Soon, Jacket That Charge Phones

Led by an Indian origin scientist, a team in the US has developed filaments that harvest and store the sun’s energy, and can be woven into textiles that can power phones, personal health sensors and other gadgets. The breakthrough would essentially turn pieces of clothing like jackets into wearable, solar-powered batteries that never need to be plugged in, the researchers said. It could one day revolutionize wearable, helping everyone, from soldiers who carry heavy loads of batteries to texting addicted teens, who could charge their smartphones by simply slipping them into their pockets. Inspired by the 1989 movie ‘Back to the Future Part II’, the research team developed filaments in the form of copper ribbons that are thin, flexible and lightweight. The ribbons have a solar cell on one side and energy storing layers on the other. If you can develop self-charging clothes or textiles, you can realize these cinematic fantasies – that is the cool thing. Researchers subsequently bought a small, tabletop loom, and wove the ribbons into a square of yarn. The proof-of-concept shows that the filaments could be placed throughout jackets or other clothing items to harvest and store energy to power phones and other gadgets. It is an advancement that overcomes the main shortcoming of solar cells: the energy they produce must flow into the power grid or be stored in a battery that limits their portability. It is hard for the military to deliver batteries to soldiers in hostile environments. A garment like this can harvest and store energy at the same time if sunlight is available. There are a host of other potential uses, including electric cars that could generate and store energy whenever they are in the sun. That is the future. What researchers have done is demonstrate that it can be made. It is going to be very useful for the general public and the military and many other applications.

MRI Detects Bone Marrow Cancer

Bone marrow cancer can be diagnosed effectively with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), according to new study. Bone marrow cancer (myelofibrosis) is a slowly evolving condition hallmarked by increased myeloid cells, and, in the case of primary myelofibrosis, an excessive number of large cells called megakaryocytes. The pathology is also characterized by structural abnormality of the bone marrow matrix, which at end-stage manifests in excessive deposition of reticulin fibers and cross linked collagen in the bone marrow, suppression of normal blood cell development and bone marrow failure. Currently, the diagnosis is made through an invasive biopsy and histopathology. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in the US tested an approach using a T2-weighted MRI, one of the basic pulse sequences in MRI, through which they could detect a pre-fibrotic state of the disease. It is intriguing to speculate that future pre-biopsy MRI of the human pathology might guide, in some cases, decisions on if and where to biopsy.

Soon, Your Body Heat May Power Wearable Devices

You could soon power wearable devices using just your body heat, without any external power supply or battery replacement. Researchers have developed a new concept of electrical energy storage- thermally changeable solid- state Super capacitor. This is the first time that it has been discovered that a solid-state polymer electrolyte can produce large thermally induced voltage. The voltage can then be used to initiate an electrochemical reaction in electrodes for charging. The super capacitor works by converting thermal energy into electrical energy and then storing it in the device. For example, human body heat, or any heat dissipating objects that create temperature differences from their surroundings can be used to charge the capacitor. The super capacitor is also flexible in that it can be used as a power supply for wearable electronics and can be integrated into wireless data transmission systems to operate internet of things (IoT) sensors. IoT is a concept of connecting various devices and sensors for data communication and exchange. Researcher employed a physical phenomenon known as the Soret effect – using a solid state polymer electrolyte, in which a temperature gradient along the super capacitor moves the ions from the hot side to the cold side  generating high thermally induced voltage.

A 10-Digit Code To Your Life: Your Phone Number

The next time someone asks you for your cellphone number, you may want to think twice about giving it. The phone number is more than just a bunch of digits. It is increasingly being used as a link to private information maintained by all sorts of companies, including money lenders and social networks. It can be used to monitor and predict what you buy, look for online or even watch on television. It has become kind of a key into the room of your life and information about you. However, the phone number is not a legally regulated piece of information like a Social Security number, which companies are required to keep private. That is a growing issue for young people, since two sets of digits may well be with them for life: their Social Security number and their phone number. Nearly half of all American households have given up their landlines and have only wireless phone service – a figure that has risen more than 10 percentage points in just three years. Among people of ages 25 to 29, the share of homes that have only wireless phone service stands at 73%. In fact, investigators find that a phone number is often even more useful than a Social Security number because it is tied to so many databases and is connected to a device you almost always have with you. The use of the phone number in new, unanticipated ways has echoes in the history fo the Social Security number, which was created in 1936. Its original purpose was to enable the nation’s nascent social insurance system to maintain accurate records of workers covered under the programme. Gradually, the simplicity of using a unique number to identify people encouraged the widespread use by other government agencies in the 1960s. That Social Security numbers are so broadly used and often so poorly protected is a major cause of the current epidemic of identity theft. The total losses in the US from stolen identities used in crimes like credit card and loan fraud were $15 billion last year. And 11% of Americans say they lost money last year in a telephone swindle. To combat fraud prevention, Affirm, a start-up that offers an alternative to credit cards for online purchases, mines data sources and approves or rejects a loan within a minute or so. Affirm asks borrowers for a few pieces of personal information, including their names and dates of birth. But the strongest identifier and conduit to useful information in the number. When a customer wants to get an installment loan to buy something the firm sends the person a temporary personal identification number. The ID numbers remain valid for only 30 seconds to 180 seconds, increasing the odds that the person trying to borrow or buy is indeed the same person who owns the phone with that number. It’s not foolproof, but if a cellphone is lost or stolen, it is typically locked. But a cellphone-only life presents problems for many professionals and workers at start ups and small businesses, who make business calls on their personal cell phones.