The biggest and the most secured building in world, at least in terms of seismic attacks or in laymen terms, earthquakes is the brand new international terminal at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport which is now operational.

The foundations of this state of the art airport aren’t in based in the ground but have been designed to be integrated in more than 300 isolators that have developed to sway from side to side in the event of an earthquake. The principle behind this marvelous innovation is that, the entire building will move as an entire single unit, instead of parts of the building bearing the brunt of the earthquake, that would put more stress on the building and might even lead to its destruction.

During an earthquake, a building is shaken in a lateral motion that makes them sway in back and forth and puts tremendous amount of stress on the frame of the building. This in turn significantly puts the building at a risk of crashing down on itself and cause a high rate of casualties. However, the isolators are designed to slow the momentum of the building, thus giving the building a more stable momentum thereby preventing the destruction of the building.

Turkey learnt its lesson from the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the country in the year 1999 and claimed the lives of 19,000 people along with billions of dollars in structural damage. Due to the fact that, the North Anatolian Fault is located less than 15 miles from Istanbul, it makes the city more prone to another high magnitude earthquake.

According to Atila Zekioglu (Engineer, Arup),

“What an isolation system does is that it enables the building to move through large displacements in unison, and in doing that, you absorb earthquake energy. What we have done over the years is that there are many tests going around the globe in terms of shake tables, testing labs, and what we do is we take that data… test the ability of our seismic simulation software.”

Via Wired.

The age of laser offensive and defensive weaponry got a boost from one of the principal military contractors to the U.S Department of Defense, Boeing Company, that has reportedly tested an all new surface to air laser defense system and shot down six unmanned drones, paving the way for a possible successful implementation of laser based weapons into the front line military units of the U.S armed forces.

Laser weapons, especially in the role of land based air defense systems have long been visualized as the most optimum weapon systems, as they would significantly reduce the threat of the personnel manning the conventional surface to air missile batteries. However, such sophisticated and at times completely autonomous laser weapon systems had so far been a matter of science fiction.

The latest tests undertaken by Boeing involved elements of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army and Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, that took extensive part in testing the reliability and feasibility options for the new weapon system. The purpose of the test, according to Boeing was to establish the capability of such defensive laser weapons in detection and destruction of aerial threats.

The mobile laser weapon developed by Boeing is called, Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated Experiments or MATRIX and was developed under the contract from the U.S Air Force Research Laboratory. The MATRIX is basically a trailer mounted laser defense system and employs a high powered targeted laser beam at the target, to to blow it out of the sky.

According to Gary Fitzmire (V.P, Boeing Missile Defense Systems’ Directed Energy Systems),

“The Air Force and Boeing achieved a directed-energy breakthrough with these tests. MATRIX’s performance is especially noteworthy because it demonstrated unprecedented, ultra-precise and lethal acquisition, pointing and tracking at long ranges using relatively low laser power.”

Via Space War.

The scientists at CERN in Geneva are reportedly getting close to activate the world’s biggest particle accelerator known as the Large Hadron Collider to begin the experiment with which the scientists at the biggest physics laboratory expect to witness the environment and the situation at the time of the Big Bang. The time when the universe was created.

Large Hadron Collider was severely damages during an experiment that was carried out last year and the scientists as well the technicians at CERN are stunned at the pace with the LHC has become operational again. The restart of the particle accelerator means that the scientists will now be able to send protons circling in a 27 kilometer long tube almost at the speed of light.

At the time of the surprise restart, many of the scientists involved in the project had left for their homes and had to be immediately called called back to their offices for the resumption of the experiment. According to James Gillies (Spokesman, European Organization for Nuclear Research),

“The scientists basically had to tear up the first few pages of their PowerPoint presentation which had outlined the procedures that they were planning to follow. That was all wrapped up by midnight. They are going through the paces really very fast.”

The operational status for the LHC was expected to be around 0600 GMT on Saturday, but the sudden restart of the machine cut down seven hours off the time limit and scientists were able tp carry on with the experiment from yesterday evening itself. For the experiment, CERN is currently using about 2,000 superconducting magnets, that will allow the team to control the direction of the protons that are numbered in billions, so as to keep the sensitive equipment of the LHC away from harm’s way.

Via Associated Press.

The researchers at Electrawinds have announced that, they have test driven a heavily modified Audi A4 diesel model for 24 hours on fuel made entirely of animal fats. The all new experiment has proven that, animal fat can in fact be used an alternative to petrol, gasoline and diesel, the fuels that drive our current vehicles and contribute enormously to the Global Warming phenomenon.

The team of Electrawinds, that was led by the manager of the company collected animal fats from places like slaughter houses etc. and ran only on animal fats and consumed zero bio diesel, making the world’s first automotive ever to run entirely on animal fats. Electrawinds is Belgium’s premier and the largest renewable energy plant has two operational installations in the cities of Ostend and Mouscron. It specializes in in extracting pure energy by burning animal fats and has been supplying clean and green electricity to 85,000 families in the region.

According to a company spokeswoman,

“Our aim was to show that renewable energy is more than just wind turbines and solar energy.”

Via Green Diary.

The current ongoing operations in Afghanistan by the United States armed forces are specifically being led by the special operation units of the U.S special forces and is now being aided by a technological edge of PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). One of the principal defense contractor to the U.S Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin has initiated a new program called, Distributed Operations (DisOPS) system.

As per the DisOPS that is under the direct review of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories, the special forces operators deep inside the Afghan territory will now be provided with hand held computers or PDAs that will enable them to communicate with other armed forces unit via WiFi, tactical radio and cell phone networks.

The DisOPS system is divided into two categories, Connect and View. Connect enables the commanders and squad leaders to sketch out plans on the field laptops, using styluses and then the prepared battle or operation plans are uploaded to the PDA held by the special forces operators. Thus synchronizing the exact details and components of the plans, keeping in loop all the elements of the operation.

In the view mode, the patrolling parties of the battalions are able to view the exact locations of the friendly forces such as other patrolling squads and are also capable of receiving real time imagery of the region and upto date intelligence analysis.

Via Wired & Lockheed Martin.

Another ground breaking invention from Mr. Mistry is the paradigm-shifting paper laptop, a device that uses a microphone on a piece of paper, that senses a user’s touch, thereby mimicking the movement of a mouse. Pranav Mistry has also invented boarding passes that, instantaneously project the flight schedules on the passes.

Pranav Mistry is currently a research assistant and a PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab and before joining MIT, he was employed by Microsoft as a UX Researcher. He holds a Masters degree in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Mumbai.

Via  TED

By now, the world has already realized that the dreaded pandemic-level disease called swine flu, also known as Influenza A (H1N1) ‘isn’t as contagious and deadly as feared.’ Unfortunately for Big Pharma and vaccine manufacturers who want to cash in on the intended pandemic paranoia (remember HIV/AIDS?), ‘the initial fear that swine flu is a totally new virus that your immune system isn’t equipped to handle turns out to be pure hype.’

A brand new study suggest that ‘immune systems that have previously had contact with flu viruses recognize H1N1 and deal with it the same way, by trying to attack the virus in the bloodstream and in infected cells. That’s why swine flu hasn’t been such a killer—the severity of infections has been about on par with a seasonal flu.’ The disease has not really posed more problems. In fact, some people are even more wary about the side effects of the swine flu vaccine than the disease itself.

According to the study co-author Alessandro Sette, director of the La Jolla Institute’s Center for Infectious Disease, ‘the reason why the swine flu virus — officially designated H1N1 — isn’t the killer it was feared seems to be that the various protective mechanisms of the immune system have been primed by exposure to previous flu viruses.’

Study lead author Bjoern Peters, an assistant member of the division of vaccine discovery at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in La Jolla, California, asserts, “What has been widely reported in the general press is that the swine flu is totally new, so there is no immunity to it. But the severity of infections that have been seen is not greater than usually seen in seasonal flu.”

Peters adds, “They produce antibodies in the bloodstream and try to find the virus before it ends up in cells, so they are what prevents the disease. They recognize the virus inside cells, so they are responsible for clearing the infection once you have it. Nobody knows what level of immunity is sufficient for protection. But if infected, our data suggest that T cells in those who have previously been exposed to influenza may make the infection less severe.”

The study found that ‘69 percent of T cells, which attack the virus in infected cells, were alerted by those previous infections.’ So, the swine flu virus that is said to be sweeping across the globe and claiming many lives isn’t a total stranger to the immune system.

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Via Health Day

TIME has picked its choices for best inventions of 2009. Those that got the votes range from best new gadgets to best new breakthrough ideas of the year. Here are some:

The breeding population of the highly migratory southern bluefin tuna has dipped to more than 90 percent since the 1950s. It seemed that the southern bluefin tuna, prized for its ‘buttery sashimi meat,’ will no longer spawn. Then, ‘in Port Lincoln, Australia, a tankful of bluefin tuna began to spawn in landlocked tanks.’ Now, there’s hope for bluefin aquaculture and the tank-bred tuna.

Philips Electronics ‘became the first to enter the U.S. Department of Energy’s L Prize competition, which seeks a LED alternative to the common 60-watt bulb.’ The 60-watt lights occupy half of the entire domestic incandescent market. The challenge is to replace the said bulb with LED bulbs. If this could be done, ‘the U.S. could save enough electricity per year to light 17.4 million households.’ Philips claims a cash award and federal purchasing agreements worth about $10 million. ‘Philips’ LED bulb emits the same amount of light as its incandescent equivalent but uses less than 10 watts and lasts for 25,000 hours — or 25 times as long.’

The Herschel Space Observatory now has the telescope for invisible stars. It ‘scans the skies in the infrared spectrum. In order to avoid infrared interference and temperature fluctuations from Earth, it hovers in space at the second Lagrange point, about 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) away, where the gravity of the Earth and sun balance out.’

World food shortage and shortfall in world food production may now be addressed with the invention of vertical farming. ‘Valcent, a company based in El Paso, Texas, is pioneering a hydroponic-farming system that grows plants in rotating rows, one on top of another. The rotation gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients they need, while the vertical stacking enables the use of far less water than conventional farming. But best of all, by growing upward instead of outward, vertical farming can expand food supplies without using more land.’

Via TIME

Fatty and refined foods, or a diet of processed foods, worsen the risk of depression by as much as 58 percent. This is the conclusion of a recent study conducted by British scientists on 3,500 adults over a period of five years.

The findings show that ‘those who ate mainly fried, processed, refined, high-fat foods had a 58% greater risk of depression than those who ate the least. And those who consumed mostly whole foods, produce, and fish showed a 26% lower risk than those who consumed the least of those foods.’ Additionally, ‘people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually had a lower risk of depression,’ according to the research team from the University College London.

According to Dr. Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, “The UK population is consuming less nutritious, fresh produce and more saturated fats and sugars.” He adds, “This study adds to an existing body of solid research that shows the strong links between what we eat and our mental health. Major studies like this are crucial because they hold the key to us better understanding mental illness.”

“Physical and mental health are closely related, so we should not be too surprised by these results, but we hope there will be further research which may help us to understand more fully the relationship between diet and mental health,” said  Margaret Edwards, head of strategy at the mental health charity SANE.

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Via BBC

NASA is pretty renowned for screw ups that only it can manage to pull off and after re-recording on the moon landing tapes its reputation has been on a one way trip down the spiral. With the International Space Station (ISS) in eternal need of repairs and pare parts and the space shuttles at NASA’s disposal only operation for another year or so, it is now pretty desperate to launch the Atlantis into orbit on the scheduled Monday afternoon.

Atlantis will carry a cargo weighing 27,000 pounds that include spare parts a couple of refurbished gyroscopes, pumps, tanks for ammonia and nitrogen and a piece called the “trailing umbilical system reel assembly” for the railway system that moves the station’s robotic arm. (Yup, it is almost as if they are building the whole thing again!)

Atlantis will not just carry a heavy payload but will also bring back to earth a balky toilet system that recycles urine into drinkable water. Apparently there is more than enough water for the guys up there at the moment! The 11-day mission is commanded by Col. Charles O. Hobaugh of the Marines, and the pilot is Capt. Barry E. Wilmore of the Navy and if all goes to plan then NASA will be pretty relieved as time is running out quickly for their space shuttles.

Nytimes