Active Packaging: It's Alive!

For the past few decades, scientists have been working to counteract the fact that foods are alive, biological substances that age and eventually die. The idea of preserving and extending the shelf life of food has been modified and re-modified many times over and only now with the recent introduction of "active packaging" has sufficient technology come to the forefront in order to address this issue.

This technology first began with controlled and modified storage of food and perishables in the form of storage rooms, transport containers and retail food packages that have a controlled atmosphere. A "controlled atmosphere" refers to the monitoring and controlling of gaseous compositions.

Active packaging is composed of packaging material that can control the environment that the food is residing in by interacting correctly, in a positive way, with the gases the food gives off. Gases are added or removed to the atmosphere of the package depending on what is residing in the package. This helps in the preservation of food and perishables as well as their shelf-life.

Reportedly, "active packaging" technology was utilized by 2.7 billion packages in 2001 in the U.S alone. In 2002, it was expected to be utilized in 7 billion packages by 2006. In 2007, demand for "active packaging" was projected to climb 13% by 2011. If these numbers hold, it's clear that "active packaging" is revolutionizing the the packaging industry as we know it.

Posted by: Kylie Graham

Sources:
CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences (2009). Retrieved from http://www.foodscience.afisc.csiro.au/actpac.htm

No Author. (2007). U.S. Demand for Active Packaging on the Rise. Label and Narrow Web. Retrieved from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-171029968.html

Image retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://www.acpk.com/

Surgery...from a Robot

The 21st century ushered in a new era that has revolutionized the world of medicine and surgeries. It began with robotic surgeries which were performed by robots while a surgeon controlled them from a chair across the room.

Not only was the tremor of the human hand erased by the steady ease of the robot machine, but surgeons were also not as easily tired by being allowed to sit down while performing. The robots allow surgeons to perform complex maneuvers that can be awkward and hard to reach allowing for less error margins and better precision.

Advancements in robotic surgery has led to telesurgeries in which surgeries can now be performed across the world. The first one was performed in 2001 from a doctor who was physically in New York, but was able to remove the gallbladder of a woman in Paris, France. This new development will revolutionize the world as we know it.

Since then, several prototypes have been implemented to perform surgeries, such as "Penelope," which assisted with its first human surgery in 2005. Patients can be protected from harmful viruses by having surgeries in which only robots are present. Also, patients can be operated on from across the world, allowing them to recover very near to their homes.

Posted by: Kylie Graham

Sources:
Military.com (2009). Retrieved October 21, 2009 from
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,97023,00.html

Encyclopedia of Surgery (2009). Retrieved October 21, 2009 from http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/St-Wr/Telesurgery.html

Image retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/79286/

High-Definition Television Available Everywhere

The 1970's marked the stirrings of HDTV or High-Definition Television.

First developed in Japan to sell more TVs by improving the picture quality it soon gained popularity. The technology hit the market with the first HDTV system, dubbed MUSE, which was supposed to offer consumers the best picture and sound quality ever available.

1989 was an important year for the new technology as Japan became the first country to regularly broadcast HDTV. However, HDTV in the U.S. was first met with resistance. The Terrestrial Television Broadcasters were opposed to such broadcasts in the U.S. because they feared they would be pushed out of the HDTV market. HDTV requires a higher bandwidth than standard TV and the channels controlled by Terrestrial Television Broadcasters would not be able to handle such an increase. The United States Congress was also opposed to HDTV, essentially they did not agree that the U.S. should utilize another technology that was owned by another country. As time went out, the technology improved and the opposition softened when in 1995 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission set the standard for completely digital HDTV.

In 2006 the FCC mandated that all channels will have the capacity to broadcast HDTV. Now, such technology is standard in the U.S.

Posted By: Jessica Lantz

Sources:

undefined. (2009). HDTV History. In RepairHome. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from http://www.repair-home.com/HDTV_History.html.

Image Retrieved October 25, 2009 from

http://epltalk.lg1.simplecdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/hdtv.jpg

Ford's "Kinetic" Design

In 2004, Ford Motor Company began to experiment with a new design concept that became known as “kinetic design.”

The main principle of kinetic design is to make lines on the car that make it feel “athletic, dynamic and in shortness, make it look like its moving even when it’s standing still.” Kinetic is literally defined as “energy in motion” and Ford very much wanted to make their cars looks as if they are moving forward and in a constant state of evolution. Martin Smith, Ford of Europe’s executive design director, stated that Europeans wanted a Ford that showed emotion and a sense of refinement, rather than something that looked lifeless and cartoonish.

With this in mind, designer’s formulated the SAV in 2005, the first concept car to display the kinetic design aesthetic. Since then they’ve created kinetic features on most of their European models, such as the Ka and the Focus.

At this point, the question Ford faces the most is will kinetic design translate to American car-buyers? In 2005, Peter Horbury, the Executive Director of Ford North American Design, stated that “kinetic design DNA doesn't mean the same thing to buyers in this market, so it won't resonate the same way.” Horbury further acknowledged that while many Americans are of varied cultures and have different values, they still tend to share the same universal idea about life. They don’t enjoy the quite, but rather they prefer directness and action. Therefore, he believes Americans would prefer a bolder, structured design, something loud and flashy rather than sleek and refined.

Whether or not Americans will embrace or reject kinetic design still remains to be seen, since U.S audiences only recently at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show got their first look at the Ford Verve, a kinetic designed sedan planned to go to market in Europe and Asia by 2009 and in America by 2010.

Ford currently believes that Americans are looking for “technology, design and fuel efficiency.” The smaller, economical, European kinetic design is their answer.



Posted By: Rob Goodman

Sources:

No Author. (2009). Ford Kinetic Design. Ford of Britain. Retrieved from http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/KineticDesign/mdp=v1204941954768

Abuelsamid, Sam. (2008) Detroit 2008: Ford Verve Sedan concept brings "Kinetic design" to the U.S. for the first time. Auto Blog Green. Retrieved from http://green.autoblog.com/2008/01/13/detroit-2008-ford-verve-sedan-concept/#.

Image retrieved from http://green.autoblog.com/2008/01/13/detroit-2008-ford-verve-sedan-concept/#.

CD: The Compact Disc

James Russell first had the idea in 1965 while working for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

He called it the Optical Digital Recording (ODR) and was originally made to store information digitally while a laser read the information. By 1980 he made the first disc player and was given the R&D 100 Award for his work. However, no company was interested in the technology until Sony and Philips licensed it a version of the ODR for audio, which they called Compact Disc (CD).

The CD first became commerically available in 1982 closely followed by the CD-ROM for data in 1985. Although new formats for audio and data storage are also on the market both the CD and CD-ROM are still widely used. Both technologies paved the way for such inventions as the MP3, DVD, and Blueray. However, the invention of the MP3 begged the question "will CDs go extinct?" So far, the answer is no.

Posted By: Jessica Lantz

Source:

undefined. (July 28, 2000). Who Invented the CD and the CD-ROM? . In Scrupuli: Essays with Sharp Points. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from http://metaed.blogspot.com/2000/07/who-invented-cd-and-cd-rom.html.

Image Retrieved October 25, 2009 from http://govia.osef.org/.

Guggenheim Museum: "The Building of the Century"

In the center of Bilbao, Spain, the Guggenheim Museum opened in 1998, gaining more publicity in the year it opened than any other building that year. The reason for the extreme exposure of the museum had much to do with the incredibly abstract, contemporary and remarkable design for the building, which did not conform to traditional architecture standards at the time.

The designer of the building, Frank Gehry, began to experiment with his unique style in the late 1970’s using “non-traditional forms and using found objects to create collage-like models.” His style has become characterized as an example of“Deconstructivism,” a development of postmodern architecture that borrows greatly from the idea of fragmentation and is defined by:

-An unfinished or broken looking appearance
-A combination of formal compositions standards with a sort of disjointed aesthetic
-The non-use of rectangular forms and surfaces to create a distorted look
-Shape and forms grouped incongruently together

The building’s lack of uniformity raised its profile tremendously worldwide, and because the building was located in the Basque region of Spain which was commonly recognized as a region of political strife for years, it gave a sense of pride and calm to the people of the region, and in 2002, tourism in Bilbao reportedly increased five-fold with 80% of all tourists coming mainly to see the museum.

The success ultimate of the Guggenheim Museum was due mostly to the boldness of Gehry’s design in taking standards and completely turning them on their head. It proved people’s readiness to embrace something so different, and ultimately brought on a sense of change. Shortly after it’s opening, Time Magazine declared the Guggenheim Museum as “The Building of the Century.”

Posted By: Rob Goodman

Sources:

Friedman, Mildred ed. (1999). Gehry Talks: Architecture + Process. New York, NY: Rizzoli International.

Image retrieved from http://www.worldenough.net/picture/English/lab/Lab_street/3.cypriot_abroad.htm

Art Goes Online

With the rise of the internet in the early 1990’s, information became more and more accessible on line and limitations seemed endless. This reasoning translated as well to the art world, especially in the 1994-95 art seasons when art that would more than likely never be seen outside of an art gallery in a certain locale, could be viewed by absolutely anyone in the world at anytime through online galleries. This concept is not limited to art in general, but also to museums and other tours as well.

One primary benefit of presenting art online is that an unknown can gain exposure they otherwise may have had a hard time finding. The downside of displaying art online is the quality of the image online compared to seeing a piece in person. In a way, it undermines the physical viewing experience, and can even elicit different emotions the artist perhaps did not intend to bring forth with their work.

Overall, the availability in viewing art online is just another prime example of the fluidity of information the internet has instigated since its conception. It also gives rise to the notion that art can be made strictly to be viewed on the internet, and that the internet can be used as a great tool for art education.

Posted By: Rob Goodman

Sources:

Atkins, Robert. (1995). The Art World and I Go Online. Art in America. 83 (12), pp. 58-59, 63.

Image retrieved from http://seattlejew.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html.