Three Technologies Changing the World

By Hayden Hilgenhold

Nikolai Begg’s Trocar

So first let’s first state what a trocar is.  Laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive surgery.  The doctor makes 3 or more holes in the skin of the surgery site and use long, tube like, devices to do the surgery completely inside the body.  This sounds great right? Less scarring, less of a chance of infection, less pain, and a shorter recovery time.  Only one problem.  The danger of the trocar.  The trocar is a long, pointed, metal device used to punch holes where needed for the surgery and there is always the chance that the patient may be injured from the trocar plunging down and hitting something vital.  

Nikolai Begg noticed this problem, and that this problem has been around for 100 years.  So he solved it.  He made an auto retracting trocar.  When the trocar finally pierces through the skin, making the entry point for the surgery, it retracts back up into itself in a .04 seconds.  And the engineering behind it is rather simple.  There is a spring also that wants to pull the tip back.  Then it has 2 hinged beams that when pressure is applied to the tip it holds in place against the sides of the box containing the spring.  When you puncture the skin the pressure holding the tip in place is released, causing the tip to retract. Knowing laparoscopic surgery causes almost 30,000 complications a year, this is an amazing device.  It’s so simple, and simply changing the world.  

Memory Implants

How often do you forget things?  If you’re anything like me you do it a lot.  However I don’t have any mental complications that cause this.  Imagine having a complication such as Alzheimer’s.  What if there was a way to use technology to give these people their memories back, or to make sure they never lose them in the first place.  

Well a man by the name of Theodore Berger thinks he’s done it.  Having cracked the code to the electrical pulses that create and recall long term memory, he believes he can put a silicon chip in someone’s head that can store these memories and recall them as easily as a perfectly functioning human brain.  Human tests have yet to be ran; the idea seems to out there to be approved and/or to receive consent from any volunteers. However, in theory it should work perfectly.  Will it? Only time will tell.  

Reverse Fuel Cell

On the definite edge of this article and the farthest in the future the reverse fuel cell is a.) possible and b.) revolutionary.  What is a reverse fuel cell though? Well a regular combustion engine takes in oxygen, mixes it with fuel, and creates energy via combustion.  The waste? CO2, something that can lead to climate change.  So what does a reverse fuel cell do?  It takes CO2 out of the air and mixes it with a fuel and emits clean oxygen.  Sounds great right? Well yes and no.  There is the issue where plants need CO2.  Also there aren’t very many environments on earth where CO2 is in mass abundance, yet.  However, NASA has been testing this engine on Mars and it has been working fairly well there.  Here’s my thoughts.  Take your regular combustion engine, let’s say a 4 cylinder.  Now run the exhaust into a second engine instead of out into the environment, this second engine using a reverse fuel cell.  Then run its pure emissions of oxygen out into the environment.  Of course no you may say, what about the trees.  Well there will always be regular cars.  They will now just have a balance.  While I’m sure this idea isn’t wholly original and has been thought about before, I’d like to think of it as my own. So, there you have it, three technologies to change the world.  

Sources

Trocar

http://www.ted.com/talks/nikolai_begg_a_tool_to_fix_one_of_the_most_dangerous_moments_in_surgery#

Memory Chip

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/513681/memory-implants/

Reverse Fuel Cell  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/27/these-revolutionary-technologies-promised-to-help-save-us-from-climate-change-so-what-happened/

New Tech- Haptic Holograms

By Nick Etienne

Feeling is believing. A system that uses sound waves to project "haptic holograms" into mid-air - letting you touch 3D virtual objects with your bare hands - is poised to bring virtual reality into the physical world. Adding a sense of touch as well as sight and sound will make it easier to completely immerse yourself in VR. The ability to feel the shapes of virtual objects could let doctors use their hands to examine a lump detected by a CT scan, for example. What's more, museum visitors could handle virtual replicas of priceless exhibits while the real thing remains safely behind glass. 

From mental floss.com

Ben Long and his colleagues at the University of Bristol, UK, improved on a previous version of their UltraHaptics technology, which projected 2D outlines of map contours onto a screen. Now high-frequency sound waves emitted by an array of tiny speakers create the sensation of touching an invisible, floating object. When the sound hits the hand, the force of the waves exerts pressure on the skin. To make the jump from outlines to full shapes, the team added a leap motion sensor to track the precise position of a user's hands. Knowing where the hands are in relation to the virtual project means the system can direct ultrasound at the right time and frequency to produce the sensation of touching different parts of the object - the top, say, or the side. This creates the impression that you are exploring the surface of an object as you move your hands around in empty space. "Without haptic it's like you are in a dream and you cannot feel the environment," says Sebastien Kuntz of I'm In VR, VR developers in Paris, France. "You can only look at it, you don't have any feedback." 

From Wired

So far the researchers have tested several shapes, including spheres and pyramids. They appear to be gently vibrating in space, says Long. The level of detail in the virtual objects is limited, but using more, smaller speakers should improve the resolution of what can be projected, says Long. The shapes do not need to be perfect to conjure an immersive experience though. "Even if there are discrepancies, the brain will bend what it sees and feels to fit the overall picture," says Kuntz. The team says it has already been approached by companies interested in developing the technology for commercial applications. Technical Director Stuart Cupit says, "Touch is a missing element in virtual interfaces today."

Make Presentations More Interactive with NearPod

By Lain Knieriem

     When you put PowerPoints and interactive things up on the projector for the kids to see, things can get a little boring. It’s just that their attention doesn’t last very long. Though with a new presentation and interactive learning tool called NearPod, things will be a little more interesting. This new tool is something that your kids can interact with through their devices (computer or IPad) while they learn, and you can control what they see and do.

     Some of the great things that can be added to your presentation that you create, are Polls, Draw it, Quiz, enter PDF/documents, slideshows, videos, & just your own choice of words. Now when I say polls I mean voting, you can create a poll in your presentation so that when it comes up on the kid’s screen they can answer, and you get results that you can review. Now another interesting thing that NearPod has available is the Draw it tool. Using this you can write something like “draw a computer.” Then on their iPad or computer they can draw it, with these results you can cycle through them and share some that you like with the class on their devices. The next activity on NearPod is the Quiz, and it is exactly as it says, a quiz that you create so that your kids can show their knowledge. They can be big or small, and like the poll you get results that you can share with the class.

With all of this being said, the best way to see NearPod’s full potential is to see for yourself. So if you would like to go www.nearpod.com and create a free account in which you can explore and create. If you have any further questions just contact me at knierieml@pccommodores.org.