MUSCLING IN ON SNORERS
An electrode implanted in the roof of the mouth might one day be able to silence snorers, according to a team at the University of Southern California. Snoring is caused by the flapping of tissues that line the soft palate as the sleeper breathes in and out. Muscles keep these folds of tissue in place during the day, but they relax during sleep 鈥� in snorers, so much so that the tissue flaps.
Now Gerald Loeb and his colleagues are developing a microstimulating electrode no bigger than a peanut that will prevent these muscles from relaxing. The electrode sends weak electrical pulses to throat muscles at programmable intervals, stimulating them to contract. It is powered remotely by radio signals from an electrical coil, which could be embedded in a pillow. Clinical trials are at the planning stage.
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PAY AS YOU DRIVE
Five thousand cars in the UK are being fitted with a satellite tracking system that will reveal their whereabouts to an insurance company. The pilot scheme, organised by the British insurer Norwich Union, is designed to charge drivers based on how far they actually drive rather than an estimate.
Each vehicle will have an antenna about 5 centimetres across fitted to its windscreen that will feed signals to a GPS receiver and transmit data back. This generates information about where the car is and when and stores the data in a 鈥渂lack box鈥�. The system periodically sends the data back to Norwich Union, which uses it to calculate a monthly bill. The system can also be used to track the vehicle if it is stolen, or sound the alarm if there is an accident.
DEEPLY COOL AIR CONDITIONING
Cold water from the depths of Lake Ontario is keeping Toronto chilled out this summer. The environmentally friendly office air-conditioning system was turned on last week, a year after a power cut left swathes of Canada and the US sweltering without air conditioning for hours.
The innovative cooling system draws water at 4 掳C from more than 80 metres below the surface, which then passes through a heat exchanger, chilling a closed loop of recirculating water that cools large office buildings. After passing through the heat exchanger, the water is fed into the city鈥檚 drinking water supply.
The system can cool office space for a quarter of the cost of running conventional air conditioning.
