The film Back to the Future II takes place mostly in the future of 2015. With only two years left before the rest of us get to experience that future, it seems like a good time for an audit. Granted, some of the predictions made in the film were a little over the top (but who knows, maybe hipsters will make double ties popular). While I'm still waiting for my hoverboard, many of the predictions made in the 1989 classic actually came true.
10. Handheld computer tablets
Remember that funny little thing called the iPad that came out in 2010? You know, that device that revolutionized personal computing? In this scene a member of the Hill Valley Preservation Society tries to get Marty to donate money using a handheld computer. If anything, the version shown in the movie looks more clunky that the tablets of today. Looks like that prediction passed. Now go do something awesome with your tablet like save historical sites, or play Candy Crush.
9. Flat screen TVs
Not only do we have flat screens, but many different satellite and cable providers let you watch multiple shows at once. And not just on our TV, with the internet and streaming services we can watch multiple shows on our computer, our TV, or even on our tablet or smartphone.
8. Video billboards
In Back to the Future’s world of tomorrow, video advertisements are everywhere. With new LED billboards, this is rapidly becoming a reality. Now if we could only have holograms.
7. Small, thin cameras
I doubt if many people imagined just how much cameras would be a part of our everyday lives. Not only do we have tiny digital cameras, we even have cameras in our phones and tablets. Doc Brown’s camera seems a bit outdated in comparison. But, maybe he’s trying to be retro.
6. Video conferencing
Back to the Future was one of many films and shows made during the 80s and 90s that predicted video communication. Thanks to programs like Skype, it’s not only possible, it’s available on everything from your TV to your tablet to your smartphone. They did get it wrong with fax machines though, which were popular just about as long as laser disks and pagers. Too bad they couldn't see email comming.
5. Voice Controlled Computers
Marty orders a Pepsi from a robotic computer screen when he stops by Café ‘80s. Thanks to dozens of different computer applications, most recently Siri, that has become a reality. What doesn’t make sense is why you would want an ‘80s themed diner.
4. Computer/TV Visors
At the future McFly residence, both Marty and Marlene watch TV on personal visors. They can also tell when someone is calling and who it is from the same device. While TV glasses have made several attempts at being popular, they haven’t ever seemed to get very far. Google is trying to change that with Google Glass, which will allow you to get directions, do video conferencing, watch videos, surf the internet, record videos, and more.
3. 3D Videos (and ridiculous amounts of sequels)
They might not be holographic, but 3D movies are a definite reality today. But only time will tell if they are here to stay or nothing more than a passing fad. One thing is for sure, ridiculous amounts of sequels are popular. Just look at how popular movies like Saw 7 (in 3D) and Fast and Furious 6 have been.
2. Game Controls
When Marty goes to Café '80s he meets two kids and decides to show off by playing the Nintendo game Wild Gunman. But, young Frodo and his friend are unimpressed. “You mean you have to use your hands?” they exclaim, “That’s like a baby’s toy!” Whatever technology they hinted at might have been beyond what most people could have dreamed up back then, but today its commonplace. Devices like the Microsoft Kinect not only allow you to use your whole body as a controller, now even your voice is used to control your Xbox.
1. Flying Cars
Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. It’s true that flying cars aren’t as common as portrayed in the movie, but the concept of a flying car has been in the works for quite a few years now. The Moller Skycar is one of many prototypes that is aimed at being a means of transport for anyone who can drive.
A surprising number of 1980s predictions actually did come true, and some of them have even been better than what Hollywood was able to dream up. All we need now is the hoverboard.
The film Back to the Future II takes place mostly in the future of 2015. With only two years left before the rest of us get to experience that future, it seems like a good time for an audit. Granted, some of the predictions made in the film were a little over the top (but who knows, maybe hipsters will make double ties popular). While I'm still waiting for my hoverboard, many of the predictions made in the 1989 classic actually came true.
10. Handheld computer tablets
Remember that funny little thing called the iPad that came out in 2010? You know, that device that revolutionized personal computing? In this scene a member of the Hill Valley Preservation Society tries to get Marty to donate money using a handheld computer. If anything, the version shown in the movie looks more clunky that the tablets of today. Looks like that prediction passed. Now go do something awesome with your tablet like save historical sites, or play Candy Crush.
9. Flat screen TVs
Not only do we have flat screens, but many different satellite and cable providers let you watch multiple shows at once. And not just on our TV, with the internet and streaming services we can watch multiple shows on our computer, our TV, or even on our tablet or smartphone.
8. Video billboards
In Back to the Future’s world of tomorrow, video advertisements are everywhere. With new LED billboards, this is rapidly becoming a reality. Now if we could only have holograms.
7. Small, thin cameras
I doubt if many people imagined just how much cameras would be a part of our everyday lives. Not only do we have tiny digital cameras, we even have cameras in our phones and tablets. Doc Brown’s camera seems a bit outdated in comparison. But, maybe he’s trying to be retro.
6. Video conferencing
Back to the Future was one of many films and shows made during the 80s and 90s that predicted video communication. Thanks to programs like Skype, it’s not only possible, it’s available on everything from your TV to your tablet to your smartphone. They did get it wrong with fax machines though, which were popular just about as long as laser disks and pagers. Too bad they couldn't see email comming.
5. Voice Controlled Computers
Marty orders a Pepsi from a robotic computer screen when he stops by Café ‘80s. Thanks to dozens of different computer applications, most recently Siri, that has become a reality. What doesn’t make sense is why you would want an ‘80s themed diner.
4. Computer/TV Visors
At the future McFly residence, both Marty and Marlene watch TV on personal visors. They can also tell when someone is calling and who it is from the same device. While TV glasses have made several attempts at being popular, they haven’t ever seemed to get very far. Google is trying to change that with Google Glass, which will allow you to get directions, do video conferencing, watch videos, surf the internet, record videos, and more.
3. 3D Videos (and ridiculous amounts of sequels)
They might not be holographic, but 3D movies are a definite reality today. But only time will tell if they are here to stay or nothing more than a passing fad. One thing is for sure, ridiculous amounts of sequels are popular. Just look at how popular movies like Saw 7 (in 3D) and Fast and Furious 6 have been.
2. Game Controls
When Marty goes to Café '80s he meets two kids and decides to show off by playing the Nintendo game Wild Gunman. But, young Frodo and his friend are unimpressed. “You mean you have to use your hands?” they exclaim, “That’s like a baby’s toy!” Whatever technology they hinted at might have been beyond what most people could have dreamed up back then, but today its commonplace. Devices like the Microsoft Kinect not only allow you to use your whole body as a controller, now even your voice is used to control your Xbox.
1. Flying Cars
Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. It’s true that flying cars aren’t as common as portrayed in the movie, but the concept of a flying car has been in the works for quite a few years now. The Moller Skycar is one of many prototypes that is aimed at being a means of transport for anyone who can drive.
A surprising number of 1980s predictions actually did come true, and some of them have even been better than what Hollywood was able to dream up. All we need now is the hoverboard.
Retired TV station owner and broadcast engineer, John Kanzius, wasn't looking for an answer to the energy crisis. He was looking for a cure for cancer." Sounds great, but Stan Meyer ended up dead somehow in the 90s when he invented his famous water powered car. I hope this guy lives long enough to get this invention into production.
Retired TV station owner and broadcast engineer, John Kanzius, wasn't looking for an answer to the energy crisis. He was looking for a cure for cancer." Sounds great, but Stan Meyer ended up dead somehow in the 90s when he invented his famous water powered car. I hope this guy lives long enough to get this invention into production.
Dr Sam Parnia said his research is on the cusp of major breakthroughs
At the moment medics can bring people back to life within two hours but he believes this window is about to be significantly widened
Average resuscitation rate for cardiac arrest patients in UK is 16% but at Dr Parnia's Stony Brook University School of Medicine it is 33%
He added: 'My basic message: The death we commonly perceive today in 2013 is a death that can be reversed'
Medical advances mean it will soon be possible to bring the dead back to life, a doctor claims. Modern techniques will enable a patient to be revived up to 24 hours after they stop breathing, Dr Sam Parnia says. The American critical care physician, who trained in London, said: ‘We may soon be rescuing people from death’s clutches hours, or even longer, after they have actually died.’
He claims the US actor James Gandolfini, star of The Sopranos – who died aged 51 in Rome last month – might have survived if he had suffered his massive heart attack in New York. ‘I believe if he died here, he could still be alive. We’d cool him down, pump oxygen to the tissues, which prevents them from dying,’ Dr Parnia told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine. ‘Clinically dead, he could then be cared for by the cardiologist. He would make an angiogram, find the clot, take it out, put in a stent and we would restart the heart.’ Dr Parnia, whose new book on resuscitation science is called Erasing Death, said death should be reversible for many patients, providing they are in the right place getting the right treatment. ‘Of course we can’t rescue everybody and many people with heart attacks have other major problems,’ he said. ‘But if all the latest medical technologies and training had been implemented, which clearly hasn’t been done, then in principle the only people who should die and stay dead are those that have an underlying condition that is untreatable.
‘A heart attack is treatable. Blood loss as well. A terminal cancer isn’t, neither are many infections with multiresistant pathogens. In these cases, even if we’d restart the heart, it would stop again and again.
‘My basic message: The death we commonly perceive today in 2013 is a death that can be reversed.’ Dr Parnia, head of intensive care at the Stony Brook University Hospital in New York, said resuscitation figures tell their own story.
The average resuscitation rate for cardiac arrest patients is 18 per cent in US hospitals and 16 per cent in Britain. But at his hospital it is 33 per cent – and the rate peaked at 38 per cent earlier this year.
‘Most, but not all of our patients, get discharged with no neurological damage whatsoever,’ he said, adding that it is a ‘widely held misconception’ – even among doctors – that the brain begins to suffer massive damage from oxygen deprivation three to five minutes after the heart stops.
‘In the past decade we have seen tremendous progress. With today’s medicine, we can bring people back to life up to one, maybe two hours, sometimes even longer, after their heart stopped beating and they have thus died by circulatory failure.
‘In the future, we will likely get better at reversing death.’
The techniques he advocates are not cryogenics – freezing the body immediately after death – but cooling it down to best preserve brain cells while keeping up the level of oxygen in the blood. This buys time to fix the underlying problem and restart the heart, he claims.
He says that if someone collapses with a heart attack, call 999 then immediately place bags of frozen vegetables on them until the ambulance arrives, as it helps protect the brain.
‘It is possible that in 20 years, we may be able to restore people to life 12 hours or maybe even 24 hours after they have died.
‘You could call that resurrection, if you will. But I still call it resuscitation science.’
Dr Sam Parnia said his research is on the cusp of major breakthroughs
At the moment medics can bring people back to life within two hours but he believes this window is about to be significantly widened
Average resuscitation rate for cardiac arrest patients in UK is 16% but at Dr Parnia's Stony Brook University School of Medicine it is 33%
He added: 'My basic message: The death we commonly perceive today in 2013 is a death that can be reversed'
Medical advances mean it will soon be possible to bring the dead back to life, a doctor claims. Modern techniques will enable a patient to be revived up to 24 hours after they stop breathing, Dr Sam Parnia says. The American critical care physician, who trained in London, said: ‘We may soon be rescuing people from death’s clutches hours, or even longer, after they have actually died.’
He claims the US actor James Gandolfini, star of The Sopranos – who died aged 51 in Rome last month – might have survived if he had suffered his massive heart attack in New York. ‘I believe if he died here, he could still be alive. We’d cool him down, pump oxygen to the tissues, which prevents them from dying,’ Dr Parnia told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine. ‘Clinically dead, he could then be cared for by the cardiologist. He would make an angiogram, find the clot, take it out, put in a stent and we would restart the heart.’ Dr Parnia, whose new book on resuscitation science is called Erasing Death, said death should be reversible for many patients, providing they are in the right place getting the right treatment. ‘Of course we can’t rescue everybody and many people with heart attacks have other major problems,’ he said. ‘But if all the latest medical technologies and training had been implemented, which clearly hasn’t been done, then in principle the only people who should die and stay dead are those that have an underlying condition that is untreatable.
‘A heart attack is treatable. Blood loss as well. A terminal cancer isn’t, neither are many infections with multiresistant pathogens. In these cases, even if we’d restart the heart, it would stop again and again.
‘My basic message: The death we commonly perceive today in 2013 is a death that can be reversed.’ Dr Parnia, head of intensive care at the Stony Brook University Hospital in New York, said resuscitation figures tell their own story.
The average resuscitation rate for cardiac arrest patients is 18 per cent in US hospitals and 16 per cent in Britain. But at his hospital it is 33 per cent – and the rate peaked at 38 per cent earlier this year.
‘Most, but not all of our patients, get discharged with no neurological damage whatsoever,’ he said, adding that it is a ‘widely held misconception’ – even among doctors – that the brain begins to suffer massive damage from oxygen deprivation three to five minutes after the heart stops.
‘In the past decade we have seen tremendous progress. With today’s medicine, we can bring people back to life up to one, maybe two hours, sometimes even longer, after their heart stopped beating and they have thus died by circulatory failure.
‘In the future, we will likely get better at reversing death.’
The techniques he advocates are not cryogenics – freezing the body immediately after death – but cooling it down to best preserve brain cells while keeping up the level of oxygen in the blood. This buys time to fix the underlying problem and restart the heart, he claims.
He says that if someone collapses with a heart attack, call 999 then immediately place bags of frozen vegetables on them until the ambulance arrives, as it helps protect the brain.
‘It is possible that in 20 years, we may be able to restore people to life 12 hours or maybe even 24 hours after they have died.
‘You could call that resurrection, if you will. But I still call it resuscitation science.’
Ever fancied an off-road vehicle that can transform into a boat in less than 15 seconds? Of course you have. And now you can actually buy one, as amphibious vehicle manufacturer WaterCar presents the Panther--a Jeep based off-roader that can swim.
Amphibious vehicles are hardly a new idea; the original stems back to 1961 with the German-built Amphicar that sold an estimated 3,872 vehicles before the company eventually went under (excuse the pun).
Others, too, have arrived, including the Gibbs Aquada that Sir Richard Branson piloted to set the record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle back in 2004. Gibbs are now rushing to see its Sport Quadski vehicle make production by the end of the year.
But for Californian company WaterCar, the day that consumers can actually buy a reliable amphibious vehicle is already here. It took 14 years to turn the idea of a purchasable product into reality. Back in 2010, the company entered the Guinness World Record Books as the fastest amphibious car with its Python model, but making the Panther a car that could comfortably handle activities on road as well as on water, while maintaining a machine that's serviceable by most skilled auto/marine mechanics, was a painstaking process.
Ever fancied an off-road vehicle that can transform into a boat in less than 15 seconds? Of course you have. And now you can actually buy one, as amphibious vehicle manufacturer WaterCar presents the Panther--a Jeep based off-roader that can swim.
Amphibious vehicles are hardly a new idea; the original stems back to 1961 with the German-built Amphicar that sold an estimated 3,872 vehicles before the company eventually went under (excuse the pun).
Others, too, have arrived, including the Gibbs Aquada that Sir Richard Branson piloted to set the record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle back in 2004. Gibbs are now rushing to see its Sport Quadski vehicle make production by the end of the year.
But for Californian company WaterCar, the day that consumers can actually buy a reliable amphibious vehicle is already here. It took 14 years to turn the idea of a purchasable product into reality. Back in 2010, the company entered the Guinness World Record Books as the fastest amphibious car with its Python model, but making the Panther a car that could comfortably handle activities on road as well as on water, while maintaining a machine that's serviceable by most skilled auto/marine mechanics, was a painstaking process.
A free energy device is one that creates energy in an open system. This means that the physical device is open to take energy from around it’s environment. Our educational institutions and mainstream science have perpetuated the idea that these systems cannot be created. In order to uphold and maintain a system of belief, one must teach it. People are waking up to the fact that not everything on planet Earth is as it seems, and new truths are starting to infiltrate the consciousness of the masses. It is very likely that free energy devices do exist and like many other discoveries, they have been concealed and hidden from the human race.
The energy is extracted from what we call ‘space time’, it’s the energy all around us that we can’t see. A device like this cannot have a meter on it, it can’t be measured and no price tag can be put on it.
This can mean that a free energy device is a threat to the industry that controls our world and the people on it, the energy industry. The energy industry dictates who has access to life and who doesn’t. If you look at where the funding comes from, it’s easy to make connections between the energy, pharmaceutical, health, food and educational industries. Let’s take a look at what has been concealed from us and what’s becoming increasingly transparent. Below are two clips from the documentary “Thrive” that illustrate the implications of this device, and the effort involved to suppress it.
Foster Gamble is an heir and direct descendant of James Gamble of Procter and Gamble. From a young age he was expected to be apart of the hierarchical establishment that is in control of the worlds resources, but he chose a different route. This is a minuscule amount of evidence within the public domain that supports the idea of free energy devices, if you are interested hopefully it shows you that there is much more to this phenomenon and inspires you to do your own research. It’s always good to have an open mind.
Although new technologies can help transform our world, the real change lies within each one of us. It’s us that hold the key to change, no technology can transform this planet until we operate from our true natural state. A state of love, peace, understanding and cooperation are required if we want to move on from this current Earth experience and create something new for ourselves.
A free energy device is one that creates energy in an open system. This means that the physical device is open to take energy from around it’s environment. Our educational institutions and mainstream science have perpetuated the idea that these systems cannot be created. In order to uphold and maintain a system of belief, one must teach it. People are waking up to the fact that not everything on planet Earth is as it seems, and new truths are starting to infiltrate the consciousness of the masses. It is very likely that free energy devices do exist and like many other discoveries, they have been concealed and hidden from the human race.
The energy is extracted from what we call ‘space time’, it’s the energy all around us that we can’t see. A device like this cannot have a meter on it, it can’t be measured and no price tag can be put on it.
This can mean that a free energy device is a threat to the industry that controls our world and the people on it, the energy industry. The energy industry dictates who has access to life and who doesn’t. If you look at where the funding comes from, it’s easy to make connections between the energy, pharmaceutical, health, food and educational industries. Let’s take a look at what has been concealed from us and what’s becoming increasingly transparent. Below are two clips from the documentary “Thrive” that illustrate the implications of this device, and the effort involved to suppress it.
Foster Gamble is an heir and direct descendant of James Gamble of Procter and Gamble. From a young age he was expected to be apart of the hierarchical establishment that is in control of the worlds resources, but he chose a different route. This is a minuscule amount of evidence within the public domain that supports the idea of free energy devices, if you are interested hopefully it shows you that there is much more to this phenomenon and inspires you to do your own research. It’s always good to have an open mind.
Although new technologies can help transform our world, the real change lies within each one of us. It’s us that hold the key to change, no technology can transform this planet until we operate from our true natural state. A state of love, peace, understanding and cooperation are required if we want to move on from this current Earth experience and create something new for ourselves.
A German student has built an electromagnetic harvester that recharges an AA battery by soaking up ambient, environmental radiation.
These harvesters can gather free electricity from just about anything, including overhead power lines, coffee machines, refrigerators, or even the emissions from your WiFi router or smartphone.
This might sound a bit like hocus-pocus pseudoscience, but the underlying science is actually surprisingly sound. We are, after all, just talking about wireless power transfer — just like the smartphones that are starting to ship with wireless charging tech, and the accompanying charging pads.
Dennis Siegel, of the University of Arts Bremen, does away with the charging pad, but the underlying tech is fundamentally the same. We don’t have the exact details — either because he doesn’t know (he may have worked with an electrical engineer), or because he wants to patent the idea first — but his basic description of “coils and high frequency diodes” tallies with how wireless power transfer works. In essence, every electrical device gives off electromagnetic radiation — and if that radiation passes across a coil of wire, an electrical current is produced. Siegel says he has produced two versions of the harvester: One for very low frequencies, such as the 50/60Hz signals from mains power — and another for megahertz (radio, GSM) and gigahertz (Bluetooth/WiFi) radiation.
The efficiency of wireless charging, however, strongly depends on the range and orientation of the transmitter, and how well the coil is tuned to the transmitter’s frequency. In Siegel’s case, “depending on the strength of the electromagnetic field,” his electromagnetic harvester can recharge one AA battery per day. He doesn't specify, but presumably one-AA-per-day is when he’s sitting next to a huge power substation. It makes you wonder how long it would take to charge an AA battery via your coffee machine, or by leeching from your friend’s mobile phone call.
As a concept, though, Siegel’s electromagnetic harvester is very interesting. On its own, a single harvester might not be all that interesting — but what if you stuck a bunch of them, magnetically, to various devices all around your house? Or, perhaps more importantly, why not use these harvesters to power tiny devices that don’t require a lot of energy? Sensors, hearing aids (cochlear implants), smart devices around your home — they could all be powered by harvesting small amounts of energy from the environment.
One question does remain, though: How much ambient, wasted electromagnetic radiation is actually available? There are urban legends about people who install coils of wire in their garage, and then suck up large amounts of power from nearby power substations or radio transmitters. Would the power/radio company notice? Would it degrade the service for other people? Is this a likely plot for Die Hard 6: A better day to die hard?
A German student has built an electromagnetic harvester that recharges an AA battery by soaking up ambient, environmental radiation.
These harvesters can gather free electricity from just about anything, including overhead power lines, coffee machines, refrigerators, or even the emissions from your WiFi router or smartphone.
This might sound a bit like hocus-pocus pseudoscience, but the underlying science is actually surprisingly sound. We are, after all, just talking about wireless power transfer — just like the smartphones that are starting to ship with wireless charging tech, and the accompanying charging pads.
Dennis Siegel, of the University of Arts Bremen, does away with the charging pad, but the underlying tech is fundamentally the same. We don’t have the exact details — either because he doesn’t know (he may have worked with an electrical engineer), or because he wants to patent the idea first — but his basic description of “coils and high frequency diodes” tallies with how wireless power transfer works. In essence, every electrical device gives off electromagnetic radiation — and if that radiation passes across a coil of wire, an electrical current is produced. Siegel says he has produced two versions of the harvester: One for very low frequencies, such as the 50/60Hz signals from mains power — and another for megahertz (radio, GSM) and gigahertz (Bluetooth/WiFi) radiation.
The efficiency of wireless charging, however, strongly depends on the range and orientation of the transmitter, and how well the coil is tuned to the transmitter’s frequency. In Siegel’s case, “depending on the strength of the electromagnetic field,” his electromagnetic harvester can recharge one AA battery per day. He doesn't specify, but presumably one-AA-per-day is when he’s sitting next to a huge power substation. It makes you wonder how long it would take to charge an AA battery via your coffee machine, or by leeching from your friend’s mobile phone call.
As a concept, though, Siegel’s electromagnetic harvester is very interesting. On its own, a single harvester might not be all that interesting — but what if you stuck a bunch of them, magnetically, to various devices all around your house? Or, perhaps more importantly, why not use these harvesters to power tiny devices that don’t require a lot of energy? Sensors, hearing aids (cochlear implants), smart devices around your home — they could all be powered by harvesting small amounts of energy from the environment.
One question does remain, though: How much ambient, wasted electromagnetic radiation is actually available? There are urban legends about people who install coils of wire in their garage, and then suck up large amounts of power from nearby power substations or radio transmitters. Would the power/radio company notice? Would it degrade the service for other people? Is this a likely plot for Die Hard 6: A better day to die hard?
A team from the University of Toronto has won $250,000 for the first successful launch of a human-powered aircraft.
A Canadian engineer has defied gravity in a human-powered helicopter to scoop a long-standing international aeronautical prize.
The team from the University of Toronto has made aviation history to win the long standing AHS Sikorsky Prize with a flight lasting 64 seconds and reaching an altitude of 3.3 metres.
Todd Reichert, 31, provided the pedal power for the crazy aircraft to make the first ever sustained flight of a human-powered helicopter.
A team from the University of Toronto has won $250,000 for the first successful launch of a human-powered aircraft.
A Canadian engineer has defied gravity in a human-powered helicopter to scoop a long-standing international aeronautical prize.
The team from the University of Toronto has made aviation history to win the long standing AHS Sikorsky Prize with a flight lasting 64 seconds and reaching an altitude of 3.3 metres.
Todd Reichert, 31, provided the pedal power for the crazy aircraft to make the first ever sustained flight of a human-powered helicopter.
The flashlight has been able to maintain light for over 20 minutes which makes it a handy device in case of emergencies
This girl's science project really puts your baking soda volcano to shame
A 15-year-old girl in Canada has invented a flashlight that only needs the warmth of the hand to turn on.
Ann Makosinski, a high school junior in Victoria, British Columbia, was trying to think of a way of harvesting untapped energy when she was inspired to make the flashlight.
She realized that the warmth generated by the human body was an overlooked energy source.
Her project objective was to create a flashlight that ran solely off the heat of the hand.
That objective was accomplished when she discovered Peltier tiles, which produce electricity when one side of the tile is heated and the other is cooled.
Makosinski realized she could use these tiles to create energy for her flashlight if she left the device hollow.
Holding the flashlight on the outside would cause the tiles to heat up on one side while the ambient air would cool down the tile on the inside of the flashlight.
The power created by the tiles was enough to power an LED light, but it did not create enough voltage.
To troubleshoot that issue she created a circuit that would allow for transformers, upping the voltage.
It worked! The flashlight does have one issue: it works better in colder temperatures since the inside is better able to cool down comparative to the person's body heat.
The flashlight has been able to maintain light for over 20 minutes which makes it a handy device in case of emergencies
This girl's science project really puts your baking soda volcano to shame
A 15-year-old girl in Canada has invented a flashlight that only needs the warmth of the hand to turn on.
Ann Makosinski, a high school junior in Victoria, British Columbia, was trying to think of a way of harvesting untapped energy when she was inspired to make the flashlight.
She realized that the warmth generated by the human body was an overlooked energy source.
Her project objective was to create a flashlight that ran solely off the heat of the hand.
That objective was accomplished when she discovered Peltier tiles, which produce electricity when one side of the tile is heated and the other is cooled.
Makosinski realized she could use these tiles to create energy for her flashlight if she left the device hollow.
Holding the flashlight on the outside would cause the tiles to heat up on one side while the ambient air would cool down the tile on the inside of the flashlight.
The power created by the tiles was enough to power an LED light, but it did not create enough voltage.
To troubleshoot that issue she created a circuit that would allow for transformers, upping the voltage.
It worked! The flashlight does have one issue: it works better in colder temperatures since the inside is better able to cool down comparative to the person's body heat.
It sounds like something out of George Orwell’s book 1984, yet scientists have touted it as a major advancement in the field of medicine. Have you heard of the ‘electronic tattoo’ fully equipped with the ability to track patients’ vital signs and report the findings to researchers? The technology is known as an epidermal electronic system (EES), and was developed by an international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore.
When it comes to microchips, implants, or electronic tattoos—it all sounds a little too futuristic, like these “advances” may be paving the way for government tracking of citizens, or worse. But some industries are promoting these high-tech ideas as major advancements in their field. The medical field is just one place these ideas are gaining a foothold.
According to the International Business Times, hospitals and doctors’ offices may one day soon outfit their patients with temporary electronic tattoos. These little skin-patches are said to carry a wealth of information in a tiny space and can reportedly help reduce medical errors while improving care.
“Our goal was to develop an electronic technology that could integrate with the skin in a way that is mechanically and physiologically invisible to the user,” says John Rogers with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. So, invisible electronic tattoos are good?
“It’s a technology that blurs the distinction between electronics and biology,” says Rogers in characterizing the patches that allow researchers to track vital signs and more.
The devices are small and “nearly weightless”. They are thinner than a human hair and attach to the body using water rather than an adhesive. In that regard, they are very much like temporary tattoos. But unlike the bubblegum tattoos, these have electronic components.
Researchers believe they will one day be used in hospitals worldwide. And given the fact that even our animals are implanted with a microchip, the researchers may be right. It isn’t as difficult it seems to convince the people what’s ‘right’ for them.
Rather than hooking someone up to a wide range of wires and adhesives, the small patches will give medical professionals all of the vital information they need. In addition, the researchers are working on variations that are voice activated, allowing wearers to operate a voice-activated video game with more than 90-percent accuracy.
This aspect could lead you to wonder, if they are able to be voice operated by the wearer, couldn’t they be voice-operated by another controller?
It sounds like something out of George Orwell’s book 1984, yet scientists have touted it as a major advancement in the field of medicine. Have you heard of the ‘electronic tattoo’ fully equipped with the ability to track patients’ vital signs and report the findings to researchers? The technology is known as an epidermal electronic system (EES), and was developed by an international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore.
When it comes to microchips, implants, or electronic tattoos—it all sounds a little too futuristic, like these “advances” may be paving the way for government tracking of citizens, or worse. But some industries are promoting these high-tech ideas as major advancements in their field. The medical field is just one place these ideas are gaining a foothold.
According to the International Business Times, hospitals and doctors’ offices may one day soon outfit their patients with temporary electronic tattoos. These little skin-patches are said to carry a wealth of information in a tiny space and can reportedly help reduce medical errors while improving care.
“Our goal was to develop an electronic technology that could integrate with the skin in a way that is mechanically and physiologically invisible to the user,” says John Rogers with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. So, invisible electronic tattoos are good?
“It’s a technology that blurs the distinction between electronics and biology,” says Rogers in characterizing the patches that allow researchers to track vital signs and more.
The devices are small and “nearly weightless”. They are thinner than a human hair and attach to the body using water rather than an adhesive. In that regard, they are very much like temporary tattoos. But unlike the bubblegum tattoos, these have electronic components.
Researchers believe they will one day be used in hospitals worldwide. And given the fact that even our animals are implanted with a microchip, the researchers may be right. It isn’t as difficult it seems to convince the people what’s ‘right’ for them.
Rather than hooking someone up to a wide range of wires and adhesives, the small patches will give medical professionals all of the vital information they need. In addition, the researchers are working on variations that are voice activated, allowing wearers to operate a voice-activated video game with more than 90-percent accuracy.
This aspect could lead you to wonder, if they are able to be voice operated by the wearer, couldn’t they be voice-operated by another controller?
Rich Lee has freed himself from the frustrations of misplacing or having to untangle his headphones ever again. How? He's what's known as a grinder: someone who experiments with surgical implants or body-enhancements, and he's come up with a doozie.
Implanted in his tragus—the stiff protrusion just in front of your ear canal—is a small magnet that works like an earbud built into his head.
To keep the implant almost completely imperceptible, audio signals are transmitted via a coil Lee wears around his neck—based on this Instructable—that creates a magnetic field causing the implant to vibrate and produce sound. Audio quality is certainly nowhere near close to what you'd get from headphones or an actual pair of earbuds, but Lee's approach has a lot of distinct advantages.
In addition to listening to music whenever and wherever he wants, Lee also has plans to hook the wireless system up to various sensors like ultrasonic rangefinders, thermometers, and even geiger counters, giving him the ability to hear distances like a bat, or sense how hot something is without touching it.
The implanted magnet even seems like the perfect tool for Cyrano de Bergerac types who need a little coaching when wooing someone. Or gamblers needing a little extra info from incognito scouts surrounding a poker table. Whether that makes this human hacking experience worth it, well, that's up to you.
Rich Lee has freed himself from the frustrations of misplacing or having to untangle his headphones ever again. How? He's what's known as a grinder: someone who experiments with surgical implants or body-enhancements, and he's come up with a doozie.
Implanted in his tragus—the stiff protrusion just in front of your ear canal—is a small magnet that works like an earbud built into his head.
To keep the implant almost completely imperceptible, audio signals are transmitted via a coil Lee wears around his neck—based on this Instructable—that creates a magnetic field causing the implant to vibrate and produce sound. Audio quality is certainly nowhere near close to what you'd get from headphones or an actual pair of earbuds, but Lee's approach has a lot of distinct advantages.
In addition to listening to music whenever and wherever he wants, Lee also has plans to hook the wireless system up to various sensors like ultrasonic rangefinders, thermometers, and even geiger counters, giving him the ability to hear distances like a bat, or sense how hot something is without touching it.
The implanted magnet even seems like the perfect tool for Cyrano de Bergerac types who need a little coaching when wooing someone. Or gamblers needing a little extra info from incognito scouts surrounding a poker table. Whether that makes this human hacking experience worth it, well, that's up to you.
