Glowing Plant !!!

Glowing plants 

 

In the last week, over 3,000 people on Kickstarter ignored the fact it's next to impossible to keep a houseplant alive and backed the now fully-funded "Glowing Plants: Natural Lighting with no Electricity" campaign. The funds will be used to build upon existing technology and create a transgenic plant that has a soft blue-green glow to act as an electricity-free nightlight. Backer rewards, each glowing, include an arabidopsis plant, a rose plant, and arabidopsis seeds. We check in as the Glowing Plants team heads towards their first stretch goal and look at how this project is part of a bigger trend in DIY biology. But be warned: this is not your grandma's seed catalog.

Arabidopsis thaliana is a small unassuming plant, but is as famous in science circles as any plant has a hope of achieving. But the final glowing plant won't be 100 percent arabidopsis. Spliced into its genes will be the bacterial biochemical pathway to create bioluminescence. Luciferin and luciferase (“lucifer” meaning “light-bringer”) will give the plants a constant but gentle blue-green glow, probably only visible in the dark.

The process is like building a custom hot rod. The Glowing Plants team can increase the amount of light produced by changing the genetic “language” from bacterial to plant and experimentally find bottlenecks in the chemical pathway. The team even has the option of changing exactly what color of light is produced and when and where. Promoters, or the sequences of DNA that control proteins actually being produced, could be chained with the luciferin pathway to only produce light when desired, such as when the plant is cut, touched, or at day or night. These sequences will be strung together in a computer program and sent elsewhere for printing into strands of DNA. The Glowing Plant team came together out of a bioluminescence meetup group at a local bio hackerspace, which is reflected in their methods and goals. The project manager, Antony Evans, reflects, “One of the big motivations for the project was to do science in a different, more open way...” They plan on live-blogging their process and have already had some data peer-reviewed. The resulting DNA sequence will be released with an open source noncommercial license, starting talk among the project's backers of which transgenic plants they might create at home (Evans' dream glowing plant would be a willow tree).
Some of the backer rewards also encourage this DIY biology ethic. Among the offerings are a complete maker kit to transform your own plant from the ground up, a hands-on plant transformation workshop for you and 30 of your nerdiest friends, and having a message of your choice written directly into the very DNA of the plant.
The team's goal after the project is completed involves moving on to bigger plants and maybe someday trees, which could potentially replace streetlights. Meanwhile, there's still time to get your own glow on. A Kickstarter pledge of US$40 will score you the arabidopsis seeds, while $150 is required for an actual plant and the seeds, and the possibility of a rose plant if the the stretch goals are met.
Source: Glowing Plant,

Read more ...

WaterProof Mobile from Sony

Sony's dives in with smaller, more waterproof Xperia ZR

  

In the unpleasantness stakes, dropping your smartphone in a bucket or water is right up there with bread landing butter-side down – only much more expensive. Sony has unveiled its Xperia ZR that, if it lives up to expectations, will mean you’ll not only be able to drop it in the pond, but take high-definition videos while doing so.
The Xperia ZR follows on from the Xperia Z, and boasts a slightly smaller display (4.6-inches to the Z's 5-inches) that features improved contrast and anti-glare properties. The Xperia ZR is IP55 and IP58 compliant, making it both dust and water resistant, with Sony claiming it can withstand being submerged in 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. It also has a dedicated camera key that allows you to take pictures or video underwater or if the screen is locked.
The Xerpia ZR’s 13-megapixel camera has a 16x digital zoom and takes high definition images and videos using Sony’s “Exmor RS for mobile” image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range), which takes images at different exposure levels and then it combines them into one optimized image. There’s also noise reduction and a burst mode that takes 15 images at a time.

Measuring 10.5 mm thick and weighing 138 grams (4.8 oz), the Xperia ZR runs on Android 4.1 and is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon chipset (APQ8064 + MDM9215M) with Adreno 320 graphics. The 4.6-inch HD Reality Display powered by the Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and uses the OptiContrast panel, which reduces reflections and creates a seamlessly black surface when the phone is turned off.
The phone comes with 8 GB of internal storage – 4.6 GB of which is user accessible – and a micro SD memory card slot, while a STAMINA mode improves battery standby time by shutting down apps when the screen is off and starting them up again when the screen is switched back on. There's also a one-touch function that uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to pair the phone to other NFC-enabled devices, such as speakers, headphones and televisions, by simply touching the phone to the device.
The Xperia ZR will be available worldwide in coming months. Pricing is yet to be announced.
The video below introduces the Xperia ZR.
Source: Sony

Read more ...

Goggles From Google

What is Google Goggles?

A number of anonymous Google employees are reporting that the company is currently developing Android-powered glasses that can provide a heads-up display to the wearer and connect over wireless data services. The glasses will purportedly work like a wearable version of the Google Goggles app, providing real time information on a user's location via GPS and motion sensors. Even more surprising, the same sources are saying these "Google glasses" could be available to the public by the end of this year.
The Google glasses have apparently been in production for quite some time at Google's secretive Project X lab, where the company designs its more outlandish projects, such as robots, space elevators, and the like. Anonymous employees have indicated that this is strictly an experimental program from Google, though it may look into future business applications depending on how successful the product is.
Aside from a few buttons on the side, the glasses are said to resemble a regular pair of eyeglasses with a design similar to the Oakley Thumps (pictured below). The glasses will feature a low-resolution camera on the front for gathering information to relay to a small screen built into one side of the lenses. The screen will not be transparent, but will be located to the side of the frame, so as not to obscure a person's view but still give an augmented reality feel. The camera will also be able to take pictures, and have a built-in flash.

 Using either WiFi or a 3G/4G connections, the device will tap into Google's cloud and relay information to the user on their environment, including locations or friends nearby and objects that they look at. The glasses will also work as a smartphone, allowing users to make calls, use certain apps, and connect with friends.
Actually controlling the glasses will be a bit unique, as reading through information on the display will require a user to tilt their head to scroll and click. Sources at Google have noted that this function is actually a lot easier to use than it sounds, and will not be noticeable to others.
Unnamed employees told the New York Times that the new Google glasses are expected to be priced much like a current smartphone (in the US$250 to $600 range) and are aimed for a 2012 release date.

 

Read more ...