4 February 2022 Show Notes
Story 1: Scientists create the world’s thinnest magnet
Source: University of California Berkeley news release, Theresa Duque, Berkeley Lab
Link: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/scientists-create-world-s-thinnest-magnet
See video here: https://vimeo.com/577358949
Okay, time to geek out!
For decades, scientists have searched for ways to make thinner and smaller 2D magnets to enable digital data to be stored at a much higher density than currently possible.
Right now, the magnetic component of today’s digital memory devices is typically made of magnetic thin films.
At the atomic level, today’s magnetic thin films are three-dimensional — with a thickness of hundreds or thousands of atoms. And this thickness limits the
amount of data that can be stored.
But now, a team of scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California Berkeley have created an ultrathin magnet made of a single atomic layer of zinc oxide atoms combined with some oxygen and cobalt atoms.
This breakthrough could lead to a new generation of higher-density, super compact spintronics-based memory devices.
Spintronics refers to using the spin of an electron to represent binary data (0 or 1).
In addition to much higher data storage capacity, spintronics memory devices using single atomic layer magnetic thin films would offer much higher speed while requiring less power than today’s conventional memory technologies.
Story 2: New Wireless Electronic Sensor to Monitor Bone Health
Source: Medgadget.com Story by Conn Hastings
Link: https://www.medgadget.com/2021/11/wireless-electronic-sensor-to-monitor-bone-health.html
Today it’s difficult for doctors to monitor precisely how a bone is healing.
Recently, engineers and orthopedic specialists at the University of Arizona built a tiny wireless sensor [about the size of a penny] designed to monitor bone health over long periods of time.
The battery-free device measures a variety of physiological factors, such as temperature and bone strain, and could be useful for patients with osteoporosis or to monitor healing and guide rehabilitation after a fracture.
The wireless sensor could also help with clinical decisions, such as when to remove plates or screws from a bone.
And this is really cool: The device is attached to the bone surface using a calcium adhesive, which causes the bone to grow and fuse with the device for long-term implantation.
Story 3: Now there’s a new miniaturized brain imaging system in the form of a lightweight helmet
Source: Medgadget.com Story by Conn Hastings
Link: https://www.medgadget.com/2022/01/wearable-helmet-for-non-invasive-optical-
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24G74Voppeo
California-based company Kernel has developed a helmet [called the Kernel Flow] that can perform time domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging of the brain.
Time domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy is a non-invasive brain imaging technique that measures blood oxygenation changes and blood flow in real-time allowing doctors to access important physiological diagnostic information.
To date, most systems to perform this brain imaging process have been large desktop or small refrigerator-sized systems with multiple wires connecting to sensors in a head cap worn by the patient.
Although not the first of its kind to come to market, the new Kernel Flow helmet is representative of a rapidly emerging crop of game changing, much smaller, self-contained, and portable alternatives.
Weighing just 4.4 lbs, the helmet consists of four plates that contain 52 modules, which each contain two laser sources.
The rapid laser pulses pass through the scalp and skull and a series of six detectors to generate the brain images.
Reality check:
The Kernel Flow helmet team says refinements are still needed to account for different hair types and skin types.
Top of the line model is $99,200.
Story 4: Key trend to watch — Walmart and other Fortune 500 companies are now using virtual reality to train the next generation of American workers
Source: CNBC Story by Chris Morris
Link: https://cnb.cx/3fpaqGu
When you say “Virtual Reality” most of us immediately think of video gamers wearing large headsets that cover their eyes while using motion and direction controllers in their hands to navigate total immersion 3D games.
But virtual reality [or VR for short] is not just for fun and games.
A key trend to watch is the rapid adoption of VR by American businesses to train
employees.
Several Fortune 500 companies, including Boeing, UPS and Walmart, are using VR for worker education and training programs.
UPS, for example, uses VR headsets to help drivers learn to spot a variety of potential traffic hazards as they drive down virtual roads.
Walmart is arguably the leader when it comes to VR training.
Last year the retailer started using VR at its 220 Walmart employee training Academies around the United States.
And here’s the good news: Companies report seeing retention rates and productivity numbers rise when they use VR as a training tool.
Story 5: A dairy farmer in Turkey outfitted two of his cows with virtual reality headsets to see if their milk output in the winter would increase
Source: The UK’s Sun newspaper
Link: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17245150/cows-cooped-up-for-winter-get-virtual-reality-goggles/
I know this sounds too whacky to be real, but this one is actually true!
A dairy farmer in Turkey had a problem. During the winter when his herd is cooped up in barns milk production goes down.
The Turkish farmer’s barn-confined cows were producing only 5.8 gallons a day. Much less than when his cows are outside.
What if he could make his cows think they’re out in a beautiful pasture? Would that increase milk output?
Using custom VR headsets developed with veterinarians and first tested on a farm in Moscow, he outfitted two of his cows with a VR goggle for each eye to see what might happen.
You have to see a photo of the cows wearing the goggles, it’s hilarious!
Okay, I did some research on my own and learned that dairy cows here in the US produce on average at least 7.5 gallons of milk a day.
After using the experimental VR system the milk output from the two test cows jumped from 5.8 up to 7.1 gallons a day.
The farmer says he plans to buy ten more VR headsets, as he’s convinced that the two test cows experienced an emotional boost and were less stressed.
Here’s something interesting I learned from this story. Cows don’t see colors the way we do.
Cows are colorblind to red and green.
So, the developers of the VR software used for this experiment had to create a unique outside pasture 3D simulation that adjusts the color tones to ensure the environment would look “natural” to the cows.