Adaptable airliner seat accepts passengers’ wheelchairs as needed

For wheelchair users, air travel can be a cumbersome and frustrating experience. That's where a new type of airliner seat is designed to come in, as it allows passengers to stay in their own wheelchair throughout the flight.

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MRead tech promises faster, more accurate land mine detection

While metal detectors are useful for detecting land mines, they can be fooled by buried metallic debris … plus some mines don't contain any metal. A new system is claimed to work better, by reading the molecular signature of explosives used in mines.

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Silk-microparticle dots could help thwart seed counterfeiters

Just like pharmaceuticals, banknotes and alcoholic beverages, the crop seeds sold to farmers are frequently counterfeits. MIT scientists have devised a method of spotting the fakes, by tagging genuine seeds with silk dots.

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Tractor-towed Vulcan automatically spots and pulls weeds

Nobody likes the idea of herbicides in their veggies, yet hiring workers to pick weeds by hand can be prohibitively expensive. The Vulcan farm implement offers an alternative, as it automatically spots and yanks weeds while leaving crop plants alone.

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Simple process converts fruit waste into water-purifying material

Solar stills provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it's made from fruit waste which would otherwise be discarded.

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OneButtonPIN app buzzes fingers to help blind users unlock their phone

Entering passcodes on smartphones can be difficult for the blind, as they can't see the screen, nor can they tell if someone else is peeking at it. The OneButtonPIN app is designed to help, by utilizing vibrations instead of visuals.

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Uphold puts a reusable set of cutlery in your pocket

If you grab fast food while out and about, there's a good chance that you use the restaurants' disposable plastic cutlery. Uphold offers a more eco-friendly alternative, as it's a reusable modular cutlery set that packs away into a slim case.

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Egg whites used to produce a cheap, effective, water-purifying filter

As microplastics pollution and potable water scarcity both worsen, it's becoming increasingly important to find efficient ways of filtering and desalinating seawater. A new aerogel definitely holds some promise, and it's made from egg whites.

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Lightweight Unit One gives shipping containers the high-tech treatment

It's easy to think of shipping containers as simple metal boxes, that can't be improved. The Unit One container, however, is claimed to be lighter, stronger and more energy-efficient than others, plus it uses multiple sensors to monitor its cargo.

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