Something stinks in the perfume industry

Picture of an attractive woman which is only tangentially related to this post.

This is one of those modern situations that is a massive head-scratcher. It involves natural substances, chemical replacements and the insufferable, know-it-all nannies of the European Union bureaucracy, only it doesn't play as expected. As Wired reports in their article Engineering Replacements for Essential Perfume Ingredients:  

Get one whiff of oakmoss extract and you never forget it: a deep, raspy, dark smell that conjures up a primeval forest. For more than a century, this thick greenish-brown liquid — named for the bushy lichen it derives from, Evernia prunastri, which grows on oak trees — has served as a key ingredient in some of the world’s most popular and profitable fragrances. But two years ago, industry regulators began radically restricting the use of oakmoss, leaving perfume makers scrambling to replace this idiosyncratic aroma.

Some chemists have risen to the challenge by brewing up what are, in effect, oakmoss knockoffs. One of the best substitutes is made by Mane, a flavor and fragrance manufacturer in the south of France. The man who developed it, Cyrill Rolland, used his lengthy experience working with natural raw materials to imitate the way the scent of oakmoss seems to evolve as you sniff, first evoking wet timber with a slightly bitter undertone of seaweed and then changing to a dry, woody aroma. Rolland has even captured the garden-mulch color of the genuine article. To an untutored nose, Mane’s fake oakmoss smells like the real thing. But the company must convince a more discerning audience: other perfumers, who are the real customers for this product.

Why go to such lengths to replace this cornerstone of perfumery, a natural substance that is plentiful in the wild and available for just pennies an ounce?

Why? Well, I think we can all guess the answer to that -- the International Fragrance Association (IFRA), fearing governmental regulation, has preemptively run amok banning ingredients for environmental and health issues. In the case of oakmoss, in rare cases it causes a rash similar to poison ivy.

Aside from occasionally being gassed on an elevator by a young lady wearing too much perfume, I've never considered perfumes to be toxic. In fact, I would think a woman simply wouldn't wear the perfume that gave her a rash. Still, a regulator is a regulator:

Each formula is also linked to a database of safety and regulatory information on more than 3,000 materials. Regulation has made it nearly impossible to work efficiently without software to tell perfumers what they can and can’t use. Even with their astonishing memory for materials, perfumers cannot hold in their minds every detail of the permitted dosage for each: IFRA’s rules can vary depending on the type of product — an alcohol-based perfume versus a soap versus a candle — and also can change from one year to the next. When Becker started as a perfumer, only a few materials were banned and her firm employed just a single person to keep tabs on regulatory issues.

Now Becker formulates her palette under the watchful eyes of roughly 75 safety experts, a team led by Greg Adamson, vice president for global regulatory affairs and product safety. Adamson is a toxicologist by training, but he exerts a tremendous influence on the composition of scents: “If I say they can’t use an ingredient,” he says, “it can’t be used.” This is not just theoretically true; it’s coded into the software. If Becker dreams up a fragrance that violates IFRA rules, the robots won’t even mix it for her.

Again, we're talking about perfume. Women have doused themselves with it for hundreds of years with nary a tale of madness, disease and death as a result, but the safety nannies are a relentless lot -- forever chipping away for who knows what reason. Life is too short for their nonsense.

At any rate, it is an interesting article. Read the entire thing at Engineering Replacements for Essential Perfume Ingredients.
   

The Atkinson Differential Engine

In 1882, to get around the patents of the day, James Atkinson developed the Atkinson Differential Engine. In the design the four strokes of the power cycle -- intake, compression, combustion and exhaust -- were all accomplished during a single rotation of the crank shaft. The fellow in the video above does a good job demonstrating how that is achieved.

While his original design was never widely used, the Atkinson cycle can allow for a longer power to compression stroke which improves fuel efficiency. For that reason the Atkinson cycle is used in modern rotary engines, which are coupled with electric drive trains, in many production hybrids today. 

The Wikipedia article on the Atkinson cycle lists vehicles currently using such rotary engines. It also has a detailed animation that shows how the modern rotary engines achieve the Atkinson cycle.    
 

The flying sphere

The Japanese have demonstrated a spherical flying drone developed by their Ministry of Defense. It can hover, move forward at 60 km/h, maintain control after bumping into an obstacle, and even land and move across the ground. They say it was built out of off-the-shelf parts that cost only about $1400. They hope to use it for reconnaissance and rescue operations.

The only videos of it I've seen show it indoors, I wonder how well it handles in a wind? Also, the report didn't give its range or endurance. Then again, this is just a prototype so it should be viewed as primarily a proof of concept vehicle. 

Now all we need is a crazy Chinese farmer to build a manned version of it. 

(via Damned Cool Pictures.)
 

Rotor's eye view

Earlier I posted Filming with an octocopter which had videos taken of an extremely stable model helicopter flying around a Spanish cathedral and an German coke plant. In the above video the camera was mounted on the rotor which gives a view down the rotor as the model helicopter was flown.

The rotor turns at 1800 RPM and the camera takes shoots a frame every 30 seconds, so you end up getting a view on more or less the same relative bearing from the copter. Because the rotor blade also pivots on its horizontal axis (I think to control altitude changes) the resulting video is surreal as well as fascinating.

UPDATE: since I'm obviously a sucker for these videos taken with miniature cameras I've added the new Mini-Camera category where they all can be found.
 

Mechanical greeting cards

Bradley Litwin creates mechanical greeting cards. They are curious, limited edition, small kinetic sculptures that you power with a tiny hand crank. You can see them in action in the above video.

If you have the urge go to the section of his website called MechaniCards were you can order one or more of his cards. It is part of his main site Kinetic Works where you can view his kinetic sculptures dating from 1979 to the present.
 

Lego Super-8 projector

Peaceman has built a Super-8 movie projector out of a lens, reels, a light source and Lego Technic. You can see it in operation in the above video (via Retro Thing).  
 

Advanced slingshot technology

Above are two videos of Jorge Sprave's Gatling Slingshot Crossbow. The bottom of the two shows it in slow motion and, while the target isn't that far away, it still has an amazingly tight pattern. I would hate to get beaned by that thing.

If you go to his Slingshot Channel YouTube page he has some other pretty nasty and/or clever looking slingshots.

Some of his other videos are: Shooting Machetes with the Slingshot, Turn your christmas tree into a deadly slingshot crossbow, How to make a Zombie slaying arrow shooting slingshot, Winch Operated Portable Slingshot Cannon and Hunting Vampires With The Slingshot among many more.

He also has a Slingshot Channel Blog where he discusses slingshots and his projects.

(via Neatorama)