Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Giving solar cells the rough treatment
A new solar cell design that traps photons in the crevices of a bumpy surface uses low-cost materials and may make these cells more commercially appealing.
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- Tech
Coddled crystal slams door on light
A better fabrication process yields such a high-quality optical material that microchips using light, rather than electrons, may be close to reality.
- Tech
Tiny device brings out the best in sperm
A new device with potential use in fertility treatments separates robust sperm from stragglers by exploiting a phenomenon that occurs when two microscale fluid flows merge.
- Tech
Columbia Disaster Working Hypothesis: Wing hit by debris
The independent board investigating the breakup of the space shuttle presented its first detailed account of what might have caused the Feb. 1 disaster.
- Tech
A Breath of Fresh Air: Bacteria rid sewage of its stink
Wastewater-treatment plants can use hydrogen sulfide-degrading bacteria instead of chemicals to reduce odors.
- Computing
Computation Takes a Quantum Leap
A quantum computation involving a custom-built molecule furnishes experimental evidence that a quantum computer can solve certain mathematical problems more efficiently than can a conventional computer.
- Tech
Tipping tiny scales
A prototype detector based on a tiny silicon cantilever that operates in air has achieved a 1,000-fold sensitivity boost when measuring tiny quantities of chemical agents.
- Computing
Minding Your Business
By means of novel sensors and mathematical models, scientists are teaching the basics of human social interactions to computers, which should ease the ever-expanding collaboration between people and machines.
- Computing
Tight packaging for digitized surfaces
A novel digital compression scheme may make it practical to transmit detailed models of three-dimensional surfaces over the Internet.
- Computing
Computer grid cracks problem
A large network of powerful computers solved a 32-year-old optimization challenge known as the "nug30" quadratic assignment problem.
- Computing
Strength and weakness in diversity
Although the Internet's redundancy and diversity help it survive local node malfunctions despite its vast size and complexity, it is vulnerable to attacks aimed specifically at the most highly connected nodes.
