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Spring 2007

Visiting with virtual venerablesUsing technology from computer games, 3-D animation, and artificial intelligence, historic worthies may be available for conversation

Imagine having a discussion with Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein on the nature of the universe, where

their 3-D, life-sized representations looked you in the eye, examined your body language, considered voice nuances and phraseology of your questions, and then answered you in a way that is so real you would swear the images were alive. This was an opening scene from an episode of the TV show Star Trek almost a decade and a half ago. A new research project between the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the University of Central Florida in Orlando may soon make such imaginary conversations a reality. Technology from computer games, animation, and artificial intelligence provide the elements to make such virtual figures commonplace. “The goal is to combine artificial

intelligence with the latest advanced graphics and video game-type technology to enable us to create historical archives of people beyond what can be achieved using traditional technologies such as text, audio and video footage,” said Jason Leigh, associate professor of computer science and director of UIC’s Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL). Leigh is UIC’s lead principal investigator. EVL will build a state-of-the-art motion-capture studio to digitalize the image and movement of real people who will go on to live a virtual eternity in virtual reality. Knowledge will be archived into databases. Voices will be analyzed to create synthesized but natural-sounding virtual voices. Mannerisms will be studied and used in creating the 3-D virtual forms, known technically as avatars. Leigh said his team hopes to create virtual people who respond with a high degree of recognition to different voices and the various ways questions are phrased. “Imagine a computer smart enough to have the avatar respond ‘Do you understand what I’m saying?’ in the natural way humans communicate with each other,” said Leigh. “We’re trying to tip towards being as naturalistic as possible.” Leigh sees a commercial market for preserving virtual people whose critical or unique knowledge is vital to operations of corporations and other institutions.Source: University of Illinois at Chicagohttp://www.uic.edu/

Albert Einstein. One day, he may be listening to you. Photo: NASA StarChild

It was found at the bottom of the sea aboard an ancient Greek ship. Its seeming complexity has prompted decades of study, although many of its functions were unknown. Recent X-rays of the device, called the Antikythera mechanism, have now confirmed that it is a mechanical computer of an accuracy thought impossible in 80 B.C., when the ship that carried it sunk. Such sophisticated technology was not thought to be developed by humanity for another 1,000 years. Its wheels and gears create a portable orrery of the sky that predicted star and planet locations as well as lunar and solar eclipses. The Antikythera mechanism is 33 centimeters high and similar in size to a large book. Source: NASA http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061205.html

What is it?

Image credit: Wikipedia

“I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”– Stephen Jay Gould

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Spring 2007Tech Times

In the troposphere, volcanic aerosols reflect solar radiation and cool Earth’s surface. The stratospheric cloud from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 (shown at left) persisted in the atmosphere for three years after the eruption, lowering average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere by 0.5 degrees C. This cooling effect is thought to be responsible for the devastating floods that ravaged the American Midwest during the summer of 1993. USGS photo by D. Harlow, June 12, 1991

Cutting greenhouse emissions is no easy task. While most scientists say the only safe way to reduce global warming is to reduce CO2 emissions, others think this won’t happen anytime soon and suggest we do a little tinkering instead. This tinkering, called geo-engineering, involves simulating natural processes whose effects have long been known to cool the environment. Below are some of the geo-engineering projects currently under consideration.

• Simulate a volcano by releasing tiny sulfate particles in the upper atmosphere to reflect the Sun’s rays.

• Seed the ocean with iron dust to encourage the growth of plankton, part of an algae bloom that will drink up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

• Place a giant sunshade – a solar umbrella – in space.

• Simulate the development of highly reflective low-lying marine clouds by blasting tiny droplets of seawater into the air.

• Erect wind-powered, C02-filtering

devices, called artificial trees, on 200-foot-tall stands. The captured CO2 would be changed into a liquid or gas and piped away.

There is a downside to geo-enginering. Tinkering with our atmosphere could have long-term unintended consequences that may

be difficult to recognize prior to deployment and irreversible afterwards. David Keith, a University of Calgary engineering professor and one of the world’s experts in geo-engineering warns, “We are playing with fire here. Those of us suggesting we do something are suggesting it with real nervousness.”

Sources: Environmental News Network http://www.enn.com/sci.html?id=873ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2961157

Geo-engineering the climate

Artist rendition of two-foot diameter solar umbrellas. They are transparent but blur out transmitted light into a donut. The transmitted sunlight is also spread out, so it misses Earth. Illustration courtesy of Roger Angel, University of Arizona Steward Observatory.

Deja vu all over again? Areportonclimatechangesub-mittedtoPresidentLyndonJohn-sonin1965promptedaspecialmessagetoCongressinwhichhenoted:“Thisgenerationhasalteredthecompositionoftheat-mosphereonaglobalscalethrough...asteadyincreaseincarbondioxidefromtheburningoffossilfuels.”How-ever,theauthorsofthereportdidnotevenconsiderreducingcarbondioxideemissions.Instead,theylookedtotechnologytosolvetheproblem,rec-ommendingthespreadof“verysmallreflecting particles” across the ocean surface to reflect heat back into space.

Sources:TheEconomist3/10–16/2007TheWashingtonPost2/1/2007A-15http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Weather

This man was president when scientists first warned of global warming.

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Spring 2007Tech Times

Agriculture

Throughout history, civilizations expanded as they sought new soil to feed their populations, then

ultimately fell as they wore out or lost the dirt they depended upon. When that happened, people moved on to fertile new ground and formed new civilizations. According to David Montgomery, a University of Washington professor of earth and space sciences, that process is being repeated today, but the results could be far more disastrous for humans because there are very few places left with fertile soil to feed large populations, and farming practices still trigger large losses of rich dirt. “We’re doing the same things today that past societies have done, and at the same rate,” says Montgomery. In

essence, we are slowly removing our planet’s life-giving skin. “It only takes one good rainstorm when the soil is bare to lose a century’s worth of dirt.” In the past, as soil was depleted in a particular region – the American South during the height of tobacco plantations, for example, or the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s – people moved to new areas that could support their crops. But Montgomery argues that their primary farming method

– plowing under any crop residue and leaving the surface exposed to wind and water erosion for long periods – was a major cause of the conditions that drove them from the land. Now, with more than six billion people on the planet, the option to move on no longer exists. “We’re farming about as much land as we can on a sustainable basis, but the world’s population is still growing. We have to learn to farm without losing the soil.” He advocates a wholesale change in farming practices, moving to no-till agriculture, a method that eliminates plowing and leaves crop stubble in the field to be disked. Currently only about five percent of the world’s farmers engage in no-till agriculture, the vast majority of them in the United States and Latin America. Montgomery is the author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, a popular review of scientific literature on soil and farming practices.

Source: Newswise http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/529063/

Age-old farming practice leads to topsoil loss

Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas, in the 1930s. Drought combined with years of plowing under crop residue, leaving the surface exposed to wind, resulted in gigantic dust storms that devastated the Plains states. Photo credit: NOAA Photo Library, Historic NWS collection

Chicken and rice move from table to textilesGreen ingredients reduce use of petroleum-based synthetics

Moveovercotton,linen,andwool.Chickenfeathersandricestrawarevyingforyourplaceinthefashionworld.UnderdevelopmentattheUniversityofNebraska-Lincoln,thefeather-basedfabricwillresemblewoolwhilethericestrawfabricwilllookandfeelmorelikelinenorcotton. These are not the first unlikely but eco-friendly materials to be used in clothing.Bamboo,coconut,andsoyfabricsarealreadyinthemarketplace.DesignerCarolYoungusesnaturallyantimicrobialbambooformakingsoftworkoutgear.TheGoLitebrandofactivewearoffersshirtsmadefromrecycledpolyesterinfusedwithodor-absorbingcarbonfromcoconutshells.Textilesmadefromby-productsofsoyoilandtofuproductionareusedtomakeeverythingfromhoodiesandT-shirtstosuper-softbabyclothes.

Sources:TimeMagazinehttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595260,00.htmlNewswisehttp://www.newswise.com/articles/view/523282/

Chicken feathers are composed mostly of keratin, the same type of protein found in wool. Images: USDA

“Man owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”– Unknown author

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An alarming die-off of honeybees has beekeepers fighting for commercial survival and crop

growers wondering whether bees will be available to pollinate their crops this spring. Researchers are scrambling to find answers to what is causing an affliction recently named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has decimated commercial beekeeping operations in the United States and has also affected hives in Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. “During the last three months of 2005, we began to receive reports from commercial beekeepers of an alarming number of honeybee colonies dying in the eastern United States,” says Maryann Frazier, apiculture extension associate in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country have been reporting unprecedented losses.” Although isolated incidents of hive die-off have occurred in the past, generally caused by pathogens or mites, this outbreak is nationwide and it differs from past losses in these ways: • Colony losses are occurring mostly

because bees are failing to return to the hive (which is uncharacteristic of bee behavior).

• Colony losses have been rapid.

(otherwise strong colonies can lose their entire workforce in a matter of a few weeks or even a few days).

• Colony losses are occurring in large numbers.

• The reason remains unknown.

Preliminary work has identified several likely factors that could be causing or contributing to CCD. Among them are chemical contamination, pathogens, parasites, nutritional deficits in adult bees, stress, and lack of genetic diversity in bees. “Regardless,” says Frazier, “there is little doubt that honeybees are going to be in short supply this spring and possibly into the summer.”Sources:Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences http://aginfo.psu.edu/News/07Jan/HoneyBees.htmCongressional Research Service (CRS) Report to Congress: Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines, March 26, 2007www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33938.pdf

U.S. crops threatened

Mysterious collapse of honeybee populationsBees leave hives and never return

Are cell phones to blame for bee crisis? Scientists in Germany have identified a possible contributory cause of CCD – radiation from high-tech communications devices that interferes with bees’ navigational systems. The researchers, led by Professor Jocen Kuhn of Landau University, placed cell phone handsets, which emit electromagnetic radiation, near bee hives. Up to 70 percent of bees exposed to the radiation – in the frequency range of 900 to 1,800 megahertz – never returned to their hives after flying off in search of pollen and nectar. Source: CTV http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070416/bees_cellphones_070416/20070416

Spring 2007Tech Times

Aboutone-thirdofU.S.fooddependsonanimal-bornepollination,and80percentofthatisconductedbycommercialhoneybees.Amongthehugerangeofcropspollinatedbythebeesareapples,oranges,avocados,almonds,alfalfaseed,carrotsandcelery–justtonameafew.TheAgricultureDepartmentpegsthevalueofcropspollinatedbybeesatawhopping$14billion.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/

States affected by Colony Collapse Disorder as of February, 2007. Image courtesy of Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC).

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Spring 2007Tech Times

Invention

First, it was the kind-of-creepy tree-climbing robot http://roborama.info/robot-video-clips-rise-the-

amazing-climbing-robot_550.htm Now, there is StickyBot http://bdml.stanford.edu/twiki/pub/Main/StickyBot/FullMovie_V4_4small.mov, inspired by nature’s climbing champion, the gecko. Geckos cling effortlessly to just about anything. The secret? Their toes are covered with thin, hairlike structures (called setae) so densely packed that van der Waals forces – a weak electrical attraction among atoms – literally sticks the critters to the wall. StickyBot doesn’t use van der Waals forces to climb, but its feet do replicate those of the gecko. They incorporate hundreds of sharply tapered synthetic fibers, novel adhesives, and embedded

sensors and actuators that enable it to climb glass, tile, or whiteboard at a rate of 4 cm per second. Invented by Sangbae Kim, Mark Cutkosky, and their team at Stanford University, StickyBot is but one extraordinary robot developed by researchers on the RISE project, a collaboration among researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, Lewis & Clark University, and Boston Dynamics Inc. Visit Stanford’s Biomimetics Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory http://bdml.stanford.edu/.

Sources: PBS Wired Science http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/geekbeat.html

Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu/~sangbae/Stickybot.htm

Geckos inspire climbing robot

Let me in! StickyBot climbs a glass door. Photo credit: Mark R. Cutkosky, Stanford University Center for Design Research

Rocket man The type of flying machine featured in the James Bond movies is now available for sale to the public. Inventor Juan Manuel Lozano says the hydrogen peroxide-powered backpacks, known as Rocket Belts, can propel the wearer to speeds of up to 60 mph. Each belt is custom-made to the pilot’s weight and body size (up to 300 pounds) and can launch the wearer as high as 300 feet. Hands-on training and 24/7 support are included in the $250,000 purchase price. Lozano is also developing a rocket-powered helicopter, a hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket cart, a rocket bicycle, and a steam rocket car. Check out his Web site at http://www.tecaeromex.com/ to learn more and view videos and photographs. Source: Annova http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2270686.html?menu=

Photo courtesy Juan Manuel Lozano.

3-D “printer” constructs houses A California engineer has developed an automated system that makes it possible to build a house from foundation to roof in less than 24 hours. Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California calls the technique Contour Crafting. Robots, receiving direct commands from an architectural CAD software such as ArchiCAD, apply layers of concrete until the house is finished. “The goal is to be able to completely construct a one-story, 2,000-square-foot home on site in one day without using human hands,” says Khoshnevis. The first commercial machines are expected to be available in 2008. Sources: Live Science http://www.livescience.com/Contour Crafting http://www.contourcrafting.org/

Credit: Dr. Perumalsamy N. Balaguru, program director of NSF’s Division of Civil & Mechanical Systems

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Named for traditional Inuit dwellings constructed from earth, whalebone, and animal skins, the QarmaQ proves that a car can be sporty and green at the same time.

Designed by Hyundai and engineered in cooperation with GE Plastics, the QarmaQ’s body panels are made from approximately 900 recycled PET plastic pop bottles that would otherwise become landfill. Instead of glass, the wrap-around windshield is made from the much lighter material Lexan (General Electric’s brand of highly durable polycarbonate resin thermoplastic). It also sports the world’s first global pedestrian protection system, an elastic front that can reduce the risk of severe injuries in pedestrian collisions – a growing problem in the EU and Korea where up to 39% of all traffic fatalities are pedestrians hit by a vehicle. Hyundai says some of the technologies used in the QarmaQ will be available as early as 2008.Source: Hyundai Motor Company http://worldwide.hyundai-motor.com/common/html/about/news_event/press_read_2007_06.html

More uses for chickenand beef and pork, too IntheUnitedStates,biodieselisusuallymadefromsoybeanoilorrecycledrestaurantgrease.Notanymore.Tyson,theworld’slargestprocessorofchicken,beef,andpork,hasteamedwithConocoPhillipstoproducerenewabledieselfromanimalby-productfat.

Usingaproprietarythermaldepolymerizationproductiontechnology,theanimalfatswillbeprocessedwithhydrocarbonfeedstockstoproduceahigh-qualitydieselfuelthatmeetsallfederalstandardsforultra-low-sulfurdiesel.Theadditionofanimalfatalsoimprovesthefuel’signitionproperties,whiletheprocessingstepimprovesitsstoragestabilityandhandlingcharacteristics. TheprocessingtechnologywasdevelopedatConocoPhillipsandsuccessfullytestedatthecompany’sWhitegate Refinery in Cork, Ireland. Seetherelatedstory,“APowerfulRecipe”intheFall2003issueoftheTech Times,archivedatwww.hearlihy.com.

Source: ConocoPhillipshttp://www.conocophillips.com/

Spring 2007Tech Times

Energy

Meat-processing workers. Animal fat left over from processing will be used to make biodiesel. Photo: Joe Valbuena, USDA

Cross-over coupe easy on environment and pedestrians

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed. – Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful

Did you know?• If every American home replaced

just one lightbulb with a compact fluorescent lightbulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy http://www.energystar.gov/

• 714 pounds of coal is required to burn one 100-watt lightbulb 24 hours a day for one year.

Source: How Stuff Works http://science.howstuffworks.com/

• A 100W lightbulb left on for just 30 minutes creates enough CO2 to fill a party balloon.

Source: This Is Money http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/

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Acute,creativee-mailmonikermaybewellandgoodwhencommunicatingwithfriends,

butwhenitcomestoapplyingforjobs,thatmomentofcreativitymaybeajobkilleraccordingtoKevinTamanini,anindustrialandorganizationalpsychologydoctoralcandidateatOhioUniversity.

Tamaniniundertookastudytodeterminewhatimpactane-mailaddresshasinscreeningjobcandidateswhoseapplicationsaresubmitted online. His findings? Anunprofessionale-mailmonikercreates a bad first impression. In fact,thatimpressionmayverywellderailapersonfromtheapplicationprocess,eventhoughheorshemayotherwisepossessallthenecessaryqualifications.

Someoftheactuale-mailaddressesdeemedunprofessional:alliecat@,bacardigirl@,bighotdaddy@,drunkensquirl@,foxylady@,gigglez217@.

“Whatmanydon’trealizeisthatthesenamesmayhinderthemwhenapplyingforajob,”Tamanininoted.

Actuale-mailaddressesTamanini’sstudyconsideredtobeprofessionalincludedherrington@,jsmith@,mmtm203@,andtjs2409@.

Source:Newswisehttp://www.newswise.com/articles/view/528752/

What’s in a name?Lots, if you’re applying for a job

Spring 2007Tech Times

Career Corner

That clever email name may not be so funny to Human Resource departments.

Jumping from the edge of spaceFirst (and only) man to reach the speed of sound without an aircraft On August 16, 1960, Air Force Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., jumped from an open balloon gondola at 102,800 feet, breaking the sound barrier with his body as he descended. The jump, which lasted 13 minutes, 45 seconds and included a four-minute, 37-second freefall, set a world high-altitude parachute-jump record that stands to this day. The jump was undertaken to help the Air Force determine whether crew members could parachute safely from disabled aircraft flying in the stratosphere. And yes, even at that early date, the jump was captured on film. Visit http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-369888258105653405&pr=goog-sl to see amazing footage of this remarkable achievement.

Source: United States Air Force http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=&pid= 123006518

Tech History

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force Museum

Clearance

www.hearlihy.com/clearanceKits, books, software, videos, tools, equipment, and more

priced to move!

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

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Three ways to order: Web www.hearlihy.com • Phone 866-622-1003 • Fax 800-443-2260

Spring 2007Tech Times

Farm & Ranch Management Module In the Farm & Ranch Management module, students explore the history of agriculture, farming and ranching industries and issues, budgeting and planning techniques, and how modern technology – such as GPS – is used in precision farming and ranching.81547—$1,595.00

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3-D Computer Animation Module In the 3-D Computer Animation module, students learn the basic techniques used in this exciting, fast-growing field. They create animated actors and a short animation sequence based on detailed instructions and a design brief. They learn to create and edit actors’ paths and work with time measurements to choreograph multiple characters. Through various sources, students are also exposed to the secrets of the trade that animators use to produce natural, fluid-moving characters, scenery, and props.71642—$795.00

Construction Master Pro Workbook/Study Guide This 10-part course helps students understand common construction math principles and building techniques as they quickly acquire facility on the Construction Master Pro. Topic areas include scaled distances and areas; excavation, fill, and grade lines; footings and slabs; walls; rafters; stairs; and brick, roofing, and drywall.81620—$19.9581621 Study Guide with Calculator—$89.95

Robot Builder’s Bonanza The book that inspired thousands of robot enthusiasts is now in its third edition with field-tested plans for constructing robots that walk, see, feel, talk, listen, and think. Projects vary in complexity so novices and experts alike can have a blast building and even inventing their own robots.81659—$24.95

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Puzzle Pages

ZQ UG LDGU UIBR ZR UBJ UG UGKG HVZDN, ZR UVPYH DVR XG

WBYYGH KGJGBKWI, UVPYH ZR? – BYXGKR GZDJRGZD

What is a cryptogram? In a cryptogram, each letter of the alphabet is represented by another letter of the alphabet. For example, the letter A may be represented by the letter T. Using your knowledge of English language construction, you can break the code and replace the substituted letter with the actual letter to reveal a message.

WORD SCRAMBLERearrange the letters to reveal words from Tech Times articles. Write each word in the boxes to the right of the letters. Then, unscramble the letters in the shaded areas to make a two-word phrase suggested by the material in this issue of Tech Times.

Spring 2007Tech Times

ERIS

PROC

KOGCE

ENNIL

BABOOM

KERCOT

CRYPTOGRAM

Hint: U = W

WE’VE GOT YOUR NUMBERIt’s time to phone a friend for a little math fun. Get your calculator – this works!1. What are the first three digits of your phone number? (Ignore your area code and use only your seven-digit phone number.)2. Multiply by 803. Add 14. Multiply by 2505. Add in the last four digits of phone number6. Add in the last four digits of phone number again7. Subtract 2508. Divide by 2Is the answer your phone number? Weird, eh? See the Puzzle Solutions page for an explanation.

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Spring 2007Tech Times

CROSSWORDUntitled Puzzle

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Down1. Climate fixer?2. Powers rocket-man's pack3. George Orwell novel ______ Farm4. Plastic or family dog5. Bane of 1930s Plains states7. Kittinger's conveyance8. Climbing champion10. Bee killers? (2 wds)13. 3-D virtual form14. New source of biodiesel15. van der ____ forces19. Career home-run king