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Microchips help forests Eyetracker software prevents drivers from nodding off at the wheel Prof Yash
Pal This universe
Trends Some fever scanners work Experts warn about genetic tests Experts warn about genetic tests US Supreme Court to decide on vaccine suits Humpback whale sets travel record First patient treated in Geron stem cell trial |
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Microchips help forests A chainsaw buzzes, branches snap, and an Amazon tree crashes to the ground. It could be just another of the thousands of trees felled each year in Brazil’s portion of the world’s largest forest except for one detail: a microchip attached to its base holding data about its location, size and who cut it down. With a hand-held device, forestry engineer Paulo Borges pulls up the tree’s vital statistics from the chip—a 14-meter-high (46-foot) tree known as a “mandiocao” cut down in Mato Grosso state, the southern edge of the Amazon where the forest has largely been cleared to create farmland. It is only a small pilot project, but its leaders say the microchip system has the potential to be a big step forward in the battle to protect the Amazon. The chips allow land owners using sustainable forestry practices to distinguish their wood from that acquired through illegal logging that each year destroys swathes of the forest. Each microchip tells a tree’s story from the point it was felled to the sawmill that processed and sold the wood, key information for buyers who want to know where it came from. “People talk a lot these days about wood coming from sustainable forestry practices—this is a system that can prove it,” said Borges, of the organization Acao Verde, or Green Action, which is managing the project on a large farm. Brazil is under international pressure to reduce deforestation that destroys thousands of square miles of the Amazon each year and make the country one of the world’s biggest sources of greenhouse gasses. The project is part of a growing trend toward lumber certification that gives buyers a guarantee the wood was produced without damaging the forest it came from. Unlike illegal slash-and-burn logging, selectively cutting trees can generate timber revenues without damaging forests, and, according to forestry experts, can in some cases even increase the amount of carbon dioxide the forests trap. Acao Verde says widespread use of chips in trees would help eliminate corruption that allows illegally harvested wood to be “cleaned up” through bogus certification papers, and aid in spurring Brazil’s sustainable forestry movement. Similar projects in Bolivia and Nigeria use technology such as bar codes readers or satellite tracking to help crack down on illegal logging and preserve delicate ecosystems. Such technology can help isolate fraud originating where the trees are cut, said Gary Dodge, director of science and certification at the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council, which has led a global push for lumber certification. “If there is fraud taking place between the forest owner and the mill, then a microchip would be great help in combating illegal logging,” said Dodge. Higher costs are a disadvantage to high-tech tracking systems, according to the Council, though a stronger certification system can help increase the selling price of the wood in some markets. The microchips project has even won approval from those often least expected to support forest conservation measures— loggers. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Aristides Ferrari, 52, a logger. “We don’t want to cut down all the forests, on the contrary—we want to make sure forests remain standing so we can continue working.” |
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Eyetracker software prevents drivers from nodding off at the wheel Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau, Germany, have developed an assistant system that tracks a driver’s eye movements and issues a warning before the driver has an opportunity to nod off to sleep. The Eyetracker can be installed in any model of car and is no need for a complicated calibration of the cameras. “With conventional systems, every person whose line of vision is to be monitored has to complete more or less time-consuming preparations. Because every head, every face, every pair of eyes is different,” notes Prof. Husar of the IDMT. The system doesn’t require a PC or a laptop either. “Since the Eyetracker is fitted with at least two
cameras that record images stereoscopically – meaning in three dimensions – the system can easily identify the
spatial position of the pupil and the line of vision,” according to Husar. The information is fed out through a standard interface and is stored in a standard interface (USB, CAN). This
way, the Eyetracker can be connected directly to the car’s trip computer. If the camera modules detect that the eye is closed for longer than a user-defined interval, it sounds an alarm. The cameras evaluate up to 200 images per second to identify the line of vision, even when a driver’s head moves to the left or right. The Eyetracker is a tool for researchers with an interest in determining which parts of a poster or advertising spot receive longer attention from their viewers.
—ANI |
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This universe Why does skimmed milk have higher density
than water? Milk is complex liquid. It has globules of fat, some carbohydrates, some calcium, minerals and vitamins. Because of the fat in it, full cream milk is a little lighter than water; water is of course its major constituent. When we remove the fat, or cream, from the milk it becomes heavier. Its density can even exceed that of water because of several other constituents like calcium, casein some carbohydrates. Is the sun a constantly exploding Hydrogen bomb? Why do we call solar light electromagnetic?
How do we utilise the electromagnetic properties of sunlight? In some sense you could say that many Hydrogen bombs are exploding in the centre of the sun. It is because the energy-producing reaction is similar to that which occurs in a hydrogen bomb. But you cannot call them as a succession of bombs; just as the production of energy in a five hundred Megawatt coal fired electric plant is not referred to as succession of chemical bombs. Hopefully some time in the near future we would also have fusion energy reactors. We call all light as an electromagnetic wave, not only that which comes from the sun. This is also true for radio waves, infra red light and x-rays. All these are similar in character except for the fact that their frequency is different. Frequency here is the number of times per second the electric and magnetic field oscillates. |
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Trends CHICAGO: Walking at least six miles a week may be one thing people can do to keep their brains from shrinking and fight off dementia, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. A study of nearly 300 people in Pittsburgh who kept track of how much they walked each week showed that those who walked at least six miles had less age-related brain shrinkage than people who walked less.
Some fever scanners work
WASHINGTON: Two commercially available scanners meant for use in airports and other public facilities can reliably detect people with fevers, making them useful during disease outbreaks, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. The scanners, which work at a distance of 3 to 6 feet, do a better job of detecting fevers than when people are simply asked if they feel feverish, An Nguyen of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues found.
Experts warn about genetic tests
HONG KONG: Medical experts warned consumers in comments published on Wednesday to be cautious about genetic tests that purport to predict various diseases, saying they added little value beyond what consumers already knew. Risk factors like smoking, lack of exercise, age, hypertension and family history were usually more reliable predictors, said researchers in Australia, who published their comment in a paper in PLoS Medicine.
US Supreme Court to decide on vaccine suits
WASHINGTON: Supreme Court justices admitted on Tuesday that they were confused by a 1986 law that seeks to make sure that vaccine makers do not exit the business for fear of lawsuits, while ensuring that children hurt by vaccines are compensated. The justices’ questions focused not on the facts of the case, but on the convoluted wording of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.
Humpback whale sets travel record
WASHINGTON: A female humpback whale travelled more than 6,000 miles from Brazil to Madagascar, setting a world record for a migrating mammal, researchers reported on Wednesday. While the record is interesting, the findings help researchers understand the behaviours of the whales, which are endangered, Peter Stevick of the College of the Atlantic in Maine and an international team of colleagues reported.
First patient treated in Geron stem cell trial
WASHINGTON: U.S. doctors have begun treating the first patient to receive human embryonic stem cells, but details of the patient enrolled in the landmark clinical trial are being kept confidential, Geron Corp said on Monday. Geron, has the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration license to use the controversial cells to treat people, in this case patients with new spinal cord injuries. It is the first publicly known use of human embryonic stem cells in people. —Reuters |
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A chainsaw buzzes, branches snap, and an Amazon tree crashes to the ground. It could be just another of the thousands of trees felled each year in Brazil’s portion of the world’s largest forest except for one detail: a microchip attached to its base holding data about its location, size and who cut it down. With a hand-held device, forestry engineer Paulo Borges pulls up the tree’s vital statistics from the chip—a 14-meter-high (46-foot) tree known as a “mandiocao” cut down in Mato Grosso state, the southern edge of the Amazon where the forest has largely been cleared to create farmland. It is only a small pilot project, but its leaders say the microchip system has the potential to be a big step forward in the battle to protect the Amazon.
