I'm Going to the Bathroom, Gotta Charge My Phone

Seems like the wonders just keep on coming out of Singapore this week. Situation: you are at a party and managed to talk to that hot girl/cute guy over at the bar. You finally get his/her/its number and realize that your phone is off because there's no battery. Zounds! What do you do? Go to the bathroom and pee on the battery, of course.

From the article at the register: "The battery is composed of paper, soaked in copper chloride, sandwiched between layers of magnesium and copper. The whole thing, once laminated in plastic, is just a millimetre thick, and 6cm by 3cm in size.

The researchers report that with just 0.2 millilitres of urine the battery will provide around 1.5 volts, with a maximum power output of 1.5 milli-Watts. The performance varies according to the geometry of the battery, and the materials used.

Dr. Ki Bang Lee, lead researcher, sees a big market for the battery. He argues that it could easily be integrated into biochip systems for "healthcare diagnostic applications", making it much easier for people to manage their own healthcare, only going to the doctor when absolutely necessary."

Well, I think most people might actually welcome the fact that their urine will become useful, regardless of the use.

Dry-eye Drops for Your Camera

Researchers in Singapore recently unveiled a zoom lens that uses a drop of liquid as opposed to lenses that move back and forth to focus. The liquid acts like a contact lens in your eye, and by applying pressure on it the drop changes shape to get things into focus. This means a stronger (x10 as opposed to the x2 usually found in most high-end phonecams and x4-x5 in most mid-range digital cameras), smaller, and less battery-using zoom lens for digital cameras and cellphones.

Dry Water Ride More Fun!

A Philadelphia firefighter was hospitalized in critical condition, and his wife and their three children injured, in Atlantic City in June after an accident at the Steel Pier amusement park. The five were in a ride car on the Big Splash, where after a descent, the car was to slide into the water at a high speed and soak everyone, but apparently the park workers on duty had either forgotten to put water in the basin or had not noticed that it had all drained out. The article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 22nd.

Do not, I repeat, Do NOT get into a water ride that doesn't have any water. It's just not good for you.

Darwin Awards

Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, the Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it. See more at DarwinAwards.com. Below are two of my favorite stories, but check the website for many more.

1)(February 2003, East Timor) A man was found lying facedown, covered in mud and blood, the apparent the victim of a street crime in Dili, the capital of East Timor. It was not until a post mortem examination was conducted that U.N. police were able to reconstruct his last moments. This up-and-coming young man decided that it was cool to shove his weapons, two long knives, down the waistband of his trousers. Unsheathed. The hapless fellow jumped over a small fence and landed in a large puddle of mud. He slipped, which sent the blade of his "trouser knife" into his leg, severing his femoral artery. He bled to death before he could stagger ten feet from the puddle.

2)(16 March 2003, Michigan) Ignoring Coast Guard warnings, David Manley ventured onto the icy surface of Saginaw Bay with his pickup truck one chilly morning. Predictably, the vehicle broke through the ice, but the 41-year-old managed to avert tragedy and escape from the sinking truck. He reached the shore wet and cold, but alive.

Despite his traumatic experience, and despite a day of sunshine and warm temperatures in the 60s, David returned to Saginaw Bay late the following night. This time he was driving an all-terrain vehicle, and accompanied by a friend. Surprise! The ATV also plunged through the ice.

His companion survived, but David had used up his luck. His body was recovered by the Coast Guard southwest of the Channel Islands. An autopsy was scheduled to determine whether anything besides a desire to win a Darwin Award was a factor in his demise.

Kids a Pain? Use remote control to tame them!

Researchers at NTT just invented a very useful way to keep your roudy children (or significant other) in check and where you want them. The device looks like a headset that sends tiny currents to the area behind your ear, where the body controls balance and position. If the current is small you will just loose your balance, but a strong enough current will actually make the wearer turn towards the side where the current was activated. The full article from forbes.com here. There is actually a video of a lady being 'driven' by a company spokeperson.

The researchers, when asked what the technology might be used for, mentioned that really expensive flight simulators that actually have to move and turn could be replaced by a static seat if the driver is wearing one of these headsets plugged into the simulator. Another use might be to enhance the experience of watching Top Gun or a car race on tv. Of course, what everyone is thinking but no one dares say is that this little device is a wonderful way to get people to do what you want. It would add a whole new dimension to terrorism, since you could theoretically drug a person just enough so that they are still able to stand up and then 'drive' them around to a big crowded place where the explosives in his/her/its backpack would detonate. Scary stuff...OR you could just use it to get your husband or kid to really get off the tv and clean the dishes.

Drunken Nerds Seen By Many, Blog Reports

College students have come very far from the stereotypical drunken frat boys of the football team. Now, even the honor science societies are drunken frat boys, although some 'modding' of the 'hardware' was to be expected. Meet the Kegbot, a normal kegerator with an electronic reader for a device called the iButton. The iButton collects information on the keg's activity, temperature, users, etc. and then sends it to a main server, where the data is displayed and compared against all the other drunk MENSA members in the world.

There's an article about it on the Washington Post that talks about how the idea came about between a group of very intelligent and highly respected hackers and software programers working on bugs and code for RFID devices. Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a method of storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is a small object, such as an adhesive sticker, that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person. RFID tags contain antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver. Passive tags require no internal power source. So I'm sure you can see where the connection is.