Kevin Lepton

Individual Genome Testing Could Fall to Less than $1,000

Mar 082012

The New York Times is reporting that individualized human genome testing could in the near future fall to less than $1,000. Dozens of Silicon Valley firms are now in a race to make this happen.

According to the NY Times, “The promise is that low-cost gene sequencing will lead to a new era of personalized medicine, yielding new approaches for treating cancers and other serious diseases. The arrival of such cures has been glacial, however, although the human genome was originally sequenced more than a decade ago.

“Now that is changing, in large part because of the same semiconductor industry manufacturing trends that opened up consumer devices like the PC and the smartphone: exponential increases in processing power and transistor density are accompanied by costs that fall at an accelerating rate.”

This future medical technology that will soon appear less than 5 years from now opens up both positive and negative implications. On the positive side are personalized medicine, nanorobots for surgery and other person-specific treatments.

On the flipside, however are the negative implications in which Ezra Klein points out in his Washington Post article. According to Klein, “In 2008, Congress overwhelmingly passed, and President George W. Bush signed, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Ron Paul was the lone dissenter. The legislation bars insurers from denying coverage or raising premiums on individuals who show a genetic predisposition toward particular diseases. And in doing, it armed a time bomb beneath the health-care industry.”

So, what this means is that while doctors and surgeons are providing us higher levels of medical treatment, the insurance companies and corporations could be using the data to discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions or worse the mathematical potential to have certain ailments based upon these genome tests.

What do you think – is the glass half empty or half full on this one?

Future Weapons – Military Non-Lethal Applications and Purpose

Future Weapons Comments Off

Jan 242012

The US military produces a lot of weapons for all sorts of missions all over the globe. However, not all of these weapons are designed or made for the purpose of killing people. The military does not always want to kill people who stand in its way, only deter them.

Often times, the military designs and produces weapons that are non-lethal in nature. This means that, upon fired this type of weapon will not inflict a wound that will kill a person. That is why such weapons are called non-lethal weapons. Following are some of the latest and the most high tech military non-lethal weapons that are in use these days.

Active Denial System:

More and more combat vehicles are being fitted with this high tech weapon these days. Vehicles such as a variant of Leopard 2 battle tank and hummers are being fitted with these Active Denial Systems. This weapon works with the help of the dish that is fitted on top of the vehicle. This dish projects very high electromagnetic radiation. This electromagnetic radiation can easily penetrate the human skin and starts the effect by heating the cells. This sensation of heated cells panics the person who is under the fire from this weapon and helps to disable his or her movements.

Running Gear Entanglement System (RGES):

The main purpose of the Running Gear Entanglement System, a high tech military non-lethal weapon is to protect the Navy ships along with other waterside assets such as marinas and museums. This weapon works by fouling the propeller of any unauthorized vessel(s) that attempts to approach any restricted areas around the navy ships or the watersides. Overall, this weapon can easily help to stop the assault of an enemy ship on the US Navy ships and help to keep the navy troops safe from any sort of night sneak attacks.

Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL):

The concept of ATL revolves around a high tech infrared laser that can be carried in an aircraft or an air-to ground strike mission. The purpose of advanced tactical laser is to provide pinpoint accuracy on the target area without putting too much of own forces at risk and to reduce damage as well.

Benefits of Using Military Non-Lethal Weapons:

Non-lethal weapons, as the name suggests works on the concept of eliminating a threat without eliminating a human. The very purpose of military non-lethal weapons is to give an advantage to the attackers and stop them without fatally wounding them.

The variety of non-lethal weapons is to facilitate the need of non-lethal weapons over a variety of areas. For instance, such weapons used to protect an embassy may not be effective enough to stop people in a war zone. The main difference in the non-lethal weapons technology is because the military is emphasizing on highly effective weapon technology that can stop any threat without causing a major panic and is effective to be used in any area of the world.

External Links

CNN the Future of War

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/15/tech/innovation/darpa-future-war/index.html

Augmented Reality Lets You See Through Models’ Clothes

Augmented Reality Comments Off

Dec 132011

X-Ray Glasses Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum and the list of supermodels goes on and on. So, have you ever wanted to take a peek underneath what they are wearing? Of course you have and now you can. Is there an app for that? Of course there is.

A company called Moosejaw has come out with a mobile augmented reality app that will let you take a peek underneath their models’ winter clothing in their catalogs. Okay, so you’re saying, big whoop, this isn’t like the X-ray glasses that they used to advertise on the back cover of the old comic books.

No, of course it’s not. Think of the lawsuits for invasion of privacy this would cause if some retail company came out with an app where you could see underneath everyone’s clothing. No, instead, this application is to be used just with the winter clothing catalog to make it more interactive.

And while this may not be the perv cam you were hoping for it is a step into the future of making static print more interactive and interesting. Since the advent of the Internet, print media such as catalogs, newspapers and magazines have taken a hit in readership.

This one little app will bring back some readership and of course customers based upon new technology. One million Twitter impressions can’t be all wrong. People are impressed with this augmented reality app, so look for other print media to soon follow. Future augmented reality will blow your mind.

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