Seeing with your finger

New Scientist reports that electronic aids that help blind and partially sighted people navigate and interact with their environment - such as ultrasound canes and voice-enabled GPS devices - are becoming more widely available. But a new device could take such interaction to the next level.

George Stetten, a bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh, has come up with the idea of a tiny video camera that sits at the end of a finger and connects to a portable computer that can analyse the footage and flag up objects of interest.

The camera mounting could also vibrate to provide physical feedback from the computer to signal it has seen something significant. A warning could be given when the camera spots a nearby obstacle, like a wall or the edge of a table, and it could even trace out the shape to guide the user past.

Image processing makes it possible for the system to recognise very specific objects. Stetten's patent says that, amongst other things, the computer could recognise light switches or other controls from a distance. The user could be steered towards a switch using physical feedback, or given the option to activate it remotely.

The capabilities of such a system are limited only by imagination, says Stetten, and has the potential to give blind and partially sighted people much greater control and interaction with the world around them. In fact, a portable system able to look for objects for you could offer benefits to fully sighted people too.

From New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16431-invention-intelligent-fingertip-eye.html

For drawing attention to the article, thanks to Glen Moore of the Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium (http://sciencecentre.uow.edu.au)

The race for green cement

Australian company Minerals Corporation has begun commercial production of a new cement binder product it claims will slash the amount of carbon emitted in cement making, the world's third largest source of manmade CO2 behind only power generation and vehicles. Research into ‘green cements’ is booming around the world.

Making traditional portland cement releases 0.8 of a tonne of CO2 emissions for each tonne of cement produced. As a result, the sector globally produces about two billion tonnes of carbon emissions a year, some 5 per cent of global CO2 emissions. Minerals Corporation says its process has been independently certified to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent. With a touch of hyperbole it says its KAOCEM product “is arguably the most significant environmental advance ever in cement making".

Rather than the traditional limestone base, this cement is based on kaolin, a white, non-swelling clay. The technology developed by the company activates the kaolin. It may give the company the jump on rivals elsewhere.

One that has built a bit of a profile is US company Calera, which actually aims to make ‘carbon negative’ cement by absorbing CO2 in the manufacturing process, which involves magnesium and calcium. The process bubbles industrial exhaust gases through seawater causing chemical reactions that result in usable cement. It is said to sequester a half tonne of CO2 from every tonne of cement made. Calera plans to be in pilot production by in commercial operation by 2010 and running 100 sites in North America five years later.

In the UK, a start-up called Novacem, says its process too absorbs more CO2 than it produces. Spun out of Imperial College London, it recently started a £1.5 million project funded by the government-backed Technology Strategy Board to build a pilot plant to test its formula using magnesium silicates as the binder.

It is claimed to require considerably less heat to turn into concrete – 650 degrees rather than the conventional more than 1,000 degrees - and it absorbs atmospheric CO2 as it hardens. The patent pending process is claimed to remove 0.6 tonnes of CO2 from the air per tonne of cement produced. If all goes well, Novacem aims to products on the market within five years.

In the meantime, Minerals Corporation subsidiary Australian China Clays has begun rolling out its technology.
Story from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net

Criminals apprehended by mosquitos!

As ABC News reported, police in Finland believe they have caught a car thief thanks to a DNA sample taken from a sample of his blood found inside a mosquito.

Last June a car was stolen in Lapua, some 380 kilometres north of Helsinki. It was soon found near a railway station in Seinaejoki, about 25 kilometres from where it was stolen.

"A police patrol carried out an inspection of the car and they noticed a mosquito that had sucked blood. It was sent to the laboratory for testing, which showed the blood belonged to a man who was in the police registers," inspector Sakari Palomaeki said.

The suspect, who has been interrogated, has insisted he did not steal the car, saying he had hitchhiked and was given a lift by a man driving the car.

Mr Palomaeki said a prosecutor would decide if the evidence was solid enough for charges to be pressed.

Finnish police said it was rare for them to use insects to solve crimes, although they are interested in everything found at a crime scene.

"It is not usual to use mosquitoes. In training we were not told to keep an eye on mosquitoes at crime scenes," Mr Palomaeki said, laughing.

"It is not easy to find a small mosquito in a car, this just shows how thorough the crime scene investigation was," he added.

Story from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/22/2453342.htm and provided by Glen Moore of the Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium.

Why waste food from supermarkets?

Drake Supermarkets has begun diverting food waste from landfill at 17 stores in Adelaide after launching a partnership with compost specialist Jeffries. The Food Organics Recycling Service streams the organic waste into dedicated rear lift bins for collection three times a week by Jeffries for processing. It is the state's first regular commercial organics collection service.

“We weigh each bin as it is collected. What we are driving at here are the greenhouse gas benefits, which customers are increasingly interested in. We provide a quarterly report on the reductions," said Jeffries, group sales manager, Nathan Syme.

Recycling one tonne of food organics per week through composting is equivalent to reducing greenhouse emissions by up to 27 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Story from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net

Motor Cycle Safety

With the Christmas holidays finishing and unfortunately experiencing the usual round of motor accidents we thought that it would be useful to show again a motor cycle (and horse riding) safety idea – in case you missed it before.

For more information go to: www.hitairaustralia.com.au 

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