An artificial insect eye that could be used in ultra-thin cameras has been developed by scientists in the US. The dimpled eye, contains over 8,500 hexagonal lenses packed into an area the size of a pinhead. The dome-shaped structure, described in the journal Science, is similar to a bee's eye. The researchers, from the University of California, Berkeley, say the work may also shed light on how insects developed such complex, visual systems.
What if you could one day unlock your door or access your bank account by simply "thinking" your password? Too far out? Perhaps not. Researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, are exploring the possibility of a biometric security device that will use a person's thoughts to authenticate her or his identity. Their idea of utilizing brain-wave signatures as "pass-thoughts" is based on the premise that brain waves are unique to each individual. Even when thinking of the same thing, the brain's measurable electrical impulses vary slightly from person to person.
Robo-turtle answers some flippery questions
(Apr 25, 2006)
A robotic turtle could help engineers build better autonomous underwater vehicles and answer fundamental questions about how prehistoric beasts swam. The robot, called Madeleine, is already helping researchers understand when it is best to swim with four flippers and when to use two. Madeleine is similar in size and weight to a Kemp's Ridley or Olive Ridley sea turtle, measuring 80 centimetres by 30 cm and weighing 24 kilograms. The robot also has a comparable power output, between 5 and 10 watts per kilogram, depending on how hard it is working.
A tiny, three-wheeled car that could solve city congestion has been demonstrated at the University of Bath. The prototype Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) car is one metre wide and less polluting than normal vehicles. It has a top speed of 100 km/h (60mph) and uses a novel tilting chassis to make it safe and manoeuvrable. The traffic-busting, two-seater is the result of a 40-month project by researchers in nine European countries.
Studies of the brain using the video game Duke Nukem have shown how sleep affects long-term memory. The Belgian team used MRI scans to see how volunteers stored spatial information from the game. Sleep-deprived gamers recalled information from a different part of the brain to those who slept.
Organic LEDs use fluorescence to pump up efficiency
(Apr 17, 2006)
The traditional light bulb's days could be numbered, according to scientists who have taken an important step towards making white organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) commercially viable. They expect that, for the wealthy at least, it could be just a few years before rooms are lit by gently glowing thin panels. The lights should be ultra efficient, saving on energy bills and helping to lower energy consumption.
Google has launched its Chinese service with bullish growth forecasts and a robust defence of its decision to limit user access to certain internet sites. Chief executive Eric Schmidt said that sales growth "will obviously be large" and Google expects to have thousands of software engineers working in China. He also said that Google had no choice but to accept restrictions if it wanted access to China's internet market. The number of internet users in China is set to top 187 million in two years.
US researchers have designed glasses which can change focusing power by harnessing the images seen by the eyes. The University of Arizona team has created lenses which use electrodes to alter the optical properties of liquid crystal between layers of glass. The team believes they could one day replace bifocal and varifocal glasses, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal reports.
Chip ramps up neuron-to-computer communication
(Mar 29, 2006)
A specialised microchip that could communicate with thousands of individual brain cells has been developed by European scientists. The device will help researchers examine the workings of interconnected brain cells, and might one day enable them to develop computers that use live neurons for memory. The computer chip is capable of receiving signals from more than 16,000 mammalian brain cells, and sending messages back to several hundred cells. Previous neuron-computer interfaces have either connected to far fewer individual neurons, or to groups of neurons clumped together.
Nanotube circuit could boost chip speeds
(Mar 24, 2006)
A single-molecule logic circuit has shown that using carbon nanotubes instead of silicon pathways could someday soup up integrated circuits to near-terahertz processing, up from today's low-gigahertz range. Researchers at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center used techniques similar to conventional chip-making technology to create field effect transistors along a carbon nanotube – one very large carbon molecule – that had been deposited onto a silicon wafer. Unlike shrunken conventional silicon circuits, the resulting logic circuit yielded virtually no electron flow impedance, meaning current flowed faster.
Sony has outlined plans for its new online gaming service for its forthcoming PlayStation 3 (PS3). The service will allow users to download games and other content direct to the console's hard drive. When it is launched in November, the online offering will seek to rival Microsoft's Xbox Live network.
Laser chips could power petaflop computers
(Mar 22, 2006)
Laser communications chips capable of pumping data through the veins of gargantuan "petaflop" supercomputers have been demonstrated by NEC in Japan. The communications chips can transfer information through optical fibres at a blistering 25 gigabits per second (a gigabit is a billion bits). This is a record for such components, according to NEC, and is many times faster that the purely electronic interconnects used in today's supercomputers.
A new plastic that could rival silicon as the material of choice for some electronic devices has been developed. The invention could eventually slash the cost of flat panel screens and bring electronic paper into common use. The new material can also be laid down using simple printing techniques rather than the expensive and elaborate methods used to process silicon.
UK scientists from Norwich have used a plant virus to create nanotechnology building blocks. The virus, which infects black-eyed peas, was employed as a "scaffold" on to which other chemicals were attached. By linking iron-containing compounds to the virus's surface, the John Innes Centre team was able to create electronically active nanoparticles. The researchers tell the journal Small that their work could be used in the future to make tiny electrical devices.
It is without question the smallest map that has ever been made. US scientists have coaxed strands of DNA, the molecule that holds the "code of life", to take up a shape that resembles the Americas. The mini-map measures just a few hundred nanometres (billionths of a metre) across, smaller even than some bacteria – a scale of 1:200 trillion.
Soon you could be running your laptop computer all day without a recharge as commercial versions of fuel cells go on sale. At the Cebit technology fair in Hanover, Taiwanese hi-tech firm Antig said its fuel cells should be on the shelves of computer shops by early 2007. The first versions of the methanol-using units should keep a laptop going for up to nine hours.
It is not an impact on the epic scale of an asteroid smashing into the Earth and killing off the dinosaurs, but the collision of technology and media is having profound effects on a more modern ecosystem. Media are becoming democratised, and a global conversation is emerging. The tools of production – used to create digital content such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, discussions, multiplayer games, mashups (I'll describe each of those in more detail below) – are increasingly powerful and easy to use, yet decreasingly expensive.
Chinese ideas about the setting up its own domain name system could change the global nature of the internet, argues internet law professor Michael Geist. "There was a buzz in the internet community last week after the People's Daily, widely regarded as the most influential newspaper in China, published an article in English announcing changes to that country's domain name system."
Car makers shout about green credentials
(Mar 6, 2006)
In a world where climate change is said to threaten the lives of future generations, the car industry is widely seen as the main villain. This general view prevails, despite its repeated insistence that it is here to help. Many senior figures go out of their way to show they are taking environmental issues seriously. "Climate change is the biggest single challenge facing the automotive industry today," says Lewis Booth, head of Ford's luxury division, the Premier Automotive Group.
A nimble, four-legged robot is so surefooted it can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick. The machine, which moves like a cross between a goat and a pantomime horse, is being developed as a robotic pack mule for the US military. BigDog is described by its developers Boston Dynamics as “the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth”. The company have released a new video of the robot negotiating steep slopes, crossing rocky ground and dealing with the sharp kick.
'Nano-skin' could create super-bendy screens
(Mar 4, 2006)
A flexible polymer infused with billions of carbon nanotubes could be used to make incredibly bendy displays and other novel electronic devices, researchers say. The "nano-skin" polymer was created by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in New York, US. Nanotubes are excellent electrical conductors and group member Swastik Kar says the material may well be used to build highly efficient electronic parts for highly flexible electronic displays.
If you have played games online in the last year or so, then World of Warcraft is a name that has been hard to avoid. Blizzard's stunning MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) has swept all before it, breaking various genre records and notching up more than 5.5 million regular players in the process. It has been a meteoric rise for a game that was expected to do well, but arguably not this well.
