Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Computing
Cloudy Crystal Balls
Computer programs that model climate may be so complex that global warming predictions will never settle on a single, definitive answer.
- Computing
Virtual Surgery
Computer simulations of blood flow in the heart allow doctors to test surgical innovations before trying them on patients.
- Computing
Check on Checkers: In perfect game, there’s no winner
Thanks to an immense calculation that worked out every possible game position, computers can now play a flawless game of checkers and force a draw every time.
- Tech
Double-decker solar cell
A two-layer, polymer-based solar cell has good efficiency and could be cheap to mass-produce.
- Tech
More bang for the biofuel buck
Microbes that ferment glycerol to ethanol could add an economically valuable new ingredient to the biofuel industry.
- Tech
Biowarfare: Engineered virus can invade bacterial film
A genetically engineered virus not only kills bacteria but makes an enzyme that breaks up the biofilm in which the bacteria live.
- Tech
Cellular Smugglers: Laden nanoparticles hitch a ride on bacteria
Molecular cargoes loaded onto nanoparticles can sneak into mammalian cells on the backs of bacteria.
- Tech
Life Swap: Switching genomes converts bacteria
Transplanting the entire genome of one species of bacteria into another paves the way for making synthetic microbes with manmade DNA.
- Tech
A computer in every cell
Artificial genes inserted into cells make RNA molecules that can perform logical computations.
- Computing
Mapping a Medusa: The Internet spreads its tentacles
After tracking how digital information weaves around the world, researchers have concluded that, structurally speaking, the Internet looks like a medusa jellyfish.
- Tech
Improbability Drive: Focus on rare actions speeds chemical simulations
A new algorithm speeds simulations of chemical reactions by focusing on rare but crucial molecular motions.
- Tech
Nanotech bubbles
Creating large-scale, regular arrays of nanoscale components is now almost as easy as blowing bubbles.
