Brodie
Feeney
Mr
Youell
23/3/2015
THE FUTURE IS NOW
The future is now. It really seems to be.
After searching over some amazing articles, I found some of the greatest
inventions and achievements of 2014, may it be as comical as the first Hover
board or something as extreme as landing a spacecraft on comet.
This is something that many people
including myself have been wishing for since they have seen Back to the Future
2. It is the Hover Board; it may not be as slim and fast as the one seen in the
movie but I still want one. The writer of the article
in GIGAOM, Signe Brewster had the chance to ride and talk to the founder of the
Arx Pax company and creators of the Hendo Hover Board (see figure 1) Greg and
Jill Henderson. She described her short ride “As if I was standing on a giant
air hockey puck hovering three quarters of an inch above the ground.” At the
time she was not brave enough to try any sharp turns or anything more than
slowly moving between 2 instructors. After talking with Arx pax founder she
learned that they were not trying to create a new way to get across town, they
were really just taking a small step of their larger idea which was to create
hover technology for anything they want. Arx Pax is trying over the next year
to make the board smaller and stylish and expect to make it silent. I then read
over the comments of the story expecting people to be excited but found lots of
negativity. Many Complaints of its battery and shape, I see how the community
is slightly disappointed but I am excited, I wouldn't be surprised if in a few
years these will be what everyone dreamed for.
Figure
1 The Hendo Hover Board
In the past many soldiers have died from
blood loss in war but this will happen no more, thanks to the simple invention
called XSTAT. This article that I read by Popular
science by Rose Pastrose, is able to explain the use and application of XSTAT
very clearly. This syringe (see in figure 2) filled with tiny sponges is able
to seal a gunshot wound in 15 seconds and stop heavy bleeding. Steinburg the
creator of XSTAT says “By the time you even put a bandage over the wound, the
bleeding has already stopped.” Compared to earlier methods where the treatment
may be as painful as the wound itself the XSTAT is the obvious choice. This
syringe will inject tiny sponges coated in blood-clotting antibacterial
substance and these sponges will then expand in the wound causing the Bleeding
to stop. This invention will boost survival in the battlefield and spare
injured soldiers from additional pain. The company behind XSTAT, REVMEDEX was
given the seed grant, sponsored by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In
the future they Hope to be able to heal larger wounds and make the sponges
biodegradable so they do not have to take them out.
Figure
2 The XSTAT syringe
If getting to another planet wasn't hard
enough, well now we have managed to land a spacecraft on a comet. In the
article I first read by the Guardian
you are given a full insight into the entire mission. The Rosetta mission
currently hopes to unlock the secrets behind the comet and learn more of how
the solar system was formed. The idea of landing the probe on the comet was
already seen as impossible and only got harder overtime as they learned the
shape of the comet, making it hard for the probe to even land. They learned
quickly also that they would not be able to control the ship real-time and
would have to precalculate the entire mission, calculating every variable. The
situation only got worse when they learned that the probe did not land
correctly and are now scared that the stability of the probe will not last as
long as they hoped. But the probe is anchored down at the moment and will be
able take sample of the comet, thus revealing the entire internal structure of
the comet. This quote By Chris Hadfield the former Canadian astronaut and
commander of the International Space Station gives you a good explanation of
why this is so important “Comets are the original source of Earth’s water. That
lander is now in position, poised to re-write what we know about ourselves.”
This will show to be one of the greatest moments in our history.
Figure
3 the probe orbiting the comet
Overall this year was filled with many
exciting and important moments, many of which I did not get the chance bring up.
But these few will forever leave their mark in medical and space history and a little
bit of fun. I personally can’t believe that somewhere out there, someone is
riding their own Hover board or someone is having there life saved in record
time or a probe is mapping the movement of a comet. Each of these companies and
industries hope to do better and more things to change the world as we know it
in the coming years and this makes me feel that 2014 will act as the start of a
larger future.
Sources
I really enjoyed reading your articles, you gave a lot of good information and a opinion based on the facts :)
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