By Agence France-Presse

PARIS–The age-old fantasy of rendering objects invisible took a sharp step toward reality Sunday when scientists said they had created a material that can bend visible light in three dimensions.

For now the vanishing act takes place on a nanoscale, measured in billionths of a meter.

But there is no fundamental reason why the same principles cannot be scaled up one day to make invisibility cloaks big enough to hide a person, a tank or even a tanker, the scientists say.

The groundbreaking experiments, led by Xiang Zhang at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, were reported simultaneously in the British journal Nature and the US-based journal Science.
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By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Can you imagine how many feathers are accumulated when chickens you eventually feast on are slaughtered?

While watching the slaughter of chickens, Filipino scientist Menandro Acda was likely thinking of this when he realized the potential use of chicken feathers that are often considered waste in the poultry industry.

Chicken feathers are often incinerated. But the burning can cause environmental problems, according to Acda

“Millions of kilos of waste feathers are generated each year by commercial poultry processing plants resulting in serious solid waste problem,” added Acda who is a professor from the University of the Philippines Los Banos.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

WANT to keep those memories alive even when you’re dead? Use the high-tech coffin that has an LCD display panel.

The multimedia coffin was created by Filipino inventor Antonio Andes Sr. who thought of coming up with a more innovative method of paying respects to the recently deceased — by playing videos, music and images on an LCD monitor attached to the open side of a casket.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Andes said the LCD monitor is actually attached to a PC discreetly hidden near the casket. The videos, audio and photos can be provided by the family or friends of the deceased and can be rotated as a PowerPoint presentation.

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THE DEPARTMENT of Science and Technology, together with the Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), is developing the country’s first electric vehicle (EV) for mass transportation.

Leading the development of the EV is engineer Romeo Marave, who owns the rights to a prototype EV. He is being assisted by the DOST-Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Development (PCIERD), the MIT School of Mechanical Engineering and several PEZA-accredited private firms, including an organization of motor car battery companies and a group that makes motoring parts.

In an interview, DOST-PCIERD Deputy Director Raul Sabularse said the EV project entered by the three agencies will focus more on improving the engine earlier developed by Marave.

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