Lifeboat Foundation

Cannot wait for the new AR contacts.

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — This new IDTechEx report is focused on how the market for smart glasses and contact lenses is going to evolve in the next decade, based on the exciting research and developments efforts of recent years along with the high visibility some projects and collaborations have enjoyed. The amount of visibility this space is experiencing is exciting developers of a range of allied technologies into fast-tracking/focusing their efforts, as well as creating devices and components designed specifically to serve this emerging industry.

Some of the newest devices that have ignited significant interest in smart eyewear are going above and beyond the conventional definition of a smart object; they are in effect, portable, wearable computers with a host of functionalities, specially designed apps etc. that add new ways for the wearer to interact with the world along with smartphone capabilities, health tracking options and many other features. The features of some of the more advanced devices have been based on and have sparked worldwide innovation efforts aiming to create an ecosystem of components that will enable what is bound to be a revolution in form factor for wearables.

Continue reading “AR & VR Smartglasses and Functional Contact Lenses 2016-2026” »

In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers at CERN’s ALPHA experiment have shown – to the most accurate degree yet – that particles of antihydrogen have a neutral electrical charge.

According to the Standard Model, which explains how the basic building blocks of matter interact, all antimatter – such as antihydrogen – should have the exact opposite charge to its matter counterpart. For example, in a hydrogen atom a negatively charged electron combines with a positively charged proton to give a net charge of zero. In contrast, an antihydrogen atom should have a positively charged positron combining with a negatively charged antiproton to give a net charge of zero. The Standard Model also says that during the Big Bang equal amounts of antimatter and matter were created. But today this isn’t the case, there is much less antimatter in the universe than matter.

Continue reading “ALPHA experiment shows antihydrogen charge is neutral” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xqPOSIBjfSM

Laser-based comms satellites!

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In August 2015, astronauts on the International Space Station ate the first vegetables grown in space; earlier this month, they coaxed the first zinnias to bloom.

Though space agricultural technology hasn’t quite reached the level of that seen in The Martian, overcoming the challenges presented by zero-gravity to grow plants was a feat in itself.

Continue reading “How do astronauts grow plants in space?” »

China’s improved glass for space.

Chinese scientists developed a method to create a transparent, glass-based material with the power and lifespan to absorb ultraviolet rays. The metal oxide-based special glass is expected to not break down under prolonged UV radiation exposure. (Photo : John T. Clarke (University of Michigan), ESA, NASA | Wikimedia Commons)

Chinese scientists have discovered a special glass that can absorb and block dangerous ultraviolet rays.

Continue reading “New Metal Glass Oxide Can Protect Living Cells From Ultraviolet Rays” »

More VR Theme Parks and attractions opening this year. We have the Void opening this summer in Pleasant Grove, UT; a new VR roller coaster in UK’s Alton Towers that opens in April; there is real opportunity for entrepreneurs in the VR space to launch their own portable VR amusement/ entertainment centers for corporate events, parties, etc.

Virtual reality and theme parks may not seem like an obvious match, but these planned attractions may change your mind. Starting this spring we’ll start to see rides that take advantage of VR to offer new and exciting experiences.

Continue reading “VR-powered theme park rides will blow you mind later this year” »

Planet would orbit the sun once every 15,000 years.

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Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun.

The researchers, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, discovered the planet’s existence through mathematical modeling and computer simulations but have not yet observed the object directly.

“This would be a real ninth planet,” says Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy. “There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third. It’s a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that’s still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting.”

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The solar system may have a ninth planet after all.

This one is 5,000 times bigger than outcast Pluto and billions of miles farther away, say scientists who presented “good evidence” for a long-hypothesized Planet X on Wednesday.

The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as its nearest planetary neighbor Neptune, quite possibly with rings and moons. It’s so distant that it would take a mind-blowing 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

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