[/quote]Alok_N wrote:so glad you asked ...Sanjay M wrote: Anyone care to comment on this?
You kidder you
[/quote]Alok_N wrote:so glad you asked ...Sanjay M wrote: Anyone care to comment on this?
Nothing arbitrary about it and you can be very sure about the utility of radar to track bees. They have been tracked very reliably by multiple groups using harmonic radar. It requires an attachment of a tiny transponder on the bee. The smallest transponder in use right now is about 2cms in length that stays upright on the bee's dorsal surface. The nanotech or tinytech approaches are currently trying to reduce the size of the transponder to about 4-5 mm in length. The core problem has been solved...technical evolution is inevitable and will make it into a reality within a decade. The only question is how robust is the ability of the bees to detect the explosives. At this point we have to give the scientists involved, the benefit of doubt. Others will repeat the experiments and we will know for sure. Even the ability of bees to "chemosense" can be enhanced by increasing the expression of odorant receptors by what most people refer to as "genetic engineering".Hmm, I dunno that one should arbitrarily throw in nanotechnology, and I'm not sure how radar cross-section would be useful near the ground.
“By mid-2006, we plan to install a one-million litre per day plant for conversion of sea water into drinking water off the coast of Tamil Nadu. We also intend to install a 10-million litre per day plant to provide clean drinking water along the Indian coast by the end of this year.”
Hey man, have you read about this one?Vick wrote:
More muscle for CSIR likely
“By mid-2006, we plan to install a one-million litre per day plant for conversion of sea water into drinking water off the coast of Tamil Nadu. We also intend to install a 10-million litre per day plant to provide clean drinking water along the Indian coast by the end of this year.”
http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/jan/11spec.htm
Top 10 tech trends for India
Check out the happening infotech, communications and entertainment trends of 2006.
....main points...
1. Blu-Ray of hope
2. Digital ticket
3. Games people play
4. Movies on Demand
5. Plug into the IP Phone
6. Robots, robots everywhere
7. Tag on to RFID
8. The new intelligent vehicle
9. Where the Podcast's headed
10. Wi-Fi on steroids
AJay wrote:This is waaaay too much into the realm of speculation but under one school of thought which says that given the current state of a system, the rules of state transition, and the input(s), the evolution of the system is totally predictable. For people who subscribe to this school, everything about this world is predictable - a machinist view that I believe has been subscribed to by Mark Twain among others. That fits well into a world view of a Computer Scienitst/Mathematician/Engineer in that the entire universe is a giant TM.Alok_N wrote:the point is that the cosmic rays seen by a body born today is the same as that seen by a body born on any other day ... how would cosmic rays lead to a predictive algorithm such as astrology? ...
unless of course there is an algorithm that assigns body chemistry based on date of birth ...
Simple organisms which have one single cell probably can be modelled deterministically using such a simplistic model. Even self-reprodcution can perhaps be explained because there is a 27 state cellular automata (CA and the minimal self-reproducing state machine have been invented by von Neumann when he was on sabbathical at UIUC for one year) that can reproduce itself.
But the real problem - this is a decidedly naive explanation - is that the above doesn't explain how one stem cell gives rise to myriad functionally different cell types. Surprisingly, Turing himself wrote a seminal paper on it just two years before his death at an attempt in explaining how this "symmetry" is broken. This paper by no means is the final word but a way to move forward.
The question really boils down to whether the "symmetry" breaking is a chance happening without any external agent acting on the system. One also has to answer the question of what is inside and outside the system etc.
Any way all waay OT. So, I will leave it at this.
Alok jiAlok_N wrote:cross-posting ... this post is in context of re-casting astrology in modern times
Indian's smart way to smell stale stuff
Kanupriya Vashisht
Phoenix, January 12, 2006
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967 ... 060016.htm
American consumers might soon stop turning food products up and down at a Wal-Mart, trying to check for that ever-evasive expiry date on milk, yoghurt or cereal.
Vivek Subramanian, a leading researcher in polysilicon technology and organic electronics at the University of California, Berkeley, is developing a technique that will disregard doubtful dates and track food's freshness scientifically.
Subramanian's research group is developing a host of innovative smart sensors like the food expiry detector.
The sensors will keep track of bacteria levels independently and detect gas emissions within a closed environment, such as a milk bottle, letting consumers accurately know when food is no longer consumable - and possibly dangerous to ingest.
The research focuses on the physics and technology of organic semiconductors and their applications in displays, low-cost electronics, sensors, and actuators.
"The basic concept," the Berkley website says, "is trying to use gas or fluid sensing to detect bacterial activity."
To realise such a widely deployed technology, Subramanian and his students have researched for material systems that could be developed into a low cost technology.
The Subramanian group is working on a multi-disciplinary project spread across chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
The result is an extraordinary inkjet printer and a family of electronic inks that enable circuits to be patterned onto paper, plastic, or cloth without damaging the material.
Composed of carbon and hydrogen as opposed to silicon, the circuits are soluble and inexpensive.
Food processing is not the only thing that has caught this researcher's fancy. He'd like to compute clothes to by dispersing sensors throughout the apparel, sensors that can detect what's going on in the world around you.
Some might detect toxic gases or radiation, others could monitor your body temperature and blood pressure, and still others might even track where you are through the Global Positioning System.
Subramanian envisions his woven transistors as switches that route signals through the fabric of the smart clothes.
Like the full-fledged routers on the Internet, the little chips direct the course of the signals through the fabric, helping the clothing-based network deal with rips and tears that might otherwise disconnect circuits.
The lab prototypes of smart clothing using Subramanian's fabrics are still five years off. And it could be another five years before the fabric can be turned into commercial products.
In addition to smart sensors, the Subramanian group is developing organic electronics for inexpensive plastic screens that can be rolled up and stuffed in a consumer's pocket.
These high-performance disposable transistors promise an unprecedented deployment of portable electronic technologies, ushering in a revolution in the field of disposable electronics and wireless.
After a PhD at Stanford University, Vivek Subramanian co-founded Matrix Semiconductor in 1998, creating three-dimensional integrated circuits with standard manufacturing techniques and materials.
Matrix's first product, a non-volatile 3-D memory chip attracted many customers due to its size and tremendous cost benefits.
Dr Subramanian has held numerous consulting and advisor positions for leading semiconductor companies.
He currently sits on the Technology Advisory Board for ITU Ventures and continues to advise Matrix on process and device technology development.
my apologies for misrepresenting your intent ... I remain an agnostic in these matters ... I have seen enough to be enticed and question enough to be skeptical ...AJay wrote: First let me put in a disclaimer. I don't have any intentions of either re-casting or explaining astrology.
the list of candidate theories is far larger ... physics today should be humbled because of its own recognition of its ignorance ... modern day physics has now admitted that it only understands about 4% of the energy density of the universe ... about 28% is in the form of dark matter that we "see" indirectly but have no clue about its nature ... another 68% is in the form of dark energy that we "infer" even more indirectly ...If we take the above thought process and extend it to the current times, the atrsologer needs a new apparently random natural event to replace the planetary motions that can be predicted with great accuracy. Cosmic rays or chaos are the modern day "planetary motions" and "eclipses".
Amit Patel wrote:Personal Cell Phone Charger
Here's one that might be useful not only for India, Indian Army, but with a broader appeal.
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3: Petro giant British Petroleum (BP) is entering the Indian rural market with a dual-fuel chullah (cooking stove). It will run on both LPG and biomass in two different burners, offering flexibility to the consumers.
This hybrid application has been designed by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and is now in the protototype testing stage. Apart from using zero-emission LPG, it aims to increase the efficiency of biomass burning by a factor of five.
The company is hoping to bring it to the markets in 4the next six months.
Already present in India with their lubricant Castrol, this is their foray into a different segment of the market. Their target is 20 million chullahs by 2020.