Powertrekk promises outdoor outlet freedom
PowerTrekk is a portable fuel cell charger for use by outdoor enthusiasts who spend time away from the electricity grid. PowerTrekk provides instant power anywhere to electronic equipment such as mobile phones, digital cameras and GPS devices. PowerTrekk is a 2-in-1 solution that is both a portable battery pack and fuel cell. The portable battery pack can be operated on its own as a ready source of power or storage buffer for the fuel cell. The fuel cell enables instant charging from a deflated battery state without ever needing a wall charge."
I want one of these. Period.
BrainPort Remaps Sensory Input to Tongue
Neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita's work on sensory substitution has spawned BrainPort, a sensory remapping unit that uses the tongue as sensory input interface. BrainPort uses the tongue to map the image picked up by a camera into discrete electrical points with up to 600 image points. BrainPort has also been used to correct balance in patients with vestibular dysfunction. See the facinating video on Wired Science:
Patients joined in doing their own research
"Imagine patients around the world coming together to share quantitative information on over 500 medical conditions. They talk about sensitive symptoms and compare which treatments work best for them. They track their health. New research discoveries are made based on the patient-contributed data. This is happening at CureTogether, and we believe it can have a massive global impact. Alexandra Carmichael and Daniel Reda launched CureTogether in July 2008 to help the people they knew and the millions they didn't who live in daily chronic pain. Starting with 3 conditions, it quickly expanded as people wrote in to request that their conditions be added to this ongoing study."
Patients come together and rate what really helps and what doesn´t to make them feel better.
CureTogether
Two examples of infographics generated by the data from the site:
Hack yourself – self knowlege through numbers
"The Quantified Self is a collaboration of users and tool makers who share an interest in self knowledge through self-tracking. We exchange information about our personal projects, the tools we use, tips we've gleaned, lessons we've learned. We blog, meet face to face, and collaborate online."
This site gives that warm feeling of finding friends in a warm café after a long chilly November walk. There are great videos from the show-and-tells on Vimeo.
Eyetracker on the cheap
"Behold the latest ocular assault weapon from the Graffiti Research Lab, openFrameworks, The Fat Lab and The Ebeling Group: The EyeWriter. It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus + custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes....This instruction set details how to make your own solderless eyetracker for only $50 dollars using a hacked PS3 Eye and a cheap pair of sunglasses."
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-EyeWriter/
DIY ventilator in a pinch
In case of a shortage of ventilators, here are instructions on how to make your own.
The Reverse Geocache Puzzle
When Mikal Hart's friend got married he built a box that could only be opened in a special location. An absolutely brilliant idea and he share's how he did it!
http://arduiniana.org/projects/the-reverse-geo-cache-puzzle/
From the why didn´t we think of that sooner department – vehicle energy
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The Sainsbury's in Gloucester, which opened in June 2009, has several kinetic energy plates installed in their parking lot. Each time a car drives over the plates, the motion of the plate creates energy. The energy is then stored and sent to the store to provide power to the checkout stations. Sainsburys says that the plates can supply 30 kWh of energy per hour."
Used instead of speed-bumps, energy that would just have been lost is harvested.
from http://webecoist.com/2009/09/09/driving-force-harvesting-kinetic-energy-from-passing-cars/
Build your own digital microscope
Digital microscopy systems can cost thousands of dollars but a very useful model can be assembled by using one decent compound microscope and consumer products that cost less than $150. Many hospitals and universities have retired micorscopes that can be adapted to this task. The plans found here show how to modify a commonly found microscope.
A DIY microscope with electronic focusing
Jean-Marie Cavanihac has put together a handly guide to turning a webcam and a lens from a discarded CD player into a focusing microscope