Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Sweet-toothed microbe tapped for power
Using a newly discovered bacterium that both frees electrons from sugars and injects those charges straight into electric circuits, scientists have created a fuel cell that converts carbohydrates to electricity with extraordinary efficiency.
- Tech
Wash Those Hands!
A Florida-based company is now developing a laser-based scanning technology to scout for dirty hands. Installed in restaurant washrooms or daycare centers, it could identify fecal traces — evidence that hand washing was incomplete. Indeed, these sensors might even be coupled to a lock that allows workers back into a kitchen after a restroom break, notes Richard Stroman, vice president of eMerge Interactive, which is applying for a patent on the system. Kitchen or food-processing-plant workers who don't pass the laser test would be forced to go back and lather up again.
- Tech
Special Delivery: Metallic nanorods shuttle genes
A new gene therapy technique relies on nanorods made of gold and nickel to deliver genes to cells in the body.
- Tech
The Daily Flicks: Morphing ink may bring video to newspapers
New types of electronic-paper pixels may eventually make it possible to view full-color video clips in your morning newspaper.
- Tech
Dream Machines from Beans: Legume proteins provide motion
Plant proteins swell and shrink in response to calcium, sparking new ideas for micromachines.
- Tech
Channeling light in the deep sea
Light-conducting fibers that naturally sprout from certain deep-sea sponges may hold lessons for makers of optical fibers for telecommunications.
- Computing
Virtual stampede sees faces in crowd
A new computer model based on particle interactions suggests ways to prevent a panicked crowd from stampeding.
- Tech
Memory Enhancers
Engineers take aim at increasing the density of data storage on magnetic media.
- Tech
Smart dust can swarm target
Microscopic mirrors can swarm a target and produce an optical signal that identifies the target to the observer.
- Tech
Mind-Expanding Machines
Researchers have designed computer systems aimed at amplifying human thought and perception, such as a new type of cockpit display for aircraft pilots that exploits the power of peripheral vision.
- Tech
Bomb Sniffer: Cantilevers detect trace amounts of explosives
An ultra-sensitive chemical sensor uses microcantilevers to detect airborne plastic explosives within seconds.
- Tech
High-flying wing destroyed in crash
The unmanned NASA aircraft that holds the world record for high-altitude flight without rocket propulsion recently broke up over the Pacific Ocean.
