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Time to Get Rid of Those Ugly Radiation Suits, Teijin to Unveil Radiation-Proof Fabric

Time to Get Rid of Those Ugly Radiation Suits, Teijin to Unveil Radiation-Proof Fabric

It’s often sad to see the workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant or any other radioactive site around the world. It’s a dangerous job that requires brave workers, and brave workers deserve a cool looking uniform. Firefighters get those axes and huge trench coats, police often have cool looking bulletproof vests, but workers in areas of high radiation have to wear those white or yellow suits that look like trash bags.

Thankfully, this sad state of affairs may soon change with the development of a fabric which blocks x-ray and gamma-ray radiation.

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One Shanghai Building’s Answer to Disaster Preparedness: Wacky Fun Slide!

One Shanghai Building’s Answer to Disaster Preparedness: Wacky Fun Slide!

East Asia is an especially disaster-prone part of the world. Threats of earthquakes, flooding and typhoons, just to name a few are always lingering. In these instances it may be important to evacuate a building as quickly as possible.

One building in Shanghai seems to have engineered an elegant solution to this which they say can evacuate a fifth floor tenant in 14 seconds: a wacky fun slide.

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SRF’s Earthquake Protection Strips Give New Meaning to “Band-Aid Solution”

SRF’s Earthquake Protection Strips Give New Meaning to “Band-Aid Solution”

Dr. Shunichi Igarashi has surprised even himself with his line of Super Reinforcement with Flexibility (SRF) technology. SRF basically involves wrapping the columns and walls of building in adhesive strips.

The idea of gluing fabric on a building to protect it from the sheer force of an earthquake doesn’t sound very comforting. However, when Dr. Igarashi’s SRF was put to the test in the Great Tohoku Earthquake on 11 March, 2011, it passed with flying colors.

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Bad at Reverse Parking? Would a Back Seat that Vanishes at the Touch of a Button Help?

Bad at Reverse Parking? Would a Back Seat that Vanishes at the Touch of a Button Help?

The clever minds at prestigious Keio University in Tokyo have created a new device that makes the rear seat “disappear” when reversing, and have released a new video demonstrating how, with its help, the sometimes arduous task of reversing into a space could soon become a breeze.

Tinkering around with a modified Toyota Prius, the university’s graduate research team have been putting their latest technology through its paces by having a driver with a particular fear of reverse parking give the maneuver a shot both with and without the device installed…

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Nissan’s New Safety Technology Wrestles Control of the Wheel from Drivers Facing Doom

Nissan’s New Safety Technology Wrestles Control of the Wheel from Drivers Facing Doom

As the world inches closer and closer to driverless cars, Nissan released a video demonstration of their newest precrash system, the Autonomous Emergency Steering System.  It utilizes an arrangement of camera, laser, and radar sensors to detect objects around your car and avoid potential collisions by commandeering the steering wheel.

In other words, if your car thinks it can drive better than you then it takes control of the wheel.

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Seat Belt T-Shirt Pleases Lazy Chinese Drivers, Worries Police

Seat Belt T-Shirt Pleases Lazy Chinese Drivers, Worries Police

Some people seem intent on not fastening their seat belt while driving. You would think significantly increased risk of injury and death would be enough to pursued people to buckle up, especially when doing so only takes a few seconds.

Yet this is apparently too much hassle for some people in China, where a T-shirt designed to make it look like the wearer is wearing a seat belt has been selling faster than a driver throw out the front window shield during a head-on collision.

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