Issue no. 23, 2006
Published: Jun 30, 2006 |
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 Cool light leads to greener chips |
| Scientists develop record-breaking camera chip |
| Leaking hard drives promise tenfold capacity increase |
| Lighting the key to energy saving |
| Study: Cell talkers as bad as drunken drivers |
| New device helps patients to grow back own teeth |
| Remote-controlled advertising |
| Inventor sets sights on password-protected guns |
| What's that? In Japan, phone has answer |
| Watchful eyes foster honesty |
| Coming soon - mind-reading computers |
| Device records smells to play back later |
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| Cool light leads to greener chips |
A technique that could lead to cheap, environmentally-friendly
microchips has been developed by researchers at University College
London. The team used low temperature, ultraviolet lamps to make silicon
dioxide, a vital component of almost all modern chips.
Silicon dioxide forms very slowly at room temperature. In order to speed
the process up chip-makers heat the silicon wafers to between 900C and
1200C in the presence of oxygen. Heating the wafer with these densely
packed chips can cause contamination of individual components as they
become more fluid and 'bleed' into one another. A low temperature
manufacturing process would overcome these problems and allow chip
makers to continue to push the boundaries of chip size.
The new technique uses a lamp that emits light from deep within the UV
spectrum at a wavelength of 126 nanometres. The emitted light causes
oxygen molecules to break down into separate atoms. This dissociation
creates one atom with a lot of energy and one with much less. The
energetic atoms are the most useful for creating silicon dioxide. |
| BBC News
Jun 22, 2006 |
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| Scientists develop record-breaking camera chip |
Semiconductor Technology Associates (STA) in the US has designed the
world’s highest-resolution digital camera chip, capable of holding an
image composed of more than 111 million pixels. By comparison, the best
consumer cameras take shots of 12 to 16 million pixels, and an average
computer monitor offers about one million pixels.
The imaging chip, which is a charge-coupled device (CCD), was designed
for use in telescope cameras that map stars and ever-moving objects in
the solar system. But the large-scale chip - it measures four inches
square - could be useful in high-resolution microscopic images of
proteins, military surveillance applications, and even civilian mapping
projects that require detailed aerial photography.
Currently, the mega-chips are priced at a staggering $80,000-100,000
each, and are custom manufactured for each specific - mostly
astronomical - application. The steep cost is one reason such CCDs are
not likely to show up in consumer products soon. |
| Technology Review
Jun 29, 2006 |
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| Leaking hard drives promise tenfold capacity increase |
Nanotubes that leak a vapour of lubricant could provide a tenfold
increase in hard drive capacity. The claim is made by hard drive
manufacturer Seagate, which is patenting the idea after research funded
by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
More magnetically stored information can be squeezed onto a hard disc by
heating it. This changes the magnetic properties of the regions used to
hold data so that they can be packed more closely together.
Unfortunately this heating evaporates the lubricant that lets a
recording head travel over a disk smoothly. If the recording head
crashes into the surface the whole disk then becomes useless.
Seagate's answer is to use a material made from millions of carbon
nanotubes, embedded in the disc drive housing, to store the lubricant.
As the disc spins, the lubricant will leak out and cover the surface of
the disc. Because the drive is sealed and the vapour cannot escape, the
nanotubes could hold enough lubricant for a disc's lifetime. Seagate
says the method should provide an information storage density of several
terabits per square inch – 10 times more than is possible today. |
| New Scientist
Jun 30, 2006 |
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| Lighting the key to energy saving |
A global switch to efficient lighting systems would trim the world's
electricity bill by nearly one-tenth. That is the conclusion of a study
from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which it says is the first
global survey of lighting uses and costs. The CO2 emissions saved by
such a switch would, it concludes, dwarf cuts so far achieved by
adopting wind and solar power.
Nineteen per cent of global electricity generation is taken for
lighting. The CO2 produced by generating all of this electricity amounts
to 70 per cent of global emissions from passenger vehicles, and is three
times more than emissions from aviation, the IEA says.
Not many inventions last for more than 100 years without major
modifications. The incandescent light bulb, developed a century and a
quarter ago, is one, and still produces almost half of the light used in
homes around the world. But incandescent bulbs are very inefficient,
converting only about 5 per cent of the energy they receive into light. |
| BBC News
Jun 29, 2006 |
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| Study: Cell talkers as bad as drunken drivers |
People who talk on cell phones while driving, even using 'hands-free'
devices, are as impaired as drunken drivers. Researchers at the
University of Utah studied 40 volunteers who used a driving simulator
four times - while undistracted, using a handheld cell phone, using a
hands-free cell phone and while intoxicated to a 0.08 per cent
blood-alcohol level.
Three study participants rear-ended the simulated car in front of them.
All were talking on cell phones and none was drunk. Motorists who talked
on either handheld or hands-free cell phones drove slightly more slowly,
were 9 per cent slower to hit the brakes, and varied their speed more
than undistracted drivers. Drivers with a 0.08 per cent blood-alcohol
level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and
telephone users, yet more aggressively.
Just like many people who have been drinking, the cell phone users did
not believe themselves to be affected, the researchers found. |
| ZDNet / Reuters
Jun 29, 2006 |
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| New device helps patients to grow back own teeth |
Scientist at the University of Alberta in Canada have created a device
that can make human teeth grow back.
The tiny ultrasound machine fits into a patient's mouth on a braces
bracket or a removable plastic crown, where it gently massages gums and
stimulates dental growth from the root. It is wireless and is controlled
by a pocket-sized remote carried by the user.
The researchers hope the low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) system,
which is smaller than a pea, will be available to the public within two
years. It is currently being designed to help repair fractured or
diseased teeth, but in the future could help sports players or children
who have a tooth knocked out. And eventually the same technology could
even be used to grow bones, raising the possibility that people could
make themselves taller.
The system needs to be activated for 20 minutes a day for four weeks for
noticeable results. |
| The Scotsman
Jun 29, 2006 |
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| Remote-controlled advertising |
Swiss telecom firm Swisscom has been playing with remote-controlled toy
planes, cars and boats. The company sees such fun gadgets as a serious
new tool for targeted advertising.
A small unmanned plane could be flown over a concert or sports audience,
beaming advertising messages, news flashes and weather updates to those
below using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or another wireless standard. The messages
would be stored aboard the plane and refreshed by a control server using
a separate wireless link.
The plane would draw attention to itself by beeping and flashing its
lights. This should encourage anyone nearby to check their phones and
PDAs for new messages. People waiting in a long queue on a hot day could
be told about a cold beer, given lotto results or warned to expect rain.
Drivers in a traffic jam could get localised updates from a plane
overhead. Swisscom even suggests that tiny toy boats could be used to
send out messages from a pond or river. |
| New Scientist
Jun 27, 2006 |
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| Inventor sets sights on password-protected guns |
A German inventor is patenting a password-protection system for gun
cartridges, which he claims will make firearms safer by preventing
accidental and unauthorised use.
Herbert Meyerle has applied for a patent designed to secure ammunition
as well as guns with passwords. Meyerle describes a method by which a
passcode entered into the gun itself would have to match the same
passcode stored on the cartridge before the weapon will fire. The gun
would check for matching codes and then allow the instruction to fire by
means of a radio signal. At the point of purchase, cartridges could have
a code matching the purchaser's gun written to them.
The gun could then request the code each time it is reloaded, and could
automatically lock after a preset time. Biometric security could also be
added for extra safety. However, many firearms enthusiasts have slammed
the idea as overcomplicated and detrimental to the point of having a gun
for defensive purposes. |
| VNUnet UK
Jun 28, 2006 |
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| What's that? In Japan, phone has answer |
If you stand on a street corner in Tokyo today, you can point a
specialised cellphone at a hotel, a restaurant or a historical monument,
and with the press of a button the phone will display information from
the internet describing the object you are looking at. The new service
is made possible by the efforts of three Japanese companies and
GeoVector, a small American technology firm, and it represents a missing
link between cyberspace and the physical world.
The phones combine satellite-based navigation, precise to within no more
than 9 metres, with an electronic compass to provide a new dimension of
orientation. Connect the device to the internet and it is possible to
overlay the point-and-click simplicity of a computer screen on top of
the real world.
The technology is being seen first in Japan because emergency
regulations there require cellphones by next year to have receivers
using the satellite- based Global Positioning System to establish their
location. As a result, analysts say that Japan will have a head start of
several years in what will be a new frontier for mobile devices. |
| EJC Medianews / IHT
Jun 27, 2006 |
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| Watchful eyes foster honesty |
A poster showing a pair of eyes may be a way to deter thieves and
freeloaders, psychologists say. Researchers at the University of
Newcastle, England, set up an experiment for their colleagues.
For years, the lounge in the psychology department has had an 'honesty
box', where academics can pay a listed price and help themselves to
coffee, tea and milk. There is no cashier monitoring if people pay for
their beverages. Over 10 weeks, the researchers placed a sign above the
box. Each week, they alternated pictures of eyes with flowers. The eyes
were male or female and had various expressions.
On average, people paid nearly three times as much for their drinks on
the weeks when the poster featured eyes. The results suggest people are
less likely to be selfish when they feel they are being watched because
people are attuned to subconscious clues that can damage their
reputation, the study said. The findings could have applications in
curbing anti-social behaviour, such as enforcing payment on public
transit or speed cameras. |
| CBC / Biology Letters
Jun 27, 2006 |
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| Coming soon - mind-reading computers |
An 'emotionally aware' computer being developed by British and American
scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analysing a
combination of facial movements that represent underlying feelings.
The researchers believe the mind-reading computer's applications could
range from improving people's driving skills to helping companies tailor
advertising to people's moods.
The technology is already programmed to recognise 24 facial expressions
generated by actors. The scientists from Cambridge University in
England, who are developing the technology in collaboration with
researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the
United States, also hope to get it to accept other inputs such as
posture and gesture.
The device could be useful in online teaching to show whether someone
understands what is being explained and in improving road safety by
determining whether a driver is confused, bored or tired. |
| Reuters
Jun 26, 2006 |
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| Device records smells to play back later |
Engineers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan are building an
odour recorder capable of recording a smell and playing it back later.
Simply point the gadget at a freshly baked cookie, for example, and it
will analyse its odour and reproduce it for you using a host of
non-toxic chemicals.
The device could be used to improve online shopping by allowing you to
sniff foods or fragrances before you buy, to add an extra dimension to
virtual reality environments and even to assist military doctors
treating soldiers remotely by recreating bile, blood or urine odours
that might help a diagnosis.
The system will use 15 chemical-sensing microchips to pick up a broad
range of aromas. These are then used to create a digital recipe from a
set of 96 chemicals that can be chosen according to the purpose of each
individual gadget. When you want to replay a smell, drops from the
relevant vials are mixed, heated and vaporised. In tests so far, the
system has successfully recorded and reproduced the smell of orange,
lemon, apple, banana and melon. |
| New Scientist
Jun 30, 2006 |
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