spider silk

Spider silk is already lighter and tougher than steel, but now that scientists have infused the silk with metal they are 3 times stronger. The technique may be found to be very useful in manufacturing super-strong textiles and high tech medical equipment, including artificial bones and tendons. Researcher Seung-Mo Lee of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle, Germany said. "It could make very strong thread for surgical operations” Lee and his fellow colleagues found that adding zinc, titanium or aluminum to a piece of spider silk made it more resistant to breaking or deforming. They used a process called atomic layer deposition, which not only coated the spider dragline silks with metal but also caused some metal ions to infiltrate the fibers and react with their protein structure. Lee said that he next wants to try adding artificial polymers such as teflon and other materials.The idea was inspired by research showing traces of metals in the strongest parts of some insect body parts. The jaws of leaf-cutter ants and locusts, both contain high levels of zinc, making them extremely stiff and hard. The strength of spider silk has long fascinated scientists but it is hard to produce it in commercial quantities because captive spiders tend to eat each other. Researchers have looked at alternative ways of producing silk without spiders, by duplicating their spinning technique. According to www.rsc.org "Mato Knez attributes the strengthening effect to the metal's displacement of hydrogen bonds within the silk's protein structure. The water vapour disrupts the hydrogen bonding network of the silk proteins, and these bonds are replaced by stronger metal-coordinated or covalent metal-protein bonds as the metal ions slowly infiltrate the silk. The spider silk itself is just a model system,"adds Knez. "Once we have learnt to control the deposition system, and really understand what is happening, we hope to apply the method to make better, lighter weight and tougher new materials which are of more interest for technology or medicine,' he adds. I feel the recent find is just another great find for science and the medicine world. If they can create new durable material to help replace tendons and bones, people would be greatly benefitted. They could possible find new applications for the material such as extra strength cable for building or possibly new stronger lighter material for manufacturing use in computers or other electronics. I am always surprised about the scientific finds that are made every day and look forward to learning of new discoveries such a this extra strength spider silk.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30377220/

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/April/23040903.asp

A Salt Lake city based company is coming up with new ways for people to own and have homes during this horrible downturn in the home market. The company is Gorilla Designs and they are turning unused shipping containers into affordable, high quality homes that will last a lifetime. The company was founded in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina said Roi Maufus of Gorilla Designs. "According to Maufus "After Katrina, we realized that normal houses and traditional materials can't stand up to global warming and the new storms that will come with it, We wanted to make something that could stand the test of time."Gorilla also wants to be more environmentally friendly. "This is definitely a case of one man's trash being another man's treasure," said Maifus. The are thousands of containers around the country sitting in ports not being used. They could be transformed in to housing for those that are in need. The containers are very durable, they are rated to carry 67,000 pounds and can withstand 8 fully loaded containers resting on it which is about 376 tons per square inch. "We certainly don't have to worry about snow load issues," said Maufus. The shipping containers can be furnished quite luxuriously with rich hardwood floors. People are not just living in a big rectangle box. The designs have them cut walls out and also container are welded together to create rooms. As long as the welds are good the containers keep it's extreme durability and the energy efficiency is doubled when compared to normal wood homes. Also the construction time in nearly 1/3 when comparing wood homes to the containers. The container can be assembled and shipped anywhere in the U.S. for only 3,000 dollars. Vicki Bennet of Salt Lake City's Office of Sustainability said "It looks quite modern and has nice, sleek lines, It doesn't look like a shipping container at all." According to www.weburbanist.com the first cargo shipping container home was built in southern California by Peter Demaria. Also they are very cheap to buy containers at about 900 dollars per container. I feel the idea is very smart and could become a very big industry. Especially in cities where space is not easily accessible and cheap and the modern look will go nicely with most cities. Most people will hear the idea of living in a shipping container and dismiss it as ridiculous which is what i did until i looked them up and found they were actually pretty cool looking and something out of a new futuristic movie. I think it is a great idea and should be seriously considered. The industries today are always  thinking cheaper, better, and greener and in this case all of the above are achieved.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30088780/

http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/26/cargo-container-homes-and-offices/

Exoskeleton

A new exoskeleton has been designed specifically to aid soldiers and provide them with "super-strength". It was created by Lockheed Martin and is named Human universal Load Carrier, or HULC. The device allows soldiers to carry up to 200 pounds at 10 miles per hour. Doug Medcalf the business development manager at Lockheed Martin said "The soldier has the feeling of maybe an extra five to 10 pounds," Some of todays soldiers are carrying close to 130 pounds into combat. The titanium HULC runs on 4 lithium ion batteries which are located near the small of the soldiers back. The HULC can withstand 96 hour missions on just eight batteries. The HULC arrives folded up in a small package and all the soldier has to do is stretch the leg out and step in the foot bed and strap it around his boot, thigh, waist, and shoulders. The foot pads are what make the device so effective because the HULC rests against the ground and not the soldiers body. The is also a sensor in the foot pads which sends information about the persons walk speed and style to an on board computer which moves the hydraulic system. The system allows the soldier to be very mobile but if under fire the device can be removed in about 30 seconds. The HULC helps on the battle field by allowing soldiers to carry those who may be wounded. The HULC comes at a critical time for the u.s. because at this time there are over 20,000 soldiers who are classified as "non-deployable" because they were either injured in action or for the other half they have physical problems such as the inability to haul heavy loads. Also according to www.berkeleybionics.com the HULC also improves the oxygen intake of the soldier. In a test scientists found that using the device soldiers improved oxygen intake 5-12%, which is very important when you think about the long duration of missions and the dangers of dehydration and fatigue. I think the design is going to be very useful in the military. Soldiers have to endure heavy loads and equipment, with the HULC the soldiers will not become easily fatigued and tired. We may begin to see the HULC's uses in everyday life. I can see this product being used in the moving industry and even sold publicly to people for moving or possibly carrying equipment when hiking or camping. Overall I think the HULC will be a success in the military and has a very good chance of becoming mainstream one day.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30071151/

http://www.berkeleybionics.com/unrestricted/HULC.html

fusion energy

After over a decade and 3.5 billion dollars engineers have created the worlds most powerful laser. One in which can simulate the power of a hydrogen bomb or the sun itself. The Federal Energy Department has certified the California laboratory clearing the way for experiments in the next year that will hopefully mimic the heat and pressure at the middle of the sun. The facility which is the size of a football field houses 192 lasers that each travel at 1000 feet in one/thousandth of a second and they all converge on a single spot the size of a pencil eraser. The laser will have a wide range of uses from high energy, high density physics experiments. A primary use of the facility will be to help government physicists ensure the reliability of the nations nuclear weapons as they become older. The laser was first proposed in 1997 and had a projected cost of 700 million dollars in which there were early setbacks in the project that were eventually overcome. Scientists will be gradually ramping up the power over the next year until the year 2010 which they hope to reach the power capable of fusion ignition. Meaning that enough heat and pressure can come together to fuse two hydrogen atoms together which results in more energy releases than used by the laser. This is what happens when a hydrogen bomb explodes and also what occurs at the center of the sun. Scientists hope to one day create fusion energy and have a clean safe form of energy. Edward Moses director of the project said "The lasers are there. The targets are there, and we've proven the optics. But now the proof is in the shooting. We've got to put all this together and shoot the targets. It's the first time anyone has ever done experiments at this scale." The 192 lasers create 60 to 70 times more energy than the second most powerful laser system in the world. Moses also said "What we want to show is scientific proof of the principal of fusion energy." He also predicts that the fusion energy will create 50 to 100 times more energy than the lasers use. According to lasers.llni.gov they are creating a miniature star on earth. the lasers create the same life giving affect that stars produce. I feel the recent developments in fusion science is very uplifting and good for the scientific community. If we can produce the type of energy possible from fusion energy which is equal to that of the sun and as clean and safe as it is said to be then i am very excited. The world of energy is constantly becoming more efficient and better the earth. I think fusion energy is very important and will someday be very useful.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29964926/

https://lasers.llni.gov/

British developers have been creating a new advanced cruise control system call Sentience. Drivers who are willing to turn braking and acceleration over to a computer could save up to 25% off of their annual gasoline costs. The system uses a GPS along with topographical 

information to control the steering and acceleration. If the Driver is alone on the road the car will essentially drive itself needing only the driver to steer the car. David Overton of Ordinance Survey, the U.K. company government agency that provided the map information for the Sentience project said "The car speeds up, slows down at speed humps, and stops at all the junctions without the driver having to intervene, all the driver is has to do is stick the phone on the dash on off you go." System uses a GPS equipped smart phone on the cellular phone network orange. Wireless bluetooth technology connects the phone to the R-cube, which was developed by the Ricardo company. The R-cube controls the acceleration and braking. The maps provided by the Ordinance survey includes speed bumps and school zones. According to www.gizmag.com the Sentience system even knows when lights ahead are going to turn red soon so you don't waste gas accelerating to a stop point. When pulling up to a round about for instance the software tells the car to slow down and once the turn is completed the car accelerates in the most fuel efficient way possible which is way it saves so much on gas usage. In initial tests it has been observed that drivers can save anywhere from 4% to 25% on gas.  The wide variation in numbers come from the difference in cars, from hybrids and those that have gasoline burning engines only, also the drivers style has an effect. For now the sentience system cannot be used completely effectively because it does not have real time information about where other cars in the road re located. An option is to have Sentience installed on every car on the road, then  the car could control itself and would greatly reduce the chance of car collisions. They feel that people driving while using cell phones or the elderly with slower reaction times could really see benefits from the hardware. The earliest that Sentience could be found on a car is not until 2012. I believe the software can be very useful for todays society and aiding with the prevention of car collisions. The problem at this point is that it is a big task to get all the cars on the road equipped with sentience. Though I feel the potential benefit of the software outweighs the hard process of equipping our vehicles with the same software. I can see a day in the future when all the cars on the road are just carrying people completely autonomously.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29865434/

http://www.gizmag.com/sentience-adaptive-intelligent-cruise-control-driverless-car/11223/

Mind Reading

Scientists have shown that by looking at a person's brain waves it is possible to "read" their mind. According to www.webmd.com in the new study four healthy young men in England played a video game that challenged them to move their on-screen character from one spot to another as quickly as possible.  While they played , they got MRI brain scans that focused on a brain area called the hippocampus, the scientists used a modern scanner to measure blood flow. The volunteers were looking at a virtual reality environment and by reading their minds the scientists could accurately guess where they were located in the computer-generated environment. According to Eleanor Maguire of the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging at University College London told reporters "In other words, we could 'read' their spatial memories." The discovery paves the way for new possibilities in mind reading but intrusive mind reading is still a long way off. The scientists believe rather that the new research will aid in illnesses such as Alzheimer's. The research also is paving the way for analyzing fuller memories of the past and visualizations of the future. Which means eventually the technology could be used in forensic examinations of a multitude of memories and thoughts. Researcher Demis Hassibis said it would be at least ten years before forensic applications became a possibility. "It's a long way off before that kind of technology is going to be possible where you can read someone's thoughts in a single short session, when they don't want to be cooperative," he said. The idea of mind reading has always been one seen in movies and a topic throughout history. Many people see the great opportunity in mind reading but there is also the fear of privacy and mind control. I see a great use for this technology as they spoke of in forensic uses, being able to read a  suspects mind to decipher truth from what the person is telling you and find out where the suspect had been and what they may have done. I also see a use in helping with Alzheimer's and possibly patients suffering from Amnesia to help them remember things they may have forgotten. The technology has a long way to go to reach that potential but I don't see why it cannot be achieved.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20090313/mind-reading-not-just-science-fiction

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29666474/

Virgin Mobile has undertaken a new mission. They have created the "WhiteKnightTwo" which is a space craft consisting of two cockpits and one wing connecting the two plane bodies. The aircraft has been created to propel a rocket ship that will carry two pilots and six passengers into the atmosphere to give civilians a space flight they will never forget. According to www.msnbc.com the mother ship is being tested in the skies above california in the Mojave desert. The WhiteKnightTwo has been test flown for just under four hours and have gone above an altitude of 18,000 feet, according to Will Whitehorn a scientist on the project We are very pleased with progress so far and it would be fair to describe her performance so far as flawless."The upcoming tests will take the craft higher and for longer times. The idea is that the rocket powered ship will sit between the two plane cockpits connected by the wing. The craft will fly up into orbital airspace. The rocket ship will then disconnect from the craft. Which while in orbit will give the passengers the chance to see the earth from space and to move throughout the ship in zero gravity. The aim of the Virgin Mobile company is to bring public space travel to more of a commercial business. According to www.engadget.com at this time Virgin Mobile has over 200 commitments of passengers willing to pay $200,000 for a 2010 or later launch date into space. According to www.wired.com Virgin Mobile has recently ordered 12 rocket ships which will help in the commercial promotion of space traveling. I feel that the idea is very fun and interesting and in the future will see rich people paying to go into space and experience it first hand. I do think the idea is good especially for a company that is already financially well off because it would take allot of money to start. In time they may find great profit from the $200,000 tickets

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29678316/

http://www.wired.com/science/space/multimedia/2008/07/gallery_virgin_galactic

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/23/spaceshiptwo-white-knight-two-designs-unveiled-arent-they-cute/

space

Nasa recently launched a planet-hunting spacecraft called Kepler to go throughout the galaxy searching for earth-like planets. This is the first time  a spacecraft capable f finding earth-like planets has been utilized. The mission is set to last 3 and a half years and will cost $600 million. The goal is to find planets orbiting stars in the habitable zone which for our earth is around 93 million miles away from the sun. In these zones water and life is possible. Kepler's primary scientist Bill Borucki  said "if we don't find any, it really means Earths are very rare, we might be the only extant of life and, in fact, that will be the end of 'Star Trek.' " Kepler will stare nonstop at 100,000 stars near the Cygnus and Lyra constellations which is between 600 and 3,000 light years away. The telescope is searching for orbiting planets. Astronomers have already found nearly 300 planets orbiting stars but they are mostly giant gas planets like Jupiter which are inhospitable. They are looking for smaller rocky planted like earth.  The telescope on board the Kepler is so powerful the scientists estimate that from space they could view someone turning off a porch light at night. The kepler although will not search for life that is for later space crafts. On Kepler.nasa.gov you can watch live video feeds of the telescope and read about the latest finds and updates about the mission. I am very excited about the Kepler mission because i have always been very curious about space and our universe. I would really like to know if there is life beyond ours, If there are humans out on a faraway planet. This could result in one of the most important finds in history is the telescope finds what it is looking for. 

http://kepler.nasa.gov

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/29557555/

Wheelchair arm controlled by thought

Scientists at the University of South Florida have recently created a wheelchair with a mounted arm that is controlled by thought alone. The device is intended to help those with Amytrophic Lateral Scoliosis (ALS) or full bodied paralysis have the ability perform simple everyday activities that would usually be impossible. A researcher at USF Redwan Alqasemi says "We are not reading peoples thoughts" and also "This is the first time a person with a severe disabilities like ALS can perform daily activities for themselves." Over time people with ALS slowly lose the control over the muscles in their arms, legs and eventually all muscles in their bodies except for those around their eyes. Patients have completely functional brains but with their conditions they have no way of expressing their thoughts. EEG scans are on way that ALS patients can communicate with the outside world. Placing a cap filled with electrically conductive gel filled with electrodes on the head of ALS patients, scientists can monitor certain kinds of electrical impulses flowing through the brain. The scientists monitor a particular Brain wave called the P300 because it lasts a matter of a 1/3 of a second. Reading P300 waves is basically like reading a persons thoughts but in a very primitive way. The person in the wheel chair wearing the cap looks at small arrows flashing on a small monitor. When the arrow points the way the user wants the arm or wheelchair to move their brain waves triggers or "lights up the EEG". The process is not an instant activity, it takes about seven seconds for the arrows to flash across the screen. The robotic arm continues to move in the direction until a new command is received. The arm has a pay load of about four pounds at this time which is equivalent to about a jug of milk. The scientists are working on a new model to increase speed, payload and cut down on weight. Reading P300 brain waves is effective because it does not require much brain power or practice. According to Gizmodo.com "Donchin and colleagues harnessed the P300 brain signal to allow the user to "type" on a virtual keyboard by thinking with the P300 response serving at the virtual "finger" for patients." I believe the new wheel chair is very productive and great for those with disabilities. The P300 brain wave seems to be very reliable and could ultimately lead to more helpful technologies for those with disabilities. I am interested to see what else scientists can do with the technology to create more inventions to help mankind. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29430690/

http://gizmodo.com/5150632/smart-wheelchair-features-a-brain+controlled-robotic-arm

Greenwheel

Scientists at MIT have created a bike wheel that houses its own electric motor to provide extra power to standard pedal bikes. The idea is simple, remove your existing tire and replace it with the Greenwheel. Inside the 2 inch thick aluminum frame sits the 3 major components, an electric generator, batteries, and an electric motor. Unlike many other systems for bikes which create electric power have many cords running throughout out the bike to the throttle, but the Greenwheel uses wireless technology. Instillation does require some amount of knowledge about bikes but a quick stop at a bike shop will easily do the trick. The Greenwheel can be installed on any type of bike or frame. The greenwheel can be equipped on the front, rear, or both parts of the bike. It is estimated that a rider can travel up to 25 miles on the batterie and that distance is doubled with the pedals being utilized. Also the batteries can be recharged through plugging it into a wall or pedaling also charges the batteries. The Greenwheel is also durable, researchers  believe the Greenwheel has a range of about 40,000 miles, or about 8 years of use with 20 miles driven per business day. The team hopes to turn out over a dozen Greenwheel configurations to hard-core bikers and novice riders by this spring. Once the team finds the optimal power, speed, and cost they hope to begin large scale production. In preparation for the 2010 world cup Copenhagen and South Africa have shown interest in utilizing the Greenwheel for public transportation. Many people are finding the advantage of the Greenwheel in the form of getting people out of cars and onto bikes and public transportation to help cut the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. Also the Greenwheel is  made from environmentally friendly materials. An exact cost has not been found for the product but one of the Greenwheel designers Ryan Chin believes a privately purchased Greenwheel will be around several hundred dollars. Rod Sadowski of the Active Transportation Alliance thinks the Greenwheel could encourage people to ditch their car and turn to biking but he also says "The biggest barrier to people getting out of cars and riding is that they don't feel safe, as a society we need to place a stronger focus on creating laws to stop incidents from occurring and on upgrading infrastructure to make every road bike-friendly." I feel the Greenwheel is a great invention that will help promote biking and also help people during these tough economic times. Also the product is great for the environment which is on everyone's mind during these times. I agree with Sadowski many people are afraid of biking on open roads so they just keep using their cars. The Greenwheel is only appealing to certain people. Those who live in close proximity to their jobs and places that they frequent often are attracted to this product. People who live at a longer range of such places are not very tempted to engage in the use of a Greenwheel instead of their cars. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29259226/

Mechanical Armies

Ever since 1921 when Czeck writer Karl Capek invented the word robot in his play "Rossom's Universal Robots" about highly intelligent mechanical slaves who mount a revolt and kill all humans on earth but one, people have been infatuated about the idea of such a happening. Author P.W. Singer who at 33 years old is a serious fellow at Brookings Institution and can't resist the topic. Though he does not write fiction, he takes the idea as a serious possibility in his book "Wired for War" an account of  the recent military robots. He has written two books about some of the 21st century's most intriguing questions. One is titled "Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry" about the reemergence of the ancient profession of mercenaries. The other book is "Children at War" about the illegal enslavement and recruitment of teenagers and often younger children into armies. Singer says there is around 40 countries making military robots at this time. As he quoted from a unit commander "When a robot dies, you don't have to write a letter to it's mother." Reduced human casualties is the main reason for such robots. Robots are being made with more endurance, firepower, and precision than human soldiers. The idea is to make then more autonomous, able to take decisions according to built in commands, with no fear, pity, revenge, or other human emotion. A big question is whether they should have a system of ethics able to tell soldiers from civilians. Scientists foresee robots with strong A.I. or high level intelligence which worries some. Singer quoted Vernon Vinge a mathematician and computer scientists who predicted over 15 years ago "Within the next 30 years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence, Shortly after, the human era will be ended." Singer hints in his book that he is worried also. "We are creating something exciting and new, a technology that might just transform humans' role in their world, perhaps even create a new species" he concludes " But this revolution is mainly driven by our inability to move beyond the conflicts that have shaped human history from the very start. Sadly, our machines may not be the only thing wired for war." I feel that at this time the military should keep making robots to help save lives and as they say "unman the front line". The program should definetly be monitored closely to ensure that no such robot occurrences can ever become reality. Although I am not particularly worried about the prospect of robots becoming violent because humans create the robots and we create the software that the robots run off of and live by. Also about what singer said at the end of the article I totally agree that robots would not even be needed if the human race was able to put war behind them but as he implies the human race is just wired for war. The topic is very interesting and fun but I hope we only see these circumstances in the movies and maybe we can see robots ruled obsolete because of the absence of war but that is very wishful. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29142213/

Human cloning has been researched for some time now but recently developments have brought scientists one step closer. They have put adult human DNA into animal eggs in which sends the DNA back to a embryonic state. This would create a days old ball of cells which scientists can extract stem cells to help treat diabetes, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease and other such ailments. If the DNA came from the patient the stem cells would be a genetically perfect match, eliminating the risk of the patients immune system rejecting the stem cells. The reason scientists use animal eggs and not human eggs is because human eggs are very difficult to acquire, there are not many willing participants. When the scientists use human eggs they found that they could produce an embryonic state that would not just become a ball of cells but rather continue forming into that of an embryo that could  produce a baby. This means that if the study hold up it will be very likely that there will be no technical obstacles to reproductive cloning. The creation of human clones. I don't know exactly what the advantage of human clones would be. I think the stem cell research is very important because it can help with diseases and humans with genetic problems. I don't think that we need to clone people, we already have couples who take care of that for us. There may be advantages to cloning such as producing desirable attributes. I personally do not think we need to clone people. I do like the fact that we have the technology and science to do so if at some point we need to clone people. Once cloning is possible and performed I believe it should not be pursued further. 

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/labnotes/archive/2009/02/03/human-clones-one-step-closer.aspx

The Ionian sea off the coast of Albania has been cutoff from the world for some time due to the area being under communist control. Recently researchers from the U.S. and Albania have been combing the waters searching for lost shipwrecks. They have already uncovered various wrecks that consist of Greek ship dating from the 6th to the 3rd century. They have discovered numerous pottery crafts that date back to the 6th century. they were found in a wrecked merchant ship 1.8 miles off the coast. They craft were possibly made in the Greek city of Corinth. If the the dating is correct the pottery would be only the 5th of its kind ever discovered in the world. They have also found a 4th century B.C. amphora and roof tiles, a north african jar from the 1st to 3rd century A.D. The team also found a sunken ship carrying a complete load of tiles which has never been discovered. In an attempt protect the sites from looting the team is keeping the locations a secret. Mission leader George Robb estimates that if everything found was excavated a new museum would be need to house it all. The team has search about 84 square miles of a 220 mile coastline. Each day of work costs an estimated $25,000. After the 5 year search the team will discuss the prospect of excavating the material properly with robotic submarines and divers. I think that anytime new discoveries are made they are significant because it helps us learn about the human culture and they way people lived long ago. Also the amount of money that is available for items such as these is surprising and often interesting. The area was cutoff from research for so long because of communist control and to finally search the area and find so much lost artifacts is amazing. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28963784/

Terrafugia, a company founded in 2006 by a group of MIT students is set to launch a line of flying cars or as they like to call it a "roadable aircraft". It is as easy as getting in your car driving to a runway unfolding two wings and soaring away. One tank of regular unleaded gasoline will allow you to travel up to 500 miles and at the end of the day you just drive home and park it in the garage. The firm has already taken deposits for over 40 transactions and plans on making deliveries in 2010. The vehicles sell for 194,000. Advances in materials and propulsion technologies are some main reasons that the company feels they can go commercial. Also the loosening of government regulations on private aircrafts and pilot licensing is equally as important. The requirements for sport pilot licenses is about as stringent as getting a license to drive a car. Dick Knapinski who is with the Experimental Aircraft Association says that the rule about licensing is because the aircraft is about as complex as driving a motor vehicle. He adds that you fly in non-complex airspace at relatively low speeds. One of the biggest obstacles the company has found is not the technology but that people do not feel comfortable operating this type of machinery. Which i agree with because flight is very dangerous to perform and people may be a hesitant to put themselves in that situation. I think if the technology was in front of me and I trained and enjoyed the machinery I would want to own the craft. The advantages of the product is very high and extremely interesting. People have dreamed of flying cars since the invention of cars and planes. I am excited to see where this technology goes and what the future holds for the craft. If the technology turns out to be safe and worth the price I think people will begin to see man cars flying through the sky.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28796183/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679694 

invisibility article site

Invisibility

Recently researchers at Duke University have created a metamaterial with unique physical properties. The material manipulates light to hide an object behind the "cloak". The surface of the material must be much smaller than the wavelengths of the light being passed through it. The cloak was covering a bump and when infra red light was shone on the material the bump was concealed as if the bump were never there. It only took nine days for the researchers to create the material and about 1 dollar in circuit boards to create the invisibility cloak. The researchers also stated that it would cost close to nothing to commercialize the technology. I feel that this breakthrough is just in the beginning stages and has a long way to go until people start having a huge demand for the product. At this time I don't see much use for the product other than the concealment of objects. I can see a need from the military in the form of making tanks and other vehicles invisible to the naked eye. I don't think the cloak can make humans invisible but with the way that science and technology is evolving I would not be surprised about any such advancements. It is a very intriguing idea and one that many people will follow. I fill if invisibility is ever achieved it will be one of the biggest discoveries of the century but i believe it is very far in the future if ever.