Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Tech
High-flying wing destroyed in crash
The unmanned NASA aircraft that holds the world record for high-altitude flight without rocket propulsion recently broke up over the Pacific Ocean.
- Tech
Shining True: Marking original documents with a lick of gloss
Scientists have a new way of making forgery-proof documents by using laser color printers to embed hologramlike images in a document’s glossy surface.
- Computing
Resistance leaps as magnetism mounts
A tiny traffic island for electrons promises to serve as an extraordinarily sensitive detector of magnetic fields.
- Tech
Robots making robots, with some help
A new type of robotic system that designs and produces robotic offspring may represent a first step toward self-replicating "artificial life."
- Computing
Going to digital extremes
A researcher designs the ultimate laptop, stretching the laws of physics to their limits to achieve blazing computation rates.
