| Small army of sensors invades city
Rosario's got the ball, she passes it to Josh Bers . Then Racing has the ball and passes it to Bers. In this field, the ball is actually data, and Rosario and Racing -- named for two Argentine soccer teams -- are wireless sensors on the roof of BBN Technologies in Cambridge. The sensors are part of the world's first high-powered, fixed, outdoor, wireless sensor network, called CitySense. Right now the network senses only weather data, but researchers expect that to change once the entire 100-node network is in place throughout Cambridge. Bers, a senior engineer at BBN Technologies, heads the project with Matt Welsh, an assistant professor of computer science at Harvard University. Via the Internet, they can log on to the CitySense site and check the information being detected and transmitted by the two nodes atop BBN: wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure.
PhotoFluor Light Source
ROCKINGHAM, Vt., April 3, 2007 -- Optical filter maker Chroma Technology has introduced the PhotoFluor, a next-generation high output light source for fluorescence microscopy that combines a powerful metal halide lamp with a sputtered heat-blocking optic to deliver excellent light output across the spectrum from 340 nm to 650 nm. With emphasis on power in the ultraviolet (UV) range, the PhotoFluor allows bright imaging of DAPI, Hoechst and other UV-absorbing fluorochromes, as well as those with higher excitation wavelengths, including Cy5. According to Chroma Technology, the PhotoFluor combines a powerful light engine that minimizes the need for alignment with quiet operation, and can increase the throughput of light-limited applications like spinning disk confocals. An innovative power management strategy ensures long lamp life (2000 hours) with minimal decrease in lamp output over time and less fluctuation during experiments.
Dawn raid on secret drug factory
A HOUSE filled with hundreds of cannabis plants was smashed by police in an early morning raid. Officers from the Chadwell Heath Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) stormed the three-bedroom Alexandra Road premises at 7.40am, last Thursday. Inside, they found more than 270 budding cannabis plants and enough lamp voltage to blow up the whole house. BUY WEDNESDAY'S POST FOR FULL STORY
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Socket to us?
Talk about far-reaching legislation -- a bill in the General Assembly reaches right inside North Carolinians' light fixtures. House Bill 838 bears the straightforward but sweeping title "An act to prohibit the sale of general service incandescent lamps in the state." The notion may shock light-bulb buyers and set Thomas A. Edison to spinning in his grave. But thoughtful citizens of the 21st century will want to see this energy-saving, anti-global-warming measure debated with light, not heat.Although it's billed as a prohibition, the legislation, sponsored by Democratic state Reps. Pricey Harrison and Susan Fisher, is all about gradually replacing traditional incandescent bulbs -- "lamp-bulb shaped" bulbs, you might say -- with twist-shaped fixtures known as compact fluorescents. The latter have conventional screw-type bases and are comparable to most filament-type bulbs.
The original night light
ASSATEAGUE -- Of all the structures in American architecture, few are as celebrated as the lighthouse. Photographers adore them. Painters render them. Poets use them as metaphors for everything from God to romance.
But when you actually visit a lighthouse, especially if you're able to climb to the top, its simple function makes as big an impression as its stoic beauty.
The original lighthouse on Assateague Island on the Eastern Shore was built in 1833, standing 45 feet tall and lit by 11 fish-oil lamps. That structure was replaced in 1867 with a 142-foot lighthouse with a more powerful beam.
The lighthouse built in 1867 still stands in Assateague today. In fact, it does more than just stand. It is still a functioning lighthouse, with two 1,000-watt bulbs that rotate from each night from dusk until dawn.
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