s curiosity rover has found that water can exist as liquid near the MARTIAN surface. However water in liquid state is rarely found, it is abundantly found in the form of ice which is present beneath the permanent carbon di oxide ice cap at the martian south pole.

About 4.3 billon years ago mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in liquid layer about 450 feet deep. Moreover water would have been formed an ocean covering half of the red planets surface. But current situation is entirely different. Water is rarely found in flowing state. However efforts are made to extract the available water.

How water can be extracted from the surface of mars?

Mainly on the red planet water is extracted from the soil. Location for extraction is selected based on the water content present in the soil. The expected location is 40 and 45 degree North. Extraction process will involve life support unit and extractor. The water extractor will heat the soil till water gets evaporated and then evaporated water is made to condense and stored. The dry soil gets expelled and the process is repeated to extract large amount of water.

Although large amount of efforts are made by the scientists but there exists some of the challenges which hinders the lively conditions on mars. Some of the challenges are:

• Atmospheric pressure at the surface of mars is just 600 pascals which is about 0.6% of earths’ mean sea level. So it becomes difficult for water bodies to survive in such condition.
• Moreover thin films of water is formed when salt in the soil absorbs vapour from the atmosphere, these films are of about 70 degree which is too cold to support any of the microbial life form. Since the global average temperature is far too low,it leads to either rapid evaporation or rapid freezing

MARS lacks a thick atmosphere,ozone layer and magnetic field which allows solar and cosmic radiation to strike the surface. This damaging effect of ionising radiations on cellular structure is one of the most limiting factor for the survival of organisms.

Although there are some possibilities of availability of water on the red planet but current environment status of the planet is dry and subfreezing, presenting large obstacle for the extraction of water. However understanding water on mars is vital to assess the planets’ potential for harboring life and for providing usable resources for future human exploration.

Written by: Aakriti Jain

Written at: thepapers.in

3D Cursor : Touch Is In The Air!

Do you know about Automan?

If not, Automan was a science fiction show that featured a  cursor and portrayed a character as hologram.The idea of the three-dimensional cursor is to extend actions such as marking or using a cursor as an insertion point or transformations like rotation,to a new level,a three-dimensional level.The new cursor challenges the notion of what a cursor is and what it does.The cursor becomes a drawing and controlling plane.This technology was originally based for a tablet,but since there is no external involvement the device can be anything,like smart watches or smartphones.

What is a control plane?

This can be explained using a butterfly-net analogy.If the user wants to sweep through the screen he/she can simply use gestures to glide through the 3D environment.A user can manipulate the actions performed by using different gestures,like pinching or spreading fingers causing the object at hand to change the shape.A higher version of the 3D cursor is shown in the movie iron-man.

In the movie the user can control the 3D environment around him using simply his bodily gestures.The user can draw,control,select objects and much more just by using gestures.

The engineers developing the software are immersed in work.They have created real life scenarios such as a living room where they can select the furniture and have a virtual idea of how it might look in real life.The real life possibilities of the 3D cursor are endless.It can be used in various fields like medical imaging,urban warfare and of course high-end gaming.The introduction of the 3D cursor is another step to a 3D environment and brings around the already known fact,that the rate at which technology is growing will keep increasing and bring unimaginable change in the lives of the common man.

Written at: thepapers.in

Writer: Pranav

Google Brillo

“Brillo”, the new operating system that was announced recently at the Google I/O. Brillo is an operating system that works on very low memory and will be released under the brand of Android. More importantly, the revealing Brillo has reassured google’s belief in Internet of Things. Brillo is derived from android, has minimal system requirements, has a broad amount of silicon support and also is easy to secure.

Brillo will interact with other devices and cloud using a language called “Weave”. Weave will be a common language through which the devices will be able to communicate with other devices. With some import from Nest, Brillo will also be able to use bluetooth and wi-fi although it is not a part of Nest’s business. What google aims to do is to ease the process of putting a device online, manage the connectivity and many of the lower level functions.

Since Brillo is based on the lower levels of Android, you can choose from a wide range of hardware platforms and silicon vendors. The user can enjoy the pleasure if just focusing on his/her application development as the hardware can be taken care of easily by brillo. Metric, crash reports and updating of the device can be easily done using brillo’s web console. Weave provides seamless and secure communication between devices both locally and through the cloud.The Weave program will drive interoperability and quality through a certification program that device makers must adhere to.

Brillo is designed to be extremely lightweight and takes up very little memory which is perfect for smart home devices, that can be controlled via web interface such as locks, refrigerator controls and climate control systems. These devices have a memory far less than that of a computer or a mobile phone. Brillo will be designed to be operated on RAM as less as 64 or even 32MB. The phone version of Brillo will target phones with RAM as low as 512MB.

Google is likely to provide Brillo to manufacturers for free and hope to take over the software market, by encouraging manufacturers to adopt and use Brillo as their OS of choice. The development was bound to happen sooner or later as Google always wanted to do a project and develop something in IoT(internet of things) and especially since the company inquired about Nest in 2014. Well one can surely hope that in the coming years we might be able to enjoy the luxury of using smart home devices someday.

Written by: Pranav Lakhwara at thepapers.in

Can You Build A Space Elevator?

About 20 000 dollars it costs to transport one kilogram payload with a rocket into orbit – no wonder it is searching for cheaper alternatives. The idea to build an elevator into space, comes from the Russian amateur researchers and space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. 1895 some 60 years before the first rocket launched into orbit, he proposed to build a tower that reaches into space. It could then loads climb and descend convey.

The downside: A tower in the geostationary orbit would have made enormous pressure-resistant materials and be hoisted with a diameter of several hundred kilometers. Carefully formulated: an ambitious project.

But how about an elevator without tower? NASA, the International Space Elevator Consortium and a few other public and private organizations believe in the idea of a geostationary satellite to use: suspended from a rope would that reaches down to around 36,000 kilometers distant surface. As a counterweight, it is extended via the satellite into space, so that centrifugal and attractive force are in balance and keep the satellite in orbit together with rope. Because geostationary satellites can be just above the equator, the ground station must be created there. And best middle of the ocean: The platform at the lower end of the rope is attached to, swim in the Pacific, while remaining flexible in order to avoid storms can. By the way can be changed so the rope in space, the position of the satellite; such as when he threatens to be hit by space junk.

Unresolved issues

That sounds good in theory. The biggest problem in practice remains, however, to find a suitable material for the rope. A steel cable about would break even at a length of a few kilometers under its own weight. Therefore engineers work meticulously on a cone-shaped structure in which the rope towards the top is getting fatter. With all the materials available to date, the diameter would still too large. Hope researchers therefore rely on carbon nanotubes and graphene, even if it is far from being technically possible to construct from these materials ropes with even begin to sufficient length.

Even further one is in the question of how the gondolas of the elevator, the Climber so-called, to be supplied with energy. The rope itself comes as a conductor out of the question, since the electrical resistance at a length of 36 000 kilometers will be too high. It is conceivable to mount the solar cells themselves Climbern that are irradiated from the Earth with strong lasers and deliver the electric motors the required current. On missile speeds the elevator cars so far not come close. Rather, they would present the same features and with 200 to 300 kilometers per hour will need about one week from the base up to the satellite.

The speed plays the most important role hardly skyward: Both the floating in the sea platform and the satellite are in orbit around the Earth’s center. The platform moves thereby at a rotational speed of about 462 meters per second, the satellite sets per second but a distance of about three kilometers. Now climb accelerated merely upwards, but not horizontal load towards satellite, it is therefore initially slower than the rope at the appropriate location, and “pulls” it back against the Earth’s rotation. By proceeding from the rope drag it is but gradually accelerated in the direction of the Earth’s rotation; the rope gets caught only in vibration.Climbing two gondolas in the opposite direction between Earth and orbit up and down, these vibrations can probably be minimized.

Stay practical issues – such as, to be as a hypothetical, mega stable carbon nanotube rope length of 36 000 kilometers rolled toward heaven or lowered from above. Perhaps one could produce the rope spot: A space shuttle flying into the geosynchronous orbit, and takes thence a very thin thread which is secured to the base station on Earth down. Then runs a micro-lift on the thread up and drags a similarly thin thread behind him; Once at the top then the rope would consist of two threads – and so on until the final thickness is reached.

Between Science Fiction and Reality

Away from the technology: Thrilling at “lift to the stars”, as science fiction author Arthur Clarke headlined, is primarily how extremely different the chances of success of the project will be evaluated today. Where many see only one feasible and yet never billion-dollar idea, others are already working briskly with very specific launch dates. So the Japanese company Obayashi, who wants to have succeeded by 2050, to take a space elevator in operation. Eben This company throw themselves in front Space elevator fans, only to produce marketing bubbles.An even tighter timetable than the controversial Asians, the American Lift Port Group: She plans already in 2019 to build an elevator on the Moon, the first is mainly there to simplify the landing of larger loads. The moon would provide lift at least in one respect, a decisive advantage: Due to the lower gravity, the rope would there then exposed to lower loads. Many hold the undertaking therefore already feasible. Others think that the little moon lift company might once keep their website up to date and should bring a few less ambitious projects to successful completion. Conclusion: Technically, a space elevator would be feasible – when and if it is ever built, however, is completely unclear.

Written by : Saikat Sinha  on thepapers.in

Internet to everyone, everywhere...

As many of you think what is this topic, so let me clarify. I know you all think of the internet as a global community. But do you know two-thirds of the world's population does not yet have internet access. So today i am speaking for them they don't have to worry as Google has started a project nam "Project Loon" that will be able to provide internet facility who so ever needs it.

So, What is Project Loon? Project Loon is a network of balloons travelling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people online so they can walk together with the rest of the world.

Project Loon Balloons float in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and the weather, balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth's Surface in the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, there are many layers of wind, each layer of wind varies in direction and speed. Project Loon uses software algorithm to determine where its ballon need to go, then moves each one into a layer of wind blowing in right direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be arranged to form one large communication network, partnering with Telecommunications companies to share cellular spectrum we've enable people to connect to the ballon network directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled device. The signal is then passed across the balloon network and back down to the global Internet on Earth. Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using a wireless communication technology called LTE.

On 16 June 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where about 30 balloons were launched in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority from the Tekapo area in the South Island. About 50 local users in and around Christchurch and the Canterbury Region tested connections to the aerial network using special antennas. On 28 July 2015, Google signed an agreement with officials of Sri Lanka , to launch the technology on a mass scale. As a result, Sri Lanka will be the first country in the world to get full coverage of 3G internet, using this technology.

Time to go faster...

Now the time has come to speed up things little. Intel has made a new storage chip which is 1000 time faster than flash memory. You can imagine how fast it will be.

Intel and Micron have a new way to store data that they say is denser,tougher and faster than the already existing flash drives, and it's already started production. 3D XPoint technology is the first new mainstream memory chip to come to market in 25 years. The chipmakers will send samples of the product to potential customers later this year.

The new memory is aimed at making it faster for computers to access and work with enormous amount of data created by an increasing number of devices connected to one another and the Internet. It will also help to improve data related tasks such as real-time tracking of disease and immersive realistic gaming, the company said. Existing type of memory are either too expansive or aren't fast enough for such tasks, so this development will reduce the cost and increase the speed.

"For decades, the industry has searched for ways to reduce the lag time between the processor and data to allow much faster analysis," said Intel VP Rob Crooke in a statement. "This new class of non-volatile memory archives this goal and bring game-changing performance to memory and storage solutions."

Are 3 dimensions not enough..??

You must be thinking what i am asking "Are 3 Dimenshion Less..??" But what can i do my today's topic is about 4D Printing, so yes it is less. So what is this 4th Dimension?

The aim of so-called "4D printing" is to extend additive manufacturing to the dimension of time. The idea of 4D printing is to create 3D objects with the specific materials which can change their dimensions according to its outer environment long after it has been printed from the 3D printer for example, you can build a valve that shut down when a hot water hits it.

Researcher at the University of Wollongong, Australia have created a 3D printer compatible hydrogel that is mechanically tough and able to repeatedly change shape in response to water temperature. The scientists have demonstrated the technology by 3D printing an autonomous water valve, but the material could also be used to create soft robot, custom design sensor and self-assembling macrostructure. Example of 4D printing have included simple self-assembling bodies that fold together when baked, polymers that bend into shape in response to water, heat or pressure, and smart strands inspired by self-assembling nanostructure

Tell Me Computer "Does God Exist??"..

You will be thinking why did i choose my heading to be it, so let me tell you that the generation of computers has been came to that level where you can ask it questions like it and it will answer you. You will be thinking what i am saying i am mad or what, but its true "The Platinum age of Quantum Computing is upon us".

Quantum computing studies theoretical computing systems (quantum computers ) that make direct use of quantum-mechanical phenomenon, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operation on data. Digital computers require data to be encoded into binary digits (bits), each of which is always in one of two definite states (0 or 1), quantum computation uses quantum bits (qubits), which can be in superpositions of states. 

There are a number of technical challenges in building a large-scale quantum computer, and thus far quantum computers have yet to solve a problem faster than a classical computer. David DiVincenzo, of IBM, listed the following requirements for a practical quantum computer:

• scalable physically to increase the number of qubits;

• qubits that can be initialized to arbitrary values;

• quantum gates that are faster than decoherence time;

• universal gate set;

• qubits that can be read easily.

But let me tell you most of the important hurdles which were coming in the path of making quantum computers has been solved. In April 2015 IBM scientists claimed two critical advances towards the realization of a practical quantum computer. They claimed the ability to detect and measure both kinds of quantum errors simultaneously, as well as a new, square quantum bit circuit design that could scale to larger dimensions.

Learn more on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing

Future of Telescopes

Most of you must be knowing about the The Hubble Telescope, it was a great invention in the history. But as the time is changing the technology is also advancing so to cope up with the time there is a need of new telescope which can enable a broad range of investigation across the field of astronomy and comology.

So, The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), previously known as Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) successor of The Hubble Telescope is a space observatory under construction and sheduled to launch in Octuber 2018. The JWST will offer unprecedented resolution and sensitivity from long-wavelength visible to the mid-infrared.

Right now, scientists and engineers are piecing Webb together, creating through cutting - edge technology an innovative observatory that not only withstand intense cold, but use it to its advantages.

The first realistic budget estimates were that the observatory would cost $1.6 billion and launch in 2011.  In 2011, the United States House of Representatives voted to terminate funding, after about $3 billion had been spent . Funding was restored in compromise legislation with the US Senate, and spending on the program was capped at $8 billion. NASA, ESA and CSA have collaborated on the telescope since 1996.

Participating Countries :- Austria, Germany, Portugal, US, UK, France, Spain , Italy, Sweden, Greece and many other.

Time to get rid of wires

The era of wireless things have begun from a century, wireless phones, wireless Communication, wireless phone charging, etc. So its the time get rid of the charging wires also. So as most of you know that wireless charging has came to your mobiles but its time to bring it to the laptops, so you don’t need to carry all those heavy brick like chargers where ever you take your laptops.

Intel is developing circuitry required for wireless charging in laptops. PC makers like Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Panasonic are backing the idea, and more are expected to offer wireless charging in PCs.

The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) is an independently operated, not-for-profit organization dedicated to building a global wireless charging ecosystem based on Rezence™ technology.

Asus, Intel, Dell, HP and many more giant pc companies have joined A4WP to go to the next generation of PC where everyone can charge there PCs or Laptops without any wires and without those heavy chargers. So guys just a matter of time that you can charge your laptops wireless. 

The awesomeness of MEMS

The new trend of miniaturization has led to the development of the micromechatronic system which are robust and compact in nature. These devices tend to bring down the scale of electro-mechanical device to the scale of microns. MEMS are also referred to as micromachines, made up of components between 1 to 100 micrometres in size. They usually consist of a central unit that processes data (the microprocessor) and several components that interact with the surroundings such as microsensors.

The major classification of these devices are sensors and actuators. MEMS manufacturing technologies :- Bulk Micromachining, Surface Micromachining, High aspect ratio (HAR) Sillicon Micromachining

The national MEMS design centre of SRM Univrersity , Chennai is working currently on the development of micro pumps and microvalves which would prove useful in the near future for microfluidic manipulation and many automation applications.  

Information provide by Alkausil Tamboli 

Memristor

The theoretical Memister is ready to come alive. From 1971 t0 2015 a great journey of Leon Chaun dream to create a microscopic component that remember its "history" is going to come true. The next greatest technology which will be faster & cheaper than Flash Driver.

The Memristor is a key component in taking memory storage to next level. When the electric power supply is turned off, the memristor remembers its most recent resistance until it is turned on again. And it will allow computer to make decision by understanding past pattern of data it has collected.

And according to the most resent news, HP is making "The Machine" a new type of memory-driven computer it thinks will radically alter large-scale data processing. When the company first launched it last year, the plan was to use a new kind of memory chip called the "Memristor" which is as fast as DRAM but can permanently store data.