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maria odete madeira
Dec 11, 2009, 9:33:25 AM12/11/09
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** "Next Big Future" - 9 new articles - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=26702798&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
- Argonne Labs Working to Control Casimir Force
- Brain Structure and Reading Ability and IQ
- Swine Flu Has Killed Over 10,000 Americans
- Super Soldier Updates
- Redesign Electronics for Printed Electronics
- Some other Fermi Paradox Speculations
- Videos of the Bear Protection Suit Body Armor
- More Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Progress Roundup
- Jacob Innovations Designs First Class Comfort for Economy and Business Class
- More Recent Articles
- Search Next Big Future
* Argonne Labs Working to Control Casimir Force - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42918603&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
MEMS used to detect the presence of the Casimir Force
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are developing a way to control the Casimir force, a quantum mechanical force which attracts objects when they are only a hundred nanometers apart.
Recently Ames Lab calculated that metamaterials could be used to make a repulsive casimir effect.
“As characteristic device dimensions shrink to the nanoscale, the effects of the attractive Casimir force become more pronounced, making very difficult to control nano-devices. This is a technological challenge that needs to be addressed before the full potential of NEMS devices can be demonstrated,” scientist Daniel Lopez said. “The goal is to not only limit its attractive properties, but also to make it repulsive. A repulsive force acting at the nano-scale would allow engineers to design novel NEMS devices capable of frictionless motion through nanolevitation.”
The approach to controlling this force involves nanostructuring the interacting surfaces to tune the effects of the Casimir force.
Argonne National Laboratory was recently selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop mechanisms to control and manipulate the Casimir force. This program will be developed in close partnership with Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
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* Brain Structure and Reading Ability and IQ - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42917906&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Intensive reading programs can produce measurable changes in the structure of a child's brain, according to a study in the journal Neuron. The study found that several different programs improved the integrity of fibers that carry information from one part of the brain to another.
They used a special type of MRI to look at the brains of several dozen children from 8 to 12 years old, including poor readers and those with typical reading skills. The MRI scans allowed the scientists to study the network of fibers that carries information around the brain, which lives in the brain's so-called white matter.
Children with poor reading skills had white matter with "lower structural quality" than typical children, Just says.
So during the next school year, Just and Keller enrolled some of the poor readers in programs that provided a total of 100 hours of intensive remedial instruction. The programs had the kids practice reading words and sentences over and over again.
When they were done, a second set of MRI scans showed that the training changed "not just their reading ability, but the tissues in their brain," Just says. The integrity of their white matter improved, while it was unchanged for children in standard classes.
Equally striking, Just says: "The amount of improvement in the white matter in an individual was correlated with that individual's improvement in his reading ability."
Having a good understanding of how brain structure effects learning and IQ could lead to improved training and possible pathways to transhuman cognitive enhancement or at least cognitive optimization.
Prior Brain Structure and IQ Studies
Research suggests that the layer of insulation coating neural wiring in the brain plays a critical role in determining intelligence. In addition, the quality of this insulation appears to be largely genetically determined, providing further support for the idea that IQ is partly inherited.
The neural wires that transmit electrical messages from cell to cell in the brain are coated with a fatty layer called myelin. Much like the insulation on an electrical wire, myelin stops current from leaking out of the wire and boosts the speed with which messages travel through the brain--the higher quality the myelin, the faster the messages travel. These myelin-coated tracts make up the brain's white matter, while the bodies of neural cells are called grey matter
Neuroanotomy and IQ at wikipedia
In 2004, Richard Haier, professor of psychology in the Department of Pediatrics and colleagues at University of California, Irvine and the University of New Mexico used MRI to obtain structural images of the brain in 47 normal adults who also took standard IQ tests. The study demonstrated that general human intelligence appears to be correlated with the volume and location of gray matter tissue in the brain. Although the regional distribution of gray matter in humans may have a genetic basis, structural changes can also occur in response to environmental stimulation. The study also demonstrated that, of the brain's gray matter, only about 6 percent appeared to be related to IQ.
A study involving 307 children (age between six to nineteen) measuring the size of brain structures using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and measuring verbal and non-verbal abilities has been conducted (Shaw et al. 2006). The study has indicated that there is a relationship between IQ and the structure of the cortex—the characteristic change being the group with the superior IQ scores starts with thinner cortex in the early age then becomes thicker than average by the late teens
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* Swine Flu Has Killed Over 10,000 Americans - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42917899&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Swine flu has killed nearly 10,000 Americans, including 1,100 children and 7,500 younger adults, and infected one in six people in the United States
* more than 200,000 Americans had been hospitalized -- about the same number who are affected by seasonal flu in an entire year.
* and some 85 million doses of the vaccine had been made available for distribution so far, with 12 million more doses added this week.
The World Health Organization is defending itself against the charge that it exaggerated the risks of H1N1
The US numbers are not in sync with the World numbers which are At least 8,768 people worldwide have been killed by A/H1N1 influenza, an increase of 942 in the past week (reported Dec 4, 2009)
The Center for Disease Control provides an H1N1 (Swine Flu) update
Flu season statistics
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* Super Soldier Updates - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42916788&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
DARPA has a program that is spending about $3 billion to create super soldiers. Here is an update of technology that is ready or is becoming deployable or usable for the purpose of creating super soldiers. Much of it is not from DARPA.
Exoskeletons
1. The Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC™) exoskeleton runs on Li-ion batteries, driving lightweight hydraulic legs with titanium structure. A wearer can hang a 200lb backpack from the back frame and heavy chest armour and kit from shoulder extensions.
According to Lockheed reps the HULC isn't ready for prime time yet, being still "in ruggedisation". However the company would envisage giving it to actual soldiers so as to get their input from the summer of 2010.
2. Raytheon (was from Sarcos) XOS lightweight aluminum exoskeleton
Users wear the exoskeleton, dubbed XOS, like a lightweight aluminum suit. Equipped with sensors, actuators, and controllers, the machine’s advanced software senses and instantly follows movement in smooth, continuous coordination. At full power, one may not only carry or lift 200 pounds more than 100 times without stopping, but also bend to kick, punch, or climb stairs and ramps. The Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation program began in 2000 and development centers at the Raytheon Sarcos research facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, with funding from the U.S. Army. Early prototypes are expected in 2010 with fully deployed versions by 2017. Smaller and more powerful mobile power supplies are key as up to now demonstrations have a powercord to power them.
3. Exoskeletons and powerloaders could be coming from Japan in 2015 Japan has exoskeletons available for senior citizens now.
Strength Enhancement
4. Myostatin inhibition has been successfully demonstrated in monkeys.
The muscles were 15% bigger, 78% stronger and the effect lasted for the 15 month study with no negative health effects. The treatment produced no obvious negative side-effects and human clinical trials are expected to start next year. Myostatin inhibition has seen other trials where it has four times the effect of high doses of steroids.
5. Real SARM Steroids Are Available for Online Purchase
MIT Technology review reports that a group from the German Sport University Cologne in Germany detected the real SARM (selective androgen receptor modulators)in a product called Andarine, available online for $100 and labeled as green tea extracts and face moisturizer.
Selective androgen receptor modulators have steroid effects but are believed to be safer, without many of the harmful side effects of steroids.
6 FRS energy has had trials which show improved performance in endurance events and it is commercially available (Lance Armstrong promotes it)
7. Wearable enhancement is available for running faster and jumping farther
Powerbocking (jumping stilts, springwalkers) is the act of jumping and running with elastic-like spring-loaded stilts. For some it is an extreme sport, for others it is a form of exercise or even a means of artistic expression. The use of the stilts to perform extreme jumping, running and acrobatics is known as 'Bocking' or 'PowerBocking' after the inventor
Each boot consists of a foot-plate with snowboard type bindings, rubber foot pad which is also commonly called a hoof, and a fibreglass leaf spring. Using only their weight, and few movements, the user is generally able to jump 3–5 ft (1–1.5 meters) off the ground and run up to 20 mph (32 km/h). They also give the ability to take up to 9-foot (2.7 meters) strides
Guns and Weapons
8. The AA-12 recoilless auto assault gun can rapidly fire a lot of grenades.
The Auto Assault-12 (AA-12) shotgun (originally designed and known as the Atchisson Assault Shotgun). The AA-12 can fire in semi-automatic or fully automatic mode at 300 rounds per minute (5 every second) and has a magazine of 32 rounds. The AA-12 can fire 120 grenade rounds per minute with 9 foot blast radius. Having one AA-12 in each hand doubles the rate of fire.
New electromagnetic pulse (EMP) grenades could be adapted to the AA-12 as well, that would emit hundreds of megawatts of EMP for microseconds. A small e-bomb will be qualitatively different than larger versions. Radiated power falls off with the square of distance, so a target 3 meters (10 ft.) away receives 100 times the effect of one 30 meters away. An EMP grenade would probably only be effective for a 10-30 foot radius.
9. Instant wound healing progress
10. DARPA is developing injections to put injured soldiers into hibernation so that they can live until they can be treated
The institute’s research will be based on previous Darpa-funded efforts. One project, at Stanford University, hypothesized that humans could one day mimic the hibernation abilities of squirrels — who emerge from winter months no worse for wear — using a pancreatic enzyme we have in common with the critters. The other, led by Dr. Mark Roth at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, used nematode worms and rats to test how hydrogen sulfide could block the body’s ability to use oxygen — creating a kind of “suspended animation” where hearts stop beating and wounds don’t bleed. After removing 60 percent of the rat’s blood, Dr. Roth managed to keep the critters alive for 10 hours using his hydrogen sulfide cocktail.
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* Redesign Electronics for Printed Electronics - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42916440&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Printed Electronics World: The first cars looked like horse drawn carriages - suboptimal and using the design rules of the past. So it is with most printed electronics today.
The irony of the integrated circuit - the silicon chip - is that it integrates so little. It cannot incorporate a loudspeaker, microphone, push button or a reasonable battery or solar cell for example, because these are too big and silicon chips have to be small for viability. Large silicon chips are prohibitively expensive.
Printed electronics is very different. It can integrate all these things.
Printed inductance is very feeble - no ferrite cores or multiple turns on top of each other yet - but many companies already print even high power resistors on the desired flexible, low cost substrates, some acting as heaters for eg thermochromic displays.
Printed Supercapacitors and Solar Cells
ACREO prints supercapacitors as gate dielectrics in its transistors, indeed, flexible supercabatteries less than one millimeter thick were launched this year by Nanotecture. Dyesol dye-sensitized solar cells, have achieved record efficiencies of 12.3%. They have led to Dyesol's CEGS technology: Combining Electricity Generation and Storage. This is a promising way of integrating a dye solar cell with a supercapacitor which could be a potential spin-out from Dyesol. Plastic Electronics GmbH is creating a variety of printed devices relying on capacitive effects from smart shelves to thumb controls.
Printed Matermaterials and Memcapacitors
Printed metamaterial components are coming along. What will we be able to do with the planned memcapacitors derived from memristors? Memory that takes no power is a possibility
Integration and Large toolkits
Bluespark printed manganese dioxide zinc battery supporting integral antenna and interconnects.
Infinite Power Solutions sells its laminar batteries with energy harvesting interfaces that will increasingly be made in one process, providing near loss-less energy storage, highly efficient power management electronics, and regulated output voltage—all in a miniaturized footprint.
Three Dimensional
New printed electronics increasingly consists of components printed on top and alongside each other, the discrete component becoming a thing of the past. This can lead to capacitive coupling.
Large Area not a Problem
Stretchability, edible electronics, transparent and tightly rollable electronics and other totally new paradigms completely change the design rules.
An unrolled printed photovoltaic or piezoelectric power source can be huge without being a problem as can the unrollable displays, keyboards etc printed at the same time. Printed electronics on a poster, billboard or even point of sale display has large area available so such things as transistor feature size or photovoltaic efficiency are not necessarily a primary issue if the materials are affordable.
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* Some other Fermi Paradox Speculations - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42916164&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
The Fermi paradox is if the universe contains many technologically advanced civilizations, combined with our lack of observational evidence to support that view, seems to be inconsistent. Either this assumption is incorrect (and technologically advanced intelligent life is much rarer than we believe), our current observations are incomplete (and we simply have not detected them yet), or our search methodologies are flawed (we are not searching for the correct indicators).
This site has discussed the Fermi Paradox before
Variation on transcendence, aliens advance to some other level.
Something really sucks about our universe or interstellar area. This is somehow apparent to all advanced aliens.
It is likely that traveling around interstellar and intergalactic space is very expensive energy wise.
If it turns out that physics allows certain things to be far more inexpensive energy wise or to provide far better returns for the effrot then it may be obvious to any aliens that it is a waste of effort to travel around this universe or galaxy.
Customizing Universes or Selecting Better Places with Wormhole Travel
Customized Pocket Universes (tough to meet up with other people in the TARDIS) -
If along the way to working around conventional physics to make FTL you have develop ways to manipulate spacetime then it may be by default you have to develop the ability to make customized universes. The cost benefit of traveling around this universe may be low or negative. I can spend the same amount of initial energy to open up for FTL and make a whole other universe and extract energy/build from the exoverse/multiverse. Super advanced aliens then do not live in wild universes but move to customized universes or universes are thus far more sparsely populated It is not even necessary to create custom universes, if multiverse exists and multiverse travel is possible then there could be better universes to find and move to.
It could also mean that it would be likely that most universes are customized but ours could be an earlier one. We could be living in the DOS 2.0 version of universes and everyone else moves on to better versions. We are in multiverse equivalent of armpit, USA and people move to the better universes when they get the chance.
Dark Matter Rockets
Blackhole starships - discusses ways and energy to make small blackholes
Mach effect could be used for fast travel (not FTL in that mode) and could enable wormhole creation and travel.
Wormhole creation and travel could allow multi-dimensional movement.
Before aliens leave they make some super telescopes and look around in detail and see confirm that this universe is inferior and swap out.
Sitting beside a timebomb or Love Canal
Another possibility. Aliens can detect the conditions of stars etc... They see that some stars in our area are going to supernova in the next few millenia. The stars will blow up and make things inhospitable. They decide it is a bad idea to hang around or to invest in building and doing stuff in our area.
Again they all go elsewhere.
Some other Options
There is also a variation on the "god must be crazy" situation. The movie has a tribe that gathers a coke bottle and uses it for tools.
If we are clueless then we could be using alien artifacts and evidence but not recognize them as such.
There is the situation where if you get the tech you do not hang around stars. you have energy better than fusion.
Gathering around natural "campfires" just makes you a target for galactic predators.
So advanced aliens are hanging around the Oort comet clouds or in intergalactic "voids".
Advanced aliens may have to go fully ninja. Meeting up with other aliens is not worth the risk. Many science fiction story examples of this.
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* Videos of the Bear Protection Suit Body Armor - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42915358&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Back in January 2007, nextbigfuture covered the bear protection body armor suit made by Troy Hurtubise.
Troy Hurtubise has made a suit that stops bullets (from 12 gauge to ELEPHANT GUN), shrapnel and is light weight.
He spent two years and $150,000 in the lab out back of his house in North Bay, Ontario, Canada designing and building a practical, lightweight and affordable shell to stave off bullets, explosives, knives and clubs. He calls it the Trojan and describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour." The whole suit comes in at 18 kilograms. It covers everything but the fingertips and the major joints, and could be mass-produced for about $2,000, Hurtubise says.
Trjoan Ballistic suit of armor at wikipedia
In early 2007, Hurtubise made public his new protective suit which was designed to be worn by soldiers. Calling it the "Trojan", Hurtubise describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour." Weighing in at 40 lbs, he claims that the suit can withstand bullets from high powered weapons (including an elephant gun). Hurtubise claims that he has been unable to test the suit against live ammunition because no one is willing to shoot him in it. It also features a knife holster and air conditioned helmet.
The suit has many features including a solar powered air system, recording device, compartments for emergency morphine and salt, and a knife and gun holster. He estimates that the cost of each suit to be roughly $2,000 if mass produced. It has been called the Halo suit, after the fictional MJOLNIR battle armor the Master Chief character wears in the Xbox game.
In early February, 2007, after failing to receive any offers to buy the Trojan, Hurtubise - now bankrupt from the expense of creating the suit - was forced to put the prototype up for auction on eBay in the hopes that it would bring in enough money to sustain his family. Unfortunately for Hurtubise, the auction's reserve bid was not met. There was a raffle for the suit on the Mission Trojan website, whose goal is to raise money for further prototypes and testing of the Trojan Suit to demonstrate its abilities for military applications. The suit was won by Sara Markis of West Palm Beach, Florida.
The money raised from the raffle of the Trojan T model armour was used to finance the Trojan S type armour. This new model is superior to the T model in many ways as detailed on his website and YouTube channel.
The new type S armour purports to be lighter, tougher, more flexible, cheaper to produce and provide more complete body coverage than any other type or armour anywhere.
The suits look nice and are full body armor but they are not exoskeletons. DARPA funds a lot of stuff and has not picked up on this so it seems likely that the body armor that they are spending a lot more money on is superior to what Troy has cooked up.
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* More Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Progress Roundup - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42904731&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
1. Researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and colleagues have for the first time demonstrated that human blood stem cells can be engineered into cells that can target and kill HIV-infected cells -- a process that potentially could be used against a range of chronic viral diseases they have made the equivalent of a genetic vaccine.
These studies lay the foundation for further therapeutic development that involves restoring damaged or defective immune responses toward a variety of viruses that cause chronic disease, or even different types of tumors."
Taking CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes -- the "killer" T cells that help fight infection -- from an HIV-infected individual, the researchers identified the molecule known as the T-cell receptor, which guides the T cell in recognizing and killing HIV-infected cells. These cells, while able to destroy HIV-infected cells, do not exist in enough quantities to clear the virus from the body. So the researchers cloned the receptor and genetically engineered human blood stem cells, then placed the stem cells into human thymus tissue that had been implanted in mice, allowing them to study the reaction in a living organism.
The engineered stem cells developed into a large population of mature, multifunctional HIV-specific CD8 cells that could specifically target cells containing HIV proteins. The researchers also found that HIV-specific T-cell receptors have to be matched to an individual in much the same way that an organ is matched to a transplant patient.
The next step is to test this strategy in a more advanced model to determine if it would work in the human body
2. Researchers from Yale University and Mirna Therapeutics, Inc., reversed the growth of lung tumors in mice using a naturally occurring tumor suppressor microRNA. The study reveals that a tiny bit of RNA may one day play a big role in cancer treatment, and provides hope for future patients battling one of the most prevalent and difficult to treat cancers.
3. A gentler form of blood stem cell transplant can reverse severe sickle cell disease in adults lucky enough to find a matched donor.
Patients with sickle cell disease have a genetic mutation that results in defective crescent-shaped red blood cells. Severe disease causes stroke, severe pain, and often fatal damage to major organs.
Blood stem cell transplants have reversed sickle cell disease in some 200 children. But the procedure, which requires destruction of the patients' defective cells by radiation and chemotherapy to make room for the transplanted cells -- is too intense for adults weakened by sickle cell disease.
Moreover, adult patients are more prone to deadly graft-versus-host disease ( GVHD), in which the transplanted cells attack the recipient.
But recent studies show that in some stem cell transplant recipients, some host cells survive the toxic "conditioning regimen" of radiation and drugs -- and their progeny happily coexist with those of the transplanted stem cells
New Scientist on the stem cell treatment of 9 out of 10 people with sickle cell disease
4. There are problems associated with direct stem cell injections to try to restore heart attack muscle. UC San Diego bioengineers are proposing to use cells placed in a supportive material that changes stiffness with time by exhibiting time-dependent crosslinking. This could help repair heart attack damage.
5. Cells from heart attack survivors' own bone marrow reduced the risk of death or another heart attack when they were infused into the affected artery after successful stent placement.
* At two years, no patients from the bone marrow cell group had suffered a heart attack while seven patients from the placebo group had -- a statistically significant difference.
* Compared with placebo patients, cell-infused patients were less likely to die (three vs. eight in placebo group), need new revascularizations (25 vs. 38), or be rehospitalized for heart failure (one vs. five).
6. Stem cell derived neurons may allow scientists to determine whether breakdowns in the transport of proteins, lipids and other materials within cells trigger the neuronal death and neurodegeneration that characterize Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the rarer but always fatal neurological disorder, Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC).
Using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), Goldstein and his team have produced human neurons in which the NPC gene is switched off, providing the first close look at cellular transport in a human neuron lacking normal function of the gene.
7. Gene Therapy and Stem Cells Save Limb
Blood vessel blockage, a common condition in old age or diabetes, leads to low blood flow and results in low oxygen, which can kill cells and tissues. Such blockages can require amputation resulting in loss of limbs. Now, using mice as their model, researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed therapies that increase blood flow, improve movement and decrease tissue death and the need for amputation.
Activating the HIF-1 gene in the cells appeared to turn on a number of genes that help these cells not only home to the ischemic limb, but to stay there once they arrive. To figure out how the cells stay where they're needed, the research team built a tiny microfluidic chamber and tested the cells' ability to stay stuck with fluid flowing around them at rates mimicking the flow of blood through vessels in the body. They found that cells under low oxygen conditions were better able to stay stuck only if those same cells had HIF-1 turned on.
"Our results are promising because they show that a combination of gene and cell therapy can improve the outcome in the case of critical limb ischemia associated with aging or diabetes," says Semenza. "And that's critical for bringing such treatment to the clinic."
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* Jacob Innovations Designs First Class Comfort for Economy and Business Class - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42870558&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
You can lie down in economy seating by using the vertical space where the carry on baggage is Note: this would be useful for future spacecraft as well to achieve relative comfort in relatively tight spaces.
The FLEX-SEAT model provides affordable reclining accommodations for long flights with additional benefits. Some features are superior to conventional Business Class such as: privacy, travel with infants, room for large carry-on luggage. The FLEX-SEAT can increase the density of a conventional Business Class by up to 50% while providing full reclining.
Travel with Infants: no additional ticket seat required for infants. Infant can be placed horizontally beside passenger. This is a vast improvement from having to hold the infant in Economy or in Business class.
Convenient Travel for Overweight Passengers: Complaints from larger passengers, including lawsuits have received media attention in the last years. The FLEX-SEAT allows for grater width. In addition the problem of discomfort to passengers seating beside an a large person is eliminated.
Savings: exponential benefits through the reduction of food service costs.
With the introduction of the FLEX-SEAT there will be less need for food services on overnight flights. Most passengers when departing late in the evening will choose to sleep rather than have a full dinner. Fewer flight attendants needed > fewer seats reserved for crew which will result in more tickets sold
Economy Seating With Even Rows Raised
Every other seat is raised by the height of one step providing the benefit of the space below
- Leg room for the passenger sitting on the lower level available below the elevated seat
- Reclining space for the elevated seat passenger is available over the feet area of reclined lower passenger
Both upper and lower level passenger benefit from identical reclining position
* Seat pan folds vertically to allow easy access
* Shell protects passengers from encroachment
* Model can provide the same passenger density as Economy Class while delivering superior comfort
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* More Recent Articles
- Days 2 and 3 of the International Electron Devices Meeting blogged By Sander Olson
- J Storrs Hall of Foresight Explains the Medieval Warm Period and Global Warming
- Magneto Electric Quantum Wheel
- Gregory Benford of Genescient Talks at the HPlus Summit
- At Stanford, nanotubes + ink + paper = instant battery
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From: Eugen Leitl <eu...@leitl.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Subject: [tt] Next Big Future - 9 new articles
To: t...@postbiota.org
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Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:04:47 -0500
To: eugen <eu...@leitl.org>
Subject: Next Big Future - 9 new articles
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** "Next Big Future" - 9 new articles - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=26702798&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
- Argonne Labs Working to Control Casimir Force
- Brain Structure and Reading Ability and IQ
- Swine Flu Has Killed Over 10,000 Americans
- Super Soldier Updates
- Redesign Electronics for Printed Electronics
- Some other Fermi Paradox Speculations
- Videos of the Bear Protection Suit Body Armor
- More Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Progress Roundup
- Jacob Innovations Designs First Class Comfort for Economy and Business Class
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* Argonne Labs Working to Control Casimir Force - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42918603&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
MEMS used to detect the presence of the Casimir Force
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are developing a way to control the Casimir force, a quantum mechanical force which attracts objects when they are only a hundred nanometers apart.
Recently Ames Lab calculated that metamaterials could be used to make a repulsive casimir effect.
“As characteristic device dimensions shrink to the nanoscale, the effects of the attractive Casimir force become more pronounced, making very difficult to control nano-devices. This is a technological challenge that needs to be addressed before the full potential of NEMS devices can be demonstrated,” scientist Daniel Lopez said. “The goal is to not only limit its attractive properties, but also to make it repulsive. A repulsive force acting at the nano-scale would allow engineers to design novel NEMS devices capable of frictionless motion through nanolevitation.”
The approach to controlling this force involves nanostructuring the interacting surfaces to tune the effects of the Casimir force.
Argonne National Laboratory was recently selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop mechanisms to control and manipulate the Casimir force. This program will be developed in close partnership with Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
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* Brain Structure and Reading Ability and IQ - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42917906&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Intensive reading programs can produce measurable changes in the structure of a child's brain, according to a study in the journal Neuron. The study found that several different programs improved the integrity of fibers that carry information from one part of the brain to another.
They used a special type of MRI to look at the brains of several dozen children from 8 to 12 years old, including poor readers and those with typical reading skills. The MRI scans allowed the scientists to study the network of fibers that carries information around the brain, which lives in the brain's so-called white matter.
Children with poor reading skills had white matter with "lower structural quality" than typical children, Just says.
So during the next school year, Just and Keller enrolled some of the poor readers in programs that provided a total of 100 hours of intensive remedial instruction. The programs had the kids practice reading words and sentences over and over again.
When they were done, a second set of MRI scans showed that the training changed "not just their reading ability, but the tissues in their brain," Just says. The integrity of their white matter improved, while it was unchanged for children in standard classes.
Equally striking, Just says: "The amount of improvement in the white matter in an individual was correlated with that individual's improvement in his reading ability."
Having a good understanding of how brain structure effects learning and IQ could lead to improved training and possible pathways to transhuman cognitive enhancement or at least cognitive optimization.
Prior Brain Structure and IQ Studies
Research suggests that the layer of insulation coating neural wiring in the brain plays a critical role in determining intelligence. In addition, the quality of this insulation appears to be largely genetically determined, providing further support for the idea that IQ is partly inherited.
The neural wires that transmit electrical messages from cell to cell in the brain are coated with a fatty layer called myelin. Much like the insulation on an electrical wire, myelin stops current from leaking out of the wire and boosts the speed with which messages travel through the brain--the higher quality the myelin, the faster the messages travel. These myelin-coated tracts make up the brain's white matter, while the bodies of neural cells are called grey matter
Neuroanotomy and IQ at wikipedia
In 2004, Richard Haier, professor of psychology in the Department of Pediatrics and colleagues at University of California, Irvine and the University of New Mexico used MRI to obtain structural images of the brain in 47 normal adults who also took standard IQ tests. The study demonstrated that general human intelligence appears to be correlated with the volume and location of gray matter tissue in the brain. Although the regional distribution of gray matter in humans may have a genetic basis, structural changes can also occur in response to environmental stimulation. The study also demonstrated that, of the brain's gray matter, only about 6 percent appeared to be related to IQ.
A study involving 307 children (age between six to nineteen) measuring the size of brain structures using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and measuring verbal and non-verbal abilities has been conducted (Shaw et al. 2006). The study has indicated that there is a relationship between IQ and the structure of the cortex—the characteristic change being the group with the superior IQ scores starts with thinner cortex in the early age then becomes thicker than average by the late teens
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* Swine Flu Has Killed Over 10,000 Americans - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42917899&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Swine flu has killed nearly 10,000 Americans, including 1,100 children and 7,500 younger adults, and infected one in six people in the United States
* more than 200,000 Americans had been hospitalized -- about the same number who are affected by seasonal flu in an entire year.
* and some 85 million doses of the vaccine had been made available for distribution so far, with 12 million more doses added this week.
The World Health Organization is defending itself against the charge that it exaggerated the risks of H1N1
The US numbers are not in sync with the World numbers which are At least 8,768 people worldwide have been killed by A/H1N1 influenza, an increase of 942 in the past week (reported Dec 4, 2009)
The Center for Disease Control provides an H1N1 (Swine Flu) update
Flu season statistics
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* Super Soldier Updates - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42916788&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
DARPA has a program that is spending about $3 billion to create super soldiers. Here is an update of technology that is ready or is becoming deployable or usable for the purpose of creating super soldiers. Much of it is not from DARPA.
Exoskeletons
1. The Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC™) exoskeleton runs on Li-ion batteries, driving lightweight hydraulic legs with titanium structure. A wearer can hang a 200lb backpack from the back frame and heavy chest armour and kit from shoulder extensions.
According to Lockheed reps the HULC isn't ready for prime time yet, being still "in ruggedisation". However the company would envisage giving it to actual soldiers so as to get their input from the summer of 2010.
2. Raytheon (was from Sarcos) XOS lightweight aluminum exoskeleton
Users wear the exoskeleton, dubbed XOS, like a lightweight aluminum suit. Equipped with sensors, actuators, and controllers, the machine’s advanced software senses and instantly follows movement in smooth, continuous coordination. At full power, one may not only carry or lift 200 pounds more than 100 times without stopping, but also bend to kick, punch, or climb stairs and ramps. The Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation program began in 2000 and development centers at the Raytheon Sarcos research facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, with funding from the U.S. Army. Early prototypes are expected in 2010 with fully deployed versions by 2017. Smaller and more powerful mobile power supplies are key as up to now demonstrations have a powercord to power them.
3. Exoskeletons and powerloaders could be coming from Japan in 2015 Japan has exoskeletons available for senior citizens now.
Strength Enhancement
4. Myostatin inhibition has been successfully demonstrated in monkeys.
The muscles were 15% bigger, 78% stronger and the effect lasted for the 15 month study with no negative health effects. The treatment produced no obvious negative side-effects and human clinical trials are expected to start next year. Myostatin inhibition has seen other trials where it has four times the effect of high doses of steroids.
5. Real SARM Steroids Are Available for Online Purchase
MIT Technology review reports that a group from the German Sport University Cologne in Germany detected the real SARM (selective androgen receptor modulators)in a product called Andarine, available online for $100 and labeled as green tea extracts and face moisturizer.
Selective androgen receptor modulators have steroid effects but are believed to be safer, without many of the harmful side effects of steroids.
6 FRS energy has had trials which show improved performance in endurance events and it is commercially available (Lance Armstrong promotes it)
7. Wearable enhancement is available for running faster and jumping farther
Powerbocking (jumping stilts, springwalkers) is the act of jumping and running with elastic-like spring-loaded stilts. For some it is an extreme sport, for others it is a form of exercise or even a means of artistic expression. The use of the stilts to perform extreme jumping, running and acrobatics is known as 'Bocking' or 'PowerBocking' after the inventor
Each boot consists of a foot-plate with snowboard type bindings, rubber foot pad which is also commonly called a hoof, and a fibreglass leaf spring. Using only their weight, and few movements, the user is generally able to jump 3–5 ft (1–1.5 meters) off the ground and run up to 20 mph (32 km/h). They also give the ability to take up to 9-foot (2.7 meters) strides
Guns and Weapons
8. The AA-12 recoilless auto assault gun can rapidly fire a lot of grenades.
The Auto Assault-12 (AA-12) shotgun (originally designed and known as the Atchisson Assault Shotgun). The AA-12 can fire in semi-automatic or fully automatic mode at 300 rounds per minute (5 every second) and has a magazine of 32 rounds. The AA-12 can fire 120 grenade rounds per minute with 9 foot blast radius. Having one AA-12 in each hand doubles the rate of fire.
New electromagnetic pulse (EMP) grenades could be adapted to the AA-12 as well, that would emit hundreds of megawatts of EMP for microseconds. A small e-bomb will be qualitatively different than larger versions. Radiated power falls off with the square of distance, so a target 3 meters (10 ft.) away receives 100 times the effect of one 30 meters away. An EMP grenade would probably only be effective for a 10-30 foot radius.
9. Instant wound healing progress
10. DARPA is developing injections to put injured soldiers into hibernation so that they can live until they can be treated
The institute’s research will be based on previous Darpa-funded efforts. One project, at Stanford University, hypothesized that humans could one day mimic the hibernation abilities of squirrels — who emerge from winter months no worse for wear — using a pancreatic enzyme we have in common with the critters. The other, led by Dr. Mark Roth at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, used nematode worms and rats to test how hydrogen sulfide could block the body’s ability to use oxygen — creating a kind of “suspended animation” where hearts stop beating and wounds don’t bleed. After removing 60 percent of the rat’s blood, Dr. Roth managed to keep the critters alive for 10 hours using his hydrogen sulfide cocktail.
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* Redesign Electronics for Printed Electronics - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42916440&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Printed Electronics World: The first cars looked like horse drawn carriages - suboptimal and using the design rules of the past. So it is with most printed electronics today.
The irony of the integrated circuit - the silicon chip - is that it integrates so little. It cannot incorporate a loudspeaker, microphone, push button or a reasonable battery or solar cell for example, because these are too big and silicon chips have to be small for viability. Large silicon chips are prohibitively expensive.
Printed electronics is very different. It can integrate all these things.
Printed inductance is very feeble - no ferrite cores or multiple turns on top of each other yet - but many companies already print even high power resistors on the desired flexible, low cost substrates, some acting as heaters for eg thermochromic displays.
Printed Supercapacitors and Solar Cells
ACREO prints supercapacitors as gate dielectrics in its transistors, indeed, flexible supercabatteries less than one millimeter thick were launched this year by Nanotecture. Dyesol dye-sensitized solar cells, have achieved record efficiencies of 12.3%. They have led to Dyesol's CEGS technology: Combining Electricity Generation and Storage. This is a promising way of integrating a dye solar cell with a supercapacitor which could be a potential spin-out from Dyesol. Plastic Electronics GmbH is creating a variety of printed devices relying on capacitive effects from smart shelves to thumb controls.
Printed Matermaterials and Memcapacitors
Printed metamaterial components are coming along. What will we be able to do with the planned memcapacitors derived from memristors? Memory that takes no power is a possibility
Integration and Large toolkits
Bluespark printed manganese dioxide zinc battery supporting integral antenna and interconnects.
Infinite Power Solutions sells its laminar batteries with energy harvesting interfaces that will increasingly be made in one process, providing near loss-less energy storage, highly efficient power management electronics, and regulated output voltage—all in a miniaturized footprint.
Three Dimensional
New printed electronics increasingly consists of components printed on top and alongside each other, the discrete component becoming a thing of the past. This can lead to capacitive coupling.
Large Area not a Problem
Stretchability, edible electronics, transparent and tightly rollable electronics and other totally new paradigms completely change the design rules.
An unrolled printed photovoltaic or piezoelectric power source can be huge without being a problem as can the unrollable displays, keyboards etc printed at the same time. Printed electronics on a poster, billboard or even point of sale display has large area available so such things as transistor feature size or photovoltaic efficiency are not necessarily a primary issue if the materials are affordable.
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* Some other Fermi Paradox Speculations - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42916164&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
The Fermi paradox is if the universe contains many technologically advanced civilizations, combined with our lack of observational evidence to support that view, seems to be inconsistent. Either this assumption is incorrect (and technologically advanced intelligent life is much rarer than we believe), our current observations are incomplete (and we simply have not detected them yet), or our search methodologies are flawed (we are not searching for the correct indicators).
This site has discussed the Fermi Paradox before
Variation on transcendence, aliens advance to some other level.
Something really sucks about our universe or interstellar area. This is somehow apparent to all advanced aliens.
It is likely that traveling around interstellar and intergalactic space is very expensive energy wise.
If it turns out that physics allows certain things to be far more inexpensive energy wise or to provide far better returns for the effrot then it may be obvious to any aliens that it is a waste of effort to travel around this universe or galaxy.
Customizing Universes or Selecting Better Places with Wormhole Travel
Customized Pocket Universes (tough to meet up with other people in the TARDIS) -
If along the way to working around conventional physics to make FTL you have develop ways to manipulate spacetime then it may be by default you have to develop the ability to make customized universes. The cost benefit of traveling around this universe may be low or negative. I can spend the same amount of initial energy to open up for FTL and make a whole other universe and extract energy/build from the exoverse/multiverse. Super advanced aliens then do not live in wild universes but move to customized universes or universes are thus far more sparsely populated It is not even necessary to create custom universes, if multiverse exists and multiverse travel is possible then there could be better universes to find and move to.
It could also mean that it would be likely that most universes are customized but ours could be an earlier one. We could be living in the DOS 2.0 version of universes and everyone else moves on to better versions. We are in multiverse equivalent of armpit, USA and people move to the better universes when they get the chance.
Dark Matter Rockets
Blackhole starships - discusses ways and energy to make small blackholes
Mach effect could be used for fast travel (not FTL in that mode) and could enable wormhole creation and travel.
Wormhole creation and travel could allow multi-dimensional movement.
Before aliens leave they make some super telescopes and look around in detail and see confirm that this universe is inferior and swap out.
Sitting beside a timebomb or Love Canal
Another possibility. Aliens can detect the conditions of stars etc... They see that some stars in our area are going to supernova in the next few millenia. The stars will blow up and make things inhospitable. They decide it is a bad idea to hang around or to invest in building and doing stuff in our area.
Again they all go elsewhere.
Some other Options
There is also a variation on the "god must be crazy" situation. The movie has a tribe that gathers a coke bottle and uses it for tools.
If we are clueless then we could be using alien artifacts and evidence but not recognize them as such.
There is the situation where if you get the tech you do not hang around stars. you have energy better than fusion.
Gathering around natural "campfires" just makes you a target for galactic predators.
So advanced aliens are hanging around the Oort comet clouds or in intergalactic "voids".
Advanced aliens may have to go fully ninja. Meeting up with other aliens is not worth the risk. Many science fiction story examples of this.
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* Videos of the Bear Protection Suit Body Armor - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42915358&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
Back in January 2007, nextbigfuture covered the bear protection body armor suit made by Troy Hurtubise.
Troy Hurtubise has made a suit that stops bullets (from 12 gauge to ELEPHANT GUN), shrapnel and is light weight.
He spent two years and $150,000 in the lab out back of his house in North Bay, Ontario, Canada designing and building a practical, lightweight and affordable shell to stave off bullets, explosives, knives and clubs. He calls it the Trojan and describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour." The whole suit comes in at 18 kilograms. It covers everything but the fingertips and the major joints, and could be mass-produced for about $2,000, Hurtubise says.
Trjoan Ballistic suit of armor at wikipedia
In early 2007, Hurtubise made public his new protective suit which was designed to be worn by soldiers. Calling it the "Trojan", Hurtubise describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour." Weighing in at 40 lbs, he claims that the suit can withstand bullets from high powered weapons (including an elephant gun). Hurtubise claims that he has been unable to test the suit against live ammunition because no one is willing to shoot him in it. It also features a knife holster and air conditioned helmet.
The suit has many features including a solar powered air system, recording device, compartments for emergency morphine and salt, and a knife and gun holster. He estimates that the cost of each suit to be roughly $2,000 if mass produced. It has been called the Halo suit, after the fictional MJOLNIR battle armor the Master Chief character wears in the Xbox game.
In early February, 2007, after failing to receive any offers to buy the Trojan, Hurtubise - now bankrupt from the expense of creating the suit - was forced to put the prototype up for auction on eBay in the hopes that it would bring in enough money to sustain his family. Unfortunately for Hurtubise, the auction's reserve bid was not met. There was a raffle for the suit on the Mission Trojan website, whose goal is to raise money for further prototypes and testing of the Trojan Suit to demonstrate its abilities for military applications. The suit was won by Sara Markis of West Palm Beach, Florida.
The money raised from the raffle of the Trojan T model armour was used to finance the Trojan S type armour. This new model is superior to the T model in many ways as detailed on his website and YouTube channel.
The new type S armour purports to be lighter, tougher, more flexible, cheaper to produce and provide more complete body coverage than any other type or armour anywhere.
The suits look nice and are full body armor but they are not exoskeletons. DARPA funds a lot of stuff and has not picked up on this so it seems likely that the body armor that they are spending a lot more money on is superior to what Troy has cooked up.
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* More Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Progress Roundup - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42904731&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
1. Researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and colleagues have for the first time demonstrated that human blood stem cells can be engineered into cells that can target and kill HIV-infected cells -- a process that potentially could be used against a range of chronic viral diseases they have made the equivalent of a genetic vaccine.
These studies lay the foundation for further therapeutic development that involves restoring damaged or defective immune responses toward a variety of viruses that cause chronic disease, or even different types of tumors."
Taking CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes -- the "killer" T cells that help fight infection -- from an HIV-infected individual, the researchers identified the molecule known as the T-cell receptor, which guides the T cell in recognizing and killing HIV-infected cells. These cells, while able to destroy HIV-infected cells, do not exist in enough quantities to clear the virus from the body. So the researchers cloned the receptor and genetically engineered human blood stem cells, then placed the stem cells into human thymus tissue that had been implanted in mice, allowing them to study the reaction in a living organism.
The engineered stem cells developed into a large population of mature, multifunctional HIV-specific CD8 cells that could specifically target cells containing HIV proteins. The researchers also found that HIV-specific T-cell receptors have to be matched to an individual in much the same way that an organ is matched to a transplant patient.
The next step is to test this strategy in a more advanced model to determine if it would work in the human body
2. Researchers from Yale University and Mirna Therapeutics, Inc., reversed the growth of lung tumors in mice using a naturally occurring tumor suppressor microRNA. The study reveals that a tiny bit of RNA may one day play a big role in cancer treatment, and provides hope for future patients battling one of the most prevalent and difficult to treat cancers.
3. A gentler form of blood stem cell transplant can reverse severe sickle cell disease in adults lucky enough to find a matched donor.
Patients with sickle cell disease have a genetic mutation that results in defective crescent-shaped red blood cells. Severe disease causes stroke, severe pain, and often fatal damage to major organs.
Blood stem cell transplants have reversed sickle cell disease in some 200 children. But the procedure, which requires destruction of the patients' defective cells by radiation and chemotherapy to make room for the transplanted cells -- is too intense for adults weakened by sickle cell disease.
Moreover, adult patients are more prone to deadly graft-versus-host disease ( GVHD), in which the transplanted cells attack the recipient.
But recent studies show that in some stem cell transplant recipients, some host cells survive the toxic "conditioning regimen" of radiation and drugs -- and their progeny happily coexist with those of the transplanted stem cells
New Scientist on the stem cell treatment of 9 out of 10 people with sickle cell disease
4. There are problems associated with direct stem cell injections to try to restore heart attack muscle. UC San Diego bioengineers are proposing to use cells placed in a supportive material that changes stiffness with time by exhibiting time-dependent crosslinking. This could help repair heart attack damage.
5. Cells from heart attack survivors' own bone marrow reduced the risk of death or another heart attack when they were infused into the affected artery after successful stent placement.
* At two years, no patients from the bone marrow cell group had suffered a heart attack while seven patients from the placebo group had -- a statistically significant difference.
* Compared with placebo patients, cell-infused patients were less likely to die (three vs. eight in placebo group), need new revascularizations (25 vs. 38), or be rehospitalized for heart failure (one vs. five).
6. Stem cell derived neurons may allow scientists to determine whether breakdowns in the transport of proteins, lipids and other materials within cells trigger the neuronal death and neurodegeneration that characterize Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the rarer but always fatal neurological disorder, Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC).
Using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), Goldstein and his team have produced human neurons in which the NPC gene is switched off, providing the first close look at cellular transport in a human neuron lacking normal function of the gene.
7. Gene Therapy and Stem Cells Save Limb
Blood vessel blockage, a common condition in old age or diabetes, leads to low blood flow and results in low oxygen, which can kill cells and tissues. Such blockages can require amputation resulting in loss of limbs. Now, using mice as their model, researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed therapies that increase blood flow, improve movement and decrease tissue death and the need for amputation.
Activating the HIF-1 gene in the cells appeared to turn on a number of genes that help these cells not only home to the ischemic limb, but to stay there once they arrive. To figure out how the cells stay where they're needed, the research team built a tiny microfluidic chamber and tested the cells' ability to stay stuck with fluid flowing around them at rates mimicking the flow of blood through vessels in the body. They found that cells under low oxygen conditions were better able to stay stuck only if those same cells had HIF-1 turned on.
"Our results are promising because they show that a combination of gene and cell therapy can improve the outcome in the case of critical limb ischemia associated with aging or diabetes," says Semenza. "And that's critical for bringing such treatment to the clinic."
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* Jacob Innovations Designs First Class Comfort for Economy and Business Class - http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=42870558&f=64651&u=2987253&c=0
You can lie down in economy seating by using the vertical space where the carry on baggage is Note: this would be useful for future spacecraft as well to achieve relative comfort in relatively tight spaces.
The FLEX-SEAT model provides affordable reclining accommodations for long flights with additional benefits. Some features are superior to conventional Business Class such as: privacy, travel with infants, room for large carry-on luggage. The FLEX-SEAT can increase the density of a conventional Business Class by up to 50% while providing full reclining.
Travel with Infants: no additional ticket seat required for infants. Infant can be placed horizontally beside passenger. This is a vast improvement from having to hold the infant in Economy or in Business class.
Convenient Travel for Overweight Passengers: Complaints from larger passengers, including lawsuits have received media attention in the last years. The FLEX-SEAT allows for grater width. In addition the problem of discomfort to passengers seating beside an a large person is eliminated.
Savings: exponential benefits through the reduction of food service costs.
With the introduction of the FLEX-SEAT there will be less need for food services on overnight flights. Most passengers when departing late in the evening will choose to sleep rather than have a full dinner. Fewer flight attendants needed > fewer seats reserved for crew which will result in more tickets sold
Economy Seating With Even Rows Raised
Every other seat is raised by the height of one step providing the benefit of the space below
- Leg room for the passenger sitting on the lower level available below the elevated seat
- Reclining space for the elevated seat passenger is available over the feet area of reclined lower passenger
Both upper and lower level passenger benefit from identical reclining position
* Seat pan folds vertically to allow easy access
* Shell protects passengers from encroachment
* Model can provide the same passenger density as Economy Class while delivering superior comfort
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* More Recent Articles
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- Gregory Benford of Genescient Talks at the HPlus Summit
- At Stanford, nanotubes + ink + paper = instant battery
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