Smartphone microscope scans blood for parasitic worms in minutes

A team of researchers at the University of California Berkeley has been refining the CellScope, a mobile phone attachment that re purpose the device as a clinical-grade microscope. The team even recently branched out and launched a commercial product called Oto Home, a cell phone attachment that enables parents to perform ear exams on their children at home.The group's latest offering is dubbed CellScope Loa. It comprises a 3D-printed plastic base fitted out with LED lights, microcontrollers, gears and a USB port. Sliding a smartphone into the base and loading it with a single drop of blood, users can conduct an analysis of the sample in around two minutes. Over Bluetooth, the purpose-built app communicates with the base, running the sample in front of the phone's camera and creating a video. An algorithm then processes the footage, searching for the wriggling worms in action and displaying the total count on screen.

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NASA shows off its fly-by-wire Modular Robotic Vehicle

NASA has unveiled the Modular Robotic Vehicle. NASA's Game Changing Development Program Office  describe the vehicle as "a fully electric vehicle well-suited for busy urban environments." But really, the MRV is much more than that. This is thanks largely to its adapted fly-by-wire driving system and four independent wheels called "e-corners" that allow the MRV to drift like a beauty, drive sideways and rotate with a perfect turn radius of zero degrees. Which I might add is the same technology they use on rovers.The MRV would is design to go on  transportation in an urban environment. The top speed is 43 mph with a range of 62 mi. on a single charge of the battery. All four wheels on the MRv could turn 90 degrees. This allow for easy parallel parking. NASA states that the technologies that went into the MRV are likely to play a role in the continuing development of lunar and Mars rovers, as well as future automobile design here on Earth.

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A Pen for People with Parkinson's Disease

British design group Dopa Solutions has created the ARC pen, a writing implement specifically intended for sufferers of Parkinson's disease who have motor control difficulties that affect their handwriting. The ARC pen uses high-frequency vibration motors to facilitate larger and clearer handwriting, and in an initial trial of 14 people with micrographia it was found to improve writing in 86 percent of cases. The motors inside the ARC stimulate the muscles in the hand, reducing the effort that is required to move the pen across paper.

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Hydro Power Cell Phone Charger 

Freedom is offering a hydro power cell phone charger. Developed in Germany, the Blue Freedom charging kit consists of a 4.7-in diameter micro turbine, a 5W generator and a 5,000 mAh lithium-polymer internal battery. The turbine takes a plunge into a running water body and the unit's base stays ashore, letting you charge devices directly by way of the USB 2A and 1A ports. You can also store energy in the integrated battery for later use. A built-in LED light helps you see at night. The kit is designed to operate in temperatures between 41 and 104 ºF (5 and 40 ºC) and altitudes up to 16,400 feet (5,000 m). This charger is at a kick starter for $219. 

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Flatpack Go-Kart

The PlyFly Go-Kart is a gasoline-powered flat-pack kart that can be assembled in just a few hours, while promising speeds of up to 25 mph (40 km/h).The PlyFly is the work of The FlatWorks, a wooden kit company, and comes in two types: a 2.5-horsepower and a 4-horsepower model. The more powerful of the two is significantly faster at 25 mph (40 km/h) compared to 17 mph (27 km/h), and can run for 2.5 hours from a single tank of gas, compared to an hour for the smaller eThe ngine. Currently PlyFly is on Kickstarter to raise funds in order to bring its prototype Go-Kart into full-scale production. If you want to back the project and hopefully receive a model in mid-2015, the cheapest pledge point remaining is &745 for the 2.5 horsepower engine model, while the 4 horsepower engine will set you back $845.

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NASA Test-Fires Massive Solid Fuel Booster

NASA has successfully completed the first of two tests designed to certify the massive solid fuel boosters which will form a part of NASA's next generation Space Launch System (SLS). Once completed, SLS will represent the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed and will be responsible for, among other tasks, launching NASA's Orion spacecraft on humanity's first manned mission to Mars.

The booster measures an impressive 177 ft (54 m) in length and carries 25 percent more fuel than those used to service the now defunct US Space Shuttle program.A temperature of 90 ºF was selected for the test based on the temperatures endured by the similar but smaller boosters used to launch space shuttles, which were found to endure between 40 ºF (4 ºC) to 90 ºF of heat over the course of their service.
The rocket successfully ignited and burned for a full two minutes, during which time it produced around 3.6 million pounds of thrust.  Upon completion, SLS will be power two monster as well as four R-25 engines, with the maiden flight scheduled to take place sometime in 2018

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Samsung Dream Doghouse 

The Dream Doghouse was created to promote Samsung's sponsorship of this year's Crufts dog show in the UK, so it isn't going to be hitting the market any time soon. It took a team of 12 designer to come up with the concept. It cost a total of $30,500 to develop .It's split into three areas: a rest and entertainment space, a dining area, and an unsheltered recreation area with turf grass. Much of the technology on display doesn't actually work, but Samsung imagines to put many things such as: treadmill, a hydrotherapy pool, an automatic feeder, etc. The video below shows a little more information on the design.

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