Furniture on the ISS

On April 19th 2011, the space shuttle Endeavour will launch its final scheduled flight. Endeavour will travel to the International Space Station to deliver a scientific instrument called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 which will be used to try to detect antimatter (to solve a long-standing puzzle of why so little exists in our Universe) and search for the subatomic signature of dark matter....er, at least that's what it says on the Discover Magazine blog.

While words like Spectrometer, antimatter, and dark matter are enough to make anyone's inner sci-fi lover swoon, what really gets me are all of the many small scientific advancements that are required to simulate the most basic details of life on Earth for astronauts in space. For example, how does one furnish a zero gravity environment like the ISS?

Comparing Memory Foam Mattress Toppers

Buying a memory foam mattress topper means you are investing in a good night's sleep. Made to mold to your shape, these comfortable additions to your bedding support every part of your body, cutting down on painful pressure points that can develop when your body is not properly supported during sleep. Plus, these mattress toppers add a bit more padding to your mattress, making your bed softer and even more relaxing. This article should help you learn how to compare memory foam mattress toppers.

Instructions:

1. Compare the price. When it comes to memory foam mattress toppers, it is true that you get what you pay for. More expensive toppers are likely made of pure memory foam and will not contain fillers, which can rapidly break down. One of the defining characteristics of high-quality memory foam mattress toppers is their ability to slowly spring back after being pressed. Those that hold indentation well for long periods of time contain the most memory foam.
   
2. Compare the density ratings. Memory foam mattress toppers are given a density rating in pounds. A higher rating means the memory foam will remember your shape better and last longer without sagging. The ratings can range from less than three pounds to more than five pounds.
   
3. Compare sizes. Some memory foam mattress toppers are not made to completely cover a large mattress, leaving inches of space around the edges. Compare thicknesses. You want your memory foam to be at least 3 inches thick.
   
4. Compare firmness. The firmness number indicates how soft or hard the foam feels on your body. A number between 15 and 20 means the mattress topper is very firm, and a number below eight means it is quite soft. Most people prefer a firmness of around 12.
   

View All Memory Foam Mattress Toppers

This article was written by April Sanders from Overstock.com

Memory Foam Mattress History, Where Did It Come From?

Memory Foam Mattress History...Astronauts, Racehorses and Bed Sores
With the little that's known about memory foam mattress history these days, it's hard to imagine that this material has only been in existence for a little over 30 years.
It's difficult to find an exact date when this foam first came into being, but it is known that it was originally formulated during the early days of manned space flight.  Most likely, it was in the mid to late 1960's.

The National Aeronautics & Space Administration, NASA, needed a material that would cushion the astronauts from the unparalleled g-forces of launch and re-entry during space missions.
In response the their request, a material was produced, that was called visco-elastic memory foam.
I've seen dozens of articles explaining what this means and not one of them has the same explanation.
The online dictionary gives no definition for the word visco, but the word is derived from viscous, which means gummy or pasty. 
I think we all know what elastic means, but, again, the definition is, being able to return to it's original shape after being deformed.
Well, enough of the grammar lesson.  The point is that this material hadn't existed before...it's unique.
The whole idea of showing a picture with a hand print is that, if the material was pushing up against your body, it would immediately spring back when your hand was removed.
The other quality, of visco foam, is that it's temperature reactive.  When it is heated, it becomes softer and when it is cooled, it becomes firmer.
A body laying on the material will heat it, making it softer under that heated area.
Again, it's unclear whether this material was ever actually used in any space missions. 
Some claim that the material off-gassed, producing an odor that couldn't be tolerated in the small quarters of a spacecraft.
Memory Foam Mattress History - Race Horses
Whatever the reason, this material was too expensive to be used in the form of a memory foam mattress or pillow for the average consumer.
It was not, however, too expensive for use as an aid to recovery for multi-million dollar racehorses who had been injured or were recovering from surgery.
When horses are recovering, they need to be in the upright position, so that their blood circulation isn't restricted. 
This can be very difficult or impossible, because if the injury is to a limb, the horses massive weight is too much for the limb to support.
Laying the horse on a large, thick slab of memory foam solved this problem.
Memory Foam Mattress History - Bed Sores
Because the memory foam melts away from where pressure is placed on it, the body of a horse or human can lay on it without restricting the blood flow.
Blood flow is critical, to healing and recovery from surgery, so it makes sense that recovery is greatly enhanced by using a memory foam mattress.
Memory foam was, then, discovered to be a great inhibitor to bedsores.
Bedsores occur when the blood supply to the capillaries is restricted over a period of time.  Bedsores are also called pressure ulcers.
Since the unique character of the foam is it's ability to melt away from anywhere that pressure is applied, pressure points are diminished or eliminated.
It's broad use, in the medical field, finally led to the cost effective use of memory foam for consumer mattresses.
Memory foam mattress pricing, for a quality product, in queen size, is usually about $2,000 to $2,500 which is in line with most of the high quality innerspring products.

How to Increase Comfort with Discount Memory Foam

There's a reason discount memory foam is such a popular bedding type: This space-age technology helps sleepers of all kinds maximize personal comfort. Discount memory foam is available in all types of shapes and sizes, so it's easy to find memory foam bedding that will work for your sleeping style as well as your budget. If you're interested in turning your sleeping quarters from rough to plush, take a look at the article below to learn how to increase comfort with discount memory foam.

Discount Memory Foam:

1. Mattress: The most obvious way to increase comfort in your bedroom with discount memory foam is with the help of a memory foam mattress. Memory foam is a fantastic bedding option because it reacts to the heat of your body to mold to your shape. By creating a personalized sleeping space for every person, it helps alleviate specific pressure points. With a discount memory foam mattress, you can look forward to countless nights of peaceful sleep. If you're looking to replace your old mattress, you can't go wrong with one crafted from high-quality discount memory foam.
   
2. Mattress topper: If your old mattress is still in relatively good condition, you don't have to throw it out to increase comfort with discount memory foam. In fact, discount memory foam mattress toppers are one of the best-selling types of memory foam bedding. These handy bed accessories allow you to transform your tired mattress into a total comfort zone. You'll be surprised by how easily discount memory foam mattress toppers add an extra layer of coziness to your bed.
   
3. Pillows: Discount memory foam isn't exclusive to mattresses and mattress toppers. Memory foam pillows are an excellent way to add comfort to your bed, as well. It's possible to find great bargains on memory foam pillows that will form around the shape of your head and allow you sweet dreams at a sweet price!
   

Buy Discount Memory Foam

This article was written by Staff Writer from Overstock.com

How to Clean Memory Foam Mattresses

Things You Need:

• Vacuum with soft brush attachment
• Fabric cleaner
• Spray bottle
• White vinegar
• Water source
• Hair dryer or fan

While memory foam mattresses can be a treat to sleep on, they can be very difficult to clean. Memory foam mattresses and pillows can be damaged in the washer or dryer; however, you can clean them with a few household products. It may take a couple of days for the mattress to dry, so you'll need to plan ahead. Look below to learn how to clean memory foam.

Instructions:

1. Vacuum. Vacuum the memory foam mattress or pillow using a handheld vacuum or a regular vacuum with a brush attachment. It may help to place the bedding on the floor or outside on a flat surface.
   
2. Begin washing. Fill a spray bottle with 1/2 cup cool-water fabric cleaner and 1 cup water. Shake well. Place the mattress in your bathtub or near an outdoor water source. Spray the memory foam mattress with your cleaning solution until you cover it entirely, front and back. Let the mattress sit for 30 to 45 minutes. Rinse off the mattress in the shower or with a hose.
   
3. Spray again. Refill your spray bottle with 1/4 cup vinegar and 3/4 cup water. Shake well. Spray the vinegar solution all over your memory foam mattress. Rinse the mattress again, getting all of the solution out. Clear out excess water by gently pressing on the mattress. Be careful; twisting or folding the mattress may cause it to permanently crease or tear.
   
4. Begin drying. Use a hair dryer or small fan to dry the memory foam mattress as much as possible. Leave the mattress outside or in a well-ventilated area to dry. It may take one or two days for it to fully dry. Use the hair dryer or fan every few hours to help the drying process.
   

Buy Memory Foam Mattresses

This article was written by Anna Scanlon from Overstock.com

Bed Bugs and Memory Foam

I decided to see what information I could find on bedbugs and memory foam mattresses... This is what I found.  

Question: Can bedbugs also live in visco-memory foam beds? I have read some claims online that say that the bedbugs cannot get into the foam beds.
Answer: Remember that bed bugs get on mattresses and harbor and under the sheets in the seams and tufts. While they may not be able to get into the actual foam, it hardly matters. They can harbor on the foam, in the seams of the mattress cover or in the bed frame.  Remember the mattress itself is not the bed bug attractant, the host that uses it is.  So bed bugs do not have to live inside the mattress in order to feed on you at night.  They might crawl down from the picture frame hanging above your bed or from some other location.
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Can bed bugs live in foam mattresses? 

Answer from Leibniz

3 of 3 people found this helpful

Maybe not in, but certainly on.

"Bed bugs are found in cracks and crevices in mattresses, bed covers, box springs, hollow bedframes, upholstery of other furniture, behind baseboards, peeling wallpaper, pictures, and light fixtures. They’ll hide anywhere that is dark and gives them cover." So it seems that the bugs, even with regular mattresses, are found more on the bed, and around the bed, than actually in the mattress.  It seems a foam mattress isn’t going to help. Fun fact!  A good sign that you have a bedbug infestation is if you also have some of these: That’s a Masked Hunter.  It eats bedbugs.  Cute! How to prevent:  if you’re worried about prevention, then presumably you actually have bedbugs at least near where you are.  If that’s the case, you can try to create a bed bug barrier.  From Wikipedia: If it is necessary to live with bedbugs in the short term, it is possible to create makeshift temporary barriers around a bed. Because bedbugs cannot fly or jump, an elevated bed can be protected by applying double-sided sticky tape (carpet tape) around each leg, or by keeping each leg on a plastic furniture block in a tray of water. bed frame can be effectively ridded of adult bedbugs and eggs by use of steam. Small steam cleaners are available and are very effective for this local treatment. A suspect mattress can be protected by wrapping it in a painter’s disposable plastic dropcloth, neatly sealing shut all the seams with packing tape, and putting it on a protected bed after a final visual inspection. Bedding can be sanitized by a 120 °F (49 °C) laundry dryer. Once sanitized, bedding should not be allowed to drape to the floor. An effective way to quarantine a protected bed is to store sanitized sleeping clothes in the bed during the day, and bathing before entering the bed. Vermin and pets may complicate a barrier strategy. Bedbugs prefer human hosts, but will resort to other warm-blooded hosts if humans are not available, and some species can live up to eighteen months without feeding at all. A co-infestation of mice can provide an auxiliary food source to keep bedbugs established for longer. Likewise, a house cat or human guest might easily defeat a barrier by sitting on a protected bed. Such considerations should be part of any barrier strategy. If you’ve actually got the infestation, then you’ll want to be getting rid of it.  Duh right?  For that, see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_bugs#Treatment

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_bugs

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Do Memory Foam Mattresses Get Bed Bugs?

They are disgusting.
There's no denying it. Those little creepy crawlies that feed solely on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals, and make their homes in the comfort of your bed send a shudder through the spine.
Have you ever wondered what a bed bug actually is, other than something to cringe at?
There are around 108 species of these bugs, but the most common - the Cimex lectularius (found in temperate climates) - is well adapted to human environments, and brave enough to make its home in your mattress.
So what do they look like?
Do you really want to know? Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown, flat, oval, and have no wings. They have microscopic hairs covering their bodies, and a large adult can grow up to 5mm in length and 3mm in width. Babies are translucent and lighter in colour, but become darker as they mature.
The Common Bed Bug. Gross.
By nature, bed bugs are blood suckers. Typically, if one if sucking the blood of a human, it's because no other prey is available. They usually feed just before dawn since they don't like sunlight, but have been known to feed during the day. They're attracted to us because of the carbon dioxide we emit, as well as our body heat.

"That's sick. But how do they get up onto the bed?"

That's the gross part... they either crawl up, or they drop down from the ceiling or a wall. When they feed, they inject a small amount of anesthetic into the skin with one tube, and extract the blood with another tube for about 5 minutes before retreating back to their hiding places. The anesthetic is what causes the itching sensation when you notice the bite later on.These bugs can live for 5 months to a whole year depending on the climate. The warmer and more conducive to feeding it is, the shorter their lifespan. A bed bug can survive in temperatures between 16°C and 45°C. Oddly enough, they can live up to a year without feeding.
Now that you have a clear picture of these creatures, the question remains...
Do memory foam mattresses get bed bugs?
Because memory foam mattresses are made from a more solid core and don't have convenient hiding places, bed bugs aren't as tempted to set up shop. It's your headboard, bed base and sheets that you need to worry about, since they like to hide in small, enclosed spaces.
They're are also found in spring mattresses, since they have many crevices and allow the bugs a lot of roaming space. DDT is a powerful chemical that has kept the critters away for decades, but unfortunately, there is worry that the insects have developed a resistance to the stuff. The best solution for getting rid of bed bugs in your spring mattress is to get rid of the mattress itself.
Bed Bug Infestation

Helenka Prochazka manages NovosBed, the world's best Memory Foam Mattress company. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Helenka_Prochazka

 

NASA Memory Foam, From Pain in the Ass to Memory Foam Mattress

 I got this information from a great site called http://www.memory-foam-maniac.com/index.html

How did NASA memory foam, become the "right stuff" for great sleep? What is it? Who makes it? And what memory foam mattress problems to watch for.
The story starts In 1962, Charles Yost and the rest of the NASA team designing the recovery system for the Apollo command module had a problem. How do you drop someone from the Moon without them suffering any ill effects from the sudden stop once they reach Earth?
The team solved NASA's problem and Apollo was a great success. Four years later Yost was asked by NASA "to assist in the improvement of airline seating for crash and vibration protection, and the development of energy-absorbing techniques for increased survivability." (translation: get rid of the pain in their asses/ save their asses)
What he developed was the first NASA memory foam. It was a polyurethane based, temperature sensitive, open-celled polymeric "memory" foam that was soft but could absorb high energy impacts by distributing the pressure and then slowly regained its original shape once the pressure was gone.
NASA's Ames Research Center used this material in a new airplane seat design. Known as "slow spring back foam", some people now call this type of material visco elastic foam. It also offered greater crash protection and was more comfortable on long flights. NASA eventually published Yost's findings in a report titled "Human Survival in Aircraft Emergencies".
NASA Memory Foam Redesigned For the Rest of Us
In 1969, Yost established Dynamic Systems, Inc. to sell the material as "temper foam". In 1974 the company sold the rights to the technology but returned to the market later with better second and third generation versions.
In the early 1980's NASA released the details of the technology for making visco elastic foam. The process was complex and unreliable, and the original material was prone to cracking and 'memory loss' which resulted in permanent sagging spots.
Tempur-Pedic Creates Memory Foam Mattress Market
Sweden's Fagerdala World Foams was one of the only companies that had the resources and equipment to perfect the NASA memory foam mattress for consumer use. Their original beds were developed for use in hospitals and were very expensive.
In 1991, they presented a consumer version, the "Tempur-Pedic Swedish Mattress," which was an immediate hit in Europe. The next year they brought the mattress to the United States and Canada to rave reviews. Eventually the company morphed into Tempur World which markets the Tempur-Pedic (sometimes also called Tempurpedic mattresses) brand of beds, toppers and pillows.
NASA recognized Tempur-Pedic in 1998 for successfully using NASA space technology to create economic opportunity and a better quality of life for millions. Shortly after, the Space Foundation licensed Tempur-Pedic to use the official "Certified Technology" seal on their products and advertisements.
Tempur-Pedic is no longer the only NASA memory foam mattress manufacturer, and visco elastic foam products can be now be purchased worldwide. You can get memory foam in Canada, and foam mattress memory toppers in the UK. Other major memory foam manufacturers are Sealy mattresses, Simmons, Serta, Carpenter, Englander, Classic Sleep, Anatomic Global, Bragada, Essentia, IR Specialty Foam, Jeffco Fibres, Spirit Sleep, World Sleep Products, Serta Restokraft Mattress and Sleep Products Inc.

MORE MEMORY FOAM FACTS

Memory Foam Mattress Problems The technology has come a long way since the 1960's. The first NASA memory foam mattress wasn’t durable, was prone to cracking and losing it's 'memory'. Today most complaints are about odors and a tendency for some memory foam mattresses to collect heat around the body...
Memory Foam Density is measured in lbs/square foot for memory foam. Most people find 3lb to 6lb is comfortable. But there's more to consider...
Shredded Memory Foam NASA foam is very comfortable, but sometimes solid pieces are too expensive, heavy or feel unfamiliar...
Memory Foam - The Truth is Full of Holes More memory foam facts including density details and what ILD means to you and why you should care.