Focusing on screens, such as of computers, tablets and smartphones, for longer duration can cause your eyes feel dry and tired. Here are some tips to relieve your eyes.

 

1. Take breaks after every 20 minutes, by looking at an object 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. It is known as 20-20-20 rule.

 

2. Blink! Blink consciously as often as possible. This keeps the surface of your eyes moist.

 

3. Stop using devices before bed.

 

4. The computer screen should be at an arm’s length, about 25 inches away. Position the screen so your eye gaze is slightly downward.

 

5. The screen brightness should be equal to surrounding light.

 

6. Use artificial tears whenever your eyes feel dry.

 

Related Post: How to Prevent Eye Strain in Computer & Mobile Users

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A Fairy in Mid Air

Femtosecond lasers are the latest cutting edge technology in ophthalmology and have led to the development of many new techniques and refinement of old techniques in refractive surgery. 

Now scientists from the University of Tsukuba, Utsunomiya University, Nagoya Institute of Technology, and the University of Tokyo, have used femtosecond lasers to produce 3D images in mid air by ionization, which can be touched and interacted. The most important feature of the system is that power of laser is reduced to such an extent that it is not harmful to the skin. Plus interacting with the image generates small shockwaves under the skin, so one can have haptic feedback as well.

Watch the Video at these links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoWi10YVmfE

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2wcnuu

to see the awesome magic in action.

Read more at IEEE Spectrum blog.

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Ubuntu, a Linux based operating system, recently unveiled its smartphone with a set of very smart features.
-It has 4.5 inch screen made of sapphire crystal which the company claims to be resistant to scratches produced by coins and keys.
-128Gb space plus 4Gb Ram.

This amazing flipping ship ( officially called as FLIP = FL oating I nstrument P latform) is owned by US Navy and is able to to flip from being horizontal to vertical. As the ship flips, all the stuff gets aligned in the new position to the slightest detail even a ketchup bottle.

The project started in 1962 and it is celebrating its 50th birthday.

FLIP is designed to study wave height, acoustic signals, water temperature and density, and for the collection of meteorological data.

Watch this awesome BBC Video clip about it or Read more at Wikipedia.

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Scientists at MIT are able to capture light moving through space by means of camera which has a shutter speed of Trillion frames per second.

I must say that it is a phenomenal achievement as light is the fastest moving object in nature. The device will be available to public within 10 years time & will benefit the medicine, in the form of handheld scanners, & industries by being able to identify minute surface defects.
Watch the video & see yourself the awesome wave of light.

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In a study conducted by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Denmark on 350,000 people which followed them for 18 years, it was concluded that there is no link between mobile phones & cancer.

As the usage of mobile phones have soared up during the last few decades, many people started discussing that they might be causing cancers but the latest study has proved otherwise.

It is still said that mobile phone usage should be kept less as much as possible to avoid any other unknown  effects on the body.

Looking like Grand Canyon, its actually a microscopic crack on the surface of steel, which was created due its bending. This image won the first prize in 2011 FEI Owner Image Contest. It was photographed by Martina Dienstleder of the Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis in Graz. Her colleague, Manuel Paller then coloured the image with rusty tones and added a cloud-dotted sky to complete the look.

Have a look at other position holders > http://www.fei.com/2011-image-contest/winner-announce.aspx

Markus Fischer & his team, from a company called Festo , have developed an ultralight robotic model which is able to fly like a real bird, by means of flapping its wings. Named SmartBird, its design is inspired by a Herring Gul. The wings not only beat up and down but twist like those of a real bird -- and seeing it fly leaves no doubt: it's a perfect technical imitation of the natural model, but just a bit bigger. Its wingspan is almost two meters, while its carbon-fiber structure weighs only 450 grams.

After seeing this video, I was very much impressed & really wanted to stand up in applause.

A company called, Pixel Optics has developed glasses which change focus when you look near or far. The device consists mainly of an accelerometer & lenses which are covered with transparent liquid crystals. When you tilt your head for near work, the accelerometer detects it and the liquid crystals change the focus of the lenses for near vision. When you look far, again the change is detected by the accelerometer & lenses are adopted for looking far in a fraction of second.

These glasses are a blessing for the persons who are annoyed of the line  in the field of vision, separating the lenses in bifocal glasses.

A new device has been approved in Europe which is offering sight to the sightless. The above picture is of Barbara Campbell, who lost her sight many years ago due to a retinal disease. She has been implanted with this new device, which consists of a small camera mounted on glasses and the images are converted to impulses that are sent to a transmitter on the side of the glasses.
The transmitter then beams the impulses to 60 electrodes that have been surgically implanted at the back of the eye. These electrodes bypass the damaged retinal cells and directly stimulate nerve cells connected to the visual center in the brain. She now sees a very crude image that has 60 points of light, compared to the millions of someone with healthy vision.

Wellcome library, known for maintaining a free collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and pictures on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day, hosted the Medical Images Awards for 2011 recently. The judging panel included scientists who have to choose the best from around 400 images. The aim was to select those images which not only conveyed scientific information but had an artistic beauty as well.

Shown above is the scanning electron micrograph of a honeybee. The honeybee has a hairy thorax and segmented abdomen, a pair of double wings and three pairs of segmented legs. Each leg has a different 'tool' designed for a specific function to assist in the collection and transport of pollen to the hive for the production of honey.

Google yesterday announced the release of its brand new phone in the Nexus Series, the Nexus S. It is the first phone in the market to come pre-installed with Anrdoid 2.3 ( code named:  Gingerbread), Google's famous smartphone operating system.

A team of scientists led by Professor Ramesh Raskar at MIT, have developed a camera which can take pictures around corners. The camera fires bursts of ultra-short high-intensity femto laser which last for one quadrillionth of a second (that's 0.000000000000001 seconds). The light then bounces from a surface like floor & strike the object hidden around the corner. The camera then captures the light particles returning back from the hidden object after striking from the same surface. The image is then constructed using complex alogrithms using a computer.

Isn't it amazing that now you can enter text messages, email, set an alarm clock, find directions, search for audio files, open maps, search & call the shops of your area by just using your voice. And all these  features come in Google's Voice Actions application for Android 2.2 or higher.
This is one cool feature because of which, I am in love with Android -  Google's operating system for smartphones.

Nanotechnology refers to the study of materials at the size of 100 nanometers or less. ( 1nm = 1×10⁻⁹ m, about a billionth of a meter ). At such a small scale, the properties of materials greatly differ from their larger ones. As a result, this technology has the potential to create new materials & devices which can be applied in medicine, electronics, energy production & everyday living.

I have been long wishing to write about this technology & its potentials but, I think the following documentary does it much better, than I would have been. Its a must watch & gives one the taste of the future.

Patients suffering from Diabetes have to prick their fingers daily to check blood sugar levels but this might be over soon. As scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have developed a Tattoo - sensitive to glucose concentrations, which can be injected under the skin.This tattoo will stay for a fixed time, probably for 6 months. Blood sugar levels can be then be determined by wearing a watch, which shines infra red light onto it and measures the florescence emitted, due to the amount of glucose binded with the tattoo.

In this latest lovely commercial of iPad, Apple explains very intelligently its use in different locations. And mentions about its thickness, weight, user friendliness, applications, multimedia capabilities & battery power.

At first when it was released in Public, I thought its just a bigger version of iPhone. But as it has started to take over the world & after seeing this Ad, I am getting much interested in it.

Health Management System is a Free electronic medical record system launched by a Pakistani company based in Canada. The motivation behind this venture is that the company lost one of it employee in Indonesia because of an incomplete medical record.

The main page says,

Welcome to Health Management System

Patients can keep their medical history stored securely online and retrieve as and when needed,

anywhere in the world, especially during traveling emergencies.

Doctors can keep track of patients' prescriptions, dosage, reports, x-ray and scan imagery and all other medical details.

Doctors can share the complete medical history over a patient's lifetime at the click of a button.

And It's free to the patient.

The following video is about the usage in Urdu,

 

Researchers from University of Florida have developed a technology which can be embedded into drug tablets to notify clinicians and caretakers that a pill has been ingested.

One part is the pill, a standard white capsule coated with a label embossed with silvery lines. The lines comprise the antenna, which is printed using ink made of nontoxic, conductive silver nanoparticles. The pill also contains a tiny microchip, one about the size of a dot.

[ via BBC Science]

A Merseyside soldier blinded by a grenade in Iraq has said his life has been turned around by technology that allows him to "see" with his tongue.

L/Cpl Craig Lundberg, 24, from Walton, Merseyside, can read words, identify shapes and walk unaided using the BrainPort device.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) selected him to trial the pioneering device which is comprised of a tiny video camera attached to a pair of sunglasses linked to a plastic "lolly pop", which the user places on their tongue to read the electrical pulses.

The soldier said the device gives off "a pins & needles sensation but it’s only a prototype and the potential to change my life is massive.”