Now, The All-Terrain Volkswagen Aqua ‘Hovercraft Car’

A 21-year-old Chinese designer Yuhan Zhang has created an all-terrain vehicle that can be driven on land, ice and water.

The ‘Volkswagen Aqua’ with a top speed of 62 miles per hour, works just like a hovercraft & moves seamlessly over different terrains.

Made for a competition asking designers to create a ‘Chinese off-road vehicle‘ and sponsored by the well-known German car manufacturer, the Volkswagen Aqua’s sleek sportscar-like design incorporates 4 high-powered fans & integrated airbags which inflate to lift the vehicle from the ground.

Stretching above the front seats is a large windscreen that provides a bird’s-eye view of the landscape ahead.

Based on currently available technology, the Volkswagen Aqua utilizes a hydrogen fuel cell in order to power 2 motors – with zilch carbon emissions.

One motor helps inflate the skirt around the Aqua to make it hover and the second helps drive it forwards & controls its direction.

Yuhan hopes that one day the Volkswagen Aqua becomes an affordable supercar that’s available to the public.

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Portable Pools Unsafe For Kids

Portable pools such as wading & inflatable pools as well as soft-sided self-rising pools can be far more treacherous that parents realize.

A study by the Center for Injury Research & Policy at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital revealed that in the U.S., during the summer, every 5 days a kid drowns in a portable pool.

Since portable pools are usually small, easy to use and low-cost, parents generally don’t consider the potential dangers such portable pools present.

It just takes a few minutes & a small amount of water for a kid to drown. It’s important for parents to understand that portable pools are as unsafe as in-ground pools.

Besides a momentary lapse in supervision like answering the phone, doing chores and socializing with neighbors is enough to allow a pool submersion event to happen.

Experts emphasize that there needs to be multiple layers of protection to check portable pool submersions, such as preventing kids from pool access in the absence of adults, ensuring children don life jackets during use & being ready to respond in case of a submersion injury.

Other drowning prevention tools include safety covers, isolation fencing, lockable/removable ladders & pool alarms specifically made for portable pools.

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Mobile Phones Powered By Speech

In what is believed to be a godsend for people who frequently suffer the frustration of dead batteries, scientists from South Korea have created a device that enables you to charge your mobile just by speaking into it.

South Korean electrical engineers have developed an innovative technique which transforms sound into electricity, thereby allowing mobiles to be powered while users carry on a conversation.

The engineers of the Institute of Nanotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University, Seoulsay this new technology would also have the ability to harness background noise & even music to power a phone when not in use.

The technology makes use of minuscule strands of zinc oxide inserted between 2 electrodes. There’s a sound absorbing pad on the top that vibrates when hit by sound waves, causing the minuscule zinc oxide wires to compress & release. This movement generates electrical current that could be used for charging a battery.

Korean scientists say sound power may be used for a variety of novel applications including mobile phones that could be powered during conversations & sound-insulating walls close to highways capable of generating electricity from the sound of passing vehicles.

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Sweet Poison – Calcium Carbide Used To Ripen Mangoes

Traders in India are using calcium carbide to ripen mangoes and this may be toxic. The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act bans the chemical but it’s being widely used across Delhi. The state government has suddenly gotten wise to it and is preparing to tackle the problem.

Delhi receives around 5,000 tonnes of mangoes daily, of which almost 60% are consumed in the city. The government recommends that traders shift to ethylene gas which is quite harmless and is a more natural way of ripening mangoes. The carcinogenic and toxic calcium carbide is primarily meant for industrial use & the acetylene gas it produces is used for welding purposes. Besides, calcium carbide destroys the sweetness and flavor of the fruit.

The government will organize special campaigns to educate merchants and fruit traders & encourage adoption of ethylene gas as an alternative.

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