ESA plans to build 3D printed Moon base

The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to set up a base on Moon by using a 3D printer to build it from lunar materials, scientists say.

Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster + Partners have joined with ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil, the space agency said.

“Terrestrial 3D printing technology has produced entire structures. Our industrial team investigated if it could similarly be employed to build a lunar habitat,” said Laurent Pambaguian, who heads the project for ESA.

Foster + Partners devised a weight-bearing “catenary” dome design with a cellular structured wall to shield against micro-meteoroids and space radiation, incorporating a pressurised inflatable to shelter astronauts. A hollow closed-cell structure – reminiscent of bird bones – provides a good combination of strength and weight. The base’s design was guided in turn by the properties of 3D-printed lunar soil, with a 1.5 tonne building block produced as a demonstration.

“3D printing offers a potential means of facilitating lunar settlement with reduced logistics from Earth,” added Scott Hovland of ESA’s human spaceflight team.

“The new possibilities this work opens up can then be considered by international space agencies as part of the current development of a common exploration strategy.

“As a practice, we are used to designing for extreme climates on Earth and exploiting the environmental benefits of using local, sustainable materials,” said Xavier De Kestelier of Foster + Partners Specialist Modelling Group.

“Our lunar habitation follows a similar logic,” he said in a ESA Statement.

The UK’s Monolite supplied the D-Shape printer, with a mobile printing array of nozzles on a 6 m frame to spray a binding solution onto a sand-like building material.

3D “printouts” are built up layer by layer ¿ the company more typically uses its printer to create sculptures and is working on artificial coral reefs to help preserve beaches from energetic sea waves.

“First, we needed to mix the simulated lunar material with magnesium oxide. This turns it into “paper” we can print with,” said Monolite founder Enrico Dini.

“Then for our structural ‘ink’ we apply a binding salt which converts material to a stone-like solid.

“Our current printer builds at a rate of around 2 m per hour, while our next-generation design should attain 3.5 m per hour, completing an entire building in a week,” said Dini.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/esa-plans-to-build-3d-printed-moon-base/1067991/0

Microsoft testing Outlook app for Windows RT devices: Report

Teams within Microsoft are reportedly debating whether the company should release a native version of Outlook for Windows RT devices or not. The company has reportedly completed and testing a final version of Outlook for Windows RT devices.

Microsoft is reportedly testing a native version of MS Outlook for Windows RT-based devices. Dubbed as Outlook RT, the e-mail client would run on Microsoft’s ARM-based Surface RT devices as well as any ARM-based Windows RT slates and PCs.

According to CNET, Microsoft hasn’t yet decided the date for commercial availability of Outlook RT, as odds are the company may never release it. The teams within Microsoft are still debating whether the company should release the app or not.

The report further quotes sources at Microsoft claims some people at the Windows unit want to retain the Mail/Calendar/People app as it bundles currently. There are some other people who want to simply rename the existing Mail app in Windows RT as Outlook. There are also suggestions to launch Outlook as a separate native app.

“Microsoft currently has its own Mail client for Windows 8 and Windows RT — a product that is not seen as very robust or solid by many of us Surface RT/Windows RT users. The Windows RT Mail client is not even as good as the Mail client that’s part of Windows Phone, many of us feel,” writes Mary Jo Foley in the report.

“Quite a few of us would rather have the option to run Outlook on our Surface RTs and other Windows RT devices. But for now, Microsoft doesn’t include Outlook as part of the Office Home & Student 2013 RT suite that it bundles with the Windows RT operating system. Only Word RT, Excel RT, PowerPoint RT and OneNote RT are included. (It’s worth noting that these four apps are Desktop apps, not “Metro-Style”/Windows Store apps. There are only two members of the Office suite that currently exist in Metro-Style form: OneNote and Lync.),” she adds.

Microsoft is yet to comment on the rumours of a native Outlook app for Windows RT.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/Microsoft-testing-Outlook-app-for-Windows-RT_13224.html

Yahoo! buys scrapbook website Snip.it

Yahoo! confirmed Tuesday that it bought Snip.it, a young San Francisco startup that lets people create scrapbooks with pictures, articles, videos and other content found online.

“The Snip.it team created an innovative technology that lets people share content in a

social and fun way,” Yahoo! vice president of product Mike Kerns said in a statement emailed to AFP.

“Reading and sharing content is a core daily habit for most of the world, and we can’t wait to work with the Snip.it team to make that experience even more entertaining for our users.”

A message posted at Snip.it told users it was “joining forces” with Yahoo! and that the service was no longer available. A link was provided to a hall of fame honoring top Snip.it contributors.

“For the past year and a half, we’ve worked tirelessly as a team to build the best social news platform on the Web,” Snip.it said in the message.

“We are thrilled at the opportunity to bring Snip.it’s vision to a larger scale at Yahoo!”

Snip.it launched in late 2011 as a place where people could share digital “scrapbooks” based on topics or themes of their choosing.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but unconfirmed online reports estimated the figure to be in the vicinity of $15 million.

IBM says it has tool to kill deadly drug-resistant superbugs

Hospital-acquired infections have become a major killer in the United States, mainly because the drug-resistant “superbugs” that cause them have proven nearly impossible to stop.

But now IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology say they have come up with what they’re calling an antimicrobial hydrogel that can successfully fight the superbugs that are behind killers like MRSA.

In an announcement today, IBM Research and its partner on the project said that their antimicrobial hydrogel was designed to cut through diseased biofilms and almost instantly kill off drug-resistant bacteria. The collaborators on the project said that the the synthetic drug is meant for combating the growing infection problems plaguing American hospitals, because it is non-toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable.

Normally, IBM said in its announcement, antimicrobials are used in standard household cleaners like alcohol and bleach. But those substances haven’t proved effective in fighting deadly skin infections like MRSA because antibiotics are becoming less effective and standard disinfectants aren’t meant for biological situations.

But the new hydrogel was created to be used in creams and other therapeutics that are meant for healing. The hydrogel can be applied to contaminated surfaces, and its positive charge instantly attracts the microbial membranes’ negative charge. The bacteria is then meant to be killed by what IBM termed membrane disruption, a step that staves off any kind of resistance to the hydrogel.

Although it’s not yet clear how this advancement will make its way into actual hospital and other relevant settings, research like this is meant to jump-start the commercial development of actual drugs and other therapies.



Source : http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57565551-76/ibm-says-it-has-tool-to-kill-deadly-drug-resistant-superbugs/

Indian Made eTouch Pen Converts Old Monitors Into Touch Screens

Bangalore: Touch screen devices relish the digital era, and the demand for the same has increased especially after the introduction of the touch centric Microsoft Windows 8 operating system in the market. Majority of the PC/ laptop users are in a state of dilemma thinking of how to make the best use of Windows 8 system. In an attempt to make use of the growing demand, Bangalore- based Jeswill Hi-Tech Solutions has come up with an innovative stylus ‘e-touch Pen’ to facilitate the conversion  of non-touch based PC or laptop into a touch screen devices.

The e-Touch Pen is designed for the Windows 8 with non-touch devices, as the new Microsoft operating system provides the ultimate user experience on touch devices. The device can also be used on PC’s running on Windows 7.

The device works based on a combination of ultrasound infrared technology and doesn’t require drivers for installation. It includes components like a cordless electronic pen and a detachable base unit with a USB cable connector. It has a receiver that can be clipped on to a screen and a stylus pen that acts as a transmitter. Apart from that, a small magnetic strip is stuck onto the side of a screen.

The receiver is clipped on to the magnetic strip and connected to the computer through a USB port. Since the clipped on receiver is an infrared device, it helps in positioning the stylus. The stylus transmitter is a battery- operated, ultrasonic device which has few brushes at its tip which attracts the vibrations when the pen is moved on the screen. The signals are subsequently transmitted to the receiver. The receiver transmits the input to the PC which completes the action accordingly.

There lies a price gap between a touch screen PC and a non-touch PC which is more than 10, 000 in market, but the new i-Touch pen can bridge the gap as it costs around to 5,000.  It works on a maximum screen size of 22-inch with a resolution of 100 DPI.

According to Mr. Sylvester P. Moorthy, Chairman, Hi-Tech Solutions, the e-Touch pen was designed especially for Windows 8. He also said that users will be able to write, draw, and edit pictures on the screen as well as perform certain other functions using this device.