TECHNOLOGY: Use Mind Control Over Your Gadgets
This isn’t science fiction. The kind of technology that delves into the world of mind control is very exciting. It’s not mind control in the sense of Jedi Knight Mind Control though. Well maybe it is. But instead of controlling humans, we’re at the beginning of controlling our devices…with our mind.
2013 is quickly becoming the year of ‘Wearable Tech’. It’s the merging of computer technology and your physical world. Google Glass is the headliner, the one you’re most likely to have heard about. But Google is not the only one working towards putting interactive devices on your noggin.
One company in particular is getting more attention about their exciting new wearable tech product. The company is InteraXon.
InteraXon’s device goes on your head but is different to Google Glass. And we think a little bit cooler.
It’s called the Muse and it’s a headband-like device that fits over your forehead. It uses your brain waves to control your devices. With compatible software you can play games and even train your brain.
But the really promising part about Muse is linking to other devices. Imagine having a coffee machine at home. As you walk through the front door you think to yourself, ‘geez I could go a latte right now.’ By the time you’ve entered the kitchen your latte is sitting under the coffee machine waiting for you.
Or here’s another example. 10 minutes before you go to get in the car on a cold day, you think ‘it’d be nice to get into a car that’s warmed up to 24 degrees.’ And when you jump in the car, it’s a perfect 24 degrees.
That’s the potential capability of the Muse. This isn’t some prototype. It’s a real life working product. You can pre-order it. Rest assured we’re on the waiting list for this one too.
HEALTH: The Debilitating Saturday Morning May be a Thing of the Past
For anyone who’s ever consumed alcohol, it’s more than likely you’ve had a hangover. But fear no more the blinding light, thumping head and obligatory Maccas trips.
A pretty ‘simple’ piece of nanotechnology research has gone a long way to curing one of the worst ailments in human history. The hangover.
Some (possibly drunk) scientists have had enough. Their discovery could be the biggest, well at least the most widely applauded, scientific discovery of all time. They have managed to create a hangover pill.
This isn’t a new type of Berocca. It’s a pill that can be taken immediately and, over a few hours, cuts down the blood alcohol percentage.
Professor Yunfeng Lu, the lead scientist says, ‘The pill acts in a way extremely similar to the way your liver does.’
We guess that when this becomes a commercial reality, countries like the Czech Republic, Ireland and France will take to it pretty quick. Respectively they rank 1st, 4th and 5th in the world when it comes to consumption of alcohol per capita (Australia falls in at 28th).
Two alcohol battling enzymes combine inside a Nano sized pill to make it work. Then the scientists got a bunch of lab mice drunk. After their little party, the scientists administered the pill to the mice. The results were astounding.
The pill reduced the blood alcohol content of the mice by up to 36.8%. Lu says the pill isn’t quite ready for human testing, yet. But we all know a hangover pill endgame isn’t for drunken mice, it’s for drunken humans.
This may seem trivial. But a fully functioning hangover pill will sell, and sell a lot. So we’ll see which of the big pharma companies adopts this work and takes it to commercialisation because the opportunity in this space is enormous.
ENERGY: Fire Power Your Phone, and Maybe the World.
In the search for renewable energies there are many weird and wonderful inventions. The world is not short of inventors who discover new ways to create power.
And Point Source Power (PSP) is one more company thinking outside the box when it comes to power.
The process of photosynthesis is one area scientists believe is vital to generating renewable power. Plants are one of the most efficient producers of energy in nature. And scientists argue, why can’t we replicate that?
PSP agreed and produced a fuel cell that mirrors the process of photosynthesis to capture energy.
Plants create oxygen and carbon compounds as a result of photosynthesis. PSP’s little fuel cell captures the carbon compounds and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, water and carbon dioxide.
The process is done via what PSP calls votosynthesis.
Although PSP is only a small time player at this stage, they’re onto something. Their current range of devices uses heat from fire and cooktops to charge up their fuel cells. When the fuel cell is charged, it will charge your phone, or provide you with light.
Initially PSP’s products appear to just be handy camping tools. But there’s more to it than that. They actually fit in with the overall push towards global renewable energy. The potential of PSP’s technology is greater than they realise.
There are some areas in the world, particularly third world nations, where stable grid electricity isn’t available. PSP fuel cells (on a larger scale) could be the power source needed to provide electricity to those populations.
The upside is PSP’s technology is relatively cheap to make and quite portable. So hopefully PSP will expand their range to larger, more powerful fuel cells. And who knows, they might just play a larger role in renewable energies.
Sam Volkering
Technology Analyst, Money Weekend
Ed Note: Sam Volkering is assistant editor and analyst for a new breakthrough technology investment service to be launched by Money Morning editor Kris Sayce. The breakthrough technology service will introduce cutting edge investment ideas from the technologies of the future, including medicine, science, energy, mining, and more.
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