Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Reaction in Hand: Microreactor produces radioactive probe in a jiffy
A miniature chemical reactor that whips up a diagnostic tool could widen the availability of positron-emission tomography (PET) scans.
- Tech
Sweets spur biodiesel reaction
A Japanese research team has made an environmentally friendly biodiesel catalyst from charred sugars.
- Computing
Network Inoculation: Antivirus shield would outrace cyber infections
As a new way to protect a computer network from viruses, an epidemic of antiviral protection could theoretically propagate faster through the network than the virus itself, thanks to a novel topological twist.
- Tech
Hidden in Disorder: Chaos-encrypted information goes the distance
Scientists have demonstrated that a message encrypted in a chaotic laser signal can be transmitted more than 100 kilometers through a commercial optical-fiber network.
- Tech
Muck Tech: Natural enzyme displaces precious metal in fuel cell
A prototype fuel cell uses an enzyme from a soil microbe to generate electricity from hydrogen rather than from rare and expensive metal catalysts such as platinum.
- Tech
Ghost Town Busters
Facing the threat of a radioactive mess from a dirty bomb, government and industry labs are creating novel cleaning agents and fixatives to aid rescue operations and speed restoration of contaminated zones.
- Tech
Bionic Bacteria: Gold nanoparticles make gadgets of living microbes
Researchers have created an electromechanical device out of living microbes.
- Tech
Road Warriors: Robotic vehicles triumph over desert obstacles
In a landmark contest that has spurred advances in robotic-vehicle technology, five driverless racing machines piloted themselves over more than 200 kilometers of rugged desert terrain.
- Computing
Untangling a Web: The Internet gets a new look
A new mathematical model of the Internet shows that it may not be as vulnerable to centralized attacks as previous research suggested.
- Tech
Humane bloodletting
Medical researchers have designed a new lancet that dramatically reduces the pain experienced by lab mice during blood-sampling procedures.
- Tech
Light sensor may improve battlefield tools
A new microscale ultraviolet-light sensor could help shrink the size of some military field systems used for detecting biowarfare agents and clandestine communications to the dimensions of a cell phone.
- Tech
Getting a charge out of backpacking
A backpack enhanced with springs, gears, and a generator converts the up-and-down motions of the wearer into enough electricity to power portable electronic gadgets.
