Nano-based RFID tags could replace bar codes

Mar 19 | News

A carbon-nanotube-infused ink for ink-jet printers first developed in the Rice Univ. lab of James Tour has been used to make thin-film transistors in radio-frequency identification tags that can be printed on paper or plastic. The transmitter can be invisibly embedded in packaging, instantly sharing far more information than a bar code.

Self-assembling computer chips

Mar 16 | News

The features on computer chips are getting so small that soon the process used to make them, which has hardly changed in the last 50 years, won’t work anymore. One of the alternatives that academic researchers have been exploring is to create tiny circuits using molecules that automatically arrange themselves into useful patterns.  

Electrochemical imaging tech finds TNT in fingerprints

Mar 12 | News

Scientists at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State have hit on a new, versatile method to significantly improve the detection of trace chemicals. The technique—electrochemical imaging microscopy—was able to detect and identify TNT particles weighing less than a billionth of gram on the ridges and canals of a fingerprint.

Conquering the chaos in multiprocessor computers

Mar 11 | News

Computers should not play dice. That, to paraphrase Einstein, is the feeling of a Univ. of Washington computer scientist with a simple manifesto: If you enter the same computer command, you should get back the same result.

Broadband wireless from a desk lamp?

Mar 10 | News

The Optical Society of America has highlighted an upcoming presentation at an annual optics conference San Diego in which the researchers from Germany will describe a method for encoding a wireless broadband signal through the light generated by a common household lamp. Visible-frequency signals have a tremendous advantage in bandwidth, and modulation would be so fast no one would notice the flickering.

Dassault Systemes and BMW sign agreement for sustainable innovation

Mar 9 | News

Dassault Systèmes (DS) announced that BMW and DS have signed a strategic 5-year global agreement to pave the way to meet the automotive market’s new challenges.

Lending a helping hand

Mar 8 | News

Univ. of Utah engineers developed a computer-controlled, motorized hand and arm support that will let doctors, artists, and others precisely control scalpels, brushes, and tools over a wider area than otherwise possible, and with less fatigue.

Microrings could nix wires for communications in homes

Mar 4 | News

Purdue Univ. researchers have developed a miniature device capable of converting ultrafast laser pulses into bursts of radio-frequency signals, a step toward making wires obsolete for communications in the homes and offices of the future.

Quantifying the electron transport effects of placing metal contacts onto graphene

Feb 24 | News

Using large-scale supercomputer calculations, researchers have analyzed how the placement of metallic contacts on graphene changes the electron transport properties of the material as a factor of junction length, width and orientation.  The work is believed to be the first quantitative study of electron transport through metal-graphene junctions to examine earlier models in significant detail.

Turning blueprints green

Feb 24 | News

An open-source program developed at MIT allows architects and engineers to optimize a building’s energy systems early in the design process.

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Much ado about next to nothing

Mar 15

The recent review of the past 10 years of the National Nanotechnology Initiative--as presented by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology--suggested the rise of nanomanufacturing as the near future of nanotechnology. But the actual proposed funding reflects a cautious approach, even about nanotech in general.

Lunar tires, space MRSA, and resonating microfluidics

Mar 5

I typically attend the annual Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy each year in pursuit of specific coverage. This year, I sought out candidates for coverage in a vacuum technology article, and pulled together some instruments for a spectroscopy guide. But as busy as that kept me, it wasn’t all mass spectrometers and vacuum pumps on the show floor.  

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NuGard Coating Ashburn Hill

Jan 7

NuGard First Response Protective Clothing are lightweight coveralls, jackets, and pants that provide protection from heat and flame while keeping the wearers body temperature constant.

Multi-Touch Music Maker

Jan 7

Professor David Wessel shows his multi-touch interface that uses computer technologies that allow him to experiment with fine controls to "caress" the instrument.