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July 26, 2010 — Israeli scientists have developed a device that allows severely disabled people to sniff to precisely control objects such as wheelchairs and personal digital assistants, a new study says.
The nasal-mask device works so well that disabled people who can’t move at all can learn to write text messages and drive electric wheelchairs by sniffing, researchers report in the July issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Noam Sobel, PhD, of the department of neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and colleagues set out to find a way to allow people with disabilities ranging from quadriplegia to “locked-in syndrome” to learn how to control devices with their noses just as they would using a joystick or computer mouse.
The Weizmann Institute has filed for a patent on sniff-controlled technology, which the researchers report as a possible conflict of interest.
The researchers built a “sniff controller” that measures changes in nasal pressure, which occur when the soft palate (the soft area at the back of the roof of the mouth) is repositioned. The device was tested on healthy and disabled people. The researchers report that sniffing can be done with precision, and that it requires precise movements of the soft palate, which receives signals from cranial nerves that often are not affected by paralytic injury and other disorders. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Recent Posts, Science and Technology, Special Education on July 27, 2010 - ט"ז אב תש"ע at 9:17 pm
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By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH, Jerusalem Post, 18/07/2010
Star Trek fans will remember “tractor beams” that allowed the starship Enterprise to trap and move objects. Now Tel Aviv University is turning this science fiction into science fact on a nano scale by building special laser “tweezers” for medicine, communications and harvesting energy.
The new tool, called Holographic Optical Tweezers (HOTs), use holographic technology to manipulate simultaneously up to 300 nanoparticles such as beads of glass or polymer that are too small and delicate to be handled with traditional laboratory instruments.
The technology, also known as “optical tweezers,” could form the basis for tomorrow’s ultrafast, light-powered communication devices and quantum computers, says Dr. Yael Roichman of TAU’s school of chemistry. She’s using these tweezers to build nano structures that control beams of light, aiding in the development of anything from optical microscopes to lightfuelled computer technology, HOTs are a new family of optical tools that use a strongly-focused light beam to trap, manipulate and transform small amounts of matter. First proposed as a scientific theory in 1986 and prototyped by a University of Chicago team in 1997, holographic optical tweezers have been praised as indispensable for researching cutting-edge ideas in physics, chemistry and biology.
Roichman and her team of researchers are currently pioneering the use of optical tweezers to create the next generation of photonic devices. Made out of carefully arranged particles of materials such as silicon oxide and titanium oxide, these devices have the ability to insulate light, allowing less energy to be lost in transmission. “Our invention could increase transmission speed and save energy, which is important for long-life batteries in computers, for instance,” says Roichman.
Photons are already used in optical fibers that bring us every day services such as cable TV. But Roichman says this technology can be taken much further. In her lab, she is advancing the previous study of photonic crystals, which control and harness light, by manipulating a variety of particles to create 3D heterogeneous structures. The ability to insulate light in a novel way, preserving its potential energy, is central to this goal. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science, Science and Technology on July 17, 2010 - ו' אב תש"ע at 10:15 pm
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Published: 07/07/2010, Press and Journal
SCIENTISTS from Aberdeen have uncovered more than 10 new species of deep-sea life on the Atlantic Ocean floor – and may be closer to finding the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals.
They found abundant numbers of species thought to have been rare, and huge differences in habitats just a few miles apart.
Professor Monty Priede, of Aberdeen University’s Ocean-lab, compared some of the habitats he and his team encountered on the six-week trip to “a scene from Alice Through the Looking Glass”.
And he said the discoveries they made along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores had revolutionised scientific thinking about life in the ocean. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on July 7, 2010 - כ"ה תמוז תש"ע at 6:53 pm
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Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010, from AFP, Dawn.com
PALMAHIM AIR BASE, Israel: The eyes in the sky of modern warfare, whose hallmark hum is heard over Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza, drones are a key weapon and a major cash earner for Israel, the world’s largest exporter of pilotless planes.
With more than 1,000 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) sold, Israel has raked in several hundred million dollars over the years.
Israel’s fleet ranges from aircraft which fit in a soldier’s backpack to planes the size of a Boeing 737 that can fly as far as Iran.
The flying robots can be used to watch, hunt and kill.
Interest is such that a Turkish military delegation reportedly made a secret trip to Israel last month for training in remote piloting of the Heron drone, despite a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
“It’s good for reaching remote targets, wherever it’s needed,” an officer who would only identify himself as Captain Gil, said, pointing to an IAI Heron on the tarmac of the Palmahim Air Base, near Tel Aviv.
The plane, known in Israel as Shoval – “trail” in Hebrew – has a 16-metre (52-foot) wingspan, can fly at an altitude of 30,000 feet (almost 10 kilometres) and can stay in the air for 40 hours.
It carries an array of sensors and radar systems, transmits information in real time, and is equipped with missiles. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Business and Commerce, Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on July 2, 2010 - כ' תמוז תש"ע at 6:39 am
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By Navit Zomer , YNet News, June 29, 2010
The IDB Group, through its Elron subsidiary, plans to invest NIS 8 million (about $2 million) in the Carticure start-up company from the NGT incubator in Nazareth, Yedioth Ahronoth’s economic supplement Mamon has learned.
NGT is a technological incubator run by Jewish and Arab businessmen. The majority of funding for its projects comes from the Chief Scientist’s Office and the incubator’s investors.
Carticure was founded four years ago by Dr. Gila Maor as part of the NGT incubator. Its technological platform generates original hyaline cartilage-producing cells to be transplanted into damaged joints, replenishing small and large lesions in the articular cartilage. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Business and Commerce, Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on June 29, 2010 - י"ז תמוז תש"ע at 3:16 pm
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by Hana Levi Julian, Arutz Sheva
(Israelnationalnews.com) A team of scientists at Tel Aviv University is working on a project that involves implanting a computer chip into the brain in order to treat conditions such as depression and Parkinson’s disease.
Professor Matti Mintz, a member of the Psychobiology Research Unit at the Department of Psychology, is part of a European consortium that is working on issues relating to neurophysiology, human behavior and mental health.
TAU colleague Professor Yossi Shaham-Diamond is also involved, working on the issue of adding sensors while miniaturizing the size of the deep brain electrodes used to deliver the stimulation. Two other TAU scientists, Professor Hagit Messer-Yaron and Dr. Mira Kalish, are also involved in the project as well as partners from Spain, Austria and England. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Middle East Report, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on June 29, 2010 - י"ז תמוז תש"ע at 9:41 am
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By Karin Kloosterman, Israel 21C
June 28, 2010
Despite the latest tensions, two companies – one Palestinian and one Israeli – are integrating wind turbines together in the West Bank and beyond.
A bridge of peace: The team from Israel Wind Power and Brothers Engineering Group.
A path toward peace may be blowing in the wind, if a new wind energy project between a Palestinian and an Israeli company succeeds. The two companies, Israel Wind Power based in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv and Brothers Engineering Group from Bethlehem in the West Bank, have just announced their intention to cooperate in the building and selling of wind turbines in the West Bank region and beyond.
Most significant, they are undeterred by the latest tensions between Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and world powers in the wake of the recent Turkish-led flotilla incident that occurred near Gaza.
Brothers Engineering Group was founded by Dr. Mohammed Salem, a pharmacist, businessman and social entrepreneur with Engineers without Borders. Salem, the company’s CEO, has been in the wind business since 2006 and employs 15 people in Bethlehem. His company supplies wind turbines and solar solutions to the West Bank region.
"Business collaboration in the area of wind energy is something which will be for the benefit of everyone. It will serve as a bridge of peace for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Salem declares.
"We will be one company, together," Salem tells ISRAEL21c, adding that: "The plan is from yesterday not tomorrow." The two companies plan on cooperating in marketing, manufacturing and installation of wind turbines to generate electricity on a scale of 50 kW to provide wind power for factories, offices and private homes.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Alternative Energy, Business and Commerce, Climate Change, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on June 28, 2010 - ט"ז תמוז תש"ע at 9:32 am
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By David Shamah, Israel21C, June 07, 2010
Microsoft’s newest XBox video game console is generating excitement among gamers worldwide. Its core component – a radical new 3D sensoring technology – was developed by Israel’s PrimeSense.
Using PrimeSense technology, Xbox users can place themselves in the game.
Video games aren’t just for kids. Gaming is a $20 billion annual business in the US alone, having long ago surpassed sales in the music industry. And Israeli companies – chief among them Tel Aviv-based PrimeSense – are at the heart of the latest developments sweeping the industry. Thanks to the company’s 3D sensing technology, set to become the central feature of Microsoft’s latest XBox video game consoles, true 3D play is just months away.
PrimeSense and several other Israeli companies have been quietly developing hardware and software for a new iteration of the XBox gaming system, codenamed Project Natal, which was announced in 2009.
Last year, Microsoft acquired Israeli company 3DV, which many industry observers believed was connected to the development of Project Natal. Meanwhile, last month SanDisk based in Kfar Saba in central Israel, began shipping its Xbox 360 USB Flash Drive, designed to enable gamers to easily move their avatars and game stats between XBox machines.
But it is PrimeSense’s 3D interactive system that has generated the most excitement, especially after an April press conference in Tel Aviv, where top Microsoft honchos announced that the motion technology built into the final Natal product was being produced by PrimeSense. XBox users will be able to place themselves literally ‘in the game,’ by attaching a box made by PrimeSense to their systems.
When a user walks into the range of the PrimeSense 3D sensor, anything he or she does ‘live’ will be reflected in the actions of the avatars, the action figures that play the game on-screen. If you’re playing tennis, for example, you just move your arm in a racket-swinging motion when you see the ball coming at your avatar – and your avatar’s arm moves, swinging the on-screen racket and, hopefully, hitting the ball back at your opponent. Your avatar does whatever you do.
Helping Microsoft to battle the competition
The new addition will help Microsoft in its ongoing battle against Nintendo and Sony, makers of the Wii gaming system and the Playstation console, respectively. Gamers can spend hours debating the fine points of the different systems – each has its advantages – but most consumers agree that the technical specs and networking capabilities of the XBox are the best of the lot, while the Wii is most user-friendly, mainly because it uses a sensor to represent your actions on-screen.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Business and Commerce, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology on June 7, 2010 - כ"ה סיון תש"ע at 9:57 am
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By Geoff Adams-Spink , April 23, 2010
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website
The father of a child with severe autism has developed technology to help him communicate.
Stephen Lodge said the idea for his Speaks4Me system came to him years ago but has been waiting for technology to catch up in order to make it a reality.
His eleven-year-old son, Callum, is non-verbal and uses his father’s invention to speak.
Speaks4Me was on show at Naidex 2010 – the annual disability exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham.
Mr Lodge’s system runs on any device that can run the Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating system.
It uses the concept of dragging and dropping images from one area of the screen to another to form sentences.
The user then presses a speech button to "verbalise" the sentence.
"Callum has been using Speaks4Me for some time now and he has already been able to create some very expressive sentences," Mr Lodge told the BBC.
Examples include, "I want a drink of juice", "I want to go outside", and "I feel tired".
Mr Lodge – who lives in South Yorkshire – has 20 years’ experience in technology and developed Speaks4Me after deciding that other products on the market were unsatisfactory for Callum.
He cashed in his savings and raised money on his property in order to finance the venture.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education Report, Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts, Science and Technology, Special Education on April 24, 2010 - י' אייר תש"ע at 11:24 pm
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Press Release, Tel Aviv University, April 21, 2010
Does your drinking water smell foul, or are you worried that chemicals might be damaging your family’s health? Water treatment facilities currently use chlorine that produces carcinogenic by-products to keep your tapwater clean, but Tel Aviv University scientists have determined that ultra-violet (UV) light might be a better solution.
Dr. Hadas Mamane of Tel Aviv University‘s Porter School of Environmental Science and Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Eliora Ron of TAU’s George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and their doctoral student Anat Lakretz of TAU’s School of Mechanical Engineering have recently determined the optimal UV wavelength for keeping water clean of microorganisms. Their approach could be used by water treatment plants as well as large-scale desalination facilities to destroy health-threatening microorganisms and make these facilities more efficient.
"UV light irradiation is being increasingly applied as a primary process for water disinfection," says Lakretz. "In our recent study, we’ve shown how this treatment can be optimized to kill free-swimming bacteria in the water — the kinds that also stick inside water distribution pipes and clog filters in desalination plants by producing bacterial biofilms."
This undesired "stickiness" of bacteria to surfaces is called "bio-fouling," which costs taxpayers and governments billions of dollars each year. "No one should be drinking microorganisms in their water. In addition, when microorganisms get stuck in the pores of the membranes of filters, they create serious problems," says Lakretz.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Air & Water, Climate Change, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts, Science and Technology, Solar Energy on April 22, 2010 - ח' אייר תש"ע at 2:18 pm
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