Gizmag News - Japan earthquake may have shortened length of days and shifted Earth's axis

Welcome to the newsletter for gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine. These are the headlines for March the 16th, 2011. Japan earthquake may have shortened length of days and shifted Earth’s axis Using a complex model to perform a theoretical calculation based on a U.S. Geological Survey, Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has determined that by changing the distribution of the Earth's mass, the earthquake that devastated Japan last Friday should have sped up the Earth's rotation, resulting in a day that is about 1.8 microseconds (1.8 millionths of a second) shorter. Read More New cooking aid developed for arthritis sufferers For those who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, just taking a pan of boiling vegetables from the cooker to the sink can be an awkward and dangerous adventure. After numerous interviews with sufferers, Australian university student Ching-Hao Hsu discovered that many regularly risk injury by trying to carry one-handled pans with the aid of a towel. To make such tasks a might easier, Hsu has designed the Arthritis Handle. The device slips over the forearm and allows the user to safely support the cookware on its journey around the kitchen. Read More +YvesBéhar phone keeps things simple Yves Béhar, the industrial designer behind such diverse products as the WattStation EV charging station, the Jawbone Bluetooth headset and Mission One electric sports motorbike has turned his talents to that most essential of modern day devices – the mobile phone. The result is a stylish handset that comes in either stainless steel or gold versions priced at 7,250 euro (approx. US$10,140) and 42,000 euro ($58,740) respectively. But anyone expecting a phone at those prices to do everything short of fixing you a fine meal and cleaning up afterwards will be sorely disappointed as the +YvesBéhar phone has been designed firmly with simplicity in mind. Read More Ubisoft's Rocksmith wants to teach you to play a real guitar One of the big criticisms leveled at rhythm-based guitar games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band was that they don’t actually teach you to play guitar. Ignoring the fact that this was never the intention of the games and not necessarily a bad thing ... it’s true. With the curtain recently brought down on the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, Ubisoft has stepped onto the stage with Rocksmith – the first videogame that lets players use any real guitar and is designed to teach them how to actually play it. Read More H2O Power radio runs on water from the shower For all the people out there who like listening to the radio while they’re in the shower, various companies offer waterproof battery-operated “shower radios.” There’s nothing particularly wrong with these radios, but ... why change or recharge the batteries if you don’t have to? No, we’re not suggesting running a power cord into the shower. Instead, you might be interested in getting an H2O Power water-powered radio. Read More New material designed for hydrogen storage Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created a composite material that they claim can store hydrogen densely and safely, yet that also allows it to be easily accessed for creating electricity. Some materials that are currently used for hydrogen storage have a relatively small capacity, and need to be superheated or supercooled in order to work at peak efficiency. The new material, however, is said not to have either of these limitations. Read More Green ideas get ecomagination showcase General Electric (GE) has already chosen a dozen new partners to accelerate and commercialize technologies to help build the next generation power grid, as part of Phase I of its ecomagination challenge. Idaho's Solar Roadways project received the highest number of community votes in that round, and looks to be doing well in the current phase. As the hopefuls in the "Powering Your Home" phase go before the judges, we take a quick look at some of the entries that have caught our attention. Read More Solar Soldier system to take the weight off infantry soldiers If you’ve ever removed the battery from a laptop, then you will know that it constitutes quite a large percentage of the total weight of the computer. Well, if you think you’ve got it tough lugging that laptop battery around, consider the plight of infantry soldiers – they have to carry multiple batteries to power devices such as weapons, radios, and GPS equipment, and they have to do so for hours at a time, often under very harsh conditions. Attempts to lighten the 45 to 70 kg (99 to 154 lb) loads typically carried by soldiers currently include the use of fuel cells, li-ion batteries woven into their clothing, and autonomous pack horse-like vehicles. Now, UK researchers are adding their two pence-worth, by developing wearable solar and thermoelectric power systems. Read More New microscope captures 3D movies of living cells In some cases, looking at a living cell under a microscope can cause it damage or worse, can kill it. Now, a new kind of microscope has been invented by researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that is able to non-invasively take a three dimensional look inside living cells with stunning results. The device uses a thin sheet of light like that used to scan supermarket bar codes and could help biologists to achieve their goal of understanding the rules that govern molecular processes within a cell. Read More If you would like to refer this newsletter to a friend or colleague, please point them at our free subscription page. Please don't try to forward this email, as the formatting is unlikely to remain intact. And don't worry, we don't share email addresses. Please read our privacy policy if you are concerned. Watch for more of the best new innovations, ideas and practical technologies in your inbox. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at http://www.gizmag.com. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter please click here to unsubscribe. COPYRIGHT GIZMAG (C) 2011