Tech

Tech

Timing Is Everything: Implantable polymer chip delivers meds on schedule

A polymer microchip implanted under the skin could deliver multiple doses of medications at programmed intervals, eliminating the need for pills and injections.

Tech

Sweet-toothed microbe tapped for power

Using a newly discovered bacterium that both frees electrons from sugars and injects those charges straight into electric circuits, scientists have created a fuel cell that converts carbohydrates to electricity with extraordinary efficiency.

Tech

Wash Those Hands!

A Florida-based company is now developing a laser-based scanning technology to scout for dirty hands. Installed in restaurant washrooms or daycare centers, it could identify fecal traces — evidence that hand washing was incomplete. Indeed, these sensors might even be coupled to a lock that allows workers back into a kitchen after a restroom break, notes Richard Stroman, vice president of eMerge Interactive, which is applying for a patent on the system. Kitchen or food-processing-plant workers who don't pass the laser test would be forced to go back and lather up again.

Tech

Special Delivery: Metallic nanorods shuttle genes

A new gene therapy technique relies on nanorods made of gold and nickel to deliver genes to cells in the body.

Tech

The Daily Flicks: Morphing ink may bring video to newspapers

New types of electronic-paper pixels may eventually make it possible to view full-color video clips in your morning newspaper.

Tech

Dream Machines from Beans: Legume proteins provide motion

Plant proteins swell and shrink in response to calcium, sparking new ideas for micromachines.

Tech

Channeling light in the deep sea

Light-conducting fibers that naturally sprout from certain deep-sea sponges may hold lessons for makers of optical fibers for telecommunications.

Computing

Virtual stampede sees faces in crowd

A new computer model based on particle interactions suggests ways to prevent a panicked crowd from stampeding.

Tech

Memory Enhancers

Engineers take aim at increasing the density of data storage on magnetic media.

Tech

Smart dust can swarm target

Microscopic mirrors can swarm a target and produce an optical signal that identifies the target to the observer.

Tech

Mind-Expanding Machines

Researchers have designed computer systems aimed at amplifying human thought and perception, such as a new type of cockpit display for aircraft pilots that exploits the power of peripheral vision.

Tech

Bomb Sniffer: Cantilevers detect trace amounts of explosives

An ultra-sensitive chemical sensor uses microcantilevers to detect airborne plastic explosives within seconds.