Anti-drunk driving technology won’t start the car if you’re smashed

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s anti-drunk driving technology won’t let you get away with driving sloshed — it won’t even let you start the car. At a recent event, the agency has revealed the prototype of two candidates for the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) tech that it’s been developing since 2008. One is an unobtrusive breathalyzer mounted either on the steering wheel or the driver-side door that can “smell” your breath even if you don’t lean in closely. The other is a touch sensor embedded in an ignition button or a gear shift that scans your finger for your Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). Both car add-ons are capable of detecting whether your BAC is beyond the legal limit of 0.08, and both of them are designed to keep you from taking the car anywhere if that’s the case.

Not everyone’s thrilled about the fledgling system, though: American Beverage Institute, a restaurant association, believes DADSS won’t be able to curb drunk driving. Managing Director Sarah Longwell told The Detroit News that it “will simply stop many responsible social drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner from starting their cars,” since BAC rises as alcohol gets absorbed into your bloodstream.

To be clear, the agency will not require automakers — some of which are working on anti-drunk driving tech of their own — to install the system when it’s ready. NHTSA head Mark Rosekind just hopes that after it gets tested on government vehicles in a few years, people would find it useful or even necessary. That will take a while, though, since the agency believes research and development of the final product could take five to eight years more.

According to Rosekind:

There is still a great deal of work to do, but support from Congress and the industry has helped us achieve key research and development milestones. DADSS has enormous potential to prevent drunk driving in specific populations such as teen drivers and commercial fleets, and making it an option available to vehicle owners would provide a powerful new tool in the battle against drunk driving deaths.

[Image credit: Vicheslav/Getty]

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Autoblog

Source: Detroit News, DADSS

Airbus thinks it can trump SpaceX’s reusable rockets

Airbus isn’t done trying to beat SpaceX… in fact, it’s going for the jugular. The German aerospace firm has unveiled Adeline, a reusable first-stage rocket engine that aims to one-up the efforts from its American rival. Rather than try to return the entire first stage to Earth, Adeline carries just the most expensive bits, the engine and avionics. The machine has an aerodynamic shield that reduces engine stress on the way down, and two winglets with rotary motors to guide the craft safely to the ground — Airbus envisions the rocket segment landing on runways, not launchpads. This approach reportedly requires much less fuel than SpaceX’s approach, and would lop as much as 30 percent off routine launch costs.

Not that Elon Musk and company are worried about this upstart, at least not in the short term. Adeline only exists as a scale prototype right now, and it isn’t expected to launch until 2025 even if it gets the necessary financial backing. If it pans out, though, it could help usher in an era of cheaper spaceflight where key components are rarely thrown away.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: SpaceNews, Slashdot

Source: BergerSN (YouTube)

GE’s big-nosed wind turbine generates more power

Despite their giant blades, most wind turbines waste a lot of energy — gusts around the rotor don’t really generate electricity at all. GE thinks it can do better, however. Its experimental ecoROTR turbine touts a big, rotating aluminum nose that sends wind directly toward the blades, where it’s more effective. The current design boosts the power output by a modest 3 percent, but that could matter a lot in a large wind farm. The big deal may be what comes next. EcoROTR allows for bigger rotors without having to use larger, harder-to-transport blades. If it ventures beyond the prototype stage, you could see more wind farms in remote locations that both produce more power and keep giant, noisy towers away from your neighborhood.

Filed under: Misc, Science

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Source: GE Reports

Monkeys may be the first primates to get successful head transplants

Outside of horror and sci-fi flicks, head transplants aren’t really viable. What attempts have been made so far usually kill the unfortunate test subjects within a day, and they can’t really survive without life support. Researchers at China’s Harbin Medical University think they can do better, however. In the wake of hundreds of mouse operations, the scientists are planning to conduct the first primate head transplants where the patient survives on its own for at least a while. The surgery will connect only a fraction of the spinal nerve fibers in the long-tailed macaque monkeys going under the knife, but it should be enough to maintain voluntary muscle movement and other crucial functions.

As you might imagine, the procedure is loaded with ethical concerns. Whether or not you’re not averse to animal testing in the first place, the notion of performing a head transplant (especially one where the patient likely won’t live long) could easily go beyond the pale — the Harbin tests probably wouldn’t have received funding in the US. There are a number of major technical hurdles to conquer before this is practical for humans, too, such as boosting the number of nerve connections, preventing immune system rejection and keeping the brain healthy in mid-surgery.

The hope, of course, is that all these troubles will pay off. You’d theoretically have a head transplant as a option when replacing limbs and organs just isn’t possible. One neurosurgeon, Sergio Canavero, is even vowing to try a human head transplant within two years. The plans are ambitious (and arguably grotesque), but the very fact that they’re even on the table shows how much medical technology has changed in recent years.

[Image credit: AP Photo/David Longstreath]

Filed under: Science

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Source: Wiley Online Library, Wall Street Journal

Carl Sagan’s solar spacecraft finally deploys its sails

The Planetary Society’s LightSail spacecraft just dodged another bullet — the ground crew has not only regained contact with the Carl Sagan-inspired ship, but managed to deploy its sails. It’s still not clear just what rendered the vessel silent last week. However, the Society suspects that there might have been a “ping-pong effect” where LightSail’s batteries got too little power in the darkness, and too much in sunlight. In short, the machine might not have had a chance to operate normally until now.

As for what’s next? This early test is taking place at too low an altitude for actual sailing, but Society head Bill Nye expects plenty of energy-giving sunlight for the vehicle’s next orbital pass. Hopefully, LightSail’s worst headaches are over. We’re sure the team would like to focus on the actual test rather than keeping its experimental spaceship alive and well.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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Via: NBC News

Source: Bill Nye (Twitter), Planetary Society