Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Microbial Mug Shots: Telltale patterns finger bad bacteria
A sophisticated pattern-recognition technique that borrows from automated face recognition may permit identification of harmful bacteria faster and more cheaply than conventional methods do.
- Tech
Tapping out a TAI-CHI tune
A new system permits people to make a keyboard and more out of a tabletop or any other hard surface.
- Computing
Hairy Calculations: Picturing tresses in a truer light
Hard-to-simulate blond hair may look more natural in future animations thanks to a new computer model that allows for hairs' transparency and includes the illumination produced by light propagating from hair to hair.
- Tech
Litmus test gets tiny
When zapped by a laser, new, light-sensitive nanobaubles could provide a reading of pH, or how acidic or basic a solution is, even from deep inside living cells.
- Tech
Farm-Fuel Feedback: Soybeans have advantages over corn
A new analysis of two biofuels finds that while both provide more energy than they consume, soybean biodiesel gives more bang for the buck than ethanol made from corn.
- Tech
Smells Like the Real Thing
Chemical sensors that take cues from the mammalian pattern-based approach to identifying odors and flavors create colorful readouts that even the eyes can distinguish.
- Tech
Power Play: Shift from loss to gain may boost silicon devices
By tapping solar cell-like behavior in a silicon optical amplifier, engineers have shown that light-manipulating components made from silicon can become power recyclers rather than power wasters, an advance that boosts prospects for silicon optical devices.
- Tech
Hot Prospect: Simple burner keeps pollution counts down
A new type of combustion chamber reduces pollution with less complexity and a safer, more reliable design.
- Tech
Blinding spies’ digital eyes
To prevent unauthorized picture taking, an automated antispy system spots digital cameras and zaps them with confounding flashes of light.
- Tech
Humanlike touch from chemical film
A nanoparticle-laden, pressure-detecting membrane feels textures with about the same sensitivity as human skin.
- Tech
Pumping Alloy
A new way to power artificial muscles improves the prospects for making lifelike humanoid robots and prosthetic limbs.
- Tech
How Products are Made
What does it take to manufacture an accordion or a zipper? Organized alphabetically by product name, this intriguing Web site provides details on how a wide variety of everyday and basic products are made. Go to: http://www.madehow.com/
