Communications
Microtransistor prototypes map the mind
April 12, 2013 9:42 am | by Blaine Friedlander, Cornell University | News | Comments
To make better mind maps, a group of French scientists—building on prototypes developed at the Cornell University NanoScale Science and Technology Facility—have produced the world’s first microscopic, organic transistors that can amplify and record signals from within the brain itself.
Cradle turns smartphone into handheld biosensor
May 23, 2013 10:49 pm | by Liz Ahlberg, University of Illinois | News | Comments
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app...
Unusual testbed analyzes X-ray navigation technologies
May 21, 2013 8:10 am | by Lori Keesey, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center | News | Comments
Pulsars rotate rapidly, emitting powerful and regular beams of radiation that are seen...
Cells must use their brakes moderately for effective speed control
May 15, 2013 11:34 am | News | Comments
All living cells have a regulatory system similar to what can be found in today's...
Nanoantennas help improve infrared sensing
May 20, 2013 7:52 am | News | CommentsA team of University of Pennsylvania engineers has used a pattern of nanoantennas to develop a new way of turning infrared light into mechanical action, opening the door to more sensitive infrared cameras and more compact chemical analysis techniques.
Making frequency-hopping radios practical
May 15, 2013 7:45 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsThe way in which radio spectrum is currently allocated to different wireless technologies can lead to gross inefficiencies. Cognitive radio serves as a solution. Different proposals for cognitive radio place different emphases on hardware and software, but the chief component of many hardware approaches is a bank of filters that can isolate any frequency in a wide band. Researchers have developed a new method for manufacturing such filters.
Transfer of ultraprecise time signals over a wireless optical channel
May 2, 2013 8:18 am | News | CommentsBy bouncing eye-safe laser pulses off a mirror on a hillside, researchers at NIST have transferred ultraprecise time signals through open air with unprecedented precision equivalent to the "ticking" of the world's best next-generation atomic clocks. The demonstration shows how next-generation atomic clocks at different locations could be linked wirelessly to improve distribution of time and frequency information.
Tracking gunfire with a smartphone
April 26, 2013 8:41 am | by David Salisbury, Vanderbilt University | News | CommentsYou are walking down the street with a friend. A shot is fired. The two of you duck behind the nearest cover and you pull out your smartphone. A map of the neighborhood pops up on its screen with a large red arrow pointing in the direction the shot came from. A team has made such a scenario possible by developing a system that transforms a smartphone into a shooter location system.
What did Alexander Graham Bell's voice sound like?
April 26, 2013 8:34 am | News | CommentsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s sound-restoration experts have done it again. They’ve helped to digitally recover a 128-year-old recording of Alexander Graham Bell’s voice, enabling people to hear the famed inventor speak for the first time. The recording ends with Bell saying “in witness whereof, hear my voice, Alexander Graham Bell.”
Engineers generate world-record millimeter-wave output power from nanoscale CMOS
April 25, 2013 7:44 am | News | CommentsA team of electrical engineers from Columbia University has generated a record amount of power output—by a power of five—using silicon-based nanoscale CMOS technology for millimeter-wave power amplifiers. Power amplifiers are used in communications and sensor systems to boost power levels for reliable transmission of signals over long distances as required by the given application.
System allows multitasking runners to read on a treadmill
April 16, 2013 10:03 am | News | CommentsNot many people can run and read at the same time, because the relative location of the eyes to the text is constantly changing. This forces the eyes to constantly adjust. At Purdue University, an industrial engineering professor has introduced a new innovation called ReadingMate, which adjusts text on a monitor to counteract the bobbing motion of a runner's head so that the text appears still.
Researchers develop tiny gradient chip
April 12, 2013 8:52 am | News | CommentsNanotechnologists at the University of Twente have developed a tiny chip that makes it easy to create micrometer-scale gradients. Gradients are gradual transitions in specific properties, such as acidity. This newly developed system can be used to efficiently measure the reaction kinetics of various chemical or biological reactions.
New software could alleviate wireless traffic
April 12, 2013 7:53 am | News | CommentsThe explosive popularity of wireless devices is increasingly clogging the airwaves, resulting in dropped calls, wasted bandwidth, and botched connections. New software, called GapSense, being developed at the University of Michigan works like a stoplight to control the traffic and dramatically reduce interference.
Researchers call for marine observation network
April 11, 2013 3:31 am | News | CommentsA comprehensive marine biodiversity observation network could be established with modest funding within five years, according to a recently published assessment from a team led by J. Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Such a network, they say, would fill major gaps in scientists' understanding of the global distribution of marine organisms.
ORNL microscopy uncovers “dancing” silicon atoms in graphene
April 3, 2013 4:17 pm | News | CommentsJumping silicon atoms are the stars of an atomic scale ballet featured in a new Nature Communications study from the U.S. Department of Energy(DOE)'s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The ORNL research team documented the atoms' unique behavior by first trapping groups of silicon atoms, known as clusters, in a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon called graphene.
Open Photonics, VTT collaborate on spectral engine technologies
April 3, 2013 3:09 pm | News | CommentsOrlando-based photonics technology acceleration company Open Photonics Inc. and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have announced a partnership to accelerate the commercialization of VTT’s advanced Fabry-Perot visible and infrared spectroscopy and spectral imaging technologies.
Another step toward quantum computers: Using photons for memory
April 1, 2013 1:57 pm | News | CommentsScientists at Yale University have found a new way to manipulate microwave signals that could aid the long-term effort to develop a quantum computer, a powerful tool that would revolutionize information processing through unprecedented speed and power. The researchers created an artificial medium in which photons repel photons, allowing for efficient, non-destructive encoding and manipulation of quantum information.
Acoustic time delay device could reduce size, cost of phased-array systems
April 1, 2013 7:51 am | News | CommentsRadar systems today depend increasingly on phased-array antennas, an advanced design in which extensive grids of solid-state components direct signal beams electronically. Phased-array technology is replacing traditional electromechanical radar antennas because stationary solid-state electronics are faster, more precise, and more reliable than moving mechanical parts. Yet phased-array antennas, which require bulky supporting electronics, can be as large as older systems. To address this issue, a research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a novel device.
Scientists in Korea develop low-power 60 GHz RF chip for mobile devices
March 31, 2013 6:44 pm | News | CommentsAs a possible method for accelerating transmission of large data, researchers are studying the adoption of gigabits per second (Gbps) wireless communications operating over the 60 GHz radio frequency (RF) band. But mobile applications have not been developed yet because the 60 GHz RF circuit consumes hundreds of milliwatts of DC power. A new chip developed at KAIST in Korea, however, consumes as little 67 mW of power thanks to newly developed components.
Apple patents iPhone with wraparound display
March 29, 2013 4:47 pm | by PETER SVENSSON - AP Technology Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsApple is seeking a patent for an iPhone that has a display that wraps around the edges of the device, expanding the viewable area and eliminating all physical buttons. The patent application reveals that Apple has put some thought into a device that takes advantage of a new generation of displays, which don't have to be flat and rigid like today's liquid-crystal displays, or LCDs.
Better than X-rays: A more powerful terahertz imaging system
March 28, 2013 8:47 am | News | CommentsLow-energy terahertz radiation could potentially enable doctors to see deep into tissues without the damaging effects of X-rays, or allow security guards to identify chemicals in a package without opening it. But it's been difficult for engineers to make powerful enough systems to accomplish these promising applications. Now an electrical engineering research team at the University of Michigan has developed a laser-powered terahertz source and detector system that transmits with 50 times more power and receives with 30 times more sensitivity than existing technologies.
Scientists propose laser system to produce the next LHC
March 28, 2013 8:09 am | News | CommentsAn international team of physicists has proposed a revolutionary laser system, inspired by the telecommunications technology, to produce the next generation of particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The International Coherent Amplification Network sets out a new laser system composed of massive arrays of thousands of fiber lasers, for both fundamental research at laboratories, such as CERN, and more applied tasks such as proton therapy and nuclear transmutation.
Magnetic nano-droplet discovery presents telecom opportunity
March 20, 2013 5:06 pm | News | CommentsA team that includes researchers from Sweden has successfully created a magnetic soliton, a spin torque-generated nano-droplet that could lead to technological innovation in such areas as mobile telecommunications. This construct was first theorized 35 years ago and scientists have long believed that they exist in magnetic environments, but until now they had never been observed
Project aims to manage traffic in California using data
March 19, 2013 10:56 am | by Gordy Slack, CITRIS | News | CommentsTwo California urban areas have the dubious distinction of being tied for second-worst traffic in the country. Commuters spend 61 hours per year being stuck in traffic in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles. A new project called Connected Corridors, led by University of California, Berkeley, is developing new technologies that will help Caltrans gather and analyze traffic data to make real-time whole-system traffic management recommendations
Researchers find German-made spyware across globe
March 13, 2013 5:28 pm | by Raphael Satter, Associated Press | News | CommentsA Canadian research center said Wednesday that it had identified 25 different countries that host servers linked to FinFisher, a Trojan horse program which can dodge anti-virus protections to steal data, log keystrokes, eavesdrop on Skype calls, and turn microphones and webcams into live surveillance devices. This finding doesn't necessarily mean those countries' governments are using FinFisher, but it is an indication of the spyware's reach.
Curiosity sleeps as solar blast races toward Mars
March 7, 2013 9:47 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsNASA’s Martian rover hunkered down Wednesday after the sun unleashed a blast that raced toward Mars. While Curiosity was designed to withstand punishing space weather, its handlers decided to power it down as a precaution since it suffered a recent computer problem. While the hardy rover slept, the Opportunity rover and two NASA spacecraft circling overhead carried on with normal activities.
White House: Cell phone unlocking should be legal
March 5, 2013 10:07 am | News | CommentsAn Obama administration adviser says the White House believes smartphone and tablet users should be allowed to unlock their phones and use the devices on the network of their choosing. The administration's opinion on the matter also goes for tablets, since they are becoming similar to smartphones.
Smart “stickers” let you find things by phone
March 1, 2013 10:43 am | by Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsJimmy Buchheim's Davie, Fla.-based company, Stick-N-Find Technologies, wants to give people a way to find things, whether it's keys, wallets, TV remotes, or cat collars. There's no real trick to sending out a radio signal and having a phone pick it up. That's been done before. What makes Buchheim’s Stick-N-Find practical is a new radio technology known as Bluetooth Low Energy, which drastically reduces the battery power needed to send out a signal.
Companies struggle to popularize mobile money
March 1, 2013 10:25 am | by Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer | News | CommentsAt the world's largest cellphone trade show in Barcelona this week, the 70,000 attendees are encouraged to use their cellphones—instead their keycards—to get past the turnstiles at the door. But very few people took the chance to do that. The process of setting up the phone to act as a keycard proved too much of a hassle. It's a poor omen for an industry that's eager to have the cellphone replace both tickets and credit cards.
