ICYMI: Egyptian tomb tech, new fusion reactors and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: Everyone who ever wanted to be Indiana Jones or just give up on it all and join an archeological dig will be interested in this: A new project called "Scan Pyramids" will use infrared scanners and cosmic ray detector...

Ghost Ship salvaged from the vicinity of Golden Gate Bridge


Go a little towards the western regions of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and you will discover that many ghost ships have been unearthed from the depths. Over 300 sunken ships are...

Chinese To Map Malaysia Airlines MH370 Search Area Ocean Floor


Australian authorities heading the southern Indian Ocean search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 reported that the null of the ocean floor this week. The unstated goal is apparently to do a seafloor...

Missing Jet Black Box Search Heads To Ocean Floor


On day 38 of the search for the missing Malaysian Boeing 777-200, Australian authorities are now taking their efforts as far underwater as possible. That is, using the U.S. Navy’s autonomous...

ReelSonar Helps You Catch Fish with Your Smartphone

If you’re the outdoorsy type who likes to fish, a new project is up on Indiegogo that will help you improve your catch. The project is called ReelSonar and it’s a high-tech fishing bobber. It looks pretty much like a normal fishing bobber except it has sonar technology inside, and can communicate with your smartphone.

reelsonar1

That sonar technology is able to shoot ultrasonic sound waves into the water up to 150 feet deep to find where the fish are hiding. The fancy bobber connects to your Android or iOS smartphone using Bluetooth 4.0 to show you where the fish are. The bobber will even sense the water temperature and salinity and suggest the best bait to use.

reelsonar

When the fish finally come to bite your bait, the bobber will light up and the app will signal that fish are nearby. The app will even give you the relative size of the fish and estimate how many fish are nearby. Once you find a honey hole, you can tag the location of the spot using GPS.

The first 300 orders can get a ReelSonar unit and the app for just $79(USD). After that, the price goes up to $99. If the project reaches its $70,000 funding goal by January 21, the product will be released this Summer.

‘Sonar Vision’ system touted by researchers to help the blind hear what they can’t see

Sonar Vision

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a prototype system that could one day aid the congenitally blind by converting video into auditory cues. The "Sonar Vision" works in a similar way to a bat's echolocation system, but instead of chirping, uses a video camera embedded in a pair of glasses. A laptop or smartphone then converts the images into sound, which is transmitted to a headset. After 70 hours or so of training, that allowed users to identify objects like faces or houses, position objects in space and even identify individual letters. Surprisingly, researchers also found that after only several hours using the device, regions of the cerebral cortex dedicated to sight became activated for the first time in the congenitally sightless. That could possibly let doctors "wake up" regions of the brain never before used, according to the team, "even after a lifetime of blindness."

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

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Via: Ubergizmo

Source: CEA

University of Victoria’s Mano underwater robot to prowl Arctic waters for legendary ships

University of Victoria's Mano underwater robot to prowl Arctic waters for legendary ships

Canadians well-versed in their history are very aware of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage: a British voyage that set out to establish a sailing route through the Arctic and ended with the untimely, mysterious deaths of its two ship crews. No human ever found the abandoned ships, which makes it all the more fitting that the next best shot at discovery might come through a just-launched autonomous underwater vehicle from the University of Victoria and Bluefin Robotics. Meet the Mano, a new sonar-toting robot that can produce detailed undersea maps all by its lonesome while keeping a steady altitude above the ocean floor. It can only operate for 12 hours at a time, which will keep humans in the area, but its ability to run untethered below storms and cold Arctic winds should dramatically expand the territory that researchers can cover during their share of a larger five- to six-week journey. There's no guarantee that the Mano will hit the jackpot, or find something recognizable even if it does. Still, any mapping should improve navigation for modern boats -- and hopefully prevent others from sharing Sir Franklin's fate.

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University of Victoria's Mano underwater robot to prowl Arctic waters for legendary ships originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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