This week’s Top 5 engineering technology articles include some very tiny achievements in several different fields and a few advancements in the area of transportation.
- The Hungry Little Bacterium That Could Hold The Key To The World’s Plastic Waste Problem
- Google Is Still Learning From That Self-Driving Car Crash
- On-Chip Laser That Could Have Your Computer Working At The Speed Of Light
- Riding The Hendo Hoverboard 2.0 Is Like Levitating The Gnar
- For The First Time, We’ve Seen Brand-New Neurons Firing
The Hungry Little Bacterium That Could Hold The Key To The World’s Plastic Waste Problem
Gizmag.com
Last time I talked about plastic that can repair itself, but now some scientists in Japan had found a new bacterium that could actually eat plastic. I read the article title and I imagined some fish tank like aquarium sitting on my kitchen counter and I just toss in my water bottle after I’m finished. Then some wormlike creatures pop up from the bottom and start slowly chewing through the bottle until it was gone.
Turns out I’m not quite that far off. This bacterium is actually feeding off the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a source of energy and carbon. Within a few weeks PET material was completely gone. The scientists that have isolated the bacterium are now hoping to find an easy way to reproduce it which would suggest a whole new world in terms of recycling and waste management.
Google Is Still Learning From That Self-Driving Car Crash
Mashable
Humans have been operating motor vehicles for over 100 years and we still haven’t learned how to avoid crashes. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the self-driving cars being produced by a number of high-tech ventures have a few fender benders.
Recently Google’s self-driving car misjudged a situation on the road and actually collided with a bus. No one was hurt, but it has made Google aware of the fact that not every situation is easily accounted for. Chris Urmson, a director of the self-driving car program at Google, noted such situations as a man running into traffic to chase a duck or some prankster teens diving on the hood of the Google car.
Urmson notes that while there may be a number of uses for self-driving automobiles population segments like the blind and the elderly getting around in ways never thought of before is certainly something that they are striving for with the technology. When the technology does begin to hit the commercial market, Google wants it to be better than human drivers. And even though the tests aren’t perfect, we’ve shown that humans aren’t perfect drivers either so what have got to lose?
On-Chip Laser That Could Have Your Computer Working At The Speed Of Light
Cosmos
Silicon photonics have long been the aim of personal computing. Imagine a computer that processes at the speed of light. We’ve managed to have breakthroughs like fiber optic cable for data transfer in the outside world, but the inner workings of the computer still rely on something as basic as copper wiring.
Now a team of British physicists believe they may have created a chip with a tiny on-board laser bringing us a step closer to silicon photonics. The pulses of light sent by the laser can carry data far faster than traditional electronics. And, they believe the silicon chips with lasers will last up to 11 years. So, not only do you have a longer lasting chip and faster data transfer, but you can actually transfer more data in this manner.
And, the team also believes that they are close to solving the overheating issues caused by traditional computing. That would bring traditional computing into the future at light speed.
Riding The Hendo Hoverboard 2.0 Is Like Levitating The Gnar
Wired
Ever since Back to the Future II introduced the concept of the Hoverboard, people have wanted it to be a full blown reality. Now the team at Arx Pax has brought us a bit closer. The magnetic based hoverboard uses a longboard skate deck with skateboarding trucks used for maneuvering around the floor.
Not that this board can run anywhere, it does require a surface of either copper or aluminum. This surface allows for passive conductivity of the magnetic field produced by the hover board. The eddy currents produced by this combination allows the polar magnetic effect of two magnets that “repel” each other.
And, with the omni directional system, the hope is that one day the traditional mag lev system would be able to leave the straight line track in favor of delivering the passengers one by one, almost like a driverless car. Maybe Google can become a partner in this venture.
For The First Time, We’ve Seen Brand-New Neurons Firing
Popsci.com
As amazing as engineering technology breakthroughs can be, one of the most fascinating items for study and probing is still the brain.
And, for the first time scientists have seen newly formed neurons fire in a live animal. Using a microscope on the brain of a mouse, researchers were able to see fluoresced neurons firing in order to form memories of the experience.
Using both positive and negative stimuli on the mouse allowed researchers to study the possibility of helping to curb or eliminate the negative stimuli with the eventual promise of healing those with past trauma or PTSD symptoms.
That’s it for me this week. Until next time, keep your eyes wide open to new technology and if you get a hoverboard, give me a shout…I’d love to try it.
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