August 13, 2011 – Ken May

Artificial Skin Made From Spider Silk

Tissue engineer Hanna Wendt has released a study about using spider silk to create artificial skin. The study found that “spider silks display excellent mechanical features that even rival man-made, high-tech fibers,” but didn’t mention anything about patients gaining the ability to climb walls or sense impending danger. From the article: “Despite being impressed by how human cells responded to spider silk, Wendt thinks the use of synthetic fibers must be considered, especially since harvesting large amounts of spider silk is not practical.”

Goodyear’s self-inflating tires could improve gas mileage, leave Schrader valves unsatisfied

Reminiscent of Ghostbuster‘s Marshmallow Man, new Goodyear tires might just Stay-Puft on their own. The company is developing Air Maintenance Technology (AMT) tires with built-in pumps to keep themselves at the perfect pressure. The reason? Even slightly under-inflated tires can drop your mileage by 3.3 percent, costing you cash at the pump. For highway-hustling commercial trucks that’s a whole lot of moola, leading the US Department of Energy’s Office of Vehicle Technology to grant Goodyear $1.5 million towards self-plumping commercial tire development. For those of us who don’t wear mesh hats, Goodyear is working on a consumer version in its Luxembourg lab. It’s unclear exactly how they will work, but earlier implementations have a pipe that’s compressed as the tire rolls, allowing air to enter the tire without bursting thanks to a pressure sensitive valve. With so much automated car technology now all we need is the kind that cleans out its own trunk and pumps its own gas. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Goodyear’s self-inflating tires could improve gas mileage, leave Schrader valves unsatisfied

Goodyear’s self-inflating tires could improve gas mileage, leave Schrader valves unsatisfied originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 05:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘Kraftwerk Who?’ Pioneering ’50s Synthesizer unearthed in French Barn

So there Dr. Mick Grierson was, wandering around a French barn, minding his own business when all of a sudden he happened upon an antique: one of the earliest modern synthesizers. Grierson, a professor at Goldsmiths University in London did what any expert in the field of electronic music would do, and whisked it back to the motherland for restoration. The Oram “Oramics” Synthesiser (sic) was built by Daphne Oram in 1957, a year before she co-founded the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to research and develop electronic music. Political wrangling within the corporation forced her to leave in 1959, and she retreated to a farm in nearby Kent to tinker with her invention. After her departure, the Workshop shot to fame for creating the original electronic theme to Doctor Who. In order to create music on the Oram, a composer painted waveforms directly onto 35mm film strips which were fed into the machine. Inside, photo-electronic cells read the light pattern and interpreted it as sound. Check out the video to see the arrival of the machinery back into England where it’ll be on display all the way through December 2012. If you’re really interested you can tap Dr Grierson’s homebrewed Oramics iPhone app (linked below for your downloading pleasure) to create your own futuristic theme songs, ’57-style.

Continue reading ‘Kraftwerk Who?’ Pioneering ’50s Synthesizer unearthed in French Barn

‘Kraftwerk Who?’ Pioneering ’50s Synthesizer unearthed in French Barn originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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