PEDESTRIANS GLOW IN THE DARK
Japanese car maker Honda is planning to introduce an in-car warning system that alerts drivers on dark roads when there is a person ahead of them. The Intelligent Night Vision System places two far-infrared cameras on a vehicle鈥檚 front bumper to detect warm objects such as people and animals up to 80 metres away.
The incoming image data is analysed using software that recognises the characteristic shapes of pedestrians and works out how far away they are. It then projects an infrared image of the roadway ahead onto a mirror on the dashboard, and adds a glowing orange outline image of any pedestrians it detects. It also sounds an audible alarm.
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Honda will be launching the technology later this year in a new version of its Legend car. Japan鈥檚 Institute of Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis says 70 per cent of all pedestrian fatalities occur at night.
ALL THE JOY OF A CELLPHONE AT HOME
The convergence of home phones and mobiles continues apace. In the UK, the phone company BT is launching a 拢90 cordless fixed-line home phone with a slot for the SIM card from a GSM mobile phone. Inserting the SIM card allows the phone to read and store the names from the mobile phone鈥檚 address book. A 拢100 version of the phone has extra memory to allow the contact books from a number of people in a household to be added. Last year, BT launched cordless phones that could text mobiles.
SUNSCREEN STYMIES FREE RADICALS
The UVB blocker in sunscreens could be ripping apart the molecules that are meant to absorb UVA rays, destroying their protective effect in just 20 minutes. So claim chemists at the UK company Oxonica, based in Oxford.
Sunscreens generally consist of UVB-absorbing titanium dioxide particles suspended in an oily mix of organic molecules, including the UVA blocker parsol 1789. Photons hitting the substance normally scatter, but occasionally they also create charged free radicals that tear apart the parsol 1789.
Oxonica鈥檚 solution is to add particles of metallic manganese to the mix. Manganese ions readily release electrons, which prevent the production of the free radicals that destroy the UVA blocker. The company expects to see its technology in a commercial sunscreen by 2006.
