Life Integrated Technology 1: RedTacton

Abstract: Nowadays, due to enhancement in various networking technologies the human expectations have raised to a very higher level. We humans have adorned our bodies with all the latest networking gadgets around us. So, the need for smaller devices with low prices for transmitting information is increasing. The various types of connectivity options available include LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network). Now as human society is entering an era of modern computing, connectivity should become very easy and handy where there is no requirement of methods mentioned earlier. Redtacton comes up with a very challenging technology that can transmit information and data through humans at high speeds where there is no compromise with data security. Basically, Redtacton is Human Area Networking technology.

Introduction: Redtacton, Human Area Networking technology was introduced by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) that uses the human body surface as a high speed and safe network transmission path. Redtacton is the electronic future where information can be shared whenever and where ever required. All this can be done just by using our finger tips with some equipment incorporated into our attire. We can share data through different gestures. Like for example by just looking at our wristwatch we can share our location. All this is possible with HAN. RedTacton is a breakthrough technology that enables reliable high-speed HAN for the first time. In the past, infrared communications (IrDA), Bluetooth, radio frequency ID systems (RFID) and other technologies have been proposed to solve the "last meter" connectivity problem. However, those technologies each have various certain fundamental technical limitations that constrain their usage, such as the precipitous fall-off in transmission speed and network congestion in multi-user environment.

What this technology is? RedTacton Technology was introduced by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). TACTON - meaning “action triggered by touching” and RED - It is an auspicious colour according to Japanese culture for warmth. It is a technology that uses the surface of the human body as a safe, high speed network transmission.

A brief study of Human Area Networking-

a. RedTacton uses the minute electric field emitted on the surface of the human body. It is completely distinct from wireless and infrared.

b. A transmission path is formed at a part of the human body which comes in contact with a RedTacton transceiver. Physically separating ends the contact and thus ends communication.

c. Using RedTacton, communication starts when terminals carried by the user are linked in several combinations according to the user's natural, physical movements.

d. Communication is possible using any body surfaces, such as the hands, fingers, feet, face, legs, skin or torso. RedTacton works through shoes and clothing as well.

Features: RedTacton Technology has three main functional features:

a. Touch: Touching, sitting, walking, stepping, gripping and other human movements can be the used as triggers for unlocking or locking, starting or stopping the equipment, or obtaining data.

b.  Broadband & Interactive: Bandwidth does not deteriorate even with duplex operations and also simultaneous access by many users. Duplex, interactive communication is possible at a maximum speed of 10Mbps. This is because the transmission path is on the surface of the body; transmission speed of RedTacton does not deteriorate in congested areas where many people can communicate at the same time.

c.  Any media: In addition to the human body, there are various conductors and dielectrics can also be used as transmission media. Conductors and dielectrics may also be used in combination.

Working: RedTacton takes a different technical approach. Instead of depending on electromagnetic waves or light waves to carry data. RedTacton uses weak electric fields on the surface of the body as a transmission medium as shown in figure above.

a.       The Redtacton transmitter induces a weak electric field on the body surface.

b.      The receiver senses the change in weak electric field on the body surface.

c.       Redtacton relies on the properties of an electro-optic crystal can vary according to the changes of a weak electric field.

d.      The figure shows a block diagram of RedTacton working.

Conclusion: We can conclude that Redtacton when compared with other technologies can give a much better performance over others. And also we can add it up by saying that when it comes to short distance network Redtacton is the best way to do it. Also a major problem of hacking is solved as we use our own body as a networking medium.

Nilesh Thadani

Life Integrated Technology 2: Internet of Things

Fire was the first discovery, then came wheel, then came levers, and so on and so forth. And finally, we've come to a point where we lack for nothing. So, the buck stops at what next? We reached moon, we went under sea, we can literally communicate from North Pole to South Pole, and we are travelling at the speed of bullet, so WHAT NEXT! I’ll tell you what’s next. Remember, how in Harry Potter all wizards had everything at the disposal of their wands. You want to wash clothes, charming spell, and SWISH, clean clothes at the go! You want to warm up, a fire spell and KABOOM, and all your frost bites are gone! You want to write something down but are too tired to lift your fingers, a magic quill and CLICK, you’re getting a manicure while your instructions are being followed to a T! Oh, am I sounding ludicrous now? If you think so, then I’ll tell you 3 words which will make you rethink. And those 3 words are Internet of Things. Let me break it down for you.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the amalgamate of electronics and software in any device not usually considered computerized in nature, to enable it to achieve greater value and service by giving it an ability to network and communicate with other devices. The inception of this concept started off in early 80s, when a Coke machine, at Carnegie Mellon University, was altered to make it the first appliance to be connected to internet, and was able to report its inventory and determine whether the drinks stored were cold or not. IoT’s products can refer to a variety of objects like heart monitoring devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, automobiles with built-in sensors, or field operation devices that assist fire fighters in search and rescue missions. The current market examples are smart thermostat systems and washer/dryers that utilize WiFi for remote monitoring. This concept gained popularity in 1999 through Auto-ID Center at MIT. Equipping all objects with minuscule identifying devices was seen as first of its consequences. 

For example, instant and ceaseless inventory control would be ubiquitous. Such technology could grant motion-picture publishers more control over end-user private devices by enforcing remotely copyright restrictions. It is predicted that nearly 26 billion devices will be on IoT by 2020.

The various opportunities offered by IoT fall into 3 broad categories:

• Enablers that develop and implement underlying technology
• Engagers that design, create, integrate and deliver IoT services to customers
• Enhancers that devise their own unique value-added services

To make the products of IoT possible, it requires combination of five major types of tech offerings. These are:

1. Endpoints are the single-function sensors and actuators that reach out and touch the world around them, monitoring for changes and providing feedback to adjust those changes. These enable 2 key capabilities: gathering and analysing data from surroundings and reaching out to Internet for control of objects.
2. Simple hubs are the devices that connect endpoints to broader networks. When integrated into products such as washing machines or vehicles. For example, electricity hubs that monitor usage and cost can feed data to electric power utilities, which can then suggest best time to use appliances.
3. Integrating hubs that connect simple hubs and outside connections are relatively complex devices providing a diverse array of services that fit more or less seamlessly together. In May 2014, Apple introduced one of the first truly integrating hub offerings, HomeKit to bring together all simple hubs.
4. Network and cloud services provide infrastructure to the IoT. They can either be public or private. These services provide seamless and transparent connection to the hubs that require, along with cloud computing power needed to collect, store and analyse vast amounts of data from myriad endpoints. They also provide infrastructure for connection to social networks so that users can compare and share their experiences.
5. Enhanced services is a nascent category, comprising the most technologically sophisticated components of the IoT. Enhanced Services will make use of information collected and analysed by other platforms and services to deliver broad-based interactive functions. For example, Progressive’s Snapshot system, are integrating hubs, connecting monitors on automobiles with software that links insurance rates to deliver performance.

These five technological options, from endpoints to enhanced services, provide a menu of diverse opportunities for established as well as start-up companies.

So all said and done, we’re now equipped to be Tony Starks with our personal Jarvises. But are we? We stand at the threshold of this amazing life-integrating technology which is bubbling with opportunities, why should we stop? But let’s not forget every coin has two sides and so is this with IoT.  Let’s not throw caution to the winds yet. IoT won’t simply be viewing technology. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) expressed concern regarding the ability of IoT to erode people’s control over their lives. It wrote that, ”There’s simply no way to forecast how these immense powers-disproportionately accumulating in the hands of companies seeking financial advantage and governments craving ever more control- will be used. Chances are Big Data will make it harder for us to control our lives, as we grow increasingly transparent to powerful corporations and government institutions that are becoming opaque to us.” Thus, we need to think carefully and act accordingly for our own privacy and freedoms as to how much should we be inclusive. 

Surabhi Kanth

Life Integrated Technology 3: Speech Restoration

Need of the Technology

Paralysed from head to toe, the patient, his mind intact, is imprisoned inside his own body,
unable to speak or move. One can’t imagine the means of communication in such a critical
condition. But in case of this patient in the past years, his left eye was the only source of
communication. New technologies based on brain­machine interfaces could have helped to
escape the imprisonment— and not just through flights of imagination.
The question that comes to the mind is how is it possible?

Introduction

During the past decade, researchers have developed an electrode array that feeds a digital
camera’s output into the visual cortex of a blind person’s brain. Arguably the most ambitious of
today’s brain­machine devices is one that aims specifically to help locked­in patients
(​characterized by full consciousness with near­complete paralysis​)​ by converting their inner
thoughts to real­time synthesized speech. But the effort to develop this electronic “speech
prosthesis” shows just how difficult it can be to meld mind with metal.

For people who have lost the ability to talk, a new "phonetic speech engine" from Illinois­based
Ambient Corporation provides an audible voice. Developed in conjunction with Texas
Instruments, the device uses electrodes to detect neuronal signals travelling from the brain to the
vocal cords. Patients imagine slowly sounding out words; then the quarter­size device (located in
a neck brace) wirelessly transmits those impulses to a computer or a cell phone, which produces
speech.

Fig 1: Speech Restoration Device

Implementation

The first step in the development process was verification and fine­tuning of the raw signals, the
next step was gathering and processing of data. In this process, various sounds were played and
the patient was asked to try to repeat them aloud in his mind while neural recordings were taken
via the electrode. The next hurdle was the interpretation of the noisy firings of neurons as
intelligible speech.
Then the pattern of neuron firings has to be translated into appropriate sounds which require
some very sophisticated signals processing techniques. Later it was noticed that the job is not to
decode the neuron firings perfectly, but to do it in a way that allows the patient to “tune” the
prosthesis quickly as it plays back the sounds which the patient is trying to vocalize. After that,
the researchers extend the range of sounds to other vowels and consonants.

Fig 2: Phonetic Alphabet

Still a long ahead

The process implemented using the algorithms based on “formant frequencies” to make up the
spoken sounds leads to the development of other prosthetic systems, for a wider range of
paralyzed patients. Later it was suggested to multiple cone electrodes in different locations in the
motor cortex, for example, rather than using a large array. Other groups have favoured electrode
arrays to gather signals from a greater number of neurons, but most electrode arrays have proved
to be relatively short­lived.

Fig 3: Schematic Representation of Speech Restorer

Conclusion

In the near term, the goal is just to get the speech prosthesis technology into as many locked­in
patients as possible. There are no hard data on the prevalence of the condition, but there is a
belief that there are probably thousands of such people are kept at nursing homes and are cared
by their spouses or parents.

Thus this study points out the evolution from the initial devices to newly emerging ones which
are now available such that the patient is now able to select from a variety of different devices
each with its own advantages and disadvantages which however would add to the
armamentarium in obtaining fluent speech from the impaired patient.

Aakash Chhatlani

Life Integrated Technology 4: Nanorobotics - The Next BIG Thing

Technology has broadened its sphere over the past few years. From a gigantic Nuclear Generator to its most diminutive component, technology has registered its presence everywhere. It has indeed lead to humungous and drastic alterations which have completely changed the way we live. Technology for life has been one of the most booming topics for the past decade. Making our lives simpler, longer, better and faster, technology has come a long way. Nanotechnology, a great example of life integrated technology, has seen some of the most pioneering researches in the last decade. One of its most interesting and emerging branches has been that of 'Nanorobotics'. It is the technology of creating machines or robots at or close to the scale of a nanometre (10^-9metres). More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the largely theoretical nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots. It's one of those technologies which have indeed changed the landscape altogether marking the start of another era all together.

Nanorobots remain in the realm of science fiction, though research and efforts related to small-scale robotics is rigorously undergoing. Nanorobotics permits robots for precisions and interactions of different functions with nano-scale objects. All these robots are operated at nanoscale resolution. Each part and component of a robot, from an infrastructure chip to external body is configured at an atomic scale. Although nanorobotics makes structure of the robot complex but it facilitates the device with extra ordinary intelligence and efficiency. Professor Brad Nelson and his colleagues at The Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) have recently demonstrated three distinct types of nanorobots of progressively smaller size that are wirelessly powered and controlled by magnetic fields. These nano sized robots were fabricated and assembled by tools and processes developed by IRIS researchers. Many of these systems are used for robotic exploration within biological domains.

Properly realized nanorobots will be able to treat a host of diseases and conditions. While their size restricts them to carry very small payloads of medicine or equipment, many doctors and engineers believe the precise application of these tools will be more effective than more traditional methods. For example, a doctor might deliver a powerful antibiotic to a patient through a syringe to help his immune system. The antibiotic becomes weaker and ineffective due to dilution while it travels through the patient's bloodstream,causing only some of it to make to the point of actual infection. However, a nanorobot or a team of nanorobots could travel to the point of actual infection directly and deliver a small dose of medication. The patient would potentially suffer from fewer side effects with the aid of this unique method of medication.

There are three main aspects scientists need to focus on nanorobots -navigation, power and how the nanorobot will move through blood vessels. Nanotechnologists are looking at different options for each of these considerations, each of which has positive and negative impacts. Most options can be divided into one of two categories: external systems and onboard systems. External navigation systems might use a variety of different methods to pilot the nanorobot to the right location. These include Ultrasonic Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), X-rays, radio waves, microwaves or heat. On the other hand, on board systems include internal chemical sensors or miniature television camera inside the robot. Currently the technology of using these methods on nano-sized objects is limited, so it's much more likely that future systems will rely more on other methods.

Names like Nubot, Nanobots, Nanoids, Nanites, Nanomachines and Ornanomites have also been used to describe nanorobots currently under research and development. Nubot is an abbreviation for "nucleic acid robot." Nubots are organic molecular machines at the nanoscale. Several engineers, scientists and doctors believe that nanorobot applications are practically unlimited. Some of the most likely medical uses include: Treating arteriosclerosis, breaking up blood clots, fighting cancer, helping the body clot, Parasite Removal, Gout, breaking up kidney stones, cleaning wounds.

Nanorobots have wide applications even in other fields of science and technology apart from medicine. With the assistance of this diverse technology, world is now able to see and utilize the instruments which were never seen before. Atomic scope microscope is one of the instrument which could be considered as nanorobotic instrument. It is configured and manipulated at nanoscale. Another useful application is the detection of toxic chemicals and the measurement of concentrated substances in the environment. These detectors will be very useful and beneficial for the chemists in order to manage and reduce the toxicity of chemicals. Recently, another demonstration of nanorobotics is the single molecule car which has nano infrastructure. This car is developed by chemical process and have buckyball wheels. It is configured by controlling the temperature in the air and also by positioning the scanning tunnel microscope.

           

Teams around the world are working on creating the first practical medical nanorobot. Robots ranging from a millimetre in diameter to a relatively hefty two centimetres long already exist, though they are all still in the testing phase of development and haven't been used on people.

In the future, nanorobots could revolutionize medicine. Doctors could treat everything from heart disease to cancer using tiny robots much smaller than today's robots. Robots might work alone or in teams to eradicate disease and treat other conditions. Some believe that semi-autonomous nanorobots are right around the corner. Doctors would implant robots which would be able to patrol a human's body, reacting to any problems that pop up. Unlike acute treatment, these robots would stay in the patient's body forever.

Will we one day have thousands of microscopic robots rushing around in our veins, making corrections and healing our cuts, bruises and illnesses? With nanorobotics, it seems like anything is possible.Imagination has certainly no bounds or restrictions. Life integrated technology is going to scale different heights all together. The day isn't far away when we would be able to truly live up to the truth of the famous maxim "Impossible is nothing".

Salil Kanetkar

                                    

Life Integrated Technology 5: Cyborgs - Deus ExMachina

If you’re a fan of the Terminator series or have watched Robocop, you have at some point wondered what it would be like to be part machine. It seems wondrous to ponder about all the marvellous things you could do with such a system.

You’d never need to carry a calculator to college. You could Google on the go. You’d never tire and do you even lift bro?

When most people think assisted living facility, their minds go to an old age home where people past their prime go to live out the end of their days.But what if you could have such a system inside you, taking care of your needs.

For some, this has now become a reality.

Take Nigel Ackland for example:

After losing his arm in a tragic work accident, he was fortunate enough to become the recipient of a bebionic3 arm. It connects to the muscles in his arm and with the help of microprocessors, the arm can perform virtually any hand position a person would need, even going so far as hand movements most people couldn’t even imagine. This allows him to pick up objects, shake hands, use his credit card, sign his name, change channels on a remote and even type. This all apart from his now machine precision grip and superhuman lifting abilities. The bionic arm even has a provision to sense when something is slipping from his arm and to correspondingly grip it tighter.

But you don’t need to lose a limb to become a cyborg. People have now begun to use Cybernetics to enhance their everyday lives.

Dr. Kevin Warwikis a Professor at Reading University, England and the founder of Project Cyborg.

Project Cyborg worked in two stages, the first gave Dr.Warwik the ability to control electrical appliances like doors and electrical fitting around him with Jedi like movements via a RFID chip implanted in his hand.

He famously demonstrated himself walking around his empty university building with the fans and lights turning on around him depending on where he was and doors opening for him as if by magic.

Having successfully completed his goals of stage one, he and his colleagues at the University created a neural interface between himself and a computer. This allowed him to control a robotic arm to mimic his movements.He then used the internet to remotely connect to an arm in the United States mounted with sensors allowing him an extra-sensory feel of a baseball cap. An extension to the experiment allowed him and his wife, who was also fitted with a similar device, the first direct and purely electronic communication between two humans.

This experiment opens up the possibility of a human being able to connect to the Internet.

With its vast resources, you’d have the entire world’s information at your disposal. The challenge comes as to how does one filter out the searches to exactly what you need and receive only the items with the most relevance. From there, it’s up to the human to make the most appropriate decision based on the information presented to them.

Machine learning has long been thought of as a way to make robots as or even more intelligent than humans, but we could use the same technology to give us the same capabilities of a machine.

The world of Bionics opens up an exciting prospect for the future. Who knows one day you could end up asking a friend, “Why is your arm stuck like that?”, only to have him reply, “Some malfunction, I need to update my drivers.”

Nestor Lobo

Life Integrated Technology 6: BITCOINS - The Currency Of The Future

“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value”

                          

                                                             Eric Schmidt

                                                  

On November 1, 2008, a man named Satoshi Nakamoto posted a research paper to an obscure cryptography journal describing his design for a new digital currency that he called bitcoin. Google searches for his name turned up no relevant information; it was clearly a pseudonym. But while Nakamoto himself may have been a puzzle, his creation cracked a problem that had stumped cryptographers for decades. The idea of digital money—convenient and untraceable, liberated from the oversight of governments and banks—had been a hot topic since the birth of the Internet.

Bitcoin is best thought of as a natural next step in the evolution of money. Throughout history, many items have been used as a store of value and medium of exchange, such as cowrie shells, clay tablets, coins, and now paper money.

As the global economy became more complex in the second half of the 20th century, most nations eventually moved away from the gold standard, creating fiat currencies built on laws and trust in government.As our understanding of money as a store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account has matured, so have the methods and modes for exchanging it. In this sense, the exchange of money has always been a function of the technology available. We moved from precious metal coins to paper money before inventing checks, then credit cards. Yet credit cards weren’t created for the Internet era. They've simply been adapted to meet the needs of consumers operating in a networked and digital world. With the consumer-accessible Internet now 20 years old, the question is not why a currency specifically designed for the Internet has emerged, but what took it so long.

How does Bitcoin work?

Bitcoin is a protocol for exchanging value over the Internet without an intermediary. It’s based on a public ledger system, known as the block chain, that uses cryptography to validate transactions. Bitcoin users gain access to their balance through a password known as a private key. Transactions are validated by a network of users called miners, who donate their computer power in exchange for the chance to gain additional bitcoins. There is a fixed supply of 21 million bitcoins that will be gradually released over time at a publicly known rate. There is no monetary authority that creates bitcoins. The capped supply of 21 million is known to all, and the rate of supply diminishes over time in a predictable way. As a store of value, this means that bitcoins are inherently deflationary. It also means that there is no government or central entity to make discretionary decisions about how much currency to create or attempt to defend it through monetary policy actions.

In order to process a bitcoin-denominated transaction, Bitcoin verifies two facts addressed by current payment systems like PayPal or Visa. The first is that when user A transfers a bitcoin to user B, user A has a bitcoin to spend (that is, prevention of counterfeiting). The second is that when user A transfers a bitcoin to user B, user A is not trying to transfer the same bitcoin to another user, user C, simultaneously (that is, prevention of double spending).

As Bitcoin matures, an ecosystem of companies is emerging to support consumers and retailers in storing, exchanging, and accepting bitcoins for goods and services:

·       Banks and wallets store bitcoins for users either online or on storage devices not connected to the Internet, known as “cold storage.”

·    Exchanges provide access to the Bitcoin protocol by exchanging traditional currencies for bitcoins and vice versa.

·        Payment processers support merchants in accepting bitcoins for goods and services.

·   Financial service providers support Bitcoin through insurance or Bitcoin-inspired financial instruments. 

What are the qualities of Bitcoin as a technology system?

Bitcoin has three qualities that differentiate it from other currencies and payment systems.

·   First, Bitcoin is peer to peer, transferring value directly over the Internet through a decentralized network without an intermediary. Current payment systems, like credit cards and PayPal, require an intermediary to validate transactions; Bitcoin does not. As a result, Bitcoin has been referred to as “Internet cash,” as it can be exchanged from person to person much like paper currency today.

·     Second, Bitcoin is open, yet securely authenticated. Traditional payment systems rely on the privacy of transaction information to maintain security. For example, the compromise of a credit card transaction can result in the release of valuable information that can be used to conduct future transactions. In comparison, Bitcoin relies on cryptography. As every transaction is validated with cryptography by the network of miners, Bitcoin functions because of its openness, not despite it.

·        Third, Bitcoin is self-propelling. Bitcoin uses its own product, bitcoins, to reward or “pay” miners who are providing the computing power that serves as the engine of the transaction verification system. As a result, the system does not require the same type of overhead that traditional payment systems might require. In this sense, Bitcoin functions because of those participating in the system.

These three aspects are part of what drives Bitcoin’s success, enabling a nearly frictionless global payment system. However, these same factors have also created challenges.Today much of the thinking about the bitcoins and it's applications to institutional finance remains grandiose and undetailed; perhaps understandably given the technology and it's early stage of development. Much of it presupposes that bitcoin-based applications will be simple and trustworthy enough for investors to use with confidence.Bitcoin was constructed to behave like a currency: it’s very easy to use bitcoins to pay for goods and services, especially if what you’re buying is in a different country.But it’s very hard to be a currency when you’re also a commodity, governed by rules of scarcity and subject to speculative attack. Given the choice between something old and solid, on the one hand, and something new and virtual, on the other, the market is still voting for the asset class which has proved its worth over millennia.

Sree Lakshmi Addepalli

The Eureka Moment - 1

                                                                                            

Eureka! Right from Archimedes into his bathtub to finally comprehending that math conundrum at school, to finally working out what you want to do with your life; Life is full of those tiny candid Eureka moments which most of the times skip deserving acknowledgement and appraisal.

One of the first 'eureka' moments I had was when I could console a small crying and sobbing baby at my aunt’s place. Truly, I realised that day that consoling someone can be so difficult especially for those cuddling lads. Yes, it struck me ironically that making someone weep or depressing them by our harsh words and/or actions could be so simple but on the other hand bringing a smile on a weeping face could really be a mammoth task. From that point, I decided, whatever be my ambitions or career perspectives, my dream in life is to make everyone happy and content as far as possible. So, here I am today, spreading joy and laughter in all needed situations to the best of my capabilities.

http://uniwink.com/uniblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/eureka_1_.gif

Rightly said by Albert Einstein,”The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

Yes, imagination blended with right knowledge is the essence of a Eureka moment!

We have all experienced that Eureka moment at some time or the other. To each and every one of us, it was a profound moment that might have changed our day or even our lives, but affected us as individuals and probably those around us too.

Well, my true Eureka moment knocked my doorstep a few years back when I was in the first year of my medicine studies pursuing MBBS. Yes, being an able doctor is possibly the noblest profession on earth by all leaps and bounds. But, unfortunately, it is not everyone’s cup of tea. It was when I realised that the path my career was going to head down was not the one I wanted and I wrestled with the decision to break out on my own. My true inner interests, passion and strength lied there when I could repair broken electrical equipment at my house, when using a screw driver perfectly was perhaps my biggest feat, when researching on various new softwares and technologies became my forte and programming became the very crux of my true existence. That 'Eureka' moment was came in walking on a beach at sunset when everything became clear and I knew then, that the path I was about to take was the right one. Eureka! 

Breaking all conventional odds, I dropped out of this could-be great catastrophic career of mine to follow my dreams and conquer my passion! It was Herculean but this is what gives me the right happiness, satiety and contentment. I am a budding engineer today currently in my second year and am making the most of my life in symphony. A harmonic and rhythmic life helps me spread my cheering joy all around and for everyone! Yes, it is truly bringing me to come closer to my mission in life- of spreading happiness all around- and I am subdued to the best of everything. Yes, life isn’t easy here, my decision as a great challenge but with no regrets at all for today I am following my dreams. In this topsy-turvy world, I know that I am bound to survive because I am completely responsible for all the wrath and boons to come over upon me!   

http://uniwink.com/uniblog/beautiful-eureka-moment/

Those path changing crossroads were an incredible source of my Eureka moments! I do completely believe that we all are here to serve a unique purpose in life. The only question is to identify and recognize that just in time. I desire today to be an excellent engineer and be a major contributor to the society and humanity as a whole. Yes, I have sensitized with and discovered my Eureka moment and I know I would be ushered in with all the required support on firming this decision of mine! And if not, no worries, because even the skies are not the limit when it comes to the enthralling race of chasing and conquering ones’ dreams! So keep the faith and keep going. :)

http://uniwink.com/uniblog/beautiful-eureka-moment/

Knowledge is Power ...
To get power, you need to learn.
The more you learn the more power you gain.
That's what we call the circle of "Eureka!"

Help your Eureka moments build on an iterative and a rational change in society for mass development. We are all one and there is just one earth.

So, let us bind on our Eureka moments to dignify humanity and peace thereby conquering on all vices and evils- social, political, national, economical, global, cultural or environmental- and have a tryst with that principle of oneness and equality.

Life is beautiful and is precious gift from God. So, let us acknowledge that and channelize our moments of accomplishment to wellness of all beings clearly to see those tiny Eureka moments of ours in the making.

As Socrates rightly puts in, “The Secret of Change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Finally, I would draw a close by contemplating on these lines which made me sail through those roaring waters throughout-

“You have BRAINS in your HEAD

And FEET in your SHOES

You can steer YOURSELF in any

DIRECTION you CHOOSE! “

                                                                                                                                                           

Pawan Gidwani

The Eureka Moment - 2

The safety pin was invented while Walter Hunt was twisting a piece of wire, trying to think of something that would help him pay off a fifteen dollar debt. He later sold his patent rights to the safety pin for four hundred dollars to the man that he owed the money to.

The Barbie doll was born when Ruth Handler, a founder of Mattel, was on vacation in Switzerland and saw an unusual doll in the window of a cigarette shop. Because Handler didn't speak German, she didn't realize that the doll was a sex symbol sold mainly to men. Instead she saw a prototype for a new toy for girls.

Eureka moments feel like flashes of insight. Long walks or hot showers or fiddling with a pen may be where we think a life changing idea would strike us. Many of the innovative, creative people had accidentally come up with the inventions, below the threshold of the conscious mind that we now admire as the work of a genius.

In today's modern world, we still love to hear stories of sudden inspiration. The same guy, who invented the safety pin, later invented the sewing machine. Who had thought that sewing can be done with the hole on the wrong end of the needle? But he did. And it was a Eureka moment for him.

My Eureka moment came - when I found myself.

When we are young, we are generally not ourselves. What we eat, what we do, how we dress, where we go etc. is usually decided by our elders, something we call, an acquired personality. But as we grow up, we start realizing that we never actually did anything by choice. We were just living off others' expectations. That's when the journey to find ourselves starts. We start wearing what we like, eating what we please, stating our opinions and choosing our own friends.

I used to be the kind of kid every parent dreams of. Always hanging out with other smart kids, topping my exams and competitions, joining dance class, swimming class, music class, badminton coaching and what not, eating only the greens, always touching feet while greeting the elders etc. That time, it felt great to be always appreciated, to be the topic of discussion among ladies, to be the TAMED ANIMAL that I was. I am not saying that it was a bad thing. It was just not MY thing. I realized that I was just a person that others wanted me to be. And I was happy too. Because I was meeting their expectations just fine.

But time demands change. And it became more demanding when nerds like me went 'out of fashion'. Gullible as I was, being a teenager, the hormones turned my life around. I invested all my time in singing, being creative, solving crosswords, reading books(not related to syllabus), listening to music, partying, shopping, feeding on fame, and the best part is, people liked me even then, because they thought how 'cool' I was.

But then my grades started falling, I was lying more that often, I had become so thin that I could reuse my discarded clothes and I wondered where did I go wrong? Extra-curricular activities and less responsibilities are so addicting that we many a times lose track of time and importance of seriousness in life. I had become so easy going and not giving a damn about anything that the bubble of mediocricity had begun to close in on me. I couldn't figure what kind of person I had become. I was irritated all the time, being judgemental and angry on people. It's like backfire. It should not be this way. I had to get back on the right track. Then it struck me. Eureka. I said to myself, "Tanaya, maybe it's time you rediscovered yourself."

The first step was to say NO. I would not do something just because people will like it if I did. I'll be more of myself, than someone others want. I wanted friends that love me because of who I am, and not how I look or how famous I am. That's the key to happiness. After all, happiness is what we are all chasing in our lives. It's about being you. Knowing how to balance fun and work, and not over doing any. And when you think that something is not right and the limits are being crossed, take a break. You already know what's wrong. You just have to realize it. Maybe when you get back to your routine, after that short period of enlightenment, you might just find yourself shouting “Eureka.”

Tanaya Seth

                                                                                                               

The Eureka Moment - 3

“Eureka! Eureka! I got it!”We have all heard this expression for the very first time in relation to Archimedes and his bathtub experiment. Well it wasn't an experiment per say, Archimedes had just gone for a bath and the solution to a problem which had been revolving in his mind had struck him, and he had been so overjoyed (justifiably so) at finally making sense of it that he had run out of his bathroom and into the streets naked! Such is the euphoria of the ‘Eureka’ moment!

 Since then there has been a lot of speculation about the ‘Eureka’ moment.The ‘Eureka’ moment or ‘aha’ moment as it is also known is said to be a product of insight and ideas blending perfectly to give you the outcome that you have sought unknowingly for a long time.Two important things about the ‘aha’ moment are ;the Eureka moment is instant and it always elicits a positive effect i.e. the person experiencing it is convinced of its truth. The Eureka moment happens only when you are at an impasse. When you have tried all possible ways to solve a problem and you are stuck, that’s when the moment strikes!

As Carl Honore says ,“Your best ideas, those eureka moments that turn the world upside down, seldom come when you’re juggling emails, rushing to meet the 5 pm deadline or straining to make your voice heard in a high stress meeting. They come when you’re walking the dog, soaking in the bath or swinging in a hammock”. Yes, the Eureka moment hits when your mind isn’t focused on the problem, what psychologists call as the period of incubation. So some people purposefully keep aside time for relaxation or juggle their tasks, so that though their conscious mind is focused on one task, the others are incubating in their subconscious. It has also been found that many eureka moments have been triggered in a dream. It is believed that the structure of benzene came to Kekulé in a dream. 

Dreams are nothing but our unconscious thought processes. When a lot of information on a particular topic is present in your brain, when you sleep your subconscious tries to link them and make sense out of it. What does this indicate? That Eureka moments don’t just happen out of magic. For that the person needs to have prior knowledge and relevant information of his subject. It is a condition as if the solution is dancing on the recesses of your mind but you still can’t reach it, which brings us to our next point: Think outside the box. Many a times our brain follows the same line of thought ‘n’ number of times and to find a way out you have to try a different approach, a distinct outlook and voila! We get the key to our riddles. This is also the reason why it is advised to take a break, so that during this period the previous thought ways are erased and we can handle. According to the Alternate Uses test by Sophie Ellwood, it has been proved that when stuck on one job, if you take a break concerning other work; the chances that you will return with a 'eureka' are high.

Having said and done all that there is to this, it is still not possible to device a formula for the eureka moment. As Roger Penrose puts it in a very simple yet complex way, 

"Eureka moments

tend to be little things, a little

realisation and then a little

realisation built on that."

Manisha Patro

The Eureka Moment - 4

As a child of a divorce, Sarang never truly felt loved. In spite of both his parents' efforts, little insecurities did always creep in. There were times when he had severe panic attacks. He even saw a shrink. Of course, that didn't really help much, but it was the best his parents could do. For the human mind is a very complex structure. Sometimes it can face mountain-loads of adversaries, whereas on the others, it takes the smallest of things to trigger it's downfall. Truly, the wounds of the mind are the hardest to heal.

Thus he grew up having quite a quiet childhood, with monthly appointments with the psychiatrist. All the while, on a quest to find 'love'.

His mother, Lata, was a sweet lady who worked as a nurse in a well-off private hospital. She was the one with Sarang's custody. She always told him that 'love' is when you care more about the other, than you did about yourself. This was almost always immediately followed by a "but your father cares about nothing but his own life". Thus, to Sarang, 'love' became a very difficult thing to have, as his father couldn't possess it, and if he couldn't, then who can? After all, "my daddy strongest", right?

Lata's ex-husband, Sarang's father, Mr. Gopen Patel was a hot commodity in Gujarat. His life could've been right out of a Bollywood movie, with the typical from "rags to riches" stuff. But not to let that undermine his hard work and achievements, as it is nowhere as easy in real life as it appears on the reel front.Unlike most around him, he didn’t have a Saree or jewelry business, his was an empire of transformers. He was a no nonsense man who didn’t really have the time for Sarang’s questions on love. “Love is a tool fools use to kid themselves”, is the best he could ever get out of him.

Sarang was used to watching his parents bicker over the slightests of things from a very young age. Sometimes he pretended that it wasn’t happening by indulging himself in television or the movies, the rest he tried to calm down his parents. But after each quarrel, each bigger and over a sillier reason than the previous, the three would always sit together peacefully watching the movies at home, eating popcorn from one huge bowl, tucked in under one big sheet. This was truly a cherished memory for him. He believed that had he been in JK Rowling’s wizarding world and been asked to conjure a patronus, this memory of his would’ve produced the strongest patronus in the world. It was that strong, happy and special a memory to him. But then, one fine day his parents dropped the missile on him- the news that they had decided to get separated. Poor little Sarang was just 12. He tried all he could, but who could change the mind of two determined adults? Children are much wiser in this aspect as adults, to their own folly, often make the worsts of decisions out of a misplaced case of ego. But then again, sometimes it’s better to just let go.

His schooling life was quiet and quite uneventful. He hardly opened up to anyone. He had massive trust issues. He saw all his friends’ parents, both of them coming to their Parent’s Days or to the Parent Teacher Conferences. This always made him sad. He saw all the kids around him being happy, jovial, indulging in relationships, etc. He for one could never get into one, as he was too paranoid that eventually everyone he liked would leave him. He saw many such cases of breakups of his batch mates as well, which further turned him against the prospect.

All this continued until once, at the age of 19, he was returning home from college, and he met with a serious car accident. His chauffeur collided his car against a truck. He was gravely injured and taken to the hospital immediately. Luckily he survived, although he wasn’t too thankful of that. But something happened which changed everything for him.

He was in the hospital for 7 days, and during this time, both his parents were at the hospital throughout. They spent whole days together in the hospital, by his side, not fighting even once. They were completely into their son’s welfare, they forgot all about their mutual differences. They left their work, their ego, their past and everything behind! They talked to him, fed him, made him laugh, saw to his injuries, made sure he took the right meds at the right time. All in all, they were a perfect little happy family. In that moment, he did truly feel ‘infinite’.

For once, he felt loved. He felt special. He forgot all the bitterness that he had developed inside of him. He forgot all the sad memories, and was just brought back to those happy memories with the popcorn, the sheet and the movies. What was an enigma to him suddenly became an answer to everything. It was kind of an epiphany where his quest finally seemed fulfilled.

He realized that maybe both his parents were right in their definitions of love. Yes, he truly saw his parents’ love. They overlooked their own personal issues for the sake of their son. It is indeed about caring more about someone else than oneself. Also, love is an abstract thing, doesn’t truly exist to the outside world. It is merely something fools use to make themselves feel better. But in that regard, all of us are fools! We all yearn for love, and we accept the love we think we deserve. Sarang thought throughout that he didn’t deserve any. Thus unknowingly, he blocked himself from all the love he could’ve possibly received. True love doesn’t need any form. It is just out there for you to grasp. Sometimes stuff doesn’t work out the way you want it to, but that doesn’t undermine the love that was there, the love that is there and this love which will always remain.

Just like every other son, daughter, mother, father, friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse or whatever. We are all entitled to love and to be loved. We all spend our lives in search of the much hyped- ‘true love’. Only we fail to see it. But eventually, even if it be for a very short while, we do have our “eureka moments”, where we finally find it. Only we must remember to grasp on to it with both hands, and cling to it forever. Just like little Sarang Patel. J

Samarth Ladia