Article 15 05/02/2010

Offshore Drilling Bill – Passed

The United States government has recently signed a legislative bill that will now, for the first time, allow offshore wind turbines. The bill was passed for a wind farm to be built in the Cape Wind area, off of the coast of Massachusetts. This project is estimated to have a total of 130 turbines. All of the turbines will be linked together, sending all of the generated energy to a holding device, and then it will disperse the energy (electricity) to homes and businesses throughout the east coast bay area. The original article has estimated that the energy produced by the farm of wind turbine generators is estimated to be equivalent to a mid sized coal plant.

If all of these turbines are only equivalent to already existing coal plants, why not just use the technology that is already out there? Coal plants produce large quantities of carbon that gets released into the air we breathe. There is so much released into the air that the unit of measure for emitted carbon is metric tons. It is also estimated that with the installation of the 130 wind turbines, it will save the atmosphere from the equivalent to pulling 175,000 cars off of our American roads.

Although there are a lot of positives to energy produced by wind turbines, there is a list of negatives that are a big issue to this particular case, and they all have to do with the fact that everything will be done in the water. There are not many concerns with the actual installation of the generators in the water; the issues are related to the water eco systems. Although the U.S. government has given the okay to build in the water, there will be a wrath of law suits that will follow. As previously mentioned, disruption to the under water eco systems always lead to big law suits. Additionally mentioned in the original article, something as obscure as cheapening the view from homes on the coast my result in potential law suits.

With so many positives being counteracted by negatives, the likelihood that a wind farm will be built soon is more unlikely than not. But I believe we (our country, and our world) are moving in the right direction. We are putting fourth large efforts to be greener, all in an effort to save our beautiful planet. I hope that one day in the near future we cut our emissions pollution in half. We’re turning greener one step at a time.

Original Article;

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/us-approves-first-offshore-wind-farm-cape-cod

Supporting Articles;

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/04/cape_wind_annou.html

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Cape%20Wind&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Wind-turbines

Article 14 04/25/2010

Engineering Efficiency

Right now, there are innovators around the world working to build an amazing machine to compete with to possibly win the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. There are a number of X Prizes that are up for grabs, but this competition in particular is geared toward reengineered automobiles that can change the face of the planet. The winner of the competition will have produced a machine that will revolutionize the way we view automobiles. The winner will receive ten million dollars and an incredible amount of publicity for the creators and their products.

This week Popular Science featured a three wheeled monster named E. Rex; a battery powered electric, three wheeled, two passenger vehicle designed for efficiency and pollution free transportation. Currently the racecar appearing E Rex is utilizing 96 cells of lithium ion battery which is claimed to range up to 100 miles. The batter pack is supposed to able to recharge in two and a half hours when using a 220 volt outlet.

Although this car looks sporty, fast, and cool, just how practical is it? My first issue with this car is what happens when it rains? I have not found information on a canopy that can be applied to the E Rex to protect the driver. And while on the topic of protection, where in the windshield? I took a road trip this past week and I had five large sized stones hit my trucks windshield, which is higher off the ground than E Rex, and if the passenger is not wearing a helmet, there is a serious risk. Electric cars are out there in our country, no they’re not being mass produced my any of the large auto manufactures, and most of the reasons are practicality. The E Rex is advertised for sale at a dollar shy of $52,000. In my opinion that is not practical. I do understand the man/men involved in making the car need to make a profit, but it’s too much.

In conclusion, I am thrilled about the new ideas being brought to the table, and their ideas possibly being rewarded with ten million dollars, but I am just looking for more. I am looking for someone to reengineer the wheel. Since this is all about revolutionary, I would have liked to see them use the new tweel from Michelin, an airless tire. I wish all competing teams the best, but I hope the winner isn’t chosen through a publicity stunt, I want a fresh start on our auto industry.

Original Article;
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-04/three-wheeled-e-rex-roars-progressive-automotive-x-prize

Supporting Articles;

http://www.xprize.org/

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/04/optamotive-e-rex/

http://www.popsci.com/bown/2009/product/2010-toyota-prius

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2008-03/tesla-roadster-electric-supercar-begins-production

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/finlands-all-electric-sports-car-charges-just-10-minutes

Article 13 04/18/2010

Blog 13

Future Roadster

Popular Science Magazine often releases articles that have to do with the ever changing market of future cars. Within the original article, there author has picked out key points to highlight in his article and has briefly stated a few comments. The author’s comments are correct, but I believe them to be a bit shallow, so I would like to bring forth some otherwise unnoted information.

The first topic has to do with the “Head’s-Up Display.” These displays project images, onto the inside of the windshield. This type of display has many advantages. They are lighter than mechanical clusters, usually the layout limits unnecessary gauges that most drivers don’t pay attention to, and usually because they have no idea what they mean, But there are also some downfalls to them, and for me, the biggest is with driving during a bright sunny day the projected display on the windshield never seems bright enough. Sure I can still read what it’s trying to say, but it could be better, much better.

The next topic of discussion was of ceramic windows. The authors claim the windows to be strong enough to withstand impacts from bullets, but this seems to be a little over kill. This is a great concept to protect the driver from debris breaking the window and injuring the driver. But, this is a bad idea if per say the driver got into a wreck, but couldn’t get any doors open because the car has twisted and buckled, usually you would just break a window and crawl out… not any more.

Wheel motors were next on their list. This can be a big positive. Wheel motors do contain a rather surprisingly high amount of weight for their size, but far less weight than a conventional combustion engine. Motors also would completely eliminate gasoline and oil, except where needed for lubrication on moving parts.

Energy storage is the last topic of discussion on the authors list of importance. Currently, lithium-ion is the best of the readily available battery sources. Yes, there are brand new chemical combinations out there, but they are not ready for mass production, yet. So now we have the best batteries we can get, but what a lot of people don’t think of is how we charge the batteries. Electric cars loose the gasoline and oil, but if your charging your car from electricity produced by coal, your not helping the pollution topic at all. If you really want to be green, charge your batteries by means of solar power.

Original Article:
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-04/future-drive-electric-luxury-racer

Supporting Articles:

http://www.popsci.com/announcements/article/2010-04/may-2010-futue-car

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-09/frankfurt-motor-show-audi-e-tron-electric-concept

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoskeleton

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/magnesium.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_battery

Article 12 04/11/2010

Racing All Electric

Finland has re-engineered the race car. They have gone away from gas and oil guzzling engines, gone away with thick and nasty gear and transmission fluids; all of which are terrible for the environment. Another problem is that the cost of crude oil has been on the rise of the years. So if there are other viable solutions, why not give them a chance? The all electric race car is the chance we have all been waiting for. Fully electric vehicles are not a new concept to the world; in fact GM produced an electric car that was extremely popular back I the 80’s, but the car was so popular, and the demand was so large that it scared the oil industry so much, that they demanded GM recall all of the electric cars and crushed them.

What are some positives to an all electric car? The first and probably the most obvious is the no emissions or harmful fuels and oils will be used. This produces a car that can still go fast on the race track, but is safer for the world around us. Electric motors are relatively heavy, but o where near the weight of a race car fuel and oil type engine. This allows for race teams to build a lighter car, which could be safer; when a race car flips upside down, now there is less mass surrounding the driver.

What are some negatives to a fully electric racecar? The original article talks about recharging the car’s battery in just a few seconds. Well, this concept can be deceiving. Sure, it is possible to charge the battery in a short period of time, but it will take a device that can flow a highly concentrated charge to the battery. It would be like the difference between filling a pool with a garden hose and filling the pool from a fire hydrant with the massive hose firefighters use. Delivering that much power can definitely by a safety hazard, especially if it were to rain.
Finland is moving in the right direction, developing new technology that can in the long run, help save our planet. Race engineers will continue working on this concept. It has a long way to go to come to a race track near you, but the future is racing its way across the seas, hopefully sooner than later!

Original Site:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/finlands-all-electric-sports-car-charges-just-10-minutes

Supporting Sites:
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-07/electric-gullwing-mercedes-previews-all-electric-version-new-sports-car

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-11/slightly-poorer-mans-tesla-ecos-harbinger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_vehicle

http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/

Article 11 04/03/2010

New Technology in Medical Field

Over the past few years, I have heard a lot about stem cell research. It seemed to me that everywhere I drove I saw a road sign, every radio station I listened to, every charity I heard about had something to do with stem cell research. Now, please don’t get me wrong, its great to support organizations that are geared towards improving the lives of struggling and sick patients, but I never heard about many leaps and gains from the generous donations. Again, not saying gains were not made from the money provided, but I haven’t heard of anything revolutionary, but maybe that’s about to change.

Engineers from Stanford University have been working on creating better ways to attach nerves and cells to artificial limbs to allow for more lifelike movements. The new technology consists of 600-nanometer-long silicon probes which have three layers of metal, a gold layer pressed between two layers of chromium. This layer of three different materials is supposed to mimic the layers within a cell. This design will ultimately help to better connect the nerves and cells involved with attaching a prosthetic to create the best remedy to the less fortunate, and hopefully change the lives of suffering or sick people around the world.

Now, this revolutionary idea and product is not yet available, there are still a long line of testing that officials would like to put this new idea through, obviously. But I would expect great results; it seems that the engineers involved from beginning to end truly have put in the time and effort needed to positively change the lives of others. This is not an error proof procedure, there are still risks involved. To bring this full circle though, like I was talking about how I was looking for a viable product that really assists the researching involved in stem cell research, this may possibly be the tool that has been needed to advance to the next step. This may help researchers cut smoother to better understand the human cell, of which could assist to many medical advances!

Original Article:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/stealthy-nanoprobe-slips-seamlessly-cell-walls

Supporting Sites:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/darpa-orders-prosthetics-controlled-directly-through-brain-implants

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/neuron-computer-chips-could-overcome-power-limitations-digital

http://stemcells.nih.gov/

http://www.isscr.org/

Article 10 3/28/2010

Electronic Cells for our Human Cells

In this article, researchers from the University of Illinois as well as Northwestern University engineered a single crystal silicon layer that wraps around a network of sensors that can detect your exact heart beats. They have created these patches to place on your heart while the 2,000 silicon nanomembrane transistors accurately detect every heart beat. This new technology is much more efficient, cost effective, and reliable than previous methods. Before this new market changing idea, the previous method was not accurate in the way that doctors could not track the patient’s heart beat live, it had to be recorded, then the stats and data was later read by a doctor. Where as now, with this new creation, doctors can read the data the millisecond it is sent to his computer, allowing for much more precision while testing each and every patient.
This new sensor is not yet ready for, or available for daily use in the field. More testing is required, but look for this in your local hospitals soon, but I hope you won’t need to have them used on you.
But is this a trend for the future? Will sensors soon be permanently place through out your body that monitor your diagnostics every second, of every day, for the rest of our lives? Possibly. In my opinion that may not be bad for people who are terminally ill or have serious health concerns. With the readily available technology that surrounds us, maybe we can next program this in body computer to send text messages to our phones to tell us when we need a dose of our medicine, or when it is detecting a new problem and that we should see a doctor soon. Just another way technology is continually evolving to help make human life happier and healthier!

Original Article:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/flexible-sensor-array-wraps-beating-hearts-monitor-cardiac-electrical-activity-real-time

Supporting Articles:

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/heart-pumping-machine-lets-researchers-experiment

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/sensitive-heart-monitor-detects-problems-earlier

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128101859.htm

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-10/patch-uses-stem-cells-plug-holes-heart

Article 9 03/21/2010

Camera Aided Driving

General Motors has come out with a new system that aids automobile drivers in difficult driving conditions; conditions such as heavy rain and or fog. The assist is to highlight on the windshield when and where danger is approaching, such as small children, animals, or obstructions in the roadway. In another series of camera, they are able to alert the driver when other vehicles are in the commonly known areas, “blind spots.”

I think this new idea has both positives and negatives tied into it. Let me start out with the positives. First off, as the picture displays in the original article, I believe that the driving assists can possibly be of beneficial assistance in non-desirable conditions such as heavy rain, dense fog, and even at night when two cars are approaching each other, blinding themselves from the head lights. If the program really is able to accurately light up on the windshield where the while line, yellow line, and maybe even more beneficial, the centerline, I believe this program can be beneficial. Another helpful aspect to the new programming will be if they can accurately detect if another vehicle is beside the vehicle your piloting. This may be helpful I both interstate and city driving.

Unfortunately, there are usually some downfalls that ride along side the positives. First and foremost, I believe that if GM does install these features into a car, I hope that they would strongly stress that even with these new components, the driver is still the one at fault if there is an accident. The driver must understand that these features may become defective and are no excuse for the pilots poor driving. I also am afraid that these types of programs become defective overtime. In this case, I would hope GM would give the driver full ability to turn off all of these programmable assists, so that if one is faulty, they do not create an even bigger issue for the consumer.

Also, GM is considering including a “heads up” navigation system, which would display the directions on the windshield, which is supposed to help keep drivers eyes on the road. But let’s be honest, heads up or down, the driver is focused on reading or playing with his/her navigation system, not driving. So let’s not over think the obvious.

I understand the need for assisting driving on the roadways, especially those who probably shouldn’t have a driver’s license in the first place. I am just worried about the possible law suits that could potentially come out of this. These new ideas may help to prevent many accidents and fender benders, but at the end of the day, assists or not, I believe that the drivers around the country, and the world, need to stick to paying attention to driving, nothing else. Not even the electronic falsities we install into vehicles.

Original Article
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-03/gm-wants-turn-car-windshields-navigation-displays

Supporting Article
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/gm-tinkers-with-augmented-reality-system-for-cars/

http://www.gm.com/experience/technology/research/

http://www.cmu.edu/index.shtml

http://www.usc.edu/

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/01/04/1015176/turn-left-into-snowbank-dont-blindly.html

http://www.garrygolden.net/2010/02/26/future-of-auto-industry-telematics-and-connected-cars-will-transform-the-driver-into-captain/

Article 8 02/04/2010

Health Concerns from Radio Waves

From the original site, the article presents information on how Mr. Per Segerbäck is “allergic” to radio waves. Segerbäck was at his home outside of Stockholm Sweden. He claims to be living out in the country where there are few people, away from the madness of cities. One afternoon he was outside when one of his neighbors approached him. While they were standing aside each other, the neighbor’s cell phone rang, which brought Segerbäck to his knees and eventually fell unconscious. He claims to suffer from electro-hypersensitivity (EHS), which means he physically suffers from electromagnetic radiation produced by our everyday electronic communication devices. Is this possible?

I sat back in my chair and thought of it this way; during war, the most destructive bomb is a nuclear bomb. Not only because it delivers an intense blast, which levels anything in its path, but also because of what is left after the explosion, radiation. There are many different types of radiation, but the radiation that parallels radio waves is called Gamma radiation. Like radio waves, gamma radiation consists of high frequency waves traveling through space, or in our case, one’s body, which destroys human body matter. Granted, from studying the electromagnetic spectrum, gamma waves are a much higher frequency than radio waves. But think of this topic like this; radio waves can affect each person differently, much like alcohol effects each individual differently. Now think of radio waves as a 20 proof drink, and think of gamma radiation as 190 proof alcohol. Obviously consuming 190 proof is going to mess with the body in a very short amount of time, meanwhile the 20 proof takes a larger amount of time to enable a body. Now apply it to our lives right now. As you read this, there are radio waves all around you, from your wireless router serving your computer, your cell phone is constantly transmitting waves, and the radio you may be listening also operates off of radio waves. Now through in effect of the microwave every time you use it, televisions, computers, iPods, refrigerators, dishwashers, electric can openers, electric shaves, they all give off radio waves at different frequencies. None of which are any good to our bodies. Much like constantly consuming low amounts of alcohol, right away the effects are minimal, but after constant consumption, the effects are great.

As a society, we can all agree that technology has great effects on our lives, but we need to start considering the unseen harms that we do not think about. I believe that we are setting ourselves up for disaster. If we are not careful, we will all suffer from brain cancer from the effects of our electronics. We all may soon become victims of electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

Original Site:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-02/disconnected

Supporting Sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Electromagnetic-Spectrum.png
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF3/386.html

Article 7 02/28/2010

80 Year Old Question, Solved!

In 1927 Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi dreamt up a theory. There theory was, if they could calculate the energy of the in motion electrons within a material, then they could better understand the geometrical structures, which in return would help them calculate material strength. This was only an idea until 1964 when Pierre Hohenberg and Walter Kohn proved that Thomas-Fermi theorm was solvable.

Solving for this theory has proved to be overwhelming. Hohenberg and Kohn were able to solve the intense equation, but due to its colossal level of intricacy, it requires an extremely powerful computer to be able to compute it. Computers today are only strong enough to solve the problem for basic elements, which is a start, but engineers today need to be able to evaluate many more materials for this theory to be effective.

Problem solved! Emily Carter and her team of engineers at Princeton University have studied the theory and the equation, worked with it, then made it better. The team kept the ideology, but made the equations more efficient, allowing for today’s computers to quickly reveal the information desired. And this isn’t just for simple matter, but the new efficiency allows for the study of much more complex materials. The new system of equations is not able to calculate the impact of flaws within the material, which allows for much more realistic results that can directly relate in real world industrial applications.

This new discovery is not yet available to the general engineering public, yet. But do to it’s revolutionary concept and growing popularity, look for the program to be available at the highest levels for engineering coursed, and engineering universities and companies, not only in the United States, but crossing the entire globe! This new technology is going to help companies design stronger and safer products, for less money by being able to test new designs, find flaws, and improve without the astronomical cost of materials for stress testing.

80 years of questions answered for an eternity of benefits!

Original Site:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-02/reworked-formula-allows-computers-model-new-materials-100000-times-faster

Supporting Sites:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100225140904.htm

http://cmt.dur.ac.uk/sjc/thesis_ppr/node6.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Kohn

Article 6 02/20/10

Not Just a Parked Car

Currently, parked cars are in terms considered inanimate objects. Parked vehicles are big hunks of metal, plastics, and cloth. The mechanical engineering department at the University of Michigan is actively working to try to change that. They want the parked hunks of metals, plastics, and cloth to serve a purpose.

The University of Michigan is engineering a new energy transfer system for cars within a city. The idea is when you park your hybrid, or even your fully electric vehicle, you plug into a charging station. Depending upon your batteries charge and your discretion, you can choose to either charge your cars battery, or sell energy back to the power company.

This is a great idea but is it worth it? After reading the original article, and after doing some research, I did a little pondering of my own. In conclusion to my thoughts, I came up with the following; in order for someone to feel the need to sell back electricity, there would need to be a benefit. Benefit being, more than likely, money. Let’s say on your new fully electric vehicle, you charge your batteries of your car from an outlet in your garage. Let’s also say that you pay one dollar per unit of energy that comes out of that electric outlet. First off, if you sell your cars energy for less than one dollar per unit back to the power company, obviously your loosing money, and no one will participate in that program. Secondly, if you sell energy back at the same price per unit, you may get a small percentage of participants in this program, but without any benefit, it won’t be worth the hassle to most. But, if you can sell energy back to the power company for $1.10, this may become an interesting program to most everyone, because if you can drive your electric car to work, park at one of these stations, sell energy for more than what you paid, you may have a large portion of your travel expenses paid for just by plugging your car in! Not a bad idea, if there is a benefit to the consumer.

Mechanical engineers across the globe are working to improve the world, to enhance technology in the world that surrounds us. In the future, this new invention may litter parking ramps and lots around our city, our state, and even our country!

Original Source:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/future-electric-cars-could-earn-money-homeowners-while-sitting-still

Supporting Sources:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/future-electric-cars-could-earn-money-homeowners-while-sitting-still

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-06/wind-power

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-10/google-working-smart-charging-software-electric-cars

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218173118.htm

Article 5 02/14/10

Study Bus

A high school in Tucson Arizona has made technology in society more available! In 2005, Empire High School became a “digital school” by supplying lap tops to students instead of text books. In an effort to increase productivity outside of the classroom, the school district added Wi-Fi access to school busses. With this new idea, students are given the opportunity to turn their bus ride into continued, productive learning time from the classroom. Back when I was in grade school, I was on the bus for just less than an hour, this opportunity could potentially have freed up my evenings for more time spent with friends and families. Sure, some students will take this opportunity to jump online to play games, or chat with friends, or even update their cyber page.
Kids in high school used to steal pens and pencils on the bus. Now they will be able to steal lap tops! But, maybe that won't be an issue because every student at the high school is given a computer, which will eliminate the need to steal a lap top for those who otherwise wouldn’t have one.
With this concept put into place, officials of the study say that with the students occupied during their ride home, there has been less conflict, and lets face it, students have always said that if they would have something to do, they probably wouldn’t have gotten into trouble in the first place. This idea will solve many problems with just one stone. But is this concept just for digital school?
I believe this concept will take off even if the elementary, middle, or high school is not considered a digital school. In today’s world, we all know kids are getting more technology devices at younger ages, and probably the most popular device other than a cell phone is the ipod touch. This device is also capable of connecting to a Wi-Fi server, to also keep students occupied during their ride. Along with the ipod, now the newer and bigger version the ipad can also be a great tool to help productivity, as well as reduce conflict on the school bus. And if this works with school busses, hopefully soon a small and less expensive model will come out for our cars! This technology could dramatically impact our society in a positive way!

Original Site:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/wi-fi-enabled-school-bus-makes-all-work-and-less-play

Supporting Sites:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html?hp

http://www.autonetmobile.com/about/

Article 4 02/07/10

Gene Therapy

In sports, it used to be about who could bench the most, or run the longest and fastest. Then a new era came, who could swallow the most steroids. Surprising to many, those fads are out. What is the new trend? They call it “Gene Therapy.” Gene therapy is described to be when a procedure is done to a human’s DNA that permanently alters its make up. Technology has given doctors and athletes the ability to make ones body faster and stronger.
Currently, there are procedures readily available to test athletes for steroid consumption, and testing positive can suspend an athlete indefinitely in their sport. But is there a testing procedure available to tell if ones genes and DNA have been altered? Hardly. Some scientists have clamed that if tested close to the time of taking the altering drug that it can be detected. Unfortunately, with the highly anticipated, and highly competitive Winter Olympics speedily approaching, and the new push for public awareness that is attached to the DNA altering, athletes have since ceased the consumption for such powerful, yet dangerous drugs.
Through testing on monkeys, scientists have found that although these chemicals can alter the genes and improve one’s ability to perform, it comes with a downfall. Tested monkeys have had offspring that hasn’t survived the birthing process. Although that’s a heavy chance to risk, there are benefits. First off it improves athletes. Through testing, it has improved that sight of the colorblind, and has dramatically improved muscle growth.

With the Winter Olympics right around the corner, expect to have athletes in the running for gold metals, as well as winning them that have taken the dramatically shocking, yet dangerous performing enhancing chemicals. Although we wished that the athletes would remain “clean” and drug free, for those going for the break of their lifetime, biomedical engineering has made these opportunities possible for those truly unworthy of a gold metal.
If biomedical engineering can create such a monster, I hope to see in the future a testing procedure that can ban such athletes from performing, and only allow those from a natural, health birthed child, who has worked all their life for such and opportunity, to compete.

Original Site:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/gene-therapy-marks-next-frontier-sports-doping

Supporting Sites:

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/medicine/genetherapy.shtml

http://www.nature.com/gt/index.html

Article 3 01/31/2010

Texting While Driving

Texting and driving has become one of the hottest topics when it comes to automobile laws. All across the nation, and I would guess across the world, there are accidents caused every day by a driver who was distracted by their phone and has been at fault in a crash. Because of these actions, there are thousands of people across our nation, and assumingly around the globe that are pushing to ban texting while driving. Currently, 19 states already prohibit texting while driving. Meanwhile, 23 more states currently have bills working their way through congress. This is truly a great idea, but is it realistic?

Personally I am a supporter of the texting ban, but I question the ability to enforce such a law. For example, there are states the prohibit automobile drivers between the ages of 16-18 from talking on their phones while driving, unless you are on the phone with their parents, or in an emergency situation. My question is how can a police driver tell if you’re on the phone with your parent(s) or just a friend? Similarly, banning texting seems like a great idea, but again, how would an officer know if I am sending a text message, or typing in an address in my GPS application on my iPhone? Although it is nearly impossible to police, the idea of passing this bill would be enough to deter drivers from texting, hoping that the threat of a penalty will be enough of a reason to limit texting while driving.

Along the same lines, it’s not just texting while driving that is causing the issues, its everything else we surround ourselves with in our vehicles that distract us. It’s the cup of coffee we can’t leave home without. It’s the burger and fries we just picked up from the drive through, and the newspaper that’s covering your steering wheel while driving 75mph down the interstate. The new texting ban is a start, but we need to some how police ourselves more than we need police to do it for us. Technology is completely absorbed into our lifestyles, but there are times when we need to set it down. Protect your life, and the lives of others, stop texting, and drive!

Original Site:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-01-24-texting_N.htm

Supporting Sites:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/29/cellphone.study/index.html

http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cell/statistics.html

Article 2 01-24-2010

Kids and Media

Are kids now a days consuming too much media? The Kaiser Family Foundation came out with a study that monitored media consumption in the lives of todays kids between the ages of 8 to 18 years old. The results were astonishing; the average showed over 7.5 hours of media consumption daily. That’s just under 1/3 of every day. The study was so exact that it showed that the most consuming was done by the black and Hispanic “tweens.” The growth of media consumption is outrageous, up one hour from 2004. Will this type of growth continue?

Absolutely. This very article posed this same question years back, thinking that media consumption couldn’t possibly get any larger, but we proved them wrong. Media is all around us, most obviously on our t.v.’s, radios, and billboards, but now media is branching out to mobile apps on the new smart phones, youtube.com videos now host advertisement and every video played, Facebook pages have advertisement up and down each margin giving the consumer a double dose. With all this media surrounding us, teens included, does this have a positive or negative overall effect?

I believe it can have both. As the article points out, it’s like the consumption of our daily diets. If we consume healthy foods and drink nutritious liquids, we can produce a positive outcome. Meanwhile, the opposite is as equally possible. It is all in the hands of the consumer. I personally cannot see a change in this trend for years to come.

When I was in elementary school, our class would use the computer lab a total of two hours a week using programs to help our learning. Now, as a college student, I am consuming more than two hours of media before my first class begins every morning. And then once I do get to class, most of my professors start class with a PowerPoint presentation plastered with youtube clips that help illustrate their point, then for homework we are assigned to go online for research.

Media consumes our lives, young and old, and as more time passes, it will continue to trickle down to younger and younger consumers, but it’s not always a bad deal, if used correctly. The internet is an infinite atmosphere of knowledge and greatness, we just need to pilot out rocket ships around the harmfulness.

Original Site:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html?ref=technology

Supporting Sites:

http://news14.com/charlotte-news-104-content/tech_talk/620930/study-finds-boom-in-media-use-among-youth

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/10/finding-balance-in-teen-use-of-social-media293.html

Article 1

RCA's Airnergy Wi-Fi Powered Charger

The RCA electronics company is currently working on a device that pulls energy from a wireless hotspot, converts the energy into a DC current, which then charges the battery of this new device, which can later plug into your phone and charge it. This new revolutionary device is called the Airnergy, new from RCA.
Ironically, this concept is not new by any means, formally an idea of Tesla who was an inventor from the mid to late 1800’s to early 1900’s, but RCA has finally come up with a marketable product.
Although this product is amazing in thought, will it perform? RCA claims that the new Airnergy can charge 30% of a phones battery in roughly 90 minutes. This is not something that will replace your standard phone charger, yet. May mathematicians who have crunched the numbers are skeptical of this new device, some believe it will take years to charge a lap top, and maybe so, but I am extremely excited that we as a society are finally coming up with ways to harness energy that already exist! Who knows, maybe someday soon we will be able to charge our electric cars from the energy with the air that surrounds us! RCA claims that the rate at which the Airnergy can charge a battery largely depends upon how close you are to the hotspot deice, closer to the hotspot, the faster the charge.

I believe this new technology will be great for the average cell phone user. For example, take a UNC Charlotte student. Student X is on their phone for a majority of the day talking, texting, web browsing, and playing games. At the end of the day he or she is in the middle of an important phone conversation when the phone alerts them of a low battery. He or she can pull their Airnergy out of their pocket, plug it into their phone and then continue talking without being worried about a dead battery. Chances are the student will be able to talk for hours because their Airnergy is fully charged from being around Wi-Fi while they were in their dorm, in class, in the library, and while (s)he was having dinner at Crown Commons in the new student union!

This new device may not be the solution to all of our charging problems, but I believe it’s a stepping stone for what’s to come. And if it is truly going to be sold at around the $40 mark, I might have to buy one just to try it for myself!

Original Site:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/rca-airenergy-pulls-power-thin-air-charging-your-phone-wi-fi

Supporting Sites:

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2010/01/09/ces2010-rca-airnergy-charger-harvests-electricity-from-wifi/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMMbihbeIls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla