Plastic made from pig urine

The company has essentially devised a way to better commercialize urea, a compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, found in urine.

Other animal waste products like manure can be inserted into the system, but pig urine is particularly interesting because it is an environmental hazard, says Peter Tøttrup, a partner at Seed Capital, a Danish venture firm that also helps the government incubate start-ups. We ran into Tøttrup at the coffee urn at the NordicGreen conference in Menlo Park, Calif., this week.

"There are 20 million pigs in Denmark, and what they do environmentally is a problem," he said.

Transforming farm waste into plastic precursors is potentially attractive over other bioplastic ideas because the feedstock effectively has no value. In fact, it has negative value because animal waste must be disposed, which costs money. Some other bioplastic companies make their resins out of corn starch.
Read more »

Honda helps the elderly walk like a robot

It's nice to see Japanese scientists developing technology that can actually help the elderly help themselves for a change, rather than creating more robots that ostensibly are designed to minister to their needs but may well have ulterior motives. To wit: Honda is developing a lightweight walking assistance device that can be worn around the hip and thighs to help ease a person's gait.

The mechanism works with brushless motors that get their cues from hip angle sensors and commands from the control CPU, according to press release. Being that this is Japan, however--the land that's headed for a human-free society--a robot's influence was still key to this invention. Fareastgizmos says that the R&D that went into Asimo, Honda's celebrity "advanced humoid robot," was used in developing this automated walker.

Via Crave CNET

Harnessing brainwaves with solar power

With all the development of alternative energy today, it was bound to come to this: Introducing solar-powered brainwaves.

Well, not exactly. But this electroencephalogram device does use sunlight as well as body heat as a power source for a variety of functions, which researchers hope will include everything from playing video games to monitoring hospital patients, according to Dvice. The lightweight headset, developed by Belgian scientists at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center, tracks electrical impulses generated by thought or action.

There are many other systems in development to monitor brainwaves in a similar fashion, but this one is focused on portability because no one, especially gamers, wants to be tied down while exercising their telepathic rights. New Scientist says an earlier prototype relied on natural heat from the head alone but sometimes ran out of power--which could be unfortunate on any number of levels, not to mention embarrassing. But no matter what, it's got to be an improvement over stationary gaming headgear we've seen.

Via Crave CNET

Microsoft puts a squeeze on portable devices

Multitouch touchpad, gesture-based interfaces and motion-sensing controls seem to be already obsolete, according to a report by BBC. A research project at Microsoft's Cambridge lab allows the system to detect twisting, bending, pulling and squeezing forces to interact with the interface. But hold onto your horses if you expect this to be implemented on a foldable machine. The magic is really in the four sensors integrated inside the chassis. By recognizing the exact pressure points, the system can perform actions like page flips, switching application, etc.

A prototype was built using a Samsung UMPC, so this is not just vaporware or some abstract concept. However, there is no timeline given on when we will see this technology commercially implemented.

The uncrashable car

When we first read ScienceDaily's report on a research project to invent the uncrashable car, we just had to imagine what it would be like. Laser beams to destroy overtaking vehicles? Reactive armor which blows up any unfortunate transportation daring to touch the pristine surface of your car? High-density chassis more durable than an aircraft's black box?

The reality of the matter, unfortunately, isn't as exciting as what we imagined. Instead of making cool gadgets to safeguard the passengers' lives, the PReVENT project is more software than hardware. It uses existing technology which, in event of a possible collision, allows the car's intelligent system to take over and execute evasive maneuvers.

Despite using currently available devices, it will be some time before we see this system implemented in the real world. So in the meantime, you'll just have to rely on good old standbys like airbags and seatbelts, and hope for the best.

Photo credit: PReVENT, Volvo

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