Walking through doorways causes forgetting [Science Round-Up]

Walking through doorways causes forgetting: According to a new study, walking through a doorway helps your brain forget what you were about to do.

“Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains.

-Read more about it right here.

A new material announced recently emits infrared light for up to two weeks–after charging for only one minute. Because the human eye can’t detect infrared light, the glow is visible only through night vision goggles; application plans so far include using it as a sort of flashlight in combat or recon situations where shining visible light is a bad idea.

The glow-in-the-dark material is easily mixed into water and other liquids, which makes it versatile and easy to use. The photo above is a a 4-second exposure shot using a night vision monocula; it was taken in full dark. Notice the glowing logo, where the material was mixed into paint. Read more about it here.

How does a hummingbird dry off? By shaking its head–at 34g. (For comparison, a Formula I racecar reaches a g-force of less than 6.) The whole process takes about one-tenth of a second, which has been caught in action and revealed in slo-mo for us:


(Footage: University of California, Berkeley)



Anne McCaffrey Passes Away at 85

Random House released a statement this afternoon confirming that fantasy author Anne McCaffrey has passed away at age 85. Reports say that she suffered a stroke in her home in Ireland.

McCaffrey is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. She began her career in 1967 with the novel Restoree, and was rumored to be working on the 23rd installment in the Pern series to be released next year.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Mrs. McCaffrey in 2003 and am still struck by the memory of our meeting. Her love for the worlds she created  was immense and she was alight when she talked about Pern and the characters that were like children to her. Though I think we spent more time talking about her horses and riding once we discovered a mutual love for the sport! She will be missed by many readers, this one included.

Air Swimmers: Awesome RC Flying Shark and Clownfish

Greatest way to exit an elevator…. ever!

[Flying Shark] – [Flying Clownfish]



By the Power of Powerpoint… I Have the Power! [Pic]

Thanks to the power of Threadless community, you can now purchase this fantastic user-created shirt design over at threadless.com!

[Threadless]

Leonardo Da Vinci’s To-Do List [Picture]

Here’s a direct translation of a to-do list that was discovered inside a small notebook that Leonardo Da Vinci’s apparently carried everywhere back in 1490.

Leonardo da Vinci’s To-Do List

[NPR]

E-Mail Becomes Eye-Mail

University of Washington researchers have created a technology that could allow users to have e-mails beamed directly to their eyeballs, just like in Torchwood: Children of Earth (and Terminator before it). But in its current form, users will need to be able to decipher morse code.

The technology, which can display (or not display) an image via a contact lens has been tested on rabbits without any notable problems. Researchers say that although it hasn’t yet been tested on humans, they’ve addressed the most likely hurdle, which is the difficulty in human eyes focusing on an image at such close range. To get round that, they’ve shaped a lens to shorten the eye’s focal distance.

The work was co-authored with Aalto University researchers in Finland and has been detailed in the latest issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.

The existing model only displays a single light-emitting diode, meaning messages would have to be in morse code. To allow more complex displays such as text would involve adding more diodes without significantly increasing the thickness of the lens, a task the researchers believe is possible.

The LED used in the tests was blue and made from sapphire. It was embedded directly into a plastic contact lens, with the lens connected to an antenna built directly into the lens’ inside lip.

Another limitation is that the device requires a wireless battery and transmitter: the circuit is controlled via radio frequency transmission. A big problem at the moment is that although the wireless range is normally several feet, that’s reduced to as little as an inch once the lens is placed inside the eye.

The researchers also need to refine the current design as it uses a hard plastic (polyethylene terephthalate) for the lens. Not only is that uncomfortable, but it doesn’t allow air through to the eye, meaning it can only be worn for a few minutes. The goal is to build the same circuit into a lighter and more flexible lens.

Arnaud Bertsch, who has worked on similar projects, told Discovery it could take a decade to turn the concept into a fully functioning product, but noted that this is a significant breakthrough as it shows the basic concept is indeed workable.

(Image credit: Institute of Physics)