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jtozer has written 329 articles so far, you can find them below.

Wii Fit Therapy

Filed under Videos by jtozer on February 17, 2013 at 7:03 am {no comments}

Any time I get the chance to talk about video games helping in the military community I like to take it. Virtual simulators and first person shooters aside, not all video games are about preparing for the conflict ahead. Sometimes, they’re for recovering from the scars of the conflict from the past.

The VA now uses video game technology like the Wii Fit Therapy to help veterans regain balance and movement they have lost.

From the Department of Veteran’s Affairs YouTube Channel

Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed With Science. She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for technology in the military.

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Saturday Space Sight: A Portrait Of Venus

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on February 16, 2013 at 7:14 am {no comments}

Made using an ultraviolet filter in its imaging system, the photo has been color-enhanced to bring out Venus’s cloudy atmosphere as the human eye would see it. Venus is perpetually blanketed by a thick veil of clouds high in carbon dioxide and its surface temperature approaches 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

Launched on Nov. 3, 1973 atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, Mariner 10 flew by Venus in 1974.

Image Credit: NASA

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Top Tech – The Flying Transformer

Filed under Top Technology by jtozer on February 15, 2013 at 7:24 am {no comments}

The Top Tech Series highlights the latest and greatest federal laboratory inventions that are available for transfer to business partners. Want to suggest an invention? Email us at science@dma.mil.

Technology: Stop-Rotor Rotary Wing Aircraft

Agency: Naval Research Laboratory

What is it?

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a patented system and method of transitioning an aircraft between helicopter and fixed wing flight modes. It’s called the Stop-Rotor Rotary Wing Aircraft. This one in particular is a multi-purpose unmanned aircraft that can do what only toys used to be able to do; change shape. So to speak.

What does that mean?

See the picture? It does that. This system turns a plane into a helicopter. Now, my first thought when I saw this was one of those James Bond car/plane/helicopter/dirigible/spaceship vehicle things that he has (Aston Martin notwithstanding). This is clearly a more reasonable approach to that concept, and arguably less costly. Sorry, Q. They’re like turbo transforming UAVs. I like it.

What does it do?

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The Airman And James Bond

Filed under Featured by jtozer on February 14, 2013 at 7:08 am {no comments}

(U.S. Air Force graphic/Robin Meredith/courtesy photo)

Quartermaster “Q” supplied Skyfall’s 50-year anniversary James Bond with a radio and a Walther PPK handgun, but Sean Connery’s 007 relied on an Special Operations Airman for some of the bigger stuff.

Retired Lt. Col. Charles Russhon, one of the founding air commandos assigned to the China-Burma-India theater in World War II, was a military adviser to the Bond films in the 1960s and 1970s.

Among the gadgets Russhon procured for filmmakers were the Bell-Textron Jet Pack and the Fulton Skyhook, both featured in the 1965 “Thunderball,” as well as the explosives that were used to blow up the Disco Volante ship.

He arranged for exterior access to Fort Knox, Ky., coordinated filming locations in Istanbul, Turkey, and facilitated film participation by Air Force pararescuemen in “Thunderball.”

“Roger Moore called him ‘Mr. Fixit’ because he seemed to be able to do or get anything in New York City,” Russhon’s wife, Claire, wrote in an email. “For example, suspending traffic on FDR Drive for a Bond chase scene (and that isn’t done in one take).”

As special associate to the producers, Russhon, a native New Yorker, researched new technologies, locations and permissions for whatever the scripts required, she said.

Russhon, who passed away in 1982, worked on “From Russia With Love,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderball,” “You Only Live Twice,” and “Live and Let Die.”

“Mr. Fix-It”

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BioZen, The Biofeedback Mobile App

Filed under Technology by jtozer on February 13, 2013 at 7:28 am {no comments}

Times Square BIOZEN ad

The Department of Defense has released a smart phone mobile application to help service members use the therapeutic benefits of biofeedback.

BioZen, a mobile app from the Defense Department’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology, known as T2, uses wireless sensors to show the user their physical level of relaxation.

It is the first portable, low-cost method for clinicians and patients to use biofeedback in and out of the clinic.

“Mastering biofeedback successfully is difficult and frustrating for many people,” said Dr. David Cooper, T2 psychologist.

“This app takes many of the large medical sensors found in a clinic and puts them in the hands of anyone with a smart phone. BioZen makes it easier for anyone to get started with biofeedback.”

BioZen shows real-time data from multiple body sensors including electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyography (EMG), galvanic skin response (GSR), electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), respiratory rate, and skin temperature. Each sensor sends a separate signal to the phone so users can see how their body is responding to their behavior.

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TUBE FOOD

Filed under Featured, Videos by jtozer on February 12, 2013 at 7:35 am {no comments}

This is tube food.

Tube food. ‘Nuff said. (Photo courtesy of the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center)

And clearly, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

Meals encapsulated in things that look like toothpaste tubes. They come in all shapes and sizes, too. From entrees to desserts and even soups and meats, the assortment of tube food is varied and vast.

Pretty cool, eh?

Now, you might be asking yourself why tubes? Well, my first response to this would be why not? They’re convenient, they’re compact, and they just look cool. Meals in tube form, people. Come on!

I think I saw an old science fiction movie like this. They called it “the way of the future”. Might have been an MST3K.

Okay, okay, so coolness factor aside, there is an actual reason for these things to exist. And it all leads to U-2.

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Honoring An Innovator

Filed under Featured by jtozer on February 11, 2013 at 7:28 am {no comments}

Astronaut John Young leaps from the lunar surface as he salutes the U.S. flag at the Descartes landing site during the Apollo 16 extravehicular activity. Astronaut Charles Duke, Jr. took the photo. The lunar module “Orion” is on the left. The lunar roving vehicle is parked beside Orion and the object behind Young (in the shadow of the lunar module) is the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph. (Photo: NASA)

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Space Science Division (SSD) scientist Dr. George Carruthers has received the 2012 Medal of Technology National and Innovation. This is the nation’s highest honor for technology achievement, and it is bestowed by the president of the United States upon America’s leading innovators.

The award ceremony was held at the White House on February 1, 2013.

Dr. Carruthers grew up during the space race and was intrigued with space science.

While still a boy, he began building telescopes and model rockets and was an enthusiastic reader at the local libraries. His love for space science extended through his youth and eventually led him to pursue degrees in Aeronautical, Nuclear, and Astronomical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Following his graduate studies, he accepted a position at NRL in 1964, after receiving a fellowship in Rocket Astronomy from the National Science Foundation. Throughout his tenure in the NRL SSD, Dr. Carruthers has focused his attention on far ultraviolet observations of the earth’s upper atmosphere and of astronomical phenomena.

In 1969 he received a patent for his pioneering instrumentation, “Image Converter for Detecting Electromagnetic Radiation Especially in Short Wave Lengths,” which detected electromagnetic radiation in short wave lengths.

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Asteroid FlyBy On Friday

Filed under Space, Videos by jtozer on February 10, 2013 at 7:35 am {no comments}

I spy with my little eye something…asteroid-y.

Okay, it’s an asteroid. And it’s HEADED RIGHT FOR US!

*ahem*

I apologize for the intentional panic-inducing ALL CAPS up there. But I mean really, how often does one get the chance to say that an asteroid is coming and have it actually be true? Because it’s coming!

Well it’s headed in our direction on Friday.

Video provided by NASA

On Feb. 15th an asteroid about half the size of a football field will fly past Earth closer than many man-made satellites. Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, astronomers have never seen an object so big come so close to our planet.

Get your telescopes out, folks! This one’s going to set some records.

Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed With Science. She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for technology in the military.

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