Using mirrors and lenses instead of photovoltaic cells is a major player in developing large-scale solar grid systems. Such ‘concentrated solar power’ replaces the valuable silicon in photo cells with mirrors and lenses on a base of aluminum or glass. They are able to trap a greater amount of solar [...]
On December 4-5, 1884, John Wesley Powell addressed the U.S. Congress seeking authorization for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to begin systematic topographic mapping of the United States. During the next 125 years, terrain mapping techniques evolved from field surveys through photogrammetry to the computer-based methods currently used. There is [...]
Asteroid mining could one day be a vast new way to gather scarce materials if the financial and technological obstacles can be overcome. Asteroids are lumps of metals, rock and dust, sometimes laced with ice and tar, which are the cosmic “leftovers” from the solar system’s formation about 4.5 billion [...]
Spotting and tracking asteroids is especially difficult given the objects’ dark characteristics. Because the asteroids only reflect 10 to 15 percent of sunlight, ground-based telescopes, and other types of advanced imaging technology, are tasked with finding dim bodies in a wide field of view. Being able to predict the path [...]
With todays’ advancements in technology, emergency personnel and government agencies are now able to capture images of structural damage using digital aerial cameras. These digital aerial images or photogrammetry, are highly valuable in situations of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or flood. […]
The use of thermal scanning, or thermography has increased dramatically with the commercial and industrial applications of the past fifty years. Firefighters, maintenance technicians, building construction technicians, archeologists all use thermal scanning, helping them to be more efficient in their fields. Recently in Egypt, according to the Antiquities Ministry, [...]
Pop this pill, and eight hours later, doctors can examine a high-resolution video of your intestines for tumors and other problems, thanks to a new spinning pill camera that captures images in 360 degrees. Developed by the Japanese RF System Lab, the Sayaka endoscope capsule entered the U.S. market [...]
Optical imaging is a technique for non-invasively looking inside the body, as is done with x-rays. But, unlike x-rays, which use ionizing radiation, optical imaging uses visible light and the special properties of photons to obtain detailed images of organs and tissues as well as smaller structures including cells [...]
By the time you finish reading this article, another elephant will have been killed by poaching in Africa for its ivory. Every 20 minutes, every single day, another elephant is massacred. In 2014 alone, 40,000 elephants and over 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers. If this rate continues, that [...]
Strokes and heart attacks often strike without warning. However, a unique application of a medical camera, a scanning fiber endoscope (SFE), could one day help physicians know who is at risk for a cardiovascular event by providing a better view of potential problem areas. The scanning fiber endoscope (SFE) [...]
