MILK MADE: Butter, yoghurt, cheese are traditional milk products. A new non-edible product though is made from a protein in sour milk. A German fashion designer and scientist has found a way to manufacture a soft and washable organic fabric from sour milk. It's quick and easy to produce, and eco-friendly. Except maybe for how eco-unfriendly milk is to produce in the first place. Watch the video for details.
SPORTING WIFI: The new 18,000 seat sports stadium in Kansas City has not only 300 HDTVs and shade for every seat, but also a powerful WIFI network so all the fans can use the Internet at the same time via their smartphone or iPad. They expect fans will order food, update Facebook and check scores without a single dropped connection. I know plenty of tech conferences that'd like to book in there. There's a podcast at IEEE Spectrum.
SEEING THROUGH FOG: The new Moisture Glasses from J!ns are designed to keep your eyes from drying out. They fit snugly like swimming goggles and release a fine mist of water or eye drops to moisten your eyes.
Available soon in Japan, where they always have fresh ideas. DVice tells the story.
HEALTHY TATS: A tattoo made with special nanoparticles may allow diabetics and others to monitor their blood sugar or sodium with an iPhone. Scientists at Northeastern University, USA, created a solution containing nanoparticles that fluoresce when exposed to a target molecule, such as sodium or glucose. The smartphone can then track changes in the level of fluorescence. A small case with LEDs that provoke fluorescence fits over the iPhone. A light-filtering lens over the iPhone's camera filters out everything except light emitted by the tattoo. At the moment the smartphone images are sent to a computer for analysis, but the researchers hope to create a specialised app. Shiny.
Details at Technology Review.
CURIOUS GALE ON MARS: NASA's Curiosity Rover should land on Mars in August 2012, inside the 154 Km wide Gale Crater, named for an Australian astronomer. The rover will pick up samples from the lower slopes of an almost 5 Km high mountain in the crater. Scientists hope to discover how the water on Mars disappeared. Nuclear-powered Curiosity is 3 metres long and weighs 900 Kg. Rather than landing in an airbag it will slow with a rocket thruster and be lowered to the ground on a tether. Precise placement will be a great start. There's more at USA Today.
