Tech

Tech

Iron Power: Eking more juice from batteries

By creating an extremely thin layer of an unusually electron-hungry form of iron, chemists have made a prototype rechargeable battery electrode that may lead to improved metal hydride batteries.

Tech

Special Treatment: Fuel cell draws energy from waste

Researchers have created a fuel cell that breaks down organic matter in wastewater and, in the process, generates small amounts of electricity.

Tech

Silicon goes optical

The advent of a fast, light-manipulating microdevice made from silicon suggests that speedy optical-fiber links now too expensive for broad use in businesses and homes may soon become widespread.

Tech

Body Builders

By growing stem cells on three- dimensional polymer scaffolds, tissue engineers hope to mimic natural tissue development and ultimately produce replacement body parts.

Computing

Straining for Speed

Hitting fundamental limits on how small they can make certain structures within semiconductor transistors, chip makers are deforming the silicon crystals from which those transistors are made to eke out some extra speed.

Tech

The rat in the hat

A compact positron-emission tomography (PET) brain scanner may make possible studies of awake rats that link brain functions and behaviors.

Computing

Paint by Pixel

Aaron Hertzmann is both a computer scientist and a painter. Among his art-related programming projects, he has developed a way for computers to refashion images and animations to reflect different painting styles. Other work includes a stretched “canvas” that projects a continually-changing painting of the viewer and a learning-by-example system that animates characters based on […]

Tech

Snappy DNA: Long strand folds into octahedron

By harnessing the self-assembling properties of DNA, researchers coerced a single strand of the genetic material to assume the shape of an octahedron.

Tech

Diagnosing the Developing World

Researchers are learning how to adapt sophisticated technologies to meet the health-care needs of the developing world.

Tech

Software enhances view of aircraft flaws

New software can run an ultrasonic machine that will map corrosion beneath the surface of an airplane more quickly, safely, and effectively than can existing devices.

Tech

Virtual Nanotech

With computers becoming ever more powerful, researchers are simulating nanoscale materials and devices down to the level of atoms and even electrons.

Tech

Tapping sun’s light and heat to make hydrogen

Researchers have demonstrated a highly efficient means of splitting water molecules to generate hydrogen fuel.