Teams at University College London and UCLA could tell which images people were looking at or what sounds they were listening to, using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) brain scanning to monitor activity in the visual and auditory cortex.
California Institute of Technology researchers hope to replace large chemistry equipment with devices based on a fluidic storage chip that can store 1,000 different substances in an area slightly larger than a postage stamp.
The technology could eventually allow experiments that involve hundreds or thousands of liquid samples to run on desktop or even handheld devices, potentially reducing the cost and complexity of medical testing, genetics research and drug… read more
As many as 40,000 Web sites have been hacked to redirect unwitting victims to another Web site that tries to infect PCs with malicious software, according to security vendor Websense.
A way of making a thread purely from carbon nanotubes has been developed by researchers in China. They say the super-strong, electrically-conducting threads “should eventually be able to be woven into objects such as bullet-proof clothing and materials that block electromagnetic waves.”
University of Twente physicists have have shown how to find open channels for light in opaque material by using constructive interference to control the shape of incoming light waves.
They focused a laser beam onto an opaque layer of granular zinc oxide and used a digital camera to measure the light emerging from the other side. The researchers then used signals from the camera to control the… read more
Here are three new promising research developments in enhancing graphene — the thinnest and strongest material in the world (more than 100 times stronger than diamond). Graphene’s properties make it ideal for advancements in green electronics, superconductors, super-strong materials, flexible screens and electronic devices, ultra-efficient solar power cells, and computers with 1,000 GHz processors that run on virtually no energy.
Grow it in large sheets… read more
Three innovative new energy technologies are explored in the current issue of Technology and Innovation — Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors:
Google, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems will underwrite a $7.5 million laboratory on the Berkeley campus. The research focus of The Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed Systems Laboratory will be to apply advances in the use of statistical techniques in machine learning to Web services — from maps to e-mail to online calendars — which have become an increasingly important part of the commercial Internet.
A new technique that uses magnetic nanobeads to levitate cells, allowing them to grow on an “invisible scaffold” into three-dimensional structures, results in cell cultures that tend to form tissues that more closely resemble those inside the body.
The technique could save millions of dollars in drug-testing costs.
A team led by University of Arizona (UA) optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian has developed a new type of “holographic telepresence” that allows remote projection of a three-dimensional, moving image without the need for special eyewear such as 3D glasses or other auxiliary devices.
The technology is likely to take applications ranging from telemedicine, advertising, updatable 3D maps and entertainment to a new level.
The journal… read more
A new sensor system that can detect dangerous airborne agents such as anthrax in as little as three minutes uses living immune-system cells genetically engineered to emit light when exposed to a particular contaminant.
The “BioFlash” sensor, built by Innovative Biosensors, contains mouse immune cells engineered to detect the smallpox virus, botulinum and ricin toxins, anthrax, and two other bacteria, but the company could also make cells that react… read more
Death rates in 2007 have decreased to 760.3 per 100,000 from 776.5 in 2006, and a baby born in 2007 can expect to live 77.9 years, compared with 77.7 for one born in 2006.
Age-adjusted death rates decreased significantly for 8 of the 15 leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, accidents, diabetes, influenza, high blood pressure and assaults.
MIT researchers have found a way to make glass that’s anti-fogging, self-cleaning, and free of glare.
The new way of creating surface textures on glass virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare — and whose surface causes water droplets to bounce right off, like tiny rubber balls.
The new “multifunctional” glass, based on surface nanotextures that produce an… read more
The post-9/11 era has caught up with William Gibson’s vision. As uncannily as Gibson has sometimes foreseen the future, there are other times when the events of the real world outstrip anything he could conjure up.
Physicist Fotini Markopoulou Kalamara has developed a way to connect relativity with quantum theory – while making sure that cause still precedes effect. The unification of Einstein’s general relativity with quantum theory to explain the nature of space and time is probably the single greatest challenge of modern physics. Kalamara’s work suggests networks that do not live in space and are not made of matter. Rather their very architecture gives… read more