11 August 2012 | NewScientist | 19

For more technology stories, visit newscientist.com/technology

‘Teaching’ top takes the guesswork out of PilatesIF YOU have ever hoped that sleek workout kit could enhance your athletic ability, you may be in luck. Gym-ready clothes designed to improve your performance as you exercise are on their way.

The goal of the Move project, headed by designer Jennifer Darmour, is to make clothing with embedded sensors that can help people improve their technique at Pilates – a popular exercise regime that demands precise positioning of the back and abdominal muscles.

Each garment contains four stretch-and-flex sensors woven out of conductive fibres embedded in the front, back and sides (pictured, below). Darmour worked with a Pilates instructor to learn where mistakes are commonly made during class: backs collapse, hips jut at the wrong angle and stomach muscles “dome”.

If your left hip pops up when it should be down, the stretch sensors detect the misalignment and small vibrating motors respond with gentle buzzes in the offending area. When the movement is corrected, the same hip receives three approving buzzes.

The Move system also transmits body position data via Bluetooth to your smartphone, and an accompanying app lets users analyse how well they performed

their exercises. The software collects information over the entire workout and presents it as animations that can be replayed to understand where you tend to go astray.

Though Move is designed for Pilates, Darmour imagines extending the system to other sports where body placement is paramount: a golf swing, or a pitch in baseball, for example.

Unlike many wearable sensing systems, Darmour’s Move garments will not feel clunky. The fabrics are made of the same materials as

standard exercise clothes, and the sensors are woven invisibly into the fabric and seams. The work was presented at the Wearable Technologies conference in San Francisco last month.

“What’s really interesting to me about this is that they’re considering it from a fashion point of view,” says Jennifer Jacobs, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab. In order for e-textiles to broaden their appeal, they will have to be functional while still looking good, she says. Hannah Krakauer n

“If your hip pops up when it should be down, the stretch sensors detect the misalignment”

–That exercise buzz–Leo

La

m

one Per CenT

Bren

Da

n m

CDer

mID

/reu

Ter

s

For breaking tech news go to: newscientist.com/onepercent

Automated stock trading goes haywire

High-speed, computerised stock trading has the potential to make massive profits for the companies that use it. But it can also go terribly wrong, as traders at Knight Capital Group in Jersey City, New Jersey, discovered to their (rather large) cost last week. The firm’s trading software began automatically buying shares in a vast array of companies, including Ford Motor Company and American Airlines, in a 45-minute splurge of unauthorised trading. When the company quickly resold its newly acquired, unwanted stock it found it had lost $440 million – almost four times its 2011 profit. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is now investigating.

Drone archaeologist maps Inca ruinsFor the past month, a lunch-tray-sized aircraft has been skimming over Peruvian ruins and snapping high-definition photos that are later stitched into a 3D map. Developed by Steven Wernke and Julie Adams at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, the drone is currently mapping Mawchu Llacta, an Inca settlement that was mysteriously abandoned in the 19th century. The drone can map the site without operator assistance, making it far quicker than more traditional methods.

Drug dealers thrive on Silk RoadDrug dealers on the online marketplace Silk Road are raking in nearly $2 million every month. They get away with it because buyers and sellers can only connect to the site through the anonymising Tor network and only make purchases using Bitcoin – the digital currency. Nicolas Christin at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, analysed daily data from the site between February and July this year. He found that a few hundred sellers who offer a range of drugs including cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy are earning an average 11,650 Bitcoins per day – roughly $1.9 million a month, although the exchange rate fluctuates wildly.

120811_N_TechSpread.indd 19 7/8/12 11:19:51