DEVICE THAT CAN STORE DATA FOR 10 MILLION YEARS

Scientists have designed a nearly indestructible data storage disc that can store data for a million years — even if you barbecue it. Although the amount of data that can be stored has increased immensely during the past few decades, it is still difficult to actually store data for a long period. 

Jeroen de Vries from the University of Twente MESA + Institute for Nanotechnology , Netherlands, has developed an optical information carrier that can store information for extremely long periods, with each bit being written using etching techniques.

The chosen information carrier is a wafer consisting of tungsten encapsulated by silicon nitride. Tungsten was chosen because it can withstand extreme temperatures . A QR code — a type of is 2D barcode — etched into the tungsten and is protected by the nitride. Each pixel of the large QR code contains a smaller QR code that, in turn, stores different information . In order to ensure the stability of the data , an energy barrier that separates the information from the non-information is required.

Current hard disk drives have the ability to store vast amounts of data but last roughly ten years.

To prove that the data is still legible after millions of years, an aging test is required . "According to the Arrhenius model, the medium should keep working for at least 1 million years if it is heated to a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius and kept in the oven for an hour," said De Vries. After the test, it was still easy to read the information .

BRUTAL TORTURE

FLAYING

In one version of the Flaying Torture, the victim’s arms were tied to a pole above his head while his feet were tied below. His body was now completely exposed and the torturer, with the help of a small knife, peeled off the victim’s skin slowly. In most cases, the torturer peeled off his facial skin first, slowly working his way down to the victim’s feet. Most victims died before the torturer even reached their waist.

5300 YEAR OLD BODY FOUND

Scientists have found 19 living relatives of Ötzi the Iceman who was found frozen in the Alps
Scientists in Austria have found 19 living descendants of a prehistoric iceman whose 5,300-year-old body was found frozen in the Alps.
Researchers from the Institute of Legal Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University took DNA samples from blood donors in Tyrol in the west of the country.
They managed to match a particular genetic mutation with that of Ötzi, whose body was discovered back in 1991.

Experts now believe that the same mutation might also be found in the nearby rgions of Engadine in Switzerland and the South Tyrol region of Italy.
According to the BBC, Walther Parson from the university, said: 'We have already found Swiss and Italian partners so that we can pursue our research.'
DNA from around 3,700 blood donors were analysed and the men were also asked to provide information on their ancestry.
None of the donors have been informed that they are distantly related to Ötzi.
Since the body was found frozen under the Alps two decades ago, scientists have conducted experiments to learn how he came to be buried between the Austrian and Italian borders more than 5,300 years ago.

A hole in his collarbone suggested he was killed by an arrow, then a brain scan concluded he died from a fall.
But research earlier this year, from the European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen (EURAC) in Germany, discovered he suffered brain damage likely caused by a blow to the head.
In 2001, scientists from Austria's Innsbruck University scanned Ötzi using a CAT scan.
They found dark spots at the back of the iceman mummy's cerebrum and concluded he may have died from a head injury.
It was suggested that falling, after being hit by the arrow, or while climbing, may have caused this head injury.

The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, hence the name Ötzi, near the Similaun Mountain and Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy.
Scientists estimate he was aged around 45, was 5ft 5" tall and weighed about 7.9st when he died.

SCREEN X TECHNOLOGY WITH 270 DEGREE VIEW

A new format that gives movie-goers a panoramic 270 degree view will be rolled out by South Korea's biggest cinema chain this month, using the walls of theatres as additional screens.

Screen X, developed by cinema chain CJ CGV, was on show at the Busan International Film Festival last week in the premiere of a 30-minute spy thriller "The X" , directed by Kim Jee-Woon , a film
commissioned to showcase the expanded three-screen format.

Kim, who directed this year's Arnold Schwarzenegger action adventure "The Last Stand" , said the technology brought a more immersive experience to the cinema.
He likened it to a "horizontal" version of IMAX, a format that offers greater size and resolution than conventional film.      

 

Screen X requires filmmakers to use three cameras to shoot the same scene simultaneously from different angles to create the wider "surround" effect.
"The space in front of you is filled up completely," said Kim. "It provides a new depth for viewers."

"The X" showed off the capabilities of the format in a chase sequence and a dream sequence that seemed to envelop the cinema. Audiences at Busan watching "The X" seemed at first confused whether to look left, right or straight ahead before settling in to the experience.

"It was really fun. I personally don't like 3D or 4D films but this made me feel like I was inside the film," 19-year-old student Jung Gwang-Soo said.

CJ CGV, which also has interests in China, Hong Kong and the United States, has been testing the technology on advertisements, but has remained tight-lipped on installation costs — reportedly between $139,300 and $185,800 per screening room, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Installation will not be without logistical challenges, given that the effect is lessened in seats positioned to the sides of the cinema.

By the end of October the system will be available in 31 cinemas around South Korea in readiness for a series of planned featurelength productions to be rolled out over the next 12 months.

While Kim said he was excited to be able to explore the possibilities of the new technology — and freely admitted he was more concerned with effects than plot in his first production with it — other directors showcased technology they believe allows the audience to focus more on the stories they are telling. The Israeli-French production "Ana Arabia" , which looks at life in a Jewish-Arabic community, was one of a number of new films screening in Busan that used advanced steadycameras to enable directors to shoot in one single take.

In "Ana Arabia's" case, that was for 74 constant minutes while the Iranian film "Fish & Cat" managed to a single take of 134 minutes. "Ana Arabia's" veteran director Amos Gitai said the technology helped filmmakers engage with their audiences through providing a sense of intimacy not available when using multiple cameras and edits.

AMAZING PHENOMENON

The Silver Lining, The Spider Webs!

An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters. Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh have never seen this phenome...non before but, they also report that there are now far fewer mosquitoes than they would expect, given the amount of stagnant, standing water that is around. It is thought that the mosquitoes are getting caught in the spiders web, thus, reducing the risk of malaria, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships after the floods.

CHENNAI DOCTORS REMOVE INFECTED KIDNEY FROM NAVAL BUTTON

A team of doctors from the urology department at the Madras Medical Mission (MMM) has removed a cancerous kidney of a patient through the belly button.

Since the patient was anaemic, doctors had to come up with a way to minimise blood loss. The solution was a laparoendoscopic single site surgery (LESS), which is minimally invasive. While the usual surgical procedure leaves a big scar and takes longer time to heal, LESS decreases pain, blood loss and shortens the recovery period without a scar. 

The 45-year-old patient from Kerala approached doctors at MMM two weeks ago with signs of renal failure. The patient was put on dialysis and just when he was being prepped for a renal transplant, doctors detected a cancerous mass in his right kidney.

Dr Abraham Kurien, chief of urology, said, "Normally we do a laparoscopic surgery which involves multiple incisions. But since the patient was anaemic we decided to do a minimally invasive procedure. LESS was performed a week ago."

The doctors used the regular equipment used to perform a laparoscopy, but instead of making multiple entries, they inserted all the equipment through his belly button. "We used the grasper and held on to the kidney and disconnected it from the other organs. Then we used a clipper to clip the blood vessels and placed the kidney in a specimen retrieval bag and pulled it out through his naval," said the doctor. The kidney measuring 5cm and the mass was taken out as a whole and not broken as the tissue was cancerous and it had to be sent for pathological tests.

Conventionally doctors do open surgeries which leave bigger incisions through which they used their hands to pull the kidney out. Advancement in technology has made it less invasive, making the patient's stay in the hospital shorter. "This procedure has great cosmetic value as it leaves no scar and the patient can leave in two days. Since the same equipment is used as in a regular laparoscopy surgery, the cost of the procedure is the same but the benefits are much higher," said Dr Kurien.

The doctor pointed out that a laparoscopic procedure provides magnified vision so the accuracy level is much higher and there is minimized muscle damage. Additionally, the technique also has no limitations in bending, kneeling or stooping after recovery, compared to the multi-incision method.

TURING BODY INTO AN AUTHENTICATION DEVICE

Why not turn your entire body into an authentication device? After demonstrating the authentication tattoo, Dugan continued, “And that’s something that you wear, but you could also imagine including authentication in just your daily habits. So, I take a vitamin every morning. What if I could take vitamin authentication?”

“This pill has a small chip inside of it with a switch. It also has what amounts to an inside-out potato battery. When you swallow it, the acids in your stomach serve as the electrolyte and power it up. And the switch goes on and off, and it creates an 18-bit ECG-like signal in your body and essentially your entire body becomes your authentication token.”

“That becomes my first superpower,” Dugan continued. “I really want this superpower. It means that my arms are like wires, my hands are like alligator clips. When I touch my phone, my computer, my door, my car, I’m authenticated in.”
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