Tag: technology

E-books

Here’s a conversation starter for you. “So, do you think e-books will replace p-books?” Of course, you may have to first define your terms. An e-book is an “electronic book,” a book in a computer file format so it can be read on an electronic device, while a p-book is, of course, what you call …

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Nanotechnology 2001

The recent announcement that the University of Alberta has landed a $120 million nanotechnology research facility was mostly reported as an example of how the federal Liberals are trying to woo Albertans.  Surprisingly little was said about nanotechnology itself (one commentator, in fact, referred to it simply as “nanotechnology–whatever that is.”) Allow me to rectify …

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Bionics

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him.  We have the technology.  We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man.”  So began each episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, of which I was a big fan not all that many decades ago. At the time, of course, the idea of “rebuilding” a man with artificial parts was …

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Keeping comfortable

Humans are creatures of comfort; and the story of civilization is, to a certain extent, the quest to keep from being either too hot or too cold. Considering the recent swings in temperature we’ve experienced, it could be considered the story of Saskatchewan, too. The earliest form of climate control was the fire. Room temperature …

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Laser eye surgery

I grew up in a glasses-wearing family. My parents wore glasses, my two older brothers wore glasses and I, by the age of five, also wore glasses. In more recent years, my brother Dwight and I switched to contacts, but while contacts may be invisible to others, they’re still glasses, albeit tiny ones stuck to …

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Wireless wonders

Wireless telegraphy isn’t difficult to understand, Albert Einstein once said.  The regular telegraph is like a very long cat; you pull its tail in New York and it meows in Los Angeles.  Wireless telegraphy is just the same, only without the cat. That being the case, the world is filling with more and more non-existent …

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Smart fabric

A new technology developed by the Canadian Space Agency to help control the new robot arm on the International Space Station may soon be finding its way into your car, your couch, and even your clothes. It’s called smart fabric, because it turns fabric into a sensitive computer interface. The underlying technology, called Kinotex, was …

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Robots

Once upon a time, robots existed only in science fiction.. In fact, the word itself originated in a science fiction play. It comes from the Czech word “robota,” meaning “work,” and was coined by Czech playwright Karel Capek in his 1920 play R.U.R., which stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” In Capek’s words, a robot was …

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Submarines

  Submarines have been much in the news lately. Not only has world attention has been riveted on the tragic sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk, but Canada is in the process of getting new submarines and, in the U.S., the Civil War submarine that was the first to sink another ship has just been …

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Olympic technology 2000

“Faster, higher, stronger” are the oft-stated goals of Olympic athletes. Increasingly, science and technology are helping them to achieve those goals. This year, the technological focus is on swimming. Until recently, the goal of swimmers seemed to be to wear bathing suits that preserved the illusion of modesty with as little material as possible, the …

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Sunglasses

  Sunglasses that are inherently cool. But unlike other things considered cool–body piercing, tattoos and platform shoes, for instance–wearing sunglasses not only makes good fashion sense, it makes good scientific sense. That’s because good sunglasses protect against long-term eye damage caused by the ultraviolet radiation contained in sunlight, the same ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn …

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The 2000 Discover Awards

Each year, the folks at Discover Magazine honor a number of scientists with Innovation Awards, which spotlight inventions and discoveries with the potential to change our lives. This year, 19 scientists were honored. I’ve chosen a few from the list to highlight this week, to give you a taste of the remarkable discoveries that are occurring now–and …

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