Eyes on the road

Driving, or riding in, a motor vehicle is the most dangerous thing most of us do on a regular basis. Is that SMS worth dying for?

/ car automobile accident death road toll fatality illegal damage injury hsopital pain mobile cell phone smartphone smart phone smart-phone /

More about the third generation Tesla electric vehicle (update)

Update: Tesla will be having a Model 3 event in March 2016
http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/tesla-model-3-event-march-2016-may-show.html

Tesla's Roadster was always the first generation in a long term plan to deliver a practical mass market electric vehicle (EV). Second generation Model S has been on sale for some time, & the Model X cross over, in prototype form, has been sighted on California roads.

After a tussle with Ford over the name "Model E", Tesla has renamed their 3rd generation electric vehicle the "Model III".

As a price control measure, the Model III will make extensive use of steel, rather than aluminium, as in the Model S. It will have a range over 200 miles, & be about 20% smaller than the Model S.

When? Elon Musk has said previously, "Hopefully 2016, but I would say no later than 2017."

Performance? Tesla dropped the 40 kWh Model S because it was "sluggish" & "didn't feel like a Tesla". Elon musk has previously indicated that he, doesn't want to deliver a third gen car that "sucks". The article linked below gives further reason to hope that the Model III will have good performance.

Other major point of interest from the item linked below is that Model IIIs will have free access to the Tesla Supercharger network.

And there will be an upgraded, longer range battery for the Roadster.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/87867/tesla-model-3-to-challenge-bmw-3-series-world-exclusive / model names Roadster Model S Model X third-generation vehicle Tesla Model III 3 mass-market vehicle Model E S-E-X Ford Model E trademark Ford sued I thought this is crazy, Ford’s trying to kill sex Model 3, we’ll have three bars to represent it and it’ll be S III X go on sale by 2017 new platform 20% smaller range of over 200 miles Tesla’s British engineering chief Chris Porritt design Supercharger network free upgraded battery Roadster boost range 245 miles 400 /

Ztylus Camera Case & Lens kit for Apple iPhone 5/5S

Probably, there are more photographs taken with cameras in mobile phones than any other class of camera. With their lack of a zoom lens, its not surprising that so many add on lenses have been developed.

Ztylus has developed case & multi-lens combinations for a number of phones, including Samsung Galaxy & iPhones. Their latest, for the iPhone 5/5S, has a unique arrangement of fish-eye, wide-angle, macro & polariser.

http://dailytekk.com/2014/07/09/ztylus-iphone-camera-case-and-revolver-lens-kit-review/

http://www.gizmag.com/ztylus-smartphone-camera-case-lens-system/32724/

http://ztylus.com/ / extra weight bulk smart phone smart-phone smartphone Ztylus stylish case protect iPhone Note 3 S4 circular mount multiple lens system attached cell mobile four additional lens options case and lens system expand photographic capability case aircraft-grade aluminum polycarbonate integrated kickstand Revolver interchangeable lens systems Samsung Galaxy S4 Galaxy Note 3 iPhone 5/5S black white circular polarizer lens /

Google Street View finds gas leaks

Gas leaks in Boston
Credit: Environmental Defense Fund

Methane is a greenhouse gas. Many times worse than carbon dioxide. Around 120 times. Being combustible, it doesn't persist long in the atmosphere. It combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, which still isn't good — just less bad.

Methane is the major component of natural gas. One use of natural gas is domestic heating & cooking. It gets to homes through pipes laid in the ground. As the pipes age, they start to leak. This is not normally a fire risk. But we don't want methane in the atmosphere.

Google & Environmental Defense Fund have co-operated in a pilot project to fit methane sensors to 3 Street View cars.

http://www.edf.org/climate/methanemaps

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/google-uses-its-street-view-cars-to-sniff-out-gas-leaks/#!bgNYyN / street streets Boston Staten Island Indianapolis Google’s Street View cars collecting panoramic imagery fitted with methane sensors cars sniffing out natural gas leaks hazard affects many cities world wide US Environmental Defense Fund EDF Google Earth Outreach conduct pilot project Street View cars gathering 15 million readings thousands of leaks utility pipes beneath the streets providing officials data on pollution used to be invisible EDF’s Fred Krupp data has been added to maps Boston older city with older pipes most leaks Indianapolis newer pipes Staten Island number of located leaks immediate threat to safety utilities monitor deal with the more serious ones powerful effect on the global climate warming effect carbon dioxide climate change global warming greenhouse effect gas plug leaks leak reduce near-term climate impacts inexpensive sensors cloud computing data analysis social media transforming environmental protection /

Malaria control: X marks the spot

Credit: SPL/The Economist

After 5,000 years, malaria remains a major disease of humanity. Every minute, a child dies from malaria & it remains a major cause of poverty worldwide, due to effects such as worker productivity, absenteeism, premature mortality & medical costs.

Now there is hope that a genetic approach may lead to control of Anopheles gambiae, a major species of the mosquito which carries the malaria parasite.

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21604092-how-get-mosquitoes-breed-themselves-death-x-marks-spot
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Other references:

http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6872/full/415680a.html / mosquito kill disease control controlling malaria insecticides eliminate malaria selective selectively killing transmits parasite mosquitoes genus Anopheles Nikolai Windbichler Andrea Crisanti Imperial College London paper Nature Communications females break the chain of transmission drink blood pass the parasite on longer term because females population cannot reproduce researchers’ trick engineer mosquitoes gene protein called homing endonuclease genetic parasite cut particular sequences of DNA damages chromosome destroy destroys chromosome copy copies endonuclease gene repair site homing parasitism homing endonuclease species of slime mould X chromosome destroying chromosome completely humans X chromosomes Y males unfertilised egg sperm cell transplanting endonuclease gene genomes male mosquitoes spermatogenesis researchers population caged populations experimented in the wild will break the chain of transmission natural selection parasite has gone reintroduced disruption to the local ecology /

Retinal scanner for Samsung Galaxy Note 4?

Credit: Samsung/BGR

A cryptic tweet from a Samsung account, which includes the image above, reads in part, "Security can be improved using features unique to us,” has lead BGR to speculate that the new Note 4 will include an, "eye scanner".

http://bgr.com/2014/07/14/galaxy-note-4-specs-eye-scanner/ / Samsung's sales starting to slow increased competition low end of the smartphone market saturation at the high end hit company profit declined third consecutive quarter several huge adjustments launch new high-end phones truly compelling differentiation combat Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 handsets flagship phone Galaxy S5 soon-to-be-announced Galaxy Note 4 recent tweet official Samsung account new key Galaxy Note 4 image eye most secure smartphones hot topic unlock unlocking specs quad-core or octa-core processor 2K display 3GB RAM 32GB 16-megapixel rear camera 4-megapixel front-facing camera /

The effect of breastfeeding on infants

It has long been known that human breast milk has a positive outcome for baby's immune, & neurological development, but recent research is showing that breast milk of a mother nursing a male baby is different than that of a mother nursing a female baby & composition of breast milk can have impacts on baby's behaviour months later.

Read the transcript, stream, or download the podcast at:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/the-effect-of-breastfeeding-on-infants/5587144 / mother's breast milk contributes contribution immunological immune system neurobiological neurological neural behaviour behavioural develop development research researchers University of Chicago investigate investigation investigating how variation mother mother's milk shapes infant temperament behaviour post-natal post natal life adult adulthood /