Tech

  1. Tech

    DNA stores poems, a photo and a speech

    The molecule swaps its biological role for a computational one, that of long-term data storage.

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  2. Tech

    Trick of light makes microwave imaging simple

    Metamaterials and math combine to produce a quick, cheap system.

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  3. Genetics

    Factory of Life

    Synthetic biologists reinvent nature with parts, circuits.

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  4. Tech

    Antarctic test of novel ice drill poised to begin

    Any day now, a team of 40 scientists and support personnel expects to begin using a warm, high pressure jet of water to bore a 30 centimeter hole through 83 meters of ice. Once it breaks through to the sea below, they’ll have a few days to quickly sample life from water before the hole begins freezing up again. It's just a test. But if all goes well, in a few weeks the team will move 700 miles and bore an even deeper hole to sample for freshwater life that may have been living for eons outside even indirect contact with Earth’s atmosphere.

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  5. Math

    Maybe there’s a way to find out if reality is a computer simulation

    Randomness.

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  6. Tech

    Printed robot moves with a beat

    Tiny device created with a 3-D printer employs heart cells to make it move.

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  7. Tech

    Building robots that slither

    Howie Choset is a roboticist, but his team’s creations bear little resemblance to C-3PO or R2-D2. Instead, Choset finds inspiration in nature — specifically, snakes.

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  8. Tech

    Tiny muscles pull a big punch

    Coated carbon nanotubes form the basis of this smart new material.

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  9. Tech

    Beginnings of Bionic

    Electronics that bend with the human body may soon make their way into medical devices to track health, deliver treatments and improve surgery.

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  10. Tech

    Plastic fantastic seals in speeding projectiles

    Layered nanomaterial shows how bulletproof polymers wrap around penetrating particles.

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  11. Tech

    Cancer cells executed by magnet

    Metal nanoparticles trigger cell's own death machinery.

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  12. Tech

    Degradable devices vanish after use

    Technique combines silicon, magnesium and silk for medical implants, transistors and digital cameras that can melt away.

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