My Top 5 engineering technology articles for this week are more of a look back over my posts from 2015. I pulled five articles in a look back perspective for some of the discoveries that excited me in 2015. And, of course, I was compelled to add a Star Wars article.
- Tesla Basically Just Ignited The Driverless Car Era
- LG Display Shows Off A Thin, Wall-Stuck OLED Panel Of The Future
- This Tiny Titanium Tool Fits On Your Zipper
- Colonizing The Moon May Be 90 Percent Cheaper Than We Thought
- CERN Researchers Confirm Existence Of The Force
Tesla Basically Just Ignited The Driverless Car Era
Mashable
Elon Musk called a press conference to reassure owners and potential owners that the electric cars would be receiving a software update that would not only help to avoid running out of a charge while driving, but also provide charging recommendations based on trip calculations.
Then, as on Elon can do, he also proceeded to announce over the course of the summer, all of the Tesla models would receive a software update that would allow them to drive in “Autopilot” mode. Though a little light on specifics, apparently highway driving for Tesla owners is about to become much, much easier.
Between Tesla’s announcement and Google’s progress toward a driverless car, chauffeurs might want to pick up a new trade in the not too distant future.
LG Display Shows Off A Thin, Wall-Stuck OLED Panel Of The Future
Phys.org
And, within the span of my lifetime, I’ve seen the technology of television go big, go small, go from a piece of furniture to a pocket device, and back again. Now, in addition to being flat (at the moment, anyway) the newest leap in technology has a television that basically unrolls onto the wall like a giant magnet.
And, of course, there’s no actual availability date, but that certainly doesn’t stop me from thinking out all the wonderful applications for this in the real world. With wireless streaming, devices like Google Chromecast, etc. you can unroll your television viewing anywhere.
And, with this type of technology and advances in OLED in the realms of flexibility and width (or lack thereof) this easily translates into the world of wearables. Forget taking a laptop or tablet on to the plane, just turn on your t-shirt and watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones.
This Tiny Titanium Tool Fits On Your Zipper
Wired
Sometimes it takes a full slate of designing, experimentation, trying, failing, and trying again before an invention or even an idea falls into place long enough to become a reality. For Flavio Pellegrino, it was the necessity of needing to open his beer.
While searching for a bottle opener, he noticed that a broken zipper pull had the same basic shape. So he took the design, added titanium and ran with it all the way to Kickstarter.
By making some minor modifications, he’s got a bottle opener/screwdriver/pry-bar/cutting tool all in the same amount of space as the metal zipper pull which only went up and down. And he never has to search for a bottle opener again.
Colonizing The Moon May Be 90 Percent Cheaper Than We Thought
Popular Science
Americans haven’t set foot on the moon in over four decades. The 12 astronauts who hold the distinction of leaving a footprint almost 240,000 miles from Earth might soon be joined by an exclusive group of miners.
By partnering with other countries and private industry, NASA has estimated that they could reduce the factor of colonizing the moon by a factor of 10 from $100 billion to $10 billion. And that’s a number that could fit squarely into their budget.
Having that reduction in costs means that NASA can look to a colony on the moon for mining fuel from the lunar surface. By mining the ice that they believe is plentiful on the moon the settlement will be able to put that product to a variety of uses.
The water can be broken down into oxygen for the inhabitants of the colony and it can also be used to create a hydrogen propellant for rockets. By having this propellant mined on the moon, it becomes, in essence, a gas station on the way to Mars or beyond. And this, in turn, this will shave cost from traveling to Mars and other planets.
Since we’ve taken the first steps on the moon, we know how attainable it is to go back. And the fact that engineering technology in the very near future can have us taking the next step toward planetary travel is simply amazing.
CERN Researchers Confirm Existence Of The Force
CERN
Though the four fundamental forces of the universe have been confirmed, strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravity, CERN has announced this week that they have found THE Force. As in the energy field created by all living things; surrounding us, penetrating us, and binding galaxies together, Force.
Though researchers are currently unclear on the causes of this force, harnessing the power has shown dramatic practical applications. One researcher apparently lifted a space vehicle from a swamp.
Although the scientific community is ecstatic about the applications, there is division among those who say the Force could be used for dark purposes. In fact, one power segment has already started constructing a whole facility to harness this side of the Force.
I guess we can only wait and see how this one will turn out.
Well, that’s it for me in 2015. Here’s hoping 2016 brings us even more breakthroughs in all areas of engineering technology.
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