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Futurology #134: shortened days
Monday, 08 March 2010
Chile 'megathrust' deformed Earth, shortened days: The devastating 8.8 quake that hit Chile last week was a rare "megathrust" earthquake, among the most powerful known, and it affected the very shape of the planet.A megathrust earthquake, writes IO9, is caused by a process called subduction when one one tectonic plate is shoved violently underneath another. These earthquakes are very rare; they tend to be 7.5 magnitude or higher, and there are only about 14 in recorded history (including the 2004 Indonesian quake that caused huge tsunamis). Megathrust quakes like Chile's are so huge, and cause such a giant release of energy, that they change the shape of the Earth.
Geophysicist Richard Gross told the Los Angeles Times that he estimated each day from now on will be 1.26 millionth of a second shorter. Why? Gross said, "[The planet] got a bit more compact. Just like a spinning skater brings her arms in closer to her body to rotate faster."
The Indonesian quake shortened our days by 2.68 microseconds, according to NASA scientists.
Comment — what does it take to lengthen the days, then?
Core77 to the Rescue with Pop-Up Shelters: Earthquakes are design problems, and while more and more architects have been offering their support to rebuilding efforts in Haiti and Chile (see roundups of some of them here and here), Core77 opened it up last week as one of its famous 1-Hour Design Challenges, reports Fast Company.
Dan Ostrowski's winning LifeTent (pic) is a backpack-based, pop-up shelter, complete with GPS tracking and an ingenious rainwater-gathering system.
Stereo ant smelling: Desert ants in Tunisia smell in stereo, sensing odours from two different directions at the same time.
By sniffing the air with each antenna, the ants form a mental 'odour map' of their surroundings.
They then use this map to find their way home, say scientists who report the discovery in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Comment — sounds sensible enough, but why can't I do it? I have two nostrils ...
New drug could reverse Alzheimer effects: A new method for detecting the levels of amyloid proteins in the brain, a key feature of Alzheimer's Disease, lets researchers figure out if a drug is reducing their prevalence, as one new drug has done.
But there's a catch. Alzheimer's leaves people physically healthy but mentally ravaged. Researchers have long believed that amyloid plaques either cause Alzheimer's or are a key factor, and a lot of money has gone into researching drugs that reduce the prevalence of these plaques. So it's a great cause for celebration that bapineuzumab, a drug now being developed by Elan Corp. and now owned by Johnson & Johnson, showed an ability to reduce amyloid plaques in 28 patients, reports IO9.
Wheelchair 'tanks' for the disabled can climb stairs: Josefina Chaves-Posse's Zenith wheelchair promises to conquer stairs.
Comment — The Zenith hasn't been road-tested yet, but it sure looks able!
New, greener, syringe: Product design firm Cambridge Consultants has unveiled the Syreen, a new eco-friendly syringe that could forever change the way drugs are delivered to patients. Shelled in an amorphous polymer plastic that acts as a protective casing, the Syreen erases the need for the extra outer packing normally required by glass syringes.
The Syreen cuts average syringe packaging volume in half, and weighs 30% less. This is a massive improvement for an industry that produces over two million tons of medical waste annually, and about 6600 tons every day, reports Fast Company.
Comment — it's not recyclable yet, but that's Cambridge's next aim.
Mmm, sensitive, tactile robot skin: British material-design company Peratech recently inked a deal with MIT to create pressure-sensitive, electronically responsive "skin" for robots.
Peratech's signature product is a kind of sensitive metal-and-silicone material called quantum tunneling composite, or QTC. This technology lies at the intersection of "electronic" and "tactile": it responds to pressure, converting physical force into electric signal.
Comment — next: robot eczema?
