World's smallest neutron generator

Neutron generators provide materials analysis and non-destructive testing tools to many industries, including oilfield operations, heavy mechanical production, art conservancy, detective work, and medicine. Many of these applications have been limited by the rather large size of current industrial and medical neutron sources. Now Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), whose main job is to develop and support the non-nuclear parts (including neutron generators) of nuclear weapons, has invented a new approach toward building tiny neutron generators called neutristors.

Three Sandia neutrister neutron generators mounted in a test box under vacuum

The neutron was discovered as the product of an early radiochemical fusion reaction in 1932. Following a decade of mainly scientific use, the WWII nuclear bombs exploded over Japan each included a neutron generator to ignite the critical mass of fissionable material at the correct time. This event neatly split development of neutron generators between the secret and the open worlds.

The neutron sources available to science and industry included particle accelerators (at that time these filled large rooms), nuclear reactors (filling large buildings), and radioactive materials the size of your little finger. As most researchers and manufacturing companies did not have easy access to reactors and accelerators, a good deal of work toward developing practical applications for neutron sources was carried out with radioactive neutron generators.

There are three main approaches toward using radioactive isotopes to generate neutrons:

• Radioactively-induced fusion neutrons
• Neutrons from isotopes undergoing spontaneous fission
• Photoneutron sources

An example of the radioactive fusion sources is plutonium mixed with beryllium. The plutonium emits alpha particles (helium nuclei) that fuse with the beryllium nuclei, forming a neutron and a pair of alpha particles. Spontaneous fission sources usually contain californium-252, a transuranicisotope that decays by splitting into two parts with several neutrons left over. In the photoneutron sources, energetic gamma rays break beryllium into the same products as seen from the fusion neutron sources.

Radioactive neutron generators usually emit fewer than a billion neutrons per second with a kinetic energy of a few MeV. The power of the emitted neutrons is only about a milliwatt, but the yield is sufficient for many applications.

An isolated neutristor

The problem with radioactive sources is they are dangerous, can't be turned off, and may not always be used by people understanding the danger. In many cases the shielding required is very large compared to the size of the source. Although such sources are still used for certain tasks, in the end, miniaturized particle accelerators that drive low-level fusion reactions won out, and accelerator-based neutron generators about the size of a mailing tube tied to a suitcase-sized electronics package became available.

The miniaturized neutron generators accelerate deuterium (D) or tritium (T) ions to energies of 100 KeV (kiloelectron volts) or less, corresponding roughly to a temperature of about a billion degrees Kelvin. These ions are then directed into a beam that impacts onto a target containing deuterium. When deuterium is used in the ion beam, two deuterium ions fuse (D-D fusion), while if tritium is used, a deuterium and a tritium ion fuse (D-T fusion). In both cases, neutrons are by products of the fusion reaction.

There are two main problems with accelerator-based neutron generators – their size and their cost. There are applications for which a three inch (7.5 cm) cylinder is too large, either physically (implanted neutron cancer therapy), or when a point source of neutrons is desired (e.g., for neutron inspection of weld flaws). Also, accelerator-based generators start at about a hundred thousand U.S. dollars, which is too large a price for some uses. For example, a neutron generator is needed for neutron activation analysis, a technique for rapidly identifying the composition of a sample. This is the sort of technique that would be amazing to incorporate in a Star Trek-style tricorder, but has been far too large and expensive.

SNL's compact neutron generator

A Sandia neutristor, with its various parts labelled

Now SNL has announced its development of a new type of neutron generator that solves many of these problems by putting a particle accelerator on a chip. As seen in the figure above, the neutristor is layered in ceramic insulation because of the large voltages being used. The unit shown here produces neutrons through D-D fusion. The D-T reaction is easier to initiate, but the decision was made to require no radioactive materials in the design of the generator.

A voltage is applied between the ion source and the deuterium target so that the deuterium ions from the source are attracted to the deuterium target. The ions accelerate in the drift region between the source and the target. The drift region must be in vacuum so the ions do not scatter from the air molecules. When the energetic ions hit the target, a small fraction of them will cause D-D fusion, thereby generating a neutron. Sandia did not announce typical acceleration voltages used with the neutristor, however, commercial neutron generators use around 100 kV, but significant neutron yields can be obtained at voltages under ten kV.

The ion lens modifies the electric field between the ion source and the target so that the accelerated ions are concentrated on the region of the target loaded with deuterium. The SNL disclosure does not mention how the deuterium gas is stored, but one common approach is to coat the ion source and/or the target with palladium or some other metal that readily forms hydrides, or in this case, deuterides. For example, a palladium coating can store nearly one deuterium atom for each palladium atom. The ion current is sufficiently low that even these small amounts of deuterium will last a very long time in the completed neutristor. Neuristors can be operated in continuous or pulsed mode as required.

Current neuristors have a drift region a few millimeters across, forming a sufficiently small package for many new applications. The estimated production cost for neutristors is in the neighborhood of US$2,000, about a fiftieth of the cost of current accelerator-based neutron generators. The next generation of entirely solid-state neutristors will not require a vacuum for operation, thereby reducing the cost and increasing the durability of the device. In addition, SNL is working on neutristors two to three orders of magnitude smaller that would be fabricated using MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology.

The following movie is an excellent introduction to how the development of neutristors came about, and a good account of the underlying technology.

Source: Sandia National Laboratories

Scientists develop material that's harder than diamonds

Diamonds may be forever, but they aren’t what they were. True, they shine just as brightly and they’re as hard as ever, but scientists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington are giving them some competition. An international team led by Carnegie’s Lin Wang has discovered a new substance that is not quite crystalline and not quite non-crystalline, yet is hard enough to dent diamonds.

 Simulated structure of buckyballs and new super-hard material

The new substance, which has yet to be named, is described by Wendy Mao, a Stanford University professor, as a “hybridization of crystalline and amorphous structures at an atomic level.” It was also something of a surprise to the Carnegie team.

The super-hard material started out as clusters of carbon-60 – the soccer-ball shaped molecules of carbon commonly known as "“buckyballs." These were mixed with m-xylene solvent, which is used in the manufacture of soft drink bottles. The mixture was then placed in a diamond cell anvil at the Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source in Argonne, Illinois.

Schematic of a diamond anvil cell with ruby acting as pressure standard

The diamond cell anvil was key to the experiment. This is a super high-pressure chamber made of two flat-faced diamonds. The buckyball/solvent mixture is placed in a cell between the diamonds and pressure is applied. As the diamonds squeeze together, the mixture is subjected to a pressure of, in this case, 600,000 atmospheres. Not surprisingly, the buckyballs were crushed. What was mildly surprising was that properties of the former buckyballs were altered until they became hard enough to dent the diamonds. That is not unprecedented, but what was very surprising was that the new substance retained its structure once the incredible pressure was removed. What was even more surprising was that it turned out to be a substance that no one had seen before.

All solid matter comes in one of two forms. Either it has an ordered, crystalline structure, like quartz or iron or diamonds, or it is non-crystalline or amorphous, like glass or gels. What this new substance has is both. If you apply massive pressure to buckyballs, you should get mashed buckyballs, but the m-xylene reacted with the carbon in some manner so that it retained a long-range, regular molecular structure. In other words, it retained the order of a crystal despite its crystalline structure being destroyed.

According to Wang, there is more here than a laboratory curiosity. “We created a new type of carbon material, one that is comparable to diamond in its inability to be compressed,” Wang said. “Once created under extreme pressures, this material can exist at normal conditions, meaning it could be used for a wide array of practical applications.”

Exactly what these applications are remain unknown, though it could be as a protective coating or find mechanical, electronic, and electrochemical uses.

Sources: Carnegie Institution for Science Stanford University

Oak Ridge develops improved way of extracting uranium from seawater

The world’s estimated reserves of uranium are only 6 million tons and with the growing demand for reliable energy free of greenhouse emissions leading to more and more nuclear plants being built, that supply may not last very long. Some estimates place the time before all the uranium is gone at between 50 and 200 years. However, the oceans of the world contain 4.5 billion tons of uranium dissolved in seawater. That’s enough to last something on the order of 6,500 years. The tricky bit is getting it out, but a team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee has come a step closer to economically extracting uranium from seawater with a new material that is much more efficient than previous methods.

Ever since it was learned how much precious metal is dissolved in seawater, scientists, engineers, visionaries and con men have dreamed of ways to extract it. In the 1920s, popular science editor Hugo Gernsback graced the covers of his magazines with fanciful floating factories hauling giant sheets of gold out of the briny deep. Since the 1960s, almost a dozen nations have studied ways of making the dream a reality. The Japanese have been particularly successful with the the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute having some success in extracting uranium using mats of woven polymer fibers in 2002, but at a cost three times the market price of the metal at the time. That is the basic problem – you can get the metal out, but it costs more than it’s worth.

A disc of highly enriched uranium from the Y-12 National Security Complex Plant

Now a team at Oak Ridge is working to bring down those costs by devising a more efficient method of extraction. The Oak Ridge team’s approach is based on their examination of how plastic and chemical groups are bound together. From this, they determined that it was possible to enhance the uranium-extracting characteristic of the uranium-loving amidoxime chemical groups in their high-capacity reusable adsorbent, which they combined with a Florida company's high-surface-area polyethylene fibers. These fibers have a small diameter with high surface areas and a variety of shapes. Tailoring the size and shape of the fibers increases their adsorption capacity. The fibers are bombarded with radiation, which react with chemicals that have a high affinity for particular metals. The result is a little uranium sponge.

Using the material, called Hicap, is simply a matter of immersing it in seawater. As it sits in the water, the material grabs on to the uranium ions and deposits them on the surface of its fibers. Once a sufficient amount of uranium is adsorbed, the material is removed and the metal extracted with acid. "We have shown that our adsorbents can extract five to seven times more uranium at uptake rates seven times faster than the world's best adsorbents," said Chris Janke, one of the inventors and a member of Oak Ridge’s Materials Science and Technology Division. HiCap is also reusable as, after the extraction process, it can be regenerated with potassium hydroxide.

The results of the Oak Ridge team were verified by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Washington, and were presented a last Wednesday’s meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia. The material is a long way from making uranium as common as pig iron, but it does demonstrate that extracting it from the oceans may no longer be a con man’s dream.

Sources: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The Ultimate E-Reader

Skiff Reader: The Ultimate E-Reader | If you bought an Amazon Kindle DX in 2009, prepare for a heavy dose of buyer’s remorse.  The Skiff Reader has overtaken the Amazon Kindle DX as the largest e-reader on the market, but its size isn’t what makes the Skiff so special.  The Skiff Reader brings two new technologies to the large-scale e-reader market: a touchscreen e-ink display and “silicon thin-film-transistors on a flexible steel substrate”.

The Skiff Reader pushes the e-reader standard by featuring a full touchscreen display spanning 11.5-inches.  The Amazon Kindle DX and smaller Kindle models don’t feature touchscreen e-ink, neither does that Barnes and Noble Nook (while the latter has an LCD touchscreen below the e-ink portion).  This provides a new, finger-friendly world of navigation as you flip pages, highlight and select content modules and skim through your favorite ebooks.

The “silicon thin-film-transistors” technology is a bit more esoteric.  In short, the technology used in the Skiff Reader makes it flexible– meaning it can bend and warp on a whim, giving it a more durable and rugged build in contrast to those crackable Kindles.  The Skiff uses a metal foil design that merges with the thin film transistors to fit into a low-profile shape, in this case just a quarter-inch in thickness.

The Skiff reader is coming later this year, available at Sprint retail outlets and using the Sprint 3G network.  While it’ll be some time until Skiff hits the streets, we can already hear the nervous hustle of the e-reader market trying its hardest to catch up.

Researchers have developed a robot capable of learning and interacting with the world using a biological brain

Kevin Warwick’s new robot behaves like a child. “Sometimes it does what you want it to, and sometimes it doesn’t,” he says. And while it may seem strange for a professor of cybernetics to be concerning himself with such an unreliable machine, Warwick’s creation has something that even today’s most sophisticated robots lack: a living brain.

Life for Warwick’s robot began when his team at the University of Reading spread rat neurons onto an array of electrodes. After about 20 minutes, the neurons began to form connections with one another. “It’s an innate response of the neurons,” says Warwick, “they try to link up and start communicating.”

For the next week the team fed the developing brain a liquid containing nutrients and minerals. And once the neurons established a network sufficiently capable of responding to electrical inputs from the electrode array, they connected the newly formed brain to a simple robot body consisting of two wheels and a sonar sensor.

A relay of signals between the sensor, motors, and brain dictate the robot’s behavior. When it approaches an object, the number of electrical pulses sent from the sonar device to the brain increases. This heightened electrical stimulation causes certain neurons in the robot’s brain to fire. When the electrodes on which the firing neurons rest detect this activity, they signal the robot’s wheels to change direction. The end result is a robot that can avoid obstacles in its path. 

At first, the young robot spent a lot of time crashing into things. But after a few weeks of practice, its performance began to improve as the connections between the active neurons in its brain strengthened. “This is a specific type of learning, called Hebbian learning,” says Warwick, “where, by doing something habitually, you get better at doing it.”

The robot now gets around well enough. “But it has a biological brain, and not a computer,” says Warwick, and so it must navigate based solely on the very limited amount of information it receives from a single sensory device. If the number of sensory devices connected to its brain increases, it will gain a better understanding of its surroundings. “I have another student now who has started to work on an audio input, so in some way we can start communicating with it,” he says.

But it would be a bit shortsighted to say that adding sensory input devices to the robot would make it more human, as theoretically there is no limit to how many sensory devices a robot equipped with a biological brain could have. “We are looking to increase the range of sensory input potentially with infrared and other signals,” says Warwick.

A robot that experiences its environment through devices like sonar detectors and infrared sensors would perceive the world quite differently from a person. Imagine having a Geiger counter plugged into your brain — or perhaps better yet, an X-ray detector. For future generations of Warwick’s robot, this isn’t just a thought experiment. 

But Warwick isn’t interested only in building a robot with a wide range of sensory inputs. “It’s fun just looking at it as a robot life form, but I think it may also contribute to a better understanding of how our brain works,” he says. Studying the ways in which his robot learns and stores memories in its brain may provide new insights into neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Warwick’s robot is dependent upon biological cells, so it won’t live forever. After a few months, the neurons in its brain will grow sluggish and less responsive as learning becomes more difficult and the robot’s mortal coil begins to take hold. A sad thought perhaps — but such is life.

Top 10 Cool Google Tricks

1. Google gravity

Open google.com, Type Google Gravity in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button.Feel the effect of gravity on google. All page components will fall down due to gravity.

2. Epic Google

Open google.com, Type Epic Google in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button. Each component on the page will start growing bigger and bigger.

3. Google Hacker

Open google.com, Type Google Hacker in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button. How google will look if it was made by a hacker.

4. Annoying Google

Open google.com, Type Annoying Google in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button.

5. Meaning Of Search For Google

Open google.com, Type search in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button.

6. Loneliest Number

Open google.com, Type loneliest number in the search box and click on Search button. Find out which number is the loneliest number according to google.

7. Meaning Of Recursion

Open google.com, Type Recursion in the search box and click on search button. You can notice Did You Mean: Recursion text on top of results and it is recursively linked to the same page.

8. Google Loco
Open google.com, Type Google loco in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button.

9. The number of horns on a unicorn

Open google.com, Type number of horns on a unicorn in the search box and click on search button.

10. Chuck Norris

Open google.com, Type Find Chuck Norris in the search box and click on I am feeling Lucky button. Google won’t search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don’t find Chuck Norris, he finds you.

EASY WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER FROM ONLINE VIRUSES

Viruses are generally comes to our PC to access our computer files and this malpractice is done by hackers. Some viruses are easy to remove and others are very difficult to even detect. So we need to protect our computers against these viruses is becomes very necessary.  

Here we are giving you some tips to protect your computer systems from online viruses

Install Anti-virus Software:

Anti-virus software is easily available and a must software for security purpose. This software is often available at free of cost online and it also allows you to update them frequently. This software is best for uncertain viruses as you never know when virus will attack to your computer. This software can give you an ease to use your internet.

Don’t open unfamiliar e-mails:

You must have noticed the junk emails in your mail a/c which are targeted to disturb you. This is very popular method of viruses. Do not open the emails which are unfamiliar i.e. “Claim your prize”, “Confirm your Address to send your prize”. If you have anti-virus installed, you may get warning that will warn you to do not open.

Avoid downloading from non trusted sites:

If you download programs from unknown sites, you may be inviting a virus yourself.  This is the method where hackers inviting you to get the virus instead of coming over to you. If you have anti-virus installed, you will get a warning that this site is unsafe. So anti-virus is a key to protect from viruses.

Firewall:

Firewall and anti-virus software work together to make sure that your computer’s level of security remains as strong as possible. You can easily find firewall protection and updates online to download for free as same as anti-virus software. So it’s well and good to have basic level of protection in your PC.

And last but not least keep updating your system very often, and also set password to secure access.

10 Ways To Access Blocked WebSites in your Colleges/Schools

Websites like facebook , twitter and other social networking sites are generally blocked in schools, colleges and offices. There exist some tricks by which you can bypass the restrictions and access blocked sites, the most obvious is the use of proxies or Anonymizer websites . But using proxies doesn’t always works as they gets blocked by firewall as well. Here I am listing some other methods to access blocked contents .

1. Use IP instead of URL

Each website has its equivalent ip address . This method works best when blocked sites are stored as a list of URLs .You can use ip address to access blocked contents . For example to access facebook you can use ip address 69.63.189.11 in your address bar . You can use ip-address.com to find the ip address of other websites .

2. Use Google Cache

All major search engines like Google yahoo and Bing stores cached pages of websites themselves . You can access blocked websites by viewing their cached copy on search engines .

3. Translations services

Translation services like Google Translate , translate a website from one language to another and display the translated results on their own page .You can access the blocked website by re-translating blocked url using such online translation services .

4. Retrieve web pages via Email

Web2Mail is a free service that sends any websites into your inbox. All you need to do is send an email to www@web2mail.com with the URL as subject title.

5. WayBack Machine

Wayback machine periodically keeps a copy of almost all websites on the internet from the date they have started . You can access your blocked site by fetching its latest copy from archives .

6. Screen-Resolution.com

Screen-Resolution.com allows you to view any website in a different resolution . This could be an interesting tool to access blocked websites .

7. Google Mobile Search

Google Mobile Search displays a web page as if you are viewing it on a mobile phone .You can use it to access blocked websites but javascript and css will be disabled .

8. Redirect with Short URL service

Short URL service are used for converting a long URL in a shorter one . You can convert your blocked url into a shorter one and use it to access blocked websites . This trick dont always works . The two popular url shortening service are bit.ly and adf.ly

9. USB Browsing

You can use this method if you have access to usb port ,you can load usb with your own portable Firefox, with the portable Tor plugin or you can directly use tor-firefox .

10. Proxy Websites

This is the generally known method to access blocked websites . There are thousands of online proxies you can use to surf anonymously or to access blocked websites . Here is 90+ Proxy Websites To Access Blocked Websites.

2012 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance multimillion-dollar cars

A glimpse at some of the cars collectors from around the world will be bidding on at auctions during the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance car show.

1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K

( Mathieu Heurtault / Gooding & Company )

 

Known as the Von Krieger Special Roadster after the German baroness who owned it, this Mercedes is expected bring at least $10 million and could break the $16.4-million record for any auto sold at auction when it goes on the block after the Concours d'Elegance car show at Pebble Beach. Experts have dubbed the car the automotive equivalent of a coveted Picasso painting.

 

 

The Mercedes had been stored in a Connecticut barn, untouched for decades. Its current owner is selling the roadster to focus on his Ferrari collection. 

The car oozes elegance. The interior is brown leather, wood and chrome. Fenders cover the front wheels and then undulate downward under the doors to serve as a footstep. A chromed Mercedes star ornament rises from the top of the hood, and a tiny Von Krieger family crest is painted on the driver's door.  

 

1928 Bentley 4.5-Liter Le Mans Bobtail

( Gooding & Company )

A 1928 Bentley 4.5-Liter Le Mans Bobtail is expected to fetch $5.5 million to $7.5 million at the 2012 Pebble Beach actions.  

1931 Bentley 4.5-Liter SC Blower Green Hornet

( Mathieu Heurtault / Gooding & Company )

 

 

A 1931 Bentley 4.5-Liter SC Blower Green Hornet is expected to fetch $8 million to $10 million at the 2012 Pebble Beach auctions. 

1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet
( Mathieu Heurtault / Gooding & Company )

 

 

 

A 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet is expected to fetch $5 million to $6.5 million at the 2012 Pebble Beach auctions. 

 

1935 Duesenberg Model JN Convertible

( Mathieu Heurtault / Gooding & Company )

 

 

Clark Gable's 1935 Duesenberg Model JN Convertible is expected to fetch at least $10 million at the 2012 Pebble Beach auctions.

 

1938 Bugatti Type 57C Stelvio

( Simon Clay / Gooding & Company )

 

 

A 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Stelvio is expected to fetch $1.3 million to $1.6 million at the 2012 Pebble Beach auctions. 

McLaren 12C Can-Am Edition concept to debut at Pebble beach

McLaren’s new race manufacturing arm, McLaren GT, is set to make its presence felt at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance by rolling out its 12C Can-Am Edition racing concept. Based on the 12C GT3 race car, the one-off design study is finished in McLaren Orange and satin black, with its U.S. appearance marking the first time a 12C racing variant has ventured outside Europe.

The McLaren 12C Can-Am Edition racing concept that will be shown at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

As a concept car and therefore not subject to any of the regular racing regulations, the McLaren team was freed up in their attempt to create “the ultimate track car.” With the benefit of some engine calibration and an optimized cooling system, the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that is found in the 12C GT3 has been upped from a de-tuned 500 hp to 630 hp, making it the most powerful 12C variant ever shown.

The 12C Can-Am Edition concept also shares the same 75 kg (165 lb) carbon fiber MonoCell chassis used in both the 12C GT3 and the 12C road car and boasts an overall dry weight of 1,200 kg (2,645.5 lb). Carbon fiber can also be found on the side radiator vanes, wing mirrors and engine cover, as well as in various components of an optimized aerodynamic package.

McLaren 12C Can-Am Edition racing concept low front view door open

This package includes carbon fiber front splitter, dive planes and rear wing, which is held in place by polished aluminum mounts. A carbon fiber diffuser is also fitted beneath the two-tone rear bumper to enhance the performance of the aerodynamic package, which McLaren says offers an increase in down-force of 30 percent.

The carbon fiber also extends to the vehicle’s interior with detailing throughout the cabin, across the dashboard and sill panels. There are two black race seats with six-point harnesses and the same steering wheel derived from Lewis Hamilton’s MP4-24 Formula 1 car that is found in the 12C GT3. A full race-specification rollcage and an integrated AC system, which is now mandatory in a growing number of race series, are also on board.

McLaren 12C Can-Am Edition racing concept race seats

Those in the neighborhood can check out the McLaren 12C Can-Am Edition racing concept in person at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which kicks off this Sunday, August 19, in Pebble Beach, California. Everyone else will have to make do with the images in the gallery.

Source: McLaren

More images at: Techno Genes

Protecting your electronic devices from liquids

As summer approaches, many find themselves sitting by the pool, drifting on a boat, or relaxing on the beach wanting to use their cell phones or electronic gadgets. However, this usually leaves them at risk for water damaging these devices.

A new liquid repellent technology introduced by P2i is now available through major electronic brands and manufacturers and will protect your devices from water damage. P2i discovered that 47% of Americans risk their cell phones by exposing them to these different waterside scenarios. This is where the Aridion nanocoating comes to the rescue.

The new technology, 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, is applied to your electronic device in a vacuum chamber so that it does not affect the way it looks or feels. When the water comes in contact with your device, instead of dispersing on the surface, it will form a droplet and roll right off.

I didn’t believe it either until I witnessed the demonstration at CEA LineShows held in New York from June 26 to June 28. The video below captures the demonstration performed by the representatives at the show. They took two tissues, one with the coating and one traditional tissue, and dropped water on each. They even submerged the tissues in a bowl of water. Check out the video to see the results.

 

While this technology can be used to protect our luxury gadgets, P2i also kept in mind the benefits of this coating on hearing aids. In a study done by the company, hearing aids that were coated with Aridion were protected against corrosion 100% of the time. This compared to untreated hearing aids that were only protected 20% of the time.

Other products that Aridion is being used to treat are footwear, eyeglasses, medical devices, and engineered glass. The company is learning that even 3D objects can be successfully treated with Aridion

 

Facebook Developer Hack 2012 to hit Bangalore on September 17

Facebook has announced that it will be hosting a series of events aimed at developers between August and September called the Facebook Developer World Hack 2012. Importantly, the World Hack will be hitting India, Bangalore in particular on September 17, 2012.

The event will be open to coders irrespective of them having developed with Facebook or have an existing app that they’d like to distribute on Facebook. Each day begins with technical sessions regarding developing for Facebook and iOS, Android and Open Graph will be discussed.

Facebook will have engineers who will demo samples to get the developers started on the hack which will be eight hour competition where the developers will get a chance to showcase their skills.

The best teams from each continents will get a chance to visit the Facebook campus in San Francisco. The Facebook Developer Hack kicks off on August 23 in Austin, USA and ends on the first of October in Moscow, Russia.

To sign up for the event hit the link below.

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