Top Technological Advances for 2009 Improve Life for Many

Technology in 2009 brought many advances that should improve the lives of many. Technology advances don't necessarily create a new product, but they advance far enough that a change of product, process, new application or development is such that it provides benefits. Advances in the areas of weather, cancer treatments, disaster handling, and many other areas built on previously developed knowledge but provided improvements in the quality of application. My take on the top technological advances for 2009 all have an application that will help many people.

#1 Top Technological Advance for 2009 : Weather

Improved weather monitoring can save lives by providing more accurate measurements. Hurricanes can take many days to develop, sometimes gaining force in the last hours before landfall and can change their course unexpectedly which can cause the loss of lives and increased damages. NASA's HIRAD Microwave Array Antennae's was due for use in 2009 on a satellite or onboard and airplane and improves the ability to measure wind speed through rain and clouds by sensing the froth on the ocean using microwave radiation over a larger area[1].

#2 Best Technological Advance for 2009: Cancer Treatment

Improved radiation cancer treatment is expected from the use of a particle accelerator at Penn's $144 million Roberts Proton Therapy Center. Treatments are able to better target affected tissue while skipping over and avoiding surrounding tissues. [2]

#3 2009 Top Technological Advance : Disaster Mapping

Post 9-11 and the New Orleans Levee collapse, the focus on improved emergency management has combined with the use of robots to provide enhanced capabilities related to rescue operations. Researchers at Texas A&M University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have worked on a way to speed up the process. According to the study small robots take photos designed a way for robots to take photos uploaded to a computer program called Rubble-Viewer. Rescue workers using Rubble-Viewer have a 3-dimensional view of the disaster site that should aid such problem areas as mine collapses, earthquake collapses, and bomb damage[3].

#4 2009 Best Technological Advance: City Power from Garbage

One way to reduce methane released into the atmosphere and save land used for garbage dumps is to use it to provide energy. The Green Energy Machine, or GEM, is a dumpster-size cargo container that can heat and power 200,000 square feet of space or a building of 500 people. It converts paper, plastic, wood, and food into pellets that are in turn converted into electricity and gas heat[4].

#5 Top Technological Advance for 2009: Insects for Search and Rescue

Living insects are being hard-wired for future search-and-rescue missions by implanting mini-circuits into the pupal stage of bugs. Scientists at the University of California Berkeley found they could control a beetle with the microprocessors embedded in its optical lobe and muscle. The beetles would be able to enter into places where humans can't go and provide situational data[5].

#6 2009 Top Technological Advance: Inflatable Bridge

An innovative method of building bridges can save tax payers money while providing a more durable, less susceptible to failure bridge. The technique involves using carbon tubes that are hardened with resin then filled with cement as the basic structure[6].

#7 Best Technological Advance for 2009: Power from Water Turbulence

The device, known as Vortex-Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy, or VIVACE, attracted Navy interest for its potential to generate power at flow speeds slower than the 5-knot minimum of most turbines. To maximize the system's efficiency, Bernitsas draws insight from the anatomy of fish[7].

#8 2009 Best Technological Advance: Improved Drilling with Superheated Water

Potter Drilling, a California-based startup company along with Oxford Catalysts, say that within a year it will begin field trials of a technology that uses superheated water instead of conventional drills to bore through rock. Such a "hydrothermal spallation" system could drill through granite up to five times faster than conventional processes do. This technique will facilitate the growth of geothermal energy resources by making their development less costly[8].

#9 Top Technological Advance for 2009: Improved Ion Drive

Ad Astra's improved ion drive shoots electromagnetic (RF) waves instead of electrons through argon gas plasma for enhanced power. The resulting stream of ions are speeded past superconducting magnets to gain 50 times more power. And best of all, the new drive can upgrade to use a nuclear powered engine, which may make it possible to move more mass[9]

#10 Best Technological Advance for 2009: Water on the Moon

According to NASA, LCROSS, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite sensed water on into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the Moon's South Pole[10]. Water on the moon is key need for the establishment of manned lunar exploration on the moon and may provide clues about the geologic history of the moon.

[1] Dauna Coulter, In the Blink of a Hurricane's Eye NASA, http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/09nov_hirad.htm

[2] Wolverton M. Smart Bomb Against Cancer. Popular Mechanics [serial online]. November 2009;186(11):18.

[3] Pappalardo J. Microwave Hurricane Hunter. Popular Mechanics [serial online]. December 2008;185(12):13-14.

[4] http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/20/ist-announces-release-of-portable-green-energy-machine/

[5] The Pentagon's Cyborg Bugs, Hutchinson, Alex. Popular Mechanics, Jun2009, Vol. 186 Issue 6, p16-16

[6] Inflatable Bridge A Fast-Build Bridge Could Replace Our Decaying Infrastructure, Eric Hagerman, Popular Science, Dec 2009

[7] Powerful Whirlpools.Full Text Available By: Block, Ben. Popular Mechanics, Apr2009, Vol. 186 Issue 4, p20-21

[8] http://www.potterdrilling.com/wordpress/wp-content/pdf/PD_ARRA_Press%20Release.pdf

[9] http://www.adastrarocket.com/home1.html

[10] LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon, Jonas Dino, NASA.gov, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html

http://ktb.engin.umich.edu/RSG/pubs_files/AMS-2008_El-Nimri_etal_HIRAD_Sims.pdf