posted by admin on Apr 29

When was the last time that you took a First Aid Course?

If it was more than a year ago – you could well be out of date! There have been changes to the way of thinking when dealing with an emergency situation, and you should keep up.

By changes, I don’t mean that everything is totally different and that the ‘old’ way won’t save a life anymore – what I mean is that through experience and advances – the way to do things has been improved; both for the casualty or for the First Aider.

For The Casualty:
Firstly – we are only trying to save your life – we aren’t fixing things or making things better: we are just keeping you alive.

Whether that means dragging you out of a car or pulling you off the road – as long as it means that we can get you breathing normally, we dont mind.

What if your legs are broken? Well firstly – they are already broken anyway; and secondly – if you aren’t breathing then what does it matter what we do with your legs? It’s a choice: broken legs or not breathing?

I know which I would choose!

For The First Aider:
It is so simple now that you can’t go wrong. Rather than having to remember how many fingers up the breast bone for CPR, what to do for a young person instead of an adult, etc – it’s all the same.

People used to get so so worried that they were doing CPR in the wrong place, or using too many fingers – that people weren’t being given immediate First Aid. People were delaying emergency actions due to the worry of minor details; and lives were lost, so it’s all the same now.

Only children under 1 get anything different these days – and it makes for very fast first aid!

You only get a few minutes to really save a life – so make sure they count. Don’t waste time planning what you are going to do or waiting to ask someone else – just do it, and do it fast!

If you are worried about what to do – then book yourself onto a refresher course to make sure you are up to date – and don’t wait for work to put you on a course! Don’t you want to know first aid to save your family and friends rather than a customer in your store or office?

I’ll be taking a course every 6 months to make sure that I make a difference!

posted by admin on Apr 9

Would you like an implant that could type for you and change the TV channel?

They have been using brain waves to move objects for some time – but only the very basics – and you have to wear a giant cap with dozens of wires coming out of it. Not so practical.

Yet, now medical advances have allowed for more complex signals to be collected from the brain, and then translated into actual letters! Imagine what this could lead to.

The hindrance to this technology was always that the signal had to be picked up through the skull and hair so were therefore much weaker than if attached to the brain itself – a bit like trying to get wi-fi too far from the source.

Get Inside:
So by moving the sensors onto the surface of the brain itself – these signals can be greatly enhanced to make more things possible.

Wireless technology has already shown us all the amzing things that can be done by very small handheld gadgets – so why not make something run by your brain rather than the ether!

By attaching electrodes to certain areas of the brain – your electrical thoughts can be harnessed in exactly the same way that your body does it already. We know which parts of the brain fire when you move your finger, have a dream, react to a fright and even when you smile – so why not find out how the brain reacts to certain words, letters and pictures?

Imagine the achievements of an arthritic author if the could type their essays with just their thoughts? Think of that disabled shopper able to steer themselves around the malls just by thinking ‘left’ or ‘right’.

Get Outside:
And it wouldn’t just be about filling the gap for people who had physical barriers – what about people working in certain industries being able to complete forms or procedures online by just thinking.

There is the potential for this to become some sort of implant for communication, security access or identification. It could all be a bit Sci-Fi – but if the technology is there for one reason – why not see if it can be applied elsewhere…..

You can already play simple games by ‘thinking’ of your moves – but this new technology taps straight into the brain interface and allows the same type of reaction as a mouse click on a computer.

By setting up a control system in the brain that reacts to a thought or a sound, you can then link it up to any type of technology that just needs a click to operate it.

And we all know the freedom that the mouse gave us!

posted by admin on Mar 24

No longer does losing your dog involve racing round parks shouting its name as loud as you can!

Gone are the days where face-to-face communication was the only way to get anything done in a hurry! Technology has moved on so far now that something that used to take hours (and lots of money) can now be done in the click of a button – and this includes hunting down your lost dog!

There have been milestones along the way – but not everyone has jumped on board!

Dog Collars:
The simplest way to identify your dog – and sometimes a legal requirement anyway – is to have a tag on your dog’s collar which clearly details your best contact details. And by ‘best’ I don’t mean all your contact numbers – I mean the phone that you are most likely going to be holding or right next to when your dog goes missing.

I mean, if you are still out in the park when someone finds your dog – what use is your home number?

photo credit: s8an

Microchipping:
Next step was the implanting of a traceable device actually inside your dog! This means that if your dog escaped while not wearing a collar (or you didn’t put one on your dog for whatever reason), then a vet or rescue centre could scan your details from this ‘chip’ and then you would receive the call.

As long as you had kept your contact details up to date – you could be reunited within the day.

However – in some countries they don’t use the microchip as the main way of tracing pets – they rely on tattoos to do the same job – so make sure you know which one is active where you live or travel!

The Problems:
Even if your pet is chipped and/or collared there is still the inevitable panic – and the urge to contact every single rescue centre, pet shop, animal surgery and boarding kennel in the area.

Obviously – when your pet arrives at an animal centre, the first thing they will do is scan if for a chip or look for a collar or tattoo. So your first step should be to call your microchip or tattoo firm to check they have your latest cell number.

Then rather than calling all the people mentioned above and spending 5 to 10 minutes with each of them describing your pet and answering a battery of questions – you could just call 1 firm.

PetAlert Schemes:
The problem of lost pets is so widespread that there are now companies that specialise in helping you find your lost pet – and I don’t mean Pet Detectives.

These companies take the hassle out of you having to ring round people yourself – they do it for you in an instant. Basically, they have made contact with all the relevant businesses and charities in your area and can distribute your and your pets details and image to them all by fax or text as soon as you report them.

This way, rather than your details being filed away in a generic Lost Dog file – these messages will be treated as urgent rather than general. Charities don’t have time to make a big ado actively helping to find lost pets – and vets usually have more pressing matters to attend to – but with this bond, things could work a lot smoother.

They are a one-stop-shop for all things lost!

posted by admin on Mar 2

There’s plenty of sunshine on deck – but no room for sunbathing!

Floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean close to French Polynesia is the largest solar-powered boat ever made – and it is on a (hopefully) four-time record-breaking journey around the globe. Check their location for yourself if not reading this today:

This 95-ton, 31 meter catamaran is already 5 months into its amazing journey – one that will hopefully show how renewable energy can become a serious contender in a carbon-reduced world.

The company responsible for this giant floating photo-voltaic panel were also the same company that recently created Earthrace – a boat powered mainly by bio diesel. However, with over 530 square meters of solar panels – this boat is truely eco friendly. It is totally powered by the sun itself – not on processed crops.

And they even got to Cancun in time for the UN World Climate Conference last year to prove a point!

The Boat:
The design needed to be totally energy-efficient and that meant both hydro- and aero-dynamic; I mean just because the sun’s energy is ‘free’ – there is no need to waste it!

They also wanted a boat that would have some usful purpose after the round-the-world adventure – as the massive over-hanging sheets of 825 solar panels don’t exactly scream ‘luxury yacht’.

However the hope is that the boat will still be used after as a personal craft – and that future technology based on this boats achievements will allow for smaller panels generating more energy to be produced.

Due to its energy source – the boat is also silent!

photo credit: Kumaravel

The sun isn’t only beautiful to look at – it could save our planet simply by doing what it has done for billions of years – just shine.

The Aims:
Well, the 4 World Records are just part of the fun of a new invention – but the real targets are proving that the technology of today can do amazing things if harnessed in the right way.

There is all this ‘talk’ of eco inventions being slow to take effect and being more expensive than the normal products or services – but this goes to prove that bigger projects can really work if you set your mind to it.

If such a large boat can power its way across the oceans – then why can’t smaller boats, cars, houses, businesses – all run on solar (where appropriate) or other renewable and sustainable energy sources.

To quote their own website – these are their 6 aims:
1) To demonstrate the potential of renewable energies and photovoltaics
2) To show that we already ahve the technology required for sustainability
3) To take part in the technological development of renewable energy and advance scientific research
4) To inform the public and make them aware of the importance of renewable energy
5) To make the best possible use of energy efficiency
6) To show that the economy and ecology can and must work together.

Read more on their website if you are still interested in their project – or if you have something similar in mind yourself…..

posted by admin on Feb 22

How about something unusual to give as a gift – 60,000 years of their history!

A simple and painless swab on the inside of a mouth is all it takes to find out where you ancesters came from soon after they started on the journey of a lifetime!

So instead of buying the lastest DS game for your nephew, or the newest version of the iPad for your godson – why not let them see something far more interesting and unusual: their family’s past!

Genographic Studies.
It is currently believed that all humans alive today were originally from the exact same place in Africa.

It is also believed that around 60,000 years ago, these early humans decided to move to new pastures, and set off on what turned out to be the journey of mankind.

They may have originally been just looking for better food or water supplies not far from their family, but the journey didn’t stop, and humans spread across virtually the whole globe – changing as they went.

Some set up permanent homes in river mouths or forests and others kept travelling, until we get to today – with many thousands of different cultures, languages and individual traits and preferences alive on almost every continent.

So which path did your family take?

Take The Test!
It is now very easy and relatively cheap to get a detailed history of your past. Where your ancesters have been – or still are – and which branches of your family gave you most of your personal genes today.

Whether you think you know your past – you are from an isolated community – or you have absolutely no idea what your past will hold – you can all take part in this unique not-for-profit and internationally shared research project.

Your initial test is totally separate from the International Study and so you can receive your results and keep them to yourself forever – you are not obliged to share anything about yourself.

However, if you do want to be a part of the larger project – any data you give will be treated anonymously and securely as with any other personal details.

Obviously, offering your results to the wider science community may well have benefits to us all in terms of understanding human evolution, migration, settlement and cultural distinctions.

And it could also give you a chance to learn about other cultures and communities around the world – for example, if you find out your ancestors came through Turkey or Asia etc, you may be inclined to read more about those areas – maybe even inspiring you to travel……. and to learn!

More information about the project can be found on the National Geographic Site in many different languages and answering a myriad of related questions – go to their link: Genome Study to find out more……

photo credit: Alex E. Proimos