Science blog

Gone are the days when children satisfied themselves with simple games of hopscotch or tag. Heck, there are practically no more "simple toys" in the toy market nowadays wherein it’s slowly being dominated by more and more complicated contraptions. From toy PDA electronic models to enhanced walkie talkies, children nowadays have more discerning taste when it comes to their playing pleasure. So in an age wherein cellphones and digital cameras are just all too common, what’s really the buzz about the wonders of a robot toy? What makes a robot toy tick? And probably, most important, what makes a robot toy click? To put things simply, an electronic robot toy is an extremely sophisticated piece of technology especially for children who have always been used to playing with either plastic, wooden or plush toys. Things are indeed a changin’ nowadays, a robot toy is practically what each and every kid, well boys that is asks for in his wish list. Starting with the very hip and ultra high-tech robot toy, Robo Sapien which promises to be a whole more than just a simple robot toy. A smart robot toy like this actually tries to break the mold ordinary plastic robot toys that only has blinking lights and beeping sound effects. Robot toys that are available in the market today are far more sophisticated than that especially since they’ve been able to make these robot toys more interactive. A very important factor when it comes to ensuring its saleability in this rapidly changing world of toy commerce. Video games have been a common staple when it comes to electronic toy gadgets for children, however these cannot be considered as a robot toy. The once popular Tamagotchi may look and feel like a video game but it is actually in fact a robot toy as well. What’s differentiates the Tamagotchi from being a video game you might ask? Well for one thing, video games are just electronic role playing mind games wherein you have a specific goal or task that must be taken care of while a robot toy like the Tamagotchi is actually highly dependent on the interaction between the Tamagotchi and the user. The Tamagotchi is actually a simulation of what is supposed to be of an animal, just like ordinary toy robots which are mock-ups of human beings while a video game is merely an audio visual device that is used to play games. There are actually all sorts of robot toys available in the market today, from highly sophisticated, not to mention, costly, Robo Sapien to outdated Tamagotchis to high tech robot toy pets that have caused quite a stir even in Japan wherein people don’t really have that much time to take care of a real dog. Robo pets have been creating a lot of buzz in the toy market because of its highly innovative design and almost life like actions, Robo pets usually comes in either a pet dog or a pet cat. It can play fetch, run, heel, even bark at you. This robot pet has certainly come a long, long way from the old wind-up robot toys that used to be every kid’s fancy. Come to think of it, not only children are getting into the whole robot toy craze, with many grown adults now getting more and more hooked to the highly sophisticated robot toys in the market. Considering that adults do have the spending power as compared with children who are still reliant on their parents’ mercy, toy companies are also trying to come out with robot toys that can be appreciated by adults as well.

In 1950, a chiropractor from America named Bernard Jensen began teaching students about the necessity of using natural foods to detoxify the body. He developed a method by which the color of the iris was used to indicate the presence of different toxins. American iridology was born. However, iridology, or the study of disease using the color of the iris and certain color and thickness of lines across the eyeball originated in Europe, when a physician from Hungary and a Swedish pastor both noticed iris markings in connection with disease. The physician-Ignatz von Peczely accidentally injured an owl as a child, breaking its leg. While nursing the owl back to health, the young von Peczely noticed that the thick black mark that appeared in the owl's eye after the injury began to lessen as the owl healed. He never forgot it, and as an adult practicing his profession, he recoded that patients with bone fractures experienced the same black mark across the iris. The Swedish pastor-Nils Liljequist-was exposed to malaria as a young man and while recieveing the treatment of quinine and iodine noticed that his blue eyes began to grow darker as the drugs built up in his system. He grew up to study homeopathic medicine and recorded similar reactions in clients who came to him for detoxification purposes. It has been said that the eyes are the mirror to the soul. The famous Greek physician Hippocrates believed that they were also the mirror to the body-specifically for the purpose of determining various ailments. He too recorded the presence of black marks across the iris of fractured bones in his patients, and a change in the color of the eye of patients coming down with diseases. Unfortunately, iridology cannot be used to determine a specific disease. Practitioners of iridology use it to help patients as a preventative measure understand basic health problems in order to refer them to specialists if needed. The belief is that if a disease is detected in the very early stages it can be prevented from spreading further. The colored part of the eye-the iris-is studied for these markings and color changes by isolating the iris and taking pictures of it with a very strong lens. The process takes about an hour and is painless. The photos are then blown up and gone over with a magnifying glass by the iridologist and used to determine and identify potential ailments. Most of these ailments are believed to be hereditary, and the patients predisposition to toxicity and disease is determined not only by the photos but with an extensive interview of family medical history. This holistic concept is well accepted by other disciplines of alternative medicine, as it is a fact that all parts of the body are related, especially when used to warn the body of an impending degenerative disease. Under this theory, the color changes in the eyes at the very onset of the degenerative disease are used by the body to indicate an upcoming health problem, and to warn the body to seek preventative measures. The concept is not far fetched at all-take the example of chiropractors using the process of correcting the spinal alignment to help internal organs. Even conventional physicians check the eyes for signs of sickness. (Blood vessel size is an indication of the level of cholesterol.) There is, however, some criticism toward iridology as practitioners (especially in the United States) are often not fully or thoroughly trained, as the courses offered are usually no more than two to three days in length and are put on by marketing companies who offer "certification" as an iridologist to their distributors. The result is the potential for over diagnosis with the distributor pushing their products through their "specialist." This tendency toward American consumerism and over marketing has given iridology a black eye (no pun intended) as a reputable form of medicine. When seeking an iridologist, find one who has been certified by the Institute for Applied Iridology or by the International Iridology Research Association in Solana Beach, CA.

Date: 04-23-06 With the price of gasoline on the upswing(again, April 20, 06), there seems to be little sign that we Americans are at least trying to conserve fuel, though there are pockets of concerned groups that are making their voice heard, mainly against Oil Company price gouging. At the same time the automotive advertising media seems to be pushing the higher gas consumption Suv's and cars. Granted, along with trucks, etc., these are the prime fossil fuel guzzlers, but they are by no means the only culprit for our increasing fuel dependency, be it fossil or renewable. With all due respect to mr. Edison, inventor of our non-directly fueled commercial lighting system, which was design for practicality and therefore efficiency at the time had not been entered into the picture. The goal was only to provide a method of supplying the world with inexpensive, widely available commercial lighting. From this gigantic effort, we know, the incandescent light bulb was born. This achievement was, at the time, a monumental gift to the world..., but the future would reveal some flaws. This virtually unchanged technology is still the top lighting source used today. For decades, the incandescent light bulb had little or no competition. Over this time, It has maintained the lowest cost per light unit of output(brightness) than any other lighting technology. All of this time its shortcummings were not challenged, or at least not so heavily, until a much newer technology, the LED(Light Emitting Diode) made its phenominal technological advances in recent years...by surpassing it in light output for the power consumed. All that remains for the LED is the cost per lumen of light output to drop to a competitive level. Given the present LED disparity with the incandescent, the total advantages of LED technology far outweighs this because of its longevity of operation, which is over 10 years in constant use(under most conditions), it is virtually unbreakable and because LEDs give off so little heat due to their much greater efficiency and thus lower operating cost, it far outweighs its present day greater price structure. Consumer Demand For The LED Is The Key ====================================== As the demand levels for this new breed of basic "tear drop" solid state light source increases, the price will come down some more and it will eventually reach that price competitive barrier. Of course, production quantities alone will not be the only influence determining the final selling price of the LED lamp to the "home lighting" market, for example, but its total monetary value to this particular market. We would certainly hope that the LED would eventually replace most our present day lighting sources, saving the nation...to begin with untold billions of dollars per year, but even if this were possible today, just a little over 20 % of our energy consumption is used for lighting, so this alone would not solve our total energy problems, but it is certainly a beginning. It will take a national and multi-national effort to even begin to level off the world energy needs through the use of Renewables. It could certainly and quickly reach a point that an all out global effort will be needed to ebb the ongoing crisis and if not curbed quickly at that point, I believe it may reach a point of...irreversability.

Global warming over the next half-century could put more than a million species of plants and animals on the road to extinction, according to an international study Thomas, lead author of the study published in the science journal Nature, said emissions from cars and factories could push temperatures up to levels not seen for 1 million to 30 million years by the end of the century, threatening many habitats. The sweeping new analysis, enlisting scientists from 14 laboratories around the globe, found that more than one-third of 1,103 native species they studied in six regions around the world could vanish or plunge to near extinction by 2050 as climate change turns plains into deserts or alters forests. Global warming is widely blamed on rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere linked to emissions of gases from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants. We can cut global warming pollution by reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy. But all this will take time, instead we should think of alternatives which can be done immediately like doing ridesharing or carpool, using clean fuel like CNG. There is no reason to wait and hope that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will solve the problem in the future. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use. If current trends continue Global warming will have catastrophic effects like: • Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West. • Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico. • Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the south-eastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. • Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases. • Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction. Such alarming facts call for some serious action on each one’s part and we can contribute by sharing our vehicles and making carpools in our cities.