Lifeboat Foundation

A lead-free ceramic that could be used in applications ranging from optical sensors and switches to creams for protecting against ultraviolet (UV) light has been developed by A*STAR researchers.

Ceramics made from potassium sodium niobate (KNN) are promising alternatives to lead-based ceramics in electro-optical applications. However, it is both challenging and costly to improve KNN’s performance by ensuring it has a high density, fine-grained, chemically uniform microstructure.

Known as PLZT, lanthanum modified lead zirconate titanate is one of the most widely used electro-optic ceramics. Yet there are serious ecological concerns regarding toxicity to the environment and living organisms once devices made with it are discarded; PLZT contains around 60 per cent of lead (by weight). The search is on to find lead-free replacements for PLZT.

Thanks to a new photo-analyzing computer program, a photographer’s line of sight no longer has to be a straight shot.

Exponentials at play (and in future contact lenses): increasingly smaller, cheaper & more powerful computation, sensors & cameras will open a realm of possibilities… #xMed

Photo: Roy Allela

Twenty-five-year-old Kenyan engineer and innovator, Roy Allela, has created a set of gloves that will ultimately allow better communication between those who are deaf and those who are hearing yet may not necessarily know sign language. The Sign-IO gloves in essence translate signed hand movements into audible speech.

Allela’s gloves feature sensors located on each finger that detect the positioning of each finger, including how much each finger will bend into a given position. The glove connects via Bluetooth to an Android phone which then will leverage use the text-to-speech function to provide translated speech to the hand gestures of a person signing.

Continue reading “Meet The Kenyan Engineer Who Created Gloves That Turn Sign Language Into Audible Speech” »

This is how they digitize books 📚.

… the sensor can monitor how much sugar, salt, and alcohol a person has consumed, and transmit that information wirelessly to a mobile app.

Although there are many advantages, it could be problematic for one particular group of people.

Arnav Kapur’s AlterEgo lets him communicate, switch TV channels, and more by talking silently to himself.

Have you ever wondered what the world looks like to birds? Well, Swedish scientists have created a camera that will show you. Amongst other things, it has revealed that birds see tree foliage as much more than just a uniform “wall of green.”

Ultrasound technology has been in wide use for decades, helping submarines navigate and letting doctors non-invasively peer inside patients, but it might be about to get a whole lot more powerful. Researchers have developed an “ultra” ultrasound sensor that is so sensitive it can hear air molecules moving around or the vibrations of individual cells.