Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Magnifier May Crack Crimes, Crashes
Gumshoes equipped with a novel device for magnifying magnetic fields may spy clues on damaged, erased, or deliberately corrupted audio tapes and other magnetic media.
- Tech
Super Truck
Even James Bond might take notice. The SmarTruck, developed for the U.S. Army by the National Automotive Center and the Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation, serves as a vehicle for testing cutting-edge technologies. The current model incorporates a sophisticated information system, an adjustable air suspension system for varied terrain, and a slanted body style that […]
- Tech
Fiber Helper: Minuscule controllers may open data floodgates
A device that fits on the end of optical fibers may make possible the next big boost in Internet speed without new underground cables.
- Tech
A Shot in the Light
Bullet replicas that look on a microscopic level like they've been fired from a gun—even though they haven't—enable forensics specialists to fine-tune as never before instruments to automatically match bullets from crime scenes.
- Tech
Satellite links may don quantum cloaks
A theoretically foolproof scheme to shield secrets via the laws of quantum mechanics demonstrates its readiness to take on Earth-satellite communications.
- Tech
Deadly Bubble Bath: Ultrasound fizz kills microbes under pressure
A modest pressure increase on a liquid agitated by ultrasound dramatically boosts the microbe-killing power of those high-frequency sound waves.
- Tech
Robotic heart surgery
By using robotic rather than conventional open-heart techniques, doctors can perform heart surgery with smaller incisions, giving patients less pain and speeding recovery.
- Tech
Resistancefree wire takes long jump
A wire-making company has demonstrated a process that yields potentially inexpensive, high-current superconducting wires about 10 times longer than previous prototypes.
- Computing
Loony Tunes: Bugs blare in software set to music
A novel way of converting computer programs into familiar-sounding music helps programmers locate errors in their code.
- Computing
Software’s beginnings
The earliest known use of the term software to describe computer programs dates back to 1958.
- Computing
‘Love bug’ lessons
In early May, the malicious ILOVEYOU computer virus shut down hundreds of thousands of computers and caused several billion dollars in damage.
- Computing
A loosely woven Web
The World Wide Web is less like a network of heavily interconnected superhighways and more like a jungle of one-way streets often leading to dead ends.
