Tech

Tech

DNA embrace might drive micromachines

DNA interactions that bend tiny diving boards, or cantilevers, may open the door to powering micromachines by means of molecular reactions.

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Beads and glue defeat forgers

Researchers have devised a cheap, translucent material that, when embedded in credit cards and other items, would endow the items with unique identifiers that are almost impossible to tamper with or copy.

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Ribbon to the Stars

Advances in one of the tiniest of technologies—carbon nanotubes—is bringing the concept of a space elevator closer to reality.

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Cool Contraptions

The J. Paul Getty Museum’s intriguing online exhibition, “Devices of Wonder,” features optical devices, robots, thinking machines, and other fanciful contrivances of yesteryear. Check out a variety of ingenious contraptions for projecting images, playing music, revealing secrets, and more. Go to: http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/devices/choice.html

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Microdevice weds electronics, light fibers

By altering the chemical structures of dyelike molecules called chromophores, researchers have created tiny, low-voltage devices for converting electronic signals into light waves.

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Coal: The cool fuel for future jets

To power faster supersonic jets, scientists are developing coal-derived fuels that can absorb heat without breaking down at high temperatures.

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Liquid Logic: Tiny plumbing networks concoct and compute

By incorporating thousands of simple valves into microscopic networks of rubbery pipes and chambers, scientists have created fluid-manipulating microchips of unprecedented power.

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Ear to Traffic

Listen to the sounds of Web site activity, as massaged by statistician Mark Hansen of Lucent Technologies and translated into musical tones by audio artist Ben Rubin of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Intriguing audio samples offer hints of how aural cues might complement visualization techniques in data mining. Requires a Web browser with RealPlayer […]

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Coming soon: Knavish electromagnetic acts

Scientists have created a device with bizarre electromagnetic properties—but so far, only at microwave frequencies.

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Looking for Mr. Goodoxide

The impending collapse of a 40-year union between the electronic wonder materials silicon and silicon dioxide threatens the advance of chip technology and propels a high-stakes search for silicon dioxide replacements.

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Future Tech

Science fiction and fact seem to mingle at this Web site, which provides entertaining glimpses of a variety of futuristic technologies, from wearable computers to electronic healing. Links lead to other Web sites that offer additional information. Go to: http://www.21stcentury.co.uk/technology/index.asp

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Pocket Sockets

Keenly aware of user frustration with the short-lived batteries in cell phones and other portable electronics, researchers are rushing to work out the bugs in tiny fuel-cell power plants that will be as small as batteries—but last a lot longer and be refuelable.