Issue # 1
July 2015
Tomorrow Science and Technology for the Young Mind
THE WIRED BRAIN In the foreseeable future we will no longer carry around mobile phones. We will carry them in our heads!
2022: EVERYONE WILL BE CONNECTED
COPY AND PASTE
A look into the astonishing technology of 3D printing, and how it can change the way we buy things.
TALKING
CARS! I
magine approaching an intersection as another car runs a red light. You don’t see them at first, but your car gets a signal from the other car that it’s directly in your path and warns you of the potential collision, or even hits the brakes automatically to avoid an accident. A developing technology called Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication, or V2V, is being tested by automotive manufacturers like Ford as a way to help reduce the amount of accidents on the road. V2V works by using wireless signals to send information back and forth between cars about their location, speed and direction. The information is then communicated to the cars around it in order to provide information on how to keep the vehicles safe distances from each other. At MIT, engineers are working on V2V algorithms that calculate information from cars to determine what the best evasive measure should be if another car started coming into its own projected path. A study put out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2010 says that V2V has the potential to reduce 79 percent of target vehicle crashes on the road. But researchers aren’t only considering V2V communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, or V2I, is being tested as well. V2I would allow vehicles to communicate with things like road signs or traffic signals and provide information to the vehicle about safety issues. V2I could also request traffic information from a traffic management system and access the best possible routes. Reports by the NHTSA say that incorporating V2I into vehicles, along with V2V systems, would reduce all target vehicle crashes by 81 percent [source: Green Car Congress]. These technologies could transform the way we drive and increase automotive safety dramatically. Good thing car companies and the government are already working to try to make this a reality.
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hese technologies could transform the way we drive and increase automotive safety dramatically. Good thing car companies and the government are already working to try to make this a reality. V2I would allow vehicles to communicate with things like road signs or traffic signals. All of this communication and preemptive vehicle assistance leads us into our next future technology, so go on to the next page to find out what it is. A study put out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2010 says that V2V has the potential to reduce 79 percent of target vehicle crashes on the road.
Computerized maps view road signs, find alternative routes and see traffic lights before they’re even visible to a person. By using lasers, radars and cameras, the cars can analyze and process information about their surroundings faster than a human can.
CARS THAT DRIVE THEMSELVES. The advent of self-driving cars T
he idea of a self-driving car isn’t a new idea. Many TV shows and movies have had the idea and there are already cars on the road that can park themselves. But a truly self-driving car means exactly that, one that can drive itself, and they’re probably closer to being a reality than you might think. In California and Nevada, Google engineers have already tested self-driving cars on more than 200,000 miles (321,869 kilometers) of public highways and roads [source: Thrun]. Google’s cars not only record images of the road, but their computerized maps view road signs, find alternative routes and see traffic lights before they’re even visible to a person.
By using lasers, radars and cameras, the cars can analyze and process information about their surroundings faster than a human can. If self-driving cars do make it to mass production, we might have a little more time on our hands. Americans spend an average of 100 hours sitting in traffic every year [source: Cowen]. Cars that drive themselves would most likely have the option to engage in platooning, where multiple cars drive very close to each and act as one unit. Some people believe platooning would decrease highway accidents because the cars would be communicating and reacting to each other simultaneously, without the
on-going distractions that drivers face. In some of Google’s tests, the cars learned the details of a road by driving on it several times, and when it was time to drive itself, it was able to identify when there were pedestrians crossing and stopped to let them pass by. Self-driving cars could make transportation safer for all of us by eliminating the cause of 95 percent of today’s accidents.
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lthough self-driving cars may seem far off, GM has already done its own testing and some people believe that you’ll see some sort of self-driving car in showrooms in the next decade. Many new car technologies are either specifically built for safety or at least have some sort of safety focus to them. Some of the latest car innovations we’ve found are some truly exciting technologies that could revolutionize not just the automotive industry but human transportation in general. So what’s in store for future cars? Well, we don’t know for sure, but based on what’s currently being tested and what’s on the road today, we have an idea of some new technology that will most likely make it into production. Some of it will help keep us safe, some will give us information like never before and some will let us kick back and just enjoy the ride. Car manufacturers and the U.S. government are seriously looking into and researching two technologies that would enable future cars to communicate with each other and with objects around them.
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ost people know by now what an electric car is. It’s a car that runs on a battery-powered electric motor. Unlike most cars on the road today, it lacks an internal combustion engine and uses electricity as its fuel rather than gasoline. Because it doesn’t burn fossil fuels to make itself run, it doesn’t produce any pollution while it’s in operation. This, at least in theory, makes electric cars a very
green form of transportation. But what in the world is a hydrogen fuel cell car? It’s also a kind of electric car. It runs on a motor powered by electricity. What makes it different from a batteryelectric vehicle (or BEV) is where the electricity comes from. from it while the car is running. In effect, a hydrogen fuel cell is a kind of battery that makes electricity on the fly. Most people know by now what an electric car is. It’s a car that runs on a battery-powered electric motor. Unlike most cars on the road today, it lacks an internal combustion engine and uses electricity as its fuel
rather than gasoline. Because it doesn’t burn fossil fuels to make itself run, it doesn’t produce any pollution while it’s in operation. This, at least in theory, makes electric cars a very green form of transportation.But what in the world is a hydrogen fuel cell car? It’s also a kind of electric car. It runs on a motor powered by electricity. What makes it different from a battery-electric vehicle (or BEV) is where the electricity comes from. from it while the car is running. In effect, a hydrogen fuel cell is a kind of battery that makes electricity on the fly.Hydrogen is the smallest, lightest atom in existence. A standard-issue hydrogen atom consists of two things: a proton (which has a positive
HYDROGEN FUEL CELL
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ydrogen is the smallest, lightest atom in existence. A standard-issue hydrogen atom consists of two things: a proton (which has a positive electric charge) and an electron (which has a negative electric charge). The hydrogen fuel cell strips these two things apart, so that the electrons are free to go their own way and become the electricity that runs the car’s motor. (Electricity Is nothing more a continuous flow of electrons.) Meanwhile, the proton becomes a hydrogen ion -- that is, a hydrogen atom with a positive electric charge -- and will bond together with any oxygen atoms in the vicinity to form water. (Water – or H2O as the chemistry geeks call it – is nothing more than two
hydrogen ions with an oxygen atom attached.) This process releases a lot of heat, so the water becomes steam and the steam becomes the exhaust of the hydrogen fuel cell.Hydrogen is the smallest, lightest atom in existence. A standard-issue hydrogen atom consists of two things: a proton (which has a positive electric charge) and an electron (which has a negative electric charge). The hydrogen fuel cell strips these two things apart, so that the electrons are free to go their own way and become the electricity that runs the car’s motor. (Electricity Is nothing more a continuous flow of electrons.) Meanwhile, the
proton becomes a hydrogen ion -- that is, a hydrogen atom with a positive electric charge -- and will bond together with any oxygen atoms in the vicinity to form water. (Water – or H2O as the chemistry geeks call it – is nothing more than two hyHydrogen is the smallest, lightest atom in existence. A standard-issue hydrogen atom consists of two things: a proton (which has a positive electric charge) and an electron (which has a negative electric charge). The hydrogen fuel cell strips these two things apart, so that the electrons are free to go their own way and become the electricity that runs the car’s motor. (Electricity Is nothing more a continuous flow of electrons.) Meanwhile, the proton
The way we Communicate.
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mages are used to communicate information to us much more often than any other form of information and the reasons for that are well-established. We process visual information in a much more effortless manner than we process verbal information. In addition, the easier the process is, the more enjoyable it becomes. So receiving information visually is faster, more effortless, but also more pleasant. In our everyday life we are surrounded by an extremely rich visual environment. Instead of reading or hearing about an idea in words, we most often see it in images. Take advertising for example, how
“We live to talk and to relate to one another“
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ommunicating information through images is effective for receiving and processing the communicated information with ease, speed and facilitated learning. But how does this process affect how we communicate back? In other words, does the fact that most of the information we receive is visual, affect how we communicate information back to the world? Does the overwhelmingly rich visual environment we live in affect our ability and desire to communicate? If most information is presented to us visually, that means we have to read less. So what does reading less do to our ability to communicate?
“How Is the Way We Communicate Changing? “
We know that in their everyday activities, humans communicate verbally. Although we also use body language and face expressions, words are still our most important communication tool. We need the verbal way of communication to make sure that we are not misinterpreted. But in order to communicate effectively we need a rich vocabulary of words that we can use to express our thoughts. And how do we accumulate a rich vocabulary over time – through extensive reading. In order to be able to communicate verbally, we need to read. We can facilitate learning of words by accompanying pictures but the pictures alone will not lead to learning how to speak well. Thus, reading brings important benefits for the development of our communication skills but it also presents challenges. One challenge stems from the fact that reading takes much more time and ef-
fort than looking at visuals, for example. Contrary to visual processing, verbal processing (i.e., reading) is more effortful and slower. Thus, it is not surprising that we would prefer to receive information visually rather than verbally. But the question is can we also communicate effectively through images like we do through words? Are we able to express our thoughts through images and be understood the same way? Take Pinterest, for example – the extremely popular network that allows you to share images, videos and other material. The fact that most of the material that is shared is visual indicates that people might
LOST IN TRANSLATION,
NO MORE N
ot counting your native language, how many languages can you speak? Maybe one, possibly two. The majority of us cannot speak any secondary languages, while others speak many languages. Pope John Paul II can speak 10 languages, and others claim to speak dozens. Even if you can speak 100 languages, that’s only a small percentage of the more than 6,000 languages that exist in the world. This diversity
“The Universal translator will revolutionize the way we communicate.”
in languages can make it difficult when trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak a language you understand. If you are familiar with “Star Trek,” then you know about the universal language translators that the show’s writers created to deal with the communication problem posed by a multitude of different languages. ViA, a wearable computer maker, has developed an Earth-based language translator that will be available later this year to the U.S. military and English-speaking consumers. In this article, we will look at the device itself and how it turns English into any one of almost a dozen languages. ViA’s universal translator device will look just like the company’s wearable computer, ViA II. The computer is about the size of two decks of cards. It is divided into two halves, which are held together by a flexible joint. The 1.38 pound (0.63 kg) ViA II is a fully functional PC that can either
be strapped to the user’s belt or stowed in a jacket pocket. With dimensions of 9.75 inches (24.77 cm) long, 3.13 inches (7.95 cm) wide and 1.25 inches (3.18 cm) thick, the device packs a lot of power into a small package. The universal translator will be equipped with a 600 megahertz microprocessor and will run on Windows 2000 operating system. ViA II is compatible with a keyboard or voice recognition software. It’s this voice interface that has allowed ViA to convert the wearable PC into a wearable translating device. Here’s a look at the parts of the wearable device:
“Real time translators will allow us to speak and understand any language, anywhere.”
Initially, the device will be able to translate English into about a dozen languages, including Korean, Serbian, Arabic, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Obviously, the device will not be able to translate word-for-word, but it will
get across the gist of what the user is saying. The device is very smart. It allows for differences in English accents, such as the difference between accents in Houston and Boston. It also has a dictionary stacking function, which allows users to add jargon and slang to the standard dictionary installed on the device. The value of such a device was clear to the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), which invested money for ViA to develop the automatic translator. Joel Davis, program director at ONR, said that the device could replace human translators, who are expensive to train and whose skills tend to diminish over time. Davis says that one translating device would be allotted for a group of 12 soldiers in the field, and the device would facilitate basic verbal interaction with native residents.
Real time translator
Hello
こんにちは
Thank You
ありがとう