Technology

Advances by the Rice University lab of James Tour have brought graphite’s potential as a mass data storage medium a step closer to reality and created the potential for reprogrammable gate arrays that could bring about a revolution in integrated circuit logic design.
In a paper published in the online journal ACS Nano, Tour and postdoctoral [...]

Most natural rubber comes from rubber trees in Southeast Asia, but this source is now under threat from a fungus. Researchers have optimized the Russian dandelion to make it suitable for large-scale rubber production.
Anyone who has picked dandelions as a child will be familiar with the white liquid that seeps out of the stalks as [...]

A new iPhone application, created by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, enables users to track and report outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as H1N1 (swine flu), on the ground in real time. The application, “Outbreaks Near Me,” builds upon the mission and proven capability of HealthMap, an online [...]

Autism can build a wall of poor communication between those struggling with the condition and their families. While a personal computer can help bridge the divide, the distraction and complexity of a keyboard can be an insurmountable obstacle.
Using a unique keyboard with only two “keys” and a novel curriculum, teachers with Project Blue Skies are [...]

Computer scientists in Taiwan have devised a neural network program that can successfully classify a computerized music file based on its beat and tempo. The system could be a boon for music archivists with large numbers of untagged recordings and for users searching through mislabeled mp3 libraries. Details of tests on ballroom dancing music are [...]

A non-toxic and environmentally friendly way to make tiny nanorods of zinc oxide has been developed for the first time by researchers in Saudi Arabia. The approach, described in the current issue of the International Journal of Nanoparticles, could allow the nanorods to be used safely in medical and for other applications.
Zinc oxide has many [...]

In the movie “2010,” while trying to salvage the mission to Jupiter, the Hal 9000 computer noted, “I enjoy working with human beings, and have stimulating relationships with them.”
Well, 2010 is just around the corner, and as usual Hollywood was a little ahead of its time — but in this case, not by much. Oregon [...]

Researchers are adapting the same methods used in fusion-energy research to create extremely thin plasma beams for a new class of “nanolithography” required to make future computer chips.
Current technology uses ultraviolet light to create the fine features in computer chips in a process called photolithography, which involves projecting the image of a mask onto a [...]

Scientists have discovered the secret to easing one of the great frustrations of the millions who use smart phones, portable media players and other devices with touchscreens: Reducing their tendency to smudge and cutting glare from sunlight. In a report today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they describe development of [...]

Researchers have created the tiniest laser since its invention nearly 50 years ago, paving the way for a host of innovations, including superfast computers that use light instead of electrons to process information, advanced sensors and imaging.
Because the new device, called a “spaser,” is the first of its kind to emit visible light, it represents [...]

In a new approach to an effective “electronic tongue” that mimics human taste, scientists in Illinois are reporting development of a small, inexpensive, lab-on-a-chip sensor that quickly and accurately identifies sweetness — one of the five primary tastes. It can identify with 100 percent accuracy the full sweep of natural and artificial sweet substances, including [...]

We see, hear and feel, and make sense of countless diverse, quickly changing stimuli in our environment seemingly without effort. However, doing what our brains do with ease is often an impossible task for computers. Researchers at the Leipzig Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging [...]

If manmade devices could be combined with biological machines, laptops and other electronic devices could get a boost in operating efficiency.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have devised a versatile hybrid platform that uses lipid-coated nanowires to build prototype bionanoelectronic devices.
Mingling biological components in electronic circuits could enhance biosensing and diagnostic tools, advance neural prosthetics such [...]

Researchers are developing a new class of tiny mechanical devices containing vibrating, hair-thin structures that could be used to filter electronic signals in cell phones and for other more exotic applications.
Because the devices, called resonators, vibrate in specific patterns, they are able to cancel out signals having certain frequencies and allow others to pass. The [...]

Computer scientists demonstrated that criminals could hack an electronic voting machine and steal votes using a malicious programming approach that had not been invented when the voting machine was designed. The team of scientists from University of California, San Diego, the University of Michigan, and Princeton University employed “return-oriented programming” to force a Sequoia AVC [...]

Raising prospects for building a practical quantum computer, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated sustained, reliable information processing operations on electrically charged atoms (ions). The new work, described in the August 6 issue of Science Express,* overcomes significant hurdles in scaling up ion-trapping technology from small demonstrations to larger [...]

Much like humans, materials are capable of some pretty remarkable things when they’re placed under pressure. In fact, under the right conditions, materials can even produce electricity.
Driven by the vision of our society one day being basically self-propelled, a team of University of Houston scientists has set out to both amplify and provoke that potential [...]

Could straw houses be the buildings of the future?
That’s what researchers at the University of Bath will be testing this summer by constructing a “BaleHaus” made of prefabricated straw bale and hemp cladding panels on campus.
And people around the world will be able to watch its progress online via “Strawcam” from Monday 20 July. The [...]

A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity many never thought possible: The opportunity to drive.
A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy developed by the Blind Driver Challenge team from Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory uses laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a host [...]

Conventional means of internal reinforcement for concrete member in buildings involve steel bars. Yet for structures that function in harsh environments like coastal regions, or for structures that support sensitive equipment, such as magnetic resonance imaging units; the use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) is emerging as a valuable option, due to its natural resistance [...]