GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE
A monthly digest of technologies, developments and trends that will shape our lives. (If you would prefer not to receive these digests, flip back 'NO THANKS' and you will be removed from the list).

An augmented reality car windscreen (or windshield for U.S. readers) has been developed by General Motors. The display outlines the road ahead, and pinpoints obstacles, people and signs, even in bad weather.

The new 'enhanced vision system' could also help drivers by highlighting landmarks, obstacles and road edges on the windscreen in real-time. Such a system can point out potential hazards, such as a running animal, even in foggy or dark conditions, claims GM.

Head-up displays (HUDs) are already used to project some information - like a car's speed or directions - directly in front of the driver, through the windscreen, or even through a side view mirror. These sorts of displays have started appearing in luxury cars, and typically work by projecting light to create an image on part of the windshield.

To turn the entire windshield into a transparent display, GM uses a special type of glass coated with red-emitting and blue-emitting phosphors - a clear synthetic material that glows when it is excited by ultraviolet light. The phosphor display, created by SuperImaging, is activated by tiny, ultraviolet lasers bouncing off mirrors housed near the windscreen. Three cameras track a driver's head and eyes to determine where he or she is looking.

How long before the windscreens are showing ads for the nearest McDonalds?

Important New Development In Cancer Treatment

A personalised blood test that can identify tumour DNA could be the first step towards a long-promised revolution in the way cancer is treated.
 
In the short term, the new test could be used to spot cancer recurrence before tumour growth shows up on scans, meaning that treatment could be started earlier.

The test, developed at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, detects genetic rearrangements that distinguish cancer cells from normal cells. Eventually it might also pave the way for more personalised cancer treatments tailored to the genetic signature of individuals' tumours.

Printable RFID Tags Could Mean The End Of Supermarket Check-Out Queues

Until now, Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID) have remained too expensive to apply to every object in a store. But now there is an inexpensive, printable transmitter that can be invisibly embedded in packaging.

The tags would allow a customer to walk a shopping trolly (cart) full of groceries or other goods past a scanner on the way to the car; the scanner would read all items in the trolly at once, total them up and charge the customer's account while adjusting the store's inventory. 

More advanced versions could collect all the information about the contents of a store in an instant, letting a retailer know where every package is at any time.

Your Nose Knows Who You Are

Researchers from the University of Bath in the U.K. have discovered that, unlike other facial features, the shape of a person's nose is rarely affected by facial expression. As a result, the scientists have developed a technique which shows distinct promise for improved biometric identity verification.

The research team led by Dr Adrian Evans utilized a 3D photographic system developed by the University of the West of England in Bristol and Imperial College London called Photoface. Volunteers had four flash photographs taken from different angles, the resulting images were then processed by software which analyses all the shadows, colours, surface orientation and depth of each point on a face to produce a composite image of unparalleled detail.

Doh! So That's How You Save The Planet!

The Ford Motor Company estimates it will save US$1.2 million annually on power costs alone and reduce its carbon footprint by an estimated 16,000 to 25,000 metric tons annually by implementing a new PC Power Management program.

The new program will centrally control the power settings on Windows laptops and desktop PCs to enable a managed shutdown of computer systems not in use, especially overnight and on weekends.

A 'Power Profile' will be developed which allows each PC in the company to monitor its usage patterns and determine when it can be turned off. If the user is working late, he or she will be alerted of the approaching power down and given the opportunity to delay it. In addition, the PC is able to detect when a Microsoft Office product is active and is able to save open documents before shutting down in case the user is not present.

Researchers at Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) have produced a prototype version of a bionic eye implant that could be ready to start restoring rudimentary vision to blind people as soon as 2013.

The system consists of a pair of glasses with a camera built in, a processor that fits in your pocket, and an ocular implant that sits against the retina at the back of the eye and electronically stimulates the retinal neurons that send visual information to the brain.

Pill Tells Doctors When it's Been Swallowed

Seeking a way to confirm that patients have taken their medication, a team of researchers has added a tiny microchip and digestible antenna to a standard pill capsule that automatically alerts doctors when the pill has actually been ingested.

The system developed by a team at the University of Florida (UF) consists of two main parts. The first is the pill, which is a standard white capsule coated with a label embossed with silvery lines. These lines comprise the antenna, which is printed using ink made of nontoxic, conductive silver nanoparticles. The pill also contains a tiny microchip about the size of a full stop (period).

(Wouldn't it have been easier to develop a pill that sends a message when it hasn't been taken within a certain time?).

Biodegradable Bone Screw Reduces Surgery

Knee and ankle surgery often involves replacing torn ligaments with a piece of tendon from the leg, which is fixed to the bone by means of a titanium or stainless steel screw. Unfortunately, after a certain time further surgery is required to remove such screws. Now researchers have developed a screw that is bio-compatible and also biodegradable over time, making this second surgery unnecessary.

Biodegradable screws made of polylactic acid are already used in the medical field, but they have the disadvantage that when they degrade they can leave holes in the bone.

The researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) in Bremen, Germany developed a mouldable composite made of polylactic acid and hydroxylapatite, a ceramic which is the main constituent of the bone mineral. This composite promotes the growth of bone into the implant. Depending on the composition, the screws will biodegrade in 24 months.

MIT Scientists Make Batteries Lighter And More Powerful

A team of researchers at MIT has made significant progress on a technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists.

Yang Shao-Horn, an MIT associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering, says that many groups have been pursuing work on lithium-air batteries, a technology that has great potential for achieving great gains in energy density. But there has been a lack of understanding of what kinds of electrode materials could promote the electrochemical reactions that take place in these batteries.

Lithium-oxygen (also known as lithium-air) batteries are similar in principle to the lithium-ion batteries that now dominate the field of portable electronics and are a leading contender for electric vehicles. But because lithium-air batteries replace the heavy conventional compounds in such batteries with a carbon-based air electrode and flow of air, the batteries themselves can be much lighter. That's why leading companies, including IBM and General Motors, have committed to major research initiatives on lithium-air technology.

First Green LED Will Hasten A Lighting Revolution

Scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have applied their expertise in solar cell technology to build a green LED - until now a feat considered very difficult.

To create a white LED, red, blue and green light need to be combined. While the first two colours have been relatively easy to manufacture, researchers have struggled to produce a green LED. The LED-based lights available today circumvent the problem by aiming the blue light at a phosphor, which then emits green light. This does produce white light, but it is still wasteful compared to a white light that makes use of three distinct, all-LED components.

LED lights are unanimously regarded as a vast improvement over previous light bulbs because of their much longer lifespan and higher efficiency, which ends up saving us money and carbon output in the long run, even when the higher initial cost is taken into account.

www.rayhammond.com

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