 Welcome to the newsletter for gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for December the 1st, 2009.  Electric Voltra concept paves the way for sexy next-gen motorcycle designAs we wrote in last week's article about the ECOS Harbinger, one of the best things about electric vehicles is that they're much simpler in many ways than a petrol vehicle to build. Freed from the necessities of fuel tanks, airboxes, cooling systems, exhausts and the bulky combustion motor itself, designers are going to be able to start with a pretty blank sheet when it comes to designing tomorrow's electric motorcycles. Take the Voltra, a design study by Aussie student Dan Anderson - with its low-slung, bulldog looks, a seat unit that looks like it's floating on air, detachable dash and an engine-mounted swingarm pivot. It's a filthy sexy bike - and yet unlike anything we've seen before; a blue-sky reinvention of the motorcycle based on the new rules the electric age is going to bring in. Read More  Mini ice age could hit in a matter of months, not yearsThose who scoffed at the swiftness with which the world was plunged into an ice age in the film The Day After Tomorrow may need to rethink their disbelief with new research showing that such a scenario may not be so far from the truth. A new study reveals that switching off the North Atlantic circulation can force the Northern hemisphere into a mini ‘ice age’ in a matter of months rather than the tens of years indicated by previous research. Read More  Ion Tiger sets endurance record for a hydrogen fuel cell powered UAVThe benefits of using hydrogen fuel cells to power UAVs have been shown by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with its Ion Tiger UAV setting an unofficial flight endurance record of 26 hours and 1 minute while carrying a 5-pound payload. While taking advantage of hydrogen as a high-energy fuel, the electric fuel cell propulsion system onboard the Ion Tiger also boasts the low noise and signature of a battery-powered UAV. Read More  Marine census reveals 17,500 species and counting living in the murky depths“The deep sea is the Earth’s largest continuous ecosystem and largest habitat for life. It is also the least studied,” says Dr. Chris German, who along with hundreds of other Marine Life scientists from around the globe is shedding light on these mysterious depths through an unprecedented census of deep-sea marine inhabitants. Their recordings have yielded astonishing findings of more than 17,500 species of often bizarre marine creatures - from oil-eating tubeworms to elephant-eared octopods - inhabiting the blackest depths between 200 meters and up to 5, 000 meters (~3 miles) below ocean surface. Even more remarkable is the ability of these deep-sea creatures to live and thrive in topographically challenging environments where food availability is marginal, at best. Read More  Touch&Turn: clever cooking solution for the blindWhilst cooking is not exactly a risk-taking activity, the kitchen is not without its hazards - think open flames, red-hot pan handles and spluttering stews. So imagine how difficult preparing and cooking a meal might be for the blind and visually-impaired. A new cooking concept could provide a solution - the Touch&Turn is a cool-to-the-touch cooking pot that sits on a simple, user-friendly control panel and is designed to make cooking an easier and safer experience. Read More  A simple solution that sticks - Pad N'Click mouse gel padsRepetitive strain injury caused by prolonged use of a computer is an ongoing problem, however we are continuing to see innovative ideas designed to alleviate the issue. Among these is the simple yet sensible Pad N’Click. A trio of adhesive gel pads stick to a user’s mouse, promoting more natural hand and finger positioning, in turn increasing comfort and reducing stress on joints. Read More  Scientists grow meat in a lab for the first timeFour years ago, a paper from the Tissue Engineering journal outlined techniques that would allow large-scale meat production in a lab. Scientists now confirm that they have managed to grow a form of meat in a laboratory for the first time. Described as “a soggy form of pork”, the initial result doesn't sound all that appetizing, but it's a development that could have significant impact on the future of global food production. Read More  Audi testing autonomous TTS Coupe quattroThe age-old battle of man versus machine will move to a new arena in 2010 when Audi will begin pitting an autonomous TTS Coupe quattro against record times of some of the great driving challenges, including a likely attempt at the infamous 12.42-mile Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, USA. The driverless Audi is from the same team that built the VW Touareg which won the first race for autonomous vehicles, the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. The inevitable incorporation of advanced robotic technologies into our automobiles will ultimately yield a safer vehicle and it’s the thin end of the wedge – one day soon your car will not only be smarter than you are, it will also be faster and maybe even better looking. Read More  Kohjinsha DZ dual-screen laptop releasedFirst shown at the CEATEC trade show in October, Kohjinsha's dual screen laptop/netbook is now on sale in Japan. The combination of an ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics processor and an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6 GHz chip gives the DZ the power to offer independent or combined dual screen action. The first full dual screen laptop to the marketplace also benefits from a 160Gb SATA HDD, an integrated TV card and a multi-touch, gesture sensitive touch pad. Read More 
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Gizmag News - Electric Voltra concept paves the way for sexy next-gen motorcycle design
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