Tech
-
Tech
Microdevice weds electronics, light fibers
By altering the chemical structures of dyelike molecules called chromophores, researchers have created tiny, low-voltage devices for converting electronic signals into light waves.
By Peter Weiss -
Tech
Coal: The cool fuel for future jets
To power faster supersonic jets, scientists are developing coal-derived fuels that can absorb heat without breaking down at high temperatures.
-
Tech
Liquid Logic: Tiny plumbing networks concoct and compute
By incorporating thousands of simple valves into microscopic networks of rubbery pipes and chambers, scientists have created fluid-manipulating microchips of unprecedented power.
By Peter Weiss -
Tech
Ear to Traffic
Listen to the sounds of Web site activity, as massaged by statistician Mark Hansen of Lucent Technologies and translated into musical tones by audio artist Ben Rubin of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Intriguing audio samples offer hints of how aural cues might complement visualization techniques in data mining. Requires a Web browser with RealPlayer […]
By Science News -
Tech
Coming soon: Knavish electromagnetic acts
Scientists have created a device with bizarre electromagnetic properties—but so far, only at microwave frequencies.
By Peter Weiss -
Tech
Looking for Mr. Goodoxide
The impending collapse of a 40-year union between the electronic wonder materials silicon and silicon dioxide threatens the advance of chip technology and propels a high-stakes search for silicon dioxide replacements.
By Peter Weiss -
Tech
Future Tech
Science fiction and fact seem to mingle at this Web site, which provides entertaining glimpses of a variety of futuristic technologies, from wearable computers to electronic healing. Links lead to other Web sites that offer additional information. Go to: http://www.21stcentury.co.uk/technology/index.asp
By Science News -
Tech
Pocket Sockets
Keenly aware of user frustration with the short-lived batteries in cell phones and other portable electronics, researchers are rushing to work out the bugs in tiny fuel-cell power plants that will be as small as batteries—but last a lot longer and be refuelable.
By Peter Weiss -
Tech
Electronics in the Round: Mixing plastic and silicon yields form-fitting circuitry
Investigators used ordinary integrated-circuit fabrication techniques to pattern arrays of silicon-based transistors onto a flat, deformable sheet of plastic.
By Peter Weiss -
Computing
Writing faster with your eyes
A new method for gaze-operated, hands-free text entry is faster and more accurate than using an on-screen keyboard.
By Kristin Cobb -
Tech
Micromachine runs on nuclear power
Radioactivity creates electric fields that wiggle a tiny lever.
By Peter Weiss -
Tech
Eau, Brother!
The combination of advanced sensor materials and powerful computer chips promises devices that can sense threats ranging from bacteria in food to explosives in land mines.
By Sid Perkins