WEBVTT - Marshall Brain's News Roundup: February 25th, 2011

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brandon. Welcome to this week's

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<v Speaker 1>Friday news round up. One of the biggest things in

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<v Speaker 1>technology this week is the release of Intel's new Thunderbolt

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<v Speaker 1>port into the wild. Think of it as a USB

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<v Speaker 1>port on steroids. The new MacBooks from Apple have this

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<v Speaker 1>port and it can transfer data at ten gigabits per

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<v Speaker 1>second bi directionally, making it about twice as fast as

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<v Speaker 1>USB three point oh. To put it into perspective, Thunderbolt

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<v Speaker 1>can transfer a one gigabyte file in about one second

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<v Speaker 1>if the device holding the file can keep up with

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<v Speaker 1>that rate. If you Google interesting reading number six, you

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<v Speaker 1>can see a video demonstrating the speed of Thunderbolt. The

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<v Speaker 1>video shows a file streaming in one direction and a

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<v Speaker 1>video beam going in the other direction to drive a monitor.

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<v Speaker 1>It is a pretty amazing speed for a little cable,

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<v Speaker 1>and it ought to make it possible to transfer huge

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<v Speaker 1>files in the future. Flip. Speaking of speed, the new

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<v Speaker 1>McLaren MP four Dash twelve C for two thousand twelve

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<v Speaker 1>has gotten a lot of attention this week. This truly

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<v Speaker 1>is a supercar. It's made out of aluminium carbon. It

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<v Speaker 1>has a twin turbo V eight engine that generates nearly

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<v Speaker 1>six hundred horsepower and it can go from zero to

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<v Speaker 1>sixty in three point two seconds and has a top

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<v Speaker 1>speed of about two hundred and five miles per hour.

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<v Speaker 1>But one of the most interesting things about it is

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<v Speaker 1>the air brake. In heartbreaking from high speed, the spoiler

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<v Speaker 1>on the back of the car tilts up vertically like

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<v Speaker 1>a little wall to grab air and slow the car

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<v Speaker 1>down faster. The only problem is the two dollar price tag.

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<v Speaker 1>But ignoring that, it's a beautiful car. If you google

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff MP four you can see a couple of

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<v Speaker 1>videos showing this car in action. Blip. Speaking of cars,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a great article in Interesting Reading number six two

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<v Speaker 1>that talks about changing your oil. Do you need to

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<v Speaker 1>change your oil every three thousand miles as many of

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<v Speaker 1>the oil change places will suggest to you, or can

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<v Speaker 1>you go longer? The three thousand mile oil change turns

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<v Speaker 1>out to be a myth. It's a myth because the

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<v Speaker 1>motor oil made today is much better than it used

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<v Speaker 1>to be. It contains detergent stabilizers and viscosity enhancers. If

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<v Speaker 1>you look at your owner's manual, it probably tells you

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<v Speaker 1>to wait six thousand miles or more between oil changes,

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<v Speaker 1>and the reason for that is because that is how

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<v Speaker 1>long the oil really does last. Now and many cars

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<v Speaker 1>now have automated systems that either calculate oil changes based

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<v Speaker 1>on things like engine temperature in rpm, or that actually

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<v Speaker 1>measure oil life by doing little chemical analysis on the

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<v Speaker 1>oil in the crank case. If your car has a

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<v Speaker 1>system like this, let it tell you when to change

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<v Speaker 1>the oil. You do not need to change it every

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<v Speaker 1>three thousand miles. Blip In tablet news, the Motorola Zoom

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<v Speaker 1>made it out to reviewers this week and got a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of buzz. People are generally happy with it, and

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<v Speaker 1>they see it as a major iPad competitor, but they

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<v Speaker 1>note a lot of little uncomfortable drawbacks and the price,

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<v Speaker 1>which is said at about eight hundred dollars right now,

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<v Speaker 1>is making nobody happy. You can find a review by

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<v Speaker 1>googling Interesting Reading number six, which brings us to the

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<v Speaker 1>second piece of tablet news, which is that the iPad

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<v Speaker 1>two will be announced next week on March two. Although

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<v Speaker 1>the Zoom looks pretty good right now because it's being

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<v Speaker 1>compared to the year old iPad one, it's likely that

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<v Speaker 1>the iPad two will fix many of the differences in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of things like cameras and screen resolution, and that

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<v Speaker 1>will really narrow the gap. One other thing on the

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<v Speaker 1>tablet front to consider is battery life. This week, both

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<v Speaker 1>think pad and HP are claiming incredible battery life of

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<v Speaker 1>up to thirty hours or more on a charge in

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<v Speaker 1>some of their new notebook computers. Expect some of these

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<v Speaker 1>batteries saving technologies to make it down to tablets as

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<v Speaker 1>well in the near future, and their battery life could

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<v Speaker 1>get to be extraordinarily long, both because of the battery technology,

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<v Speaker 1>the energy saving technology, and the fact that processors for

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<v Speaker 1>tablet computers are starting to consume less and less power blip.

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<v Speaker 1>This week, the world's tiniest computer was announced. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>one cubic millimeter computer in size, yet it is a

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<v Speaker 1>complete computer that includes the processor itself, memory, and a

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<v Speaker 1>wireless transmitter. One amazing feature is the low power consumption,

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<v Speaker 1>only five point three nanowatts. It marks the beginning of

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<v Speaker 1>millimeter scale computing and it should help to bring field

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<v Speaker 1>of smart dust much closer to reality. You can read

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<v Speaker 1>more by googling interesting reading number six nine two blip.

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<v Speaker 1>There's this thing called space weather, and it sounds like

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<v Speaker 1>something out of a sci fi horror film. A giant

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<v Speaker 1>solar flare erupts on the Sun, hits Earth and completely

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<v Speaker 1>cripples a power grid and much of the communication infrastructure.

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<v Speaker 1>But it could happen. In fact, it already has happened,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was back in eighteen fifty nine, before there

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<v Speaker 1>were power grids and cell phones. In eighteen fifty nine,

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<v Speaker 1>the flare was so bright that people could read at night.

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<v Speaker 1>The last flare of any real importance happened in nine

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<v Speaker 1>eight nine. It was minor compared to eighteen fifty nine,

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<v Speaker 1>but it took out a power grid in Ontario. The

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<v Speaker 1>reasons scientists are talking about solar storms now is because

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<v Speaker 1>the solar cycle lasts eleven years and we're due for

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<v Speaker 1>a peak in the next year or two. The problem

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<v Speaker 1>is that a strong storm now could affect so many

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<v Speaker 1>different things, not just power grids, but also the GPS

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<v Speaker 1>system and cell phones and much more prolific computer systems.

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<v Speaker 1>Is there anything you can do? A large scale power

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<v Speaker 1>grid failure could create problems with things like access to

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<v Speaker 1>drinking water, refrigeration, gasoline, and money. To be prepared, you

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<v Speaker 1>would want to stock up like you would for a

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<v Speaker 1>major hurricane blip. Can a shirt make you a better athlete? Maybe,

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<v Speaker 1>at least if you play in the NFL. Imagine a

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<v Speaker 1>shirt that contains sensors for things like acceleration, pulse, and

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<v Speaker 1>breathing rate. The shirt can also transmit the data out

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<v Speaker 1>to Bluetooth devices. NFL players have started to wear shirts

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<v Speaker 1>like this from under Armour, and it's thought that the

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<v Speaker 1>extra data will help coaches improve player performance. Eventually, the

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<v Speaker 1>shirts will make their way down to the retail market

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<v Speaker 1>and normal human beings will be able to wear them.

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<v Speaker 1>I guess to make us better, stronger, faster, and all that. Blip.

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon started to compete with the Netflix streaming service this week.

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon has been competing with Netflix sort of with its

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<v Speaker 1>pay per view movies. You pay Amazon two or three

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<v Speaker 1>dollars to rent a movie for a twenty four hour

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<v Speaker 1>period of time. But now Amazon is streaming movies and

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<v Speaker 1>TV shows just like Netflix, and the services free to

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<v Speaker 1>people who have already signed up for Amazon Prime. Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>Prime is best known for giving you free to day

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<v Speaker 1>shipping on your purchases. The selection on Amazon right now

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<v Speaker 1>is a little sparse compared to Netflix, but it's also

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<v Speaker 1>cheaper than Netflix. Another company who appears to be getting

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<v Speaker 1>into the same kind of space is Direct TV, which

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<v Speaker 1>has been talking about its ability to stream six thousand

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<v Speaker 1>movies and TV shows at no extra charge to its customers. Blip.

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<v Speaker 1>When you buy a PC, you pay for the computer itself.

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<v Speaker 1>We all know that, but if you ever considered the

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<v Speaker 1>cost of the computers elector tricity, this could be especially

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<v Speaker 1>relevant if you have a desktop machine and it contains

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<v Speaker 1>a high end graphics card. It turns out these graphics

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<v Speaker 1>cards consume a lot of power, as do high end CPUs.

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<v Speaker 1>Tom's Hardware did an analysis of this, and your computer

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<v Speaker 1>plus it's graphics card could in theory be costing over

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred dollars a year just for the electricity it

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<v Speaker 1>takes to run it. So when you're purchasing a PC,

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<v Speaker 1>you might want to keep the energy consumption in mind.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're on a budget, a hundred dollars per year

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<v Speaker 1>is not an insignificant amount of cash. Blip. One thing

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<v Speaker 1>that took the Internet by storm in February is a

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<v Speaker 1>video that shows an Esure waterfall that really works. You've

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<v Speaker 1>probably seen the drawings by mc escher that show an

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<v Speaker 1>impossible waterfall. The water runs downhill in a channel, but

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<v Speaker 1>because it's an optical illusion, the water is really running

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<v Speaker 1>uphill and then it spills over a waterfall to drive

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<v Speaker 1>a water wheel where the process we're peats. It makes

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<v Speaker 1>sense in a drawing, but the YouTube video shows one

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<v Speaker 1>of these waterfalls working in real life. Obviously, it can't

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<v Speaker 1>be true because it would be a perpetual motion machine,

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<v Speaker 1>but it certainly looks real. You're left to wonder how

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<v Speaker 1>they made the video. If you google brain stuff waterfall,

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<v Speaker 1>you can see the video and also an explanation of

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<v Speaker 1>how the video might have been created. It's really an

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<v Speaker 1>interesting trick if the explanation is correct. Blip. Another water

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<v Speaker 1>based video this week is a promotional video for something

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<v Speaker 1>called the jet lev Flyer. This is a piece of

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<v Speaker 1>technology that uses the power of water jets to let

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<v Speaker 1>a person fly over a lake. The person wears a

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<v Speaker 1>backpack that contains two water nozzles that look a lot

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<v Speaker 1>like the ends of a fire hose. There's one on

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<v Speaker 1>either side attach to this backpack. Water shoots out of

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<v Speaker 1>these nozzles to create enough thrust to lift the person

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<v Speaker 1>out of the water up to about twenty ft high

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<v Speaker 1>hand controls allow the person who's wearing the backpack to

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<v Speaker 1>change the angles of the nozzles to control flight. Supplying

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<v Speaker 1>all the high pressure water that these nozzles need are

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<v Speaker 1>two large hoses that connect down to this boat like

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<v Speaker 1>object in the water. The boat has an engine driving

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<v Speaker 1>a pump, and it follows along behind the person in

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<v Speaker 1>the air as the two hoses kind of drag it along.

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<v Speaker 1>Is this practical? No? Is it inexpensive? Probably not? But

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<v Speaker 1>would it be fun to try? Probably? You can watch

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<v Speaker 1>the video by googling interesting Reading number six nine and

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<v Speaker 1>decide for yourself if you give something like this a

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<v Speaker 1>try blip. Also an interesting Reading number six nine is

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<v Speaker 1>the latest robotic hand that is quote nearly identical end

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<v Speaker 1>quote to a human hand. It's called the DART hand,

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<v Speaker 1>where DART stands for dexterous anthropomorphic robotic typing. Yes, the

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<v Speaker 1>hand is precise enough to do tie, being at about

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<v Speaker 1>twenty words per minute, and it's laid out much like

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<v Speaker 1>your human hand. Is laid out with muscles in the

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<v Speaker 1>forearm and wires carrying the motion down to the fingers

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<v Speaker 1>like tendons do in a real human hand. So in theory,

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<v Speaker 1>one day Watson will be able to not only press

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<v Speaker 1>the button, but also type out his answers if he

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<v Speaker 1>wants to blip. An accidental discovery involving lab mice may

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<v Speaker 1>have uncovered a cure for baldness. The accident involved a

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<v Speaker 1>chemical designed to block a stress hormone called CRF. The mice,

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<v Speaker 1>because of genetic modifications, produced too much of this hormone.

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<v Speaker 1>As a result, the mice would become bald on their backs.

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<v Speaker 1>By blocking CRF. As part of another experiment on digestion problems,

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<v Speaker 1>the scientists noticed that the blocking chemical fix the baldness

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<v Speaker 1>as well. Now it's time to test the same idea

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<v Speaker 1>in humans and see if it works there as well. Blip.

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<v Speaker 1>Google is sponsoring a thirty million dollar prize for the

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<v Speaker 1>first team that can land on the Moon and drive

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<v Speaker 1>for five meters with a little rover. This week, Google

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<v Speaker 1>pick twenty nine teams that will be allowed to compete

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<v Speaker 1>for the actual prize. One of the front runners is

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<v Speaker 1>a team called Astrobotic Technology. They already have a contract

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<v Speaker 1>for a ride that will get them to the Moon

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<v Speaker 1>on top of a SpaceX Falcon nine rocket. Their craft

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<v Speaker 1>will soft land on the Moon and then deploy its

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<v Speaker 1>solar powered pyramid rover. In theory, this competition could be

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<v Speaker 1>completed as early as two thousand and fifteen, and from

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<v Speaker 1>there is anybody's guess how many different missions can be

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<v Speaker 1>launched to the Moon by private explorers. Blip. In two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand and ten, we heard a lot about solar and

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<v Speaker 1>wind power, and there was a good reason for it.

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<v Speaker 1>According to one report, the amount of solar energy being

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<v Speaker 1>captured on Earth doubled in two thousand and ten. The

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<v Speaker 1>world added the ability to generate about sixteen billion watts

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<v Speaker 1>of solar electricity in a single year, roughly doubling the

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<v Speaker 1>amount of electricity previously generated from the Sun. This happened

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<v Speaker 1>despite the economic downturn. People think it happened because the

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<v Speaker 1>price of solar power is falling very quickly, and because

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<v Speaker 1>big players are getting into the solar power field now,

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<v Speaker 1>especially in Europe. The price of solar panels are down

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<v Speaker 1>to dollar eighty per watt right now, half that three

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<v Speaker 1>years ago. The United States and China accounted only for

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<v Speaker 1>about seven percent of the total. It really is Europe

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<v Speaker 1>that's driving the solar energy push right now. Blip. And

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<v Speaker 1>finally there's a piece of really really good news on

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<v Speaker 1>the medical front this week. Currently, there are a number

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<v Speaker 1>of diseases that modern medical science can cure. Things like

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<v Speaker 1>scurvy and ricketts are virtually unheard of anymore. We've taken

0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.600
<v Speaker 1>giant steps with things like ulcers, and vaccines have cut

0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.840
<v Speaker 1>way out on many viral diseases. But there's only one

0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:07.280
<v Speaker 1>disease that human beings have completely eradicated, and that smallpox.

0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.640
<v Speaker 1>No one on earth gets smallpox anymore. We could be

0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.600
<v Speaker 1>at the point of eradicating another disease next year. It's

0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.600
<v Speaker 1>a parasite called the guinea worm. This worm can get

0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.200
<v Speaker 1>to be up to a meter long inside a patient

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:26.200
<v Speaker 1>and it's disgusting. Used to be that millions of people

0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.920
<v Speaker 1>had this parasite, but now it's down to hundreds. So

0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.000
<v Speaker 1>how has it been eradicated? In order to reproduce, this

0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.360
<v Speaker 1>worm has to wiggle its way through the skin and

0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.760
<v Speaker 1>release its eggs into water. By quarantining everyone with the

0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.800
<v Speaker 1>disease and keeping them away from water, the number of

0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:49.040
<v Speaker 1>worms has been decimated. With luck, the last cases will

0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.160
<v Speaker 1>be contained as well, and this worm will be history.

0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.720
<v Speaker 1>It will be completely dead and no one will get

0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.760
<v Speaker 1>this disgusting parasite anymore. That would be a major triumph

0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:03.480
<v Speaker 1>for people in Africa. Flip and finally there's a new

0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.600
<v Speaker 1>car that shows that the arrival of robotic automobiles is

0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.480
<v Speaker 1>getting closer and closer. They're already cars that can automatically

0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.520
<v Speaker 1>steer themselves into a parallel parking place, and now the

0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.960
<v Speaker 1>Volvo S sixty sedan is gaining the ability to stop

0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.760
<v Speaker 1>if it sees a pedestrian in front of it. It

0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.360
<v Speaker 1>uses a radar system that can look out in front

0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.640
<v Speaker 1>of the car as well as a camera, and it

0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.600
<v Speaker 1>allows it to see, so to speak, pedestrians that are

0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.560
<v Speaker 1>in the path of the vehicle, and if it detects

0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.840
<v Speaker 1>a pedestrian that's out there, it will automatically break the

0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.880
<v Speaker 1>vehicle for you if you don't take steps to avoid

0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.120
<v Speaker 1>the pedestrian. Obviously, this is great news if you are

0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:47.440
<v Speaker 1>a pedestrian and a Volvo S sixty is headed right

0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.200
<v Speaker 1>towards you, but it also shows how much more automated

0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.280
<v Speaker 1>cars are becoming. In the near future. We can expect

0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:59.560
<v Speaker 1>to see things like pedestrian avoidance, lane following, automatic breaking

0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.600
<v Speaker 1>if a horrors stopped in front of you, and so

0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.320
<v Speaker 1>on on more and more cars. All of the articles

0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.920
<v Speaker 1>that we've discussed this week are available on the blogs

0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.240
<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com. The easiest way to

0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.640
<v Speaker 1>find them is either to go to the blogs, or

0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:15.800
<v Speaker 1>you can just go to Google and type in the

0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.840
<v Speaker 1>words interesting reading plus the number of the article. This

0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:26.400
<v Speaker 1>week we've covered interesting reading number six nineties and six three.

0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.720
<v Speaker 1>Until next time, I'm Marshall brain Have a great weekend.

0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.480
<v Speaker 1>For more on this and thousands of other topics, doesn't

0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.800
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com and don't forget to check

0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.760
<v Speaker 1>out the brain stuff blog on the house stuff works

0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.360
<v Speaker 1>dot com home page. You can also follow brain stuff

0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:46.520
<v Speaker 1>on Facebook or Twitter at brain stuff hs W. The

0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.120
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