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Urine Recycling Equipment Passes Tests, But No One Takes First Sip



Thank heavens -- the $154 million water recycling system, which is designed to convert sweat, moisture and urine into an ingestible fluid, um, works. According to NASA, the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) managed to get through three rigorous testing sessions, and apparently that was good enough for officials to leave it in orbit. So yeah, theoretically we now have a way to keep long-term space cadets hydrated for months, but is anyone really going to volunteer to pinch their nostrils and toss back the first shot? Our sources point to "no."

'Carcade' Turns Passenger Seat Into Real-Time Gaming Experience



Berlin-based designers have developed an in-car video game prototype that records the outside environment as a car moves, integrating features to create an 'Asteroids'-like experience on a laptop. Don't worry, in this case, it's the passenger who plays the game on his or her laptop. With the help of a window-attached film camera that captures the landscape as the car cruises, the program translates real-time action outside into a rendered gaming experience on screen in which players maneuver a spaceship and try to shoot space junk. (In other words, if the car speeds up, then the spaceship speeds up, and so on.)

Kudos to the designers of the Carcade System, Andreas Nicolas Fischer, Martin Kim Luge and Korbinian Polk. The execution of a videogame that captures objects in the environment while you drive is laudable. It's certainly an entertaining alternative to sitting and staring out the window while your buddy drives , but the application is misguided.

The trend in car safety, after all, is in the prohibition of all distracted-driving activities (text-messaging, talking on your phone, etc). As a driver, it might be distracting having your wing man tripping on a computer-game that simulates the real environment. "Dude, I just crashed into the space-McDonald's!" This is what the safety-experts might characterize as a triggering activity that causes a cognitive-distraction, thus impairing driving-performance. For more on the emerging "distracted-driving" field see : International Standards Organization NHTSA [From Universität der Künste Berlin via Boing Boing]

iPillow Lets You Take a Nap Right at Your Desk


Are you tired of sneaking off to the janitor's closet to get some shut eye? Well, we are too. Fortunately, for all of us beaten down by oppressive bosses and long work weeks, there is someone out there who yearns for sleep enough to actually to do something about the problem. That person, by the way, is Ivonne Dippmann.

A student at the University of Berlin (Germany), Dippman created the a prototype for the i-Sleep, a small pillow that rests right on top of your laptop, inflating and deflating as you close and open it. You see, the pillow is inflated using the warm air exhaust from your computer and is insulated with latex so that it stays toasty. If you think that's cool, you're gonna love this next part.

The i-Sleep actually turns on a special music playlist as soon as the computer is closed. The playlist is completely customizable and elicits a wake-up alarm as soon as the final song finishes (if you so choose).

Ideal for a quick little nap in the middle of your workday, the iPillow could actually be a nice little accent to your cubicle. We will miss that janitor's closet though...Good times... [source: BoingBoing]

Glass Toaster Lets You See Bread As It's Browning


Glass toaster
Sometimes the best inventions are the simplest ones. Take, for example, the problem of burnt toast -- one which has ruined many a morning throughout time. The solution? A new glass toaster that actually lets you see your bread as it browns. The result? No more burnt bread. You can actually stop it when the toast gets to your preferred level of doneness.

Thankfully, a traditional timer dial is still incorporated for those of us who are too busy to keep an eye on our bread...like, say, M.C. Hammer. Zing!

But it's not all toasty: The current design only fits one piece of bread at a time, which, as experts know, is not even enough to make a sandwich.

From DailyMail

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Cell Phones Powered By Bacteria?



So you're in Sub-Saharan Africa. You're surrounded by more bugs than Windows 95, and there isn't a power outlet for miles. But you've seen 'The Matrix,' so really it's not that much of a stretch: a bacteria-powered cellphone charger could be the answer to the lack of phone infrastructure in the developing world, even for those without electricity.

The newest iteration of the technology comes courtesy of the brain-builders at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who have designed a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that runs on plant waste; the prototype won the first prize in a recent contest held by Dow Chemical called MADMEC, which was held to encourage new uses of materials that allow alternative or non-traditional sources of energy.

Without getting too deep into it, MFCs use electrons -- released by feeding bacteria on sugars, starches, and other organic material -- to produce electricity. The team's prototypes, which it's calling BioVolt, run on less refined fuel than any before it, and the bacteria digest the cellulose in plant waste. The creators also say they can be produced for only about $2 a pop.

But don't start planting seeds just yet -- the technology is still very much "proof of concept". it would currently take around six months to charge a phone's battery using a BioVolt, which is about five months, 30 days, 24 hours, and 40 minutes longer than a three year-old Nokia.

From New Scientist

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Robotic Fish Fins to Propel Submarines



We may be destroying nature, but at least we're learning from it.

Researchers at M.I.T. have created mechanical fins to power agile submarines, mimicking the movements of the bluegill sunfish as it moves through the water. The result is a propellerless submarine, significantly more maneuverable than anything before it.

While they're still in prototype phase, the subs will eventually be used for various tasks, such as mapping oceans, surveying shipwrecks, sweeping for mines, or scaring the oxygen out of deep-sea divers; the improved agility and speed will make such tasks easier and more efficient.

Researchers expect to have a fully-working unit up and running in about two years, by which point it may actually be the only fish left in the ocean.

From BBC

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