Jul/090
More urban space, for more cars?
This interesting project is considering to use the old sewer system to install a delivery network in which automated capsules are able to find their way to the set destination and deliver any type of goods in urban areas. The system claims to be able to eliminate the urban delivery traffic, therefore reducing congestion and improving the quality of the air in the area.
The question is, if we eliminate delivery traffic isn't this only a false positive? In the first years maybe the urban traffic will get better but soon popularity will make the car a better option and more non-delivery vehicles will end up in the roads, making traffic unbearable again.
Jul/091
Latest on pee.
It is disgusting walking on the streets smelling yesterday night's pee. Unfortunately sometimes it is impossible not to do it, that is why the Mexican industrial designer Miguel Melgarejo has created this interesting urban gadget called Axixa - which means urine in the Aztec language Nahuatl.
It looks like the shape of a leak on a wall, it is fitted on it and it can drain liquid through it. Very good idea, that confirms again who, if men or women, love this peculiar action :)
I saw it on the design blog.
Jul/090
Half crow, half pedestrian.
Not everything is natural selection, or is it? In a japanese town, the crows that have stablished there have developed an hability to crack nuts that usually they can't manage. Some of them have learned that dropping the nuts amongst the road trafic will make this to crack the nut, but other have refined this technique to the point in which they know that it is much safer to drop the nut in a pedestrian crossing and wait for the trafic light to turn green, and only then collect the seed.
Jul/090
Riding Bamboo
One cannot argue that the bike - pushbike - as a method of transportation has managed to get around a vast number of conditions where other transport, public or private, could not offer a good enough solution. Short or medium distances, small towns or big cities and in very extreme weathers, hot or cold. I have been personally an everyday user of a pushbike for years, and is only now, when my body is starting to complain, that I have had to replace it with motorised one
In developing countries is when bikes have been proved to be extreamly eficient, not only because very few people can really access to cars, but also because the way it can adapt to very diferent circumstances, such a space or maintenance. Africa is a peculiar example. Bike usage in this country is absolutely massive, not only as a personal method of transportation; boda-bodas are used as public service in many parts of the continent. At the same time bike production in Africa in non-existent, the majority of them are there as a legacy of the colonial times, when the pavements were completely different than how they are now, or are produced in China or India, where spare parts access is almost impossible.
Is here where The Bike Bamboo Project comes in place. These guys are pushing hard to develop a bike for African people and made by African people, using as main material local Bamboo. The most interesting thing is the speed at which plant can grow, its tensile strength is greater than the steel and producing it is cheat and renewable.
Have a look at the website.
There are many other projects similar to this, like Bamboo Bike Studio in which you can build your own bamboo bike for about $1300.
Jul/095
How to open a banana (II)
We have been seeing around some posts about how monkeys open bananas and how badly mistaken we have been all this time when trying to open them from the stem. Well, for those who haven't seen the explanation see below, for those who already have mastered the technique, there is a website which offers all sort of possibilities when doing this so simple action.
Jul/090
15 Life changing Nasa Inventions
Reading in the telegraph what we already knew: wars and space races are the best motivation to push technology forward. These are some of those inventions that actually ended up being of great use for humanity:
- CAT scanner: this cancer-detecting technology was first used to find imperfections in space components.
- Computer microchip: modern microchips descend from integrated circuits used in the Apollo Guidance Computer.
- Cordless tools: power drills and vacuum cleaners use technology designed to drill for moon samples.
- Ear thermometer: a camera-like lens that detects infrared energy we feel as heat was originally used to monitor the birth of stars.
- Freeze-dried food: this reduces food weight and increases shelf life without sacrificing nutritional value.
- Insulation: home insulation uses reflective material that protects spacecraft from radiation.
- Invisible braces: teeth-straightening is less embarrassing thanks to transparent ceramic brace brackets made from spacecraft materials.
- Joystick: this computer gaming device was first used on the Apollo Lunar Rover.
- Memory foam: created for aircraft seats to soften landing, this foam, which returns to its original shape, is found in mattresses and shock absorbing helmets.
- Satellite television: technology used to fix errors in spacecraft signals helps reduce scrambled pictures and sound in satellite television signals.
- Scratch resistant lenses: astronaut helmet visor coating makes our spectacles ten times more scratch resistant.
- Shoe insoles: athletic shoe companies adapted space boot designs to lessen impact by adding spring and ventilation.
- Smoke detector: Nasa invented the first adjustable smoke detector with sensitivity levels to prevent false alarms.
- Swimsuit: Nasa used the same principles that reduce drag in space to help create the world’s fastest swimsuit for Speedo, rejected by some professionals for giving an unfair advantage.
- Water filter: domestic versions borrow a technique Nasa pioneered to kill bacteria in water taken into space.
Jul/090
Critics panel switched off.
I'm reading on "El Pais" that the United States Interests Office in Havana has switched off the messaging system against the local government. The light panel, which is a metre and a half tall and spreads across 25 windows, is situated in the fifth floor of the building and has been operating since January 2006.
From my time in Cuba, I remember perfectly the building, is a massive pile of concrete, surrounded by a huge security fence. For part of the time I was there, people walking nearby had to move to the other side of the street when passing in from of it. What times!
Jul/090
Of Holograms
Not long ago we could see the impresive presentation from D'strict for Samsumg. Combining a set of motion sensors, projectors, semi transparent screens and a dark enough atmosphere the system was able to understand up to 17 gestures to make the floating images on the stage rotate, translate and change size. It is quite complicated to explain, is much better seeing it.
Jul/090
Landing on Moon. Today!
The other day, while posting about the Horizon - the BBC program - I was saying the show became tinted with a rather unconfortable sensationalist feeling. Well, somebody says the same.
I saw it here