MasHD Blog

 As the title states , Volvo has unveiled a new 3 cylinder powerplant for the future  . The engine , which is a part of Volvo's Drive E series of efficent engines are said to have very low emissions while providing adequate power and efficiency thanks to a plug-in hybrid system that will propel the 3 cylinder engine to adhere to the Euro 7 emission standards . The new engine is said to produce 180 Bhp and it is said to go into future versions of the Volvo S60 and V60 . Volvo currently has 3  four cylinder Drive engines which include a top of the range 400 Bhp Diesel Direct injection engine which is currently mated to the new Volvo XC90 T8 hybrid model . Volvo hasn't disclosed all details of the 3 cylinder engine yet, but we can expect to see more details in the future as the engine is still in a somewhat development stage. Written by Rakitha for MasHD Source - DigitalTrends

Philae snapped this photo after it seperated from the Rozetta module (ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA )via CBS If you were following mainstream media sources , the Rozetta orbiter mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is probably not new to you . The European Space Agency (ESA's) mission to the 4km wide comet that is travelling at 66,000 km/h marks the first time man (or in this case a unmanned vehicle) has attempted to land on a comet . The 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet is 6.4 Billion Kilometers away and it took Rozetta and its probe - Philae 10 years (launched in 2004) to complete the journey . Rozetta has successfully launched its probe - Philae and once it does reach the surface of the comet (afer a 7 hour journey, which will conclude at 11.03 AM E/T) , the probes built in ice screws and harpoon will tether it to the surface as the probes primary active thrust system that was supposed to keep the probe in place failed to launch . The probe , which weighs about 100kg...

Always wanted to fly on a hoverboard? well Kickstarter has a project that just might work for you and your inner Marty McFly , presenting the Hendo Hoverboard ,this weird looking apparatus is probably the best example of science at work . The hoverboard features 4 "Engines" which are essentially 4 strong downward facing electromagnets that create a repulsion when it comes into contact with a non iron or steel metal surface ,this effect in return causes the board to lift ,but sadly the board will only levitate if its on top of such a surface ,and therefore the board will not work outside which is a bummer considering that your plans of becoming the next silver surfer are ruined . But fear not , this technology is still at its infancy , but till the technology matures , users can expect to move in directions thanks to a system that will increase and decrease intensity in order for you to move faster , the lack of friction between the two surfaces means that you can basically tr...

Methanosarcina are ocean living microbes , although they are part of the global ecosystem , scientists at MIT have directly blamed these small creatures for wiping out around 90% of Earth's former inhabitants some 252 million years ago . The sea living microbes survive on organic carbon and nickel pumped by volcanic eruptions , and in return they release methane giving rise to a highly acidic ocean and a poisonous atmosphere. Due to the apocalyptic event caused by a large meteor strike and uncontrollable volcanic eruptions ,the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the ocean increased rapidly , however the volcanic eruptions , according to the new findings , was just one of the contributors for the downfall of Earths former biosphere. The MIT Team found signs of high carbon containing gasses in previous rock sediment research projects caused by the said Eruptions,however as the volcanoes die down , the level of Carbon gases should gradually decrease as well , but acco...

An asteroid roughly the size of three football pitches that was expected to hurtle past Earth last night has been lost by astronomers, after attempts to track 2000 EM26 during its 27,000 mph fly-by were scuppered by frozen telescopes. The space rock was on course to pass Earth at a distance of around 1.62 million miles, close enough to earn it the classification of "Near Earth Object" (NEO) though not, NASA and researchers were keen to point out, any sort of suggestion that our planet might be in danger. Unfortunately, now they can't find it again. Astronomers at Slooh had planned to live-stream 2000 EM26's passing last night, using a robotic telescope sited at Mount Teide in the Canary Islands. Unfortunately weather problems at the observatory left the telescope frozen up and unable to move; now, in fact, there's only one known still image of what's believed to be the asteroid shooting past us. That was taken by the Dubai Astronomy Group, SpaceTravelFou...

What if you could dress a wound the way you fix a tire? That's the idea behind Xstat Dressing, an in-development technology that would allow medics to easily dress gunshots or other deep wounds on the battlefield — and it was inspired by the foam used to fix flat tires. "That's what we pictured as the perfect solution: something you could spray in, it would expand, and bleeding stops," former medic and RevMedx co-founder John Steinbaugh told Popular Science. "But we found that blood pressure is so high, blood would wash the foam right out." So instead of foam, Xstat uses small, expandable sponges. The sponges — which are standard medical sponges that have been compressed and coated with a hemostatic agent called chitosan — take just 15 seconds to expand once they're in the wound. They help with clotting and slowing blood flow, while providing enough pressure that no manual pressure is needed. Each sponge is also marked so that it can be seen by an X-ra...

A "jelly doughnut-sized" rock has appeared in front of the Opportunity rover on Mars, and scientists can't figure out where it came from, Discovery News reports. The discovery was revealed by Mars Exploration Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres in a "10 years of roving Mars" keynote at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory last night. "Mars keeps throwing new stuff at us!" he exclaimed, discussing past rover findings, but this time, he meant it literally. The rock, which scientists have dubbed "Pinnacle Island," appeared in front of Opportunity for one of two reasons, NASA says: the rover flipped the rock as it maneuvered, or the rock landed there after a nearby meteorite impact. Either way, the intrepid Opportunity now has something new to look at. "[The rock] obligingly turned upside down, so we're seeing a side that hasn't seen the Martian atmosphere in billions of years and there it is for us to investigate," Squyres s...

There's no doubt that Google is becoming a full-fledged hardware company, but the latest Google X project is a lot different that tablets and smartphones — the company just announced that it's building a "smart contact lens." However, it's not meant to be a miniaturized version of Glass — it's meant to help diabetes patients keep track of their glucose levels. Inside the lens is a miniaturized wireless chip and glucose monitor that will measure the glucose levels of the wearer's tears. Google's hoping that it'll be a less painful and invasive way to monitor glucose levels than the typical method of pricking a finger and testing blood droplets multiple times a day. Ideally, the sensor would be able to generate a reading once per second, and Google wants it to act as an early warning device for when glucose levels start dropping — the company imagines putting a minuscule LED light in the lens that could indicate levels dropping above or below a s...

We’ve talked plenty about the comet ISON around here as it makes its trip towards the sun. The comet has the potential to put on one of the best light shows in recent history, assuming it survives its brush with the sun. The sun has already been doing a number on ISON, shrinking it smaller size as it gets closer to its Thanksgiving Day brush with the sun. Tomorrow ISON will make its closest pass by the sun and either break up or survive to go down in history as one of the brightest comets ever. Scientists estimate the ISON is currently thought to be less than 1.6 kilometers wide. If ISON survives, it could brighten enough to be seen with the naked eye during the day. If that happens, it will be the first time since the 1600s a comet has been visible in the day. The odds of a firey death or glowing survival story are so close scientists don’t want to lay odds on ISON’s fate. The comet is speeding up as it nears the sun. Back in January, the comet was moving at 64000kmh. Last Thurs...

We’ve been following the comet ISON since it was first discovered. The comet is making its way towards the sun and putting on quite a light show as it does. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun around Thanksgiving day, assuming it doesn’t break apart before then. Amateur sky watchers wanting to get a look at the comet can now see ISON with a high quality set of binoculars or small telescope. The comet will make its closest encounter with the sun on November 28. That pass will bring the comet within 730,000 miles of the surface of the sun. Sky gazer Pete Lawrence from Selsey in the UK said: I have made my first confirmed binocular sighting of C/2012 S1 ISON as well. ISON’s head appears small and stellar through a pair of 15x70s optics. The comet can be seen near the constellation Virgo right now. It’s visible low in the predawn eastern sky. Right now the comet is said to be about the same brightness as a magnitude 8 star. That makes it too dim to see with the na...

A new analysis of Kepler Space Telescope data by Berkeley astronomers suggests that as many as 40 billion planets with climates similar to Earth’s may be calculated to exist in the Milky Way galaxy. Of those, 11 billion orbit stars similar to our sun. The rest of the hypothetical planets orbit red dwarf stars, which are the same size as our sun but cooler. New news nicely complements the more in-depth recent mineral analysis of the single planet Kepler Planet 78b. The data comes from four years of observation by the Kepler telescope launched in 2009 and currently orbiting the sun. Although the guidance system on the sun orbiter is now defunct, the data record is still valid. The analysis is based on occurrences of the telescope detecting possible planets passing in front of stars and causing shadows. The figure of 40 billion excludes planets that orbit too far or too close to stars to indicate a climate similar to Earth’s. The accounted-for planets exist in the Goldilocks Zone–neit...

Scientists have been studying the human brain for decades in an attempt to understand how the brain can do what it does. Scientists have made a very interesting discovery suggesting that the human brain may be significantly more powerful than previously believed. The image you see below may look like Christmas decorations, but it’s a computer simulated image of pyramidal neurons in the cerebral cortex. These microscopic branches of brain cells were thought to act as wiring of the brain. However, researchers now believe that these branches may actually behave as mini computers. The human brain has about 100 billion neurons with approximately 1 quadrillion connections known as synapses connecting those neurons together. The anatomy of the brain includes many short branches called dendrites that project from one end of the heart of a neuron called the soma. The opposite end of the soma has a single thin fiber known as the axon sticking out. Scientists now believe that these dendrite...

One of the only ways for you to get anywhere near space if you don’t work for NASA is to buy a $250,000 ticket on Virgin Galactic. If you like the idea of traveling to the edge of space, but you want to do it for less than $250,000, a company called World View, which is a division of a private company called Paragon Space Development Corp. has a new plan to get passengers to the edge of space. World View plans to send passengers to an altitude of about 100,000 feet. That’s nowhere near the altitude that Virgin Galactic plans to carry passengers, which is approximately 68-miles above the surface of the Earth. What that means for World View passengers is that they won’t get the sensation of microgravity. What World View passengers will get is a nice view. Officials from World View note that passengers aboard its capsules will be able to have the beverage of their choice while the enjoy the view. Passengers can also stay aloft for days for research if need be with the typical fl...

What some classifies as one of the most dangerous asteroids ever discovered zipped past the Earth last month. The asteroid is called 2013 TV135 and the asteroid will again pass close by the Earth in about 20 years. The asteroid made headlines again when reports surfaced that there was a chance the Earth and the asteroid could collide on the next orbit. If asteroid 2013 TV135 hit the earth, it would reportedly release a force as powerful as a few thousand atomic bombs. It would be a massive impact indeed, and considering the damage done by the much smaller meteor that passed over Russia, the thought of the carnage should the asteroid impact Earth is chilling. However, NASA stepped up and was quick to try and calm people down stating that it was 99.998% sure when the asteroid passes by the Earth again in 2032 no impact will happen. NASA rates the odds of the asteroid hitting the earth at 1:63,000. People hit the lottery every month with odds significantly less likely than that. T...

Researchers at Disney have created something very interesting that could have significant practical impact for the world of electronics. The researchers have created a generator that creates electricity using pieces of paper. Project researcher Ivan Poupyrev says that creating power supplies such as this is a key step in enabling interactivity everywhere at any time. So far, the researchers have been able to create a generator using pieces of paper that can produce enough power to light up an LED and turn on the screen of an e-book. One paper material used in the generator is able to hold a semi-permanent electric charge. Teflon is also used inside the paper generator. The researchers say that an opposite charge is created with Teflon is placed against any ordinary sheet of paper. The paper generator created manually rubs Teflon and the other sheet of paper holding a semi-permanent electric charge together to harness the energy. The researchers say that since the generators use p...

If you've always wanted a phone with a big, curved screen, LG wants to grant your wish. To that end the company is now mass-producing flexible OLED screen panels, presumably for an upcoming device or class of devices. The screen itself (not the phone or tablet that it's going into) will be 6 inches diagonally, .44mm thin, and just 7.2 grams. To achieve this feat of bendy engineering, LG swapped out a glass panel for flexible plastic, which allows for a concave radius of 700mm (a pretty extreme curve, even compared to the curved glass panels on the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus) and an "unbreakable" build. How this will affect device design isn't clear: you'll still need to use conventional PCB boards, batteries, cameras, et cetera. Eventually LG will probably provide flexible panels for other manufacturers, as they do now with LCD screens. Rumors have been flying about new phones from both LG and Samsung that will integrate flexible screens of some kind. Since t...

Over the years, headphones have become very ubiquitous. You can buy them for a few dollars in the checkout lane at your local Walmart and many smartphones ship with a cheap generic pair of headphones right and the box. It also spend hundreds of dollars on audiophile grade headphones. One thing that all these headphones have in common is that they utilize speaker drivers on the inside that rely on moving parts to create sound. Scientists have created a new type of headphone that uses carbon nanotubes and features no moving parts. The headphones use an internal speaker that produces audio using what’s called the thermoacoustic effect. Typically new products using cutting-edge technology very expensive, but reports indicate carbon nanotube headphones may be reasonably priced. The thermoacoustic effect the headphones use to create sound relies on the expansion and contraction of air. Mechanical engineer Yang Wei from Tsinghua University said of the project: We found that processing t...

The U.S. Department of Energy, with the help of researchers at Stanford University and other public and private institutions, have demonstrated the ability of a chip no larger than a grain of rice to accelerate particles 10 times faster than a conventional particle accelerator can do alone. The chip, which is specially nano-fabricated of fused silica, has the potential to drastically scale down the machinery necessary for particle research, security scanners, medical devices and other technology. The global effect of this advance could be just as revolutionary as silicon was. However, it may take some time before scientists can collect and snap together all the puzzle pieces of this technology. Although the specially ridged inner channel of the chip can intensify by many factors the energy of a particle in the later stages of acceleration, a conventional particle accelerator (such as the Large Hadron Collider, Fermilab or CERN of dubious “God particle” fame) is still needed to get th...

A graduate student named Andrew Rushby from the University of East Anglia in Britain recently created two equations able to estimate how long life on Earth can continue to exist. The two equations were designed to estimate the length of time that the Earth is expected to remain within our solar system’s habitable zone. The habitable zone of the solar system is the zone where the planet is neither too close to the sun to prevent liquid water from existing nor too far from the sun to prevent liquid water from being frozen solid. According to the equations, life on Earth has only 1.75 to 3.25 billion years left. It’s definitely a huge range, and it assumes that some other catastrophe doesn’t end life on Earth before then. According to the scientists, as our sun ages it will become a larger and brighter star. As it becomes larger and hotter, the Earth will move from being firmly in the habitable zone as it is now to being too hot to support liquid water. Once the planet moves out of ...

Intricately carved tokens from a nearly 5,000-year old board game have been unearthed in southeast Turkey, reports Discovery News. The 49 found pieces may be the oldest gaming tokens ever recovered, and they should help to back the current theory that board games originated in the Middle East over five millennia ago. "Some [tokens] depict pigs, dogs, and pyramids, others feature round and bullet shapes," Haluk Sağlamtimur, a researcher with Ege University who helped to uncover the tokens, tells Discovery. The researchers also found dice and circular tokens among the pieces, which were painted in colors including black, blue, green, red, and white. The tokens were found at Başur Höyük, a burial plot in Turkey. In the past, similar pieces have been found in both Syria and Iraq, but not as part of a set. "They were found as isolated, single objects," Sağlamtimur tells Discovery. "Our gaming pieces were found all together in the same cluster. It's a unique ...