Tech
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
A backpack with a suspension system
A new backpack design that uses elastic cords to minimize the pack's vertical motion could lessen bodily strain on wearers and reduce the effort required to carry a load.
- Computing
Digital Fingerprints
New methods to identify Internet users by their behavior can uncover criminals online, but these techniques may also track millions of innocent users.
- Tech
Loopy Light: Rings that delay photons may advance microchips
Chains of tiny, high-precision, light-conducting loops of silicon may open the door to using optical circuits to carry enormous data flows within computer chips.
- Tech
Ahead of the Curve: Novel morphing wing may reduce aircraft’s fuel use
A prototype aircraft wing has demonstrated in its first flight tests that its morphing might save fuel.
- Tech
Shape shifter shifts twice
Certain plastics known as shape-memory polymers switch to predetermined shapes when triggered by heat or light. Now, researchers have developed more-versatile versions of such polymers. When heated, each of the new triple-shape polymers switches to a second shape. Then, at a higher temperature, the plastic changes to a third form. “For some applications, [these] more-complex […]
- Computing
What a Flake
New ways to simulate ice-crystal growth yield patterns remarkably similar to the beautiful and intricate shapes of snowflakes and may shed light on how those real-life shapes come about.
- Tech
A nano–cheese slicer
Stringing a carbon nanotube between two needles yields a nanoscale cheese knife that could improve slicing of biological samples.
- Tech
Crusty Old Computer: New imaging techniques reveal construction of ancient marvel
Scientists have figured out the arrangement and functions of nearly all the parts of a mysterious astronomical computer that was recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck.
- Tech
Safety practices surveyed
Nanotechnology companies and laboratories largely rely on the same safety practices that they use when working with conventional chemicals, an international survey reports.
- Tech
Ancients made nanotech hair dye
A hair-darkening paste invented thousands of years ago forms lead-and-sulfur nanocrystals remarkably similar to those made in today's nanotechnology labs.
- Tech
Cleanup Speedup: Device improves oil-spill recovery
By adding grooves to the surface of a common oil-skimming device, researchers recovered up to three times as much oil as they do with smooth-surfaced devices.
- Tech
Unstoppable Bot: Armed with self-scrutiny, a mangled robot moves on
Roboticists have made a walking machine that carries on despite serious damage.
