Google X labs confirms augmented reality glasses project, releases video demo

Google X (Google's futuristic technology development lab) has pulled back the curtain on Project Glass, its program to develop truly useful augmented reality "Google glasses." Project Glass aims to design and refine augmented reality technology to help a user explore and share their world armed with a wealth of relevant information - not at their fingertips, but rather at the end of their nose.

Augmented reality describes a view of the real world that includes superimposed graphics. Instead of interrupting your activities to use a smartphone to search for information - get directions, remain in touch, find out if an item is on sale, translate a tourist's note evaluating a restaurant, and the like - Google's Project Glass intends to provide glasses with real-time heads-up displays and intelligent personal assistant software to enable a seamless user experience.

"We think technology should work for you - to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don't. A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment," says a post signed by the three Google X team leaders, Babak Parviz, Steve Lee, and Sebastian Thrun. Parviz has experience working on contact lenses embedded with electronics, including one designed tomonitor blood sugar levels - although AR contact lenses are probably still a little ways off yet.

In February 2012, the New York Times reported "the glasses [could] go on sale to the public by the end of the year." This seems a little ambitious, with the team needing to overcome a number of technical problems, from cost and adequate battery life to speed, network, software, and graphics performance. However, the video below gives an idea of the direction Google hopes to take the technology in.

Source: Google X

Coming to an e-book near you - LG's flexible e-paper display

Like most display manufacturers, LG has kept a finger in the flexible e-paper pie. Now, however, they have announced that their six-inch XGA resolution Electronic Paper Display (EPD) is now in full production, and should be in devices bound for Europe within the next month.

LG's new plastic EPD, claimed to be the world's first in mass production, takes the form of a plastic substrate that is 0.7 millimeters (0.027 in) thick, about 2/3 the thickness of glass EPD devices. At 14 grams (0.49 oz) in weight, the new display comes in at less than half the weight of glass-based alternatives. However, the flexibility is what causes the plastic EPD to step up as a game changer. The rugged device will bend as much as 40 degrees from the plane of the display, will survive blows from a small urethane hammer and repeated drops from a height of 1.5 meters (4.92 ft).

"With the world's first plastic EPD, LG Display has once again proven its reputation for leadership and innovation with a product we believe will help greatly popularize the E-Book market," said Mr. Sang Duck Yeo, Head of Operations for LG Display's Mobile/OLED division. "Based on our success in mass-producing plastic EPD, we are excited as we look toward applying concepts from this experience to future developments like plastic OLED and flexible displays."

LG says it was able to adapt conventional LCD manufacturing technology to the production of the new product by reducing the process temperature of the LCD process to a level that the polymer structures of the plastic EPD could tolerate. The new display is to be shipped to Chinese ODMs, who hope to supply product to Europe by, according to the March 29 press release, "the beginning of next month."

Source: LG via Engadget

World Economic Forum lists top 10 emerging technologies for 2012

Our goal here is to cover innovation and emerging technologies in all fields of human endeavor, and while almost all of the ideas that grace our pages have the potential to enhance some of our lives in one way or another, at the core are those technologies that will have profound implications for everyone on the planet. For those looking to shape political, business, and academic agendas, predicting how and when these types of technologies will effect us all is critical. Recognizing this, the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has compiled a list of the top 10 emerging technologies it believes will have the greatest impact on the state of the world in 2012.

Betting on the right technologies can allow schools to produce graduates better qualified to deal with a rapidly changing world, governments to more efficiently meet the needs of the populace, business to generate profits, and scientists to better allocate resources.

The list draws on some of the brainpower residing within the entire GAC Network, covering the top ten technological trends that the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies believes will have the biggest social, economic and environmental impacts this year.

Here's the list as presented on the World Economic Forum Blog in order from lowest to highest in terms of the potential to provide solutions to global challenges.

• 1. Informatics for adding value to information
The quantity of information now available to individuals and organizations is unprecedented in human history, and the rate of information generation continues to grow exponentially. Yet, the sheer volume of information is in danger of creating more noise than value, and as a result limiting its effective use. Innovations in how information is organized, mined and processed hold the key to filtering out the noise and using the growing wealth of global information to address emerging challenges.
• 2. Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering
The natural world is a testament to the vast potential inherent in the genetic code at the core of all living organisms. Rapid advances insynthetic biology and metabolic engineering are allowing biologists and engineers to tap into this potential in unprecedented ways, enabling the development of new biological processes and organisms that are designed to serve specific purposes - whether converting biomass to chemicals, fuels and materials, producing new therapeutic drugs or protecting the body against harm.
• 3. Green Revolution 2.0 - technologies for increased food and biomass
Artificial fertilizers are one of the main achievements of modern chemistry, enabling unprecedented increases in crop production yield. Yet, the growing global demand for healthy and nutritious food is threatening to outstrip energy, water and land resources. By integrating advances across the biological and physical sciences, the new green revolution holds the promise of further increasing crop production yields, minimizing environmental impact, reducing energy and water dependence, and decreasing the carbon footprint.
• 4. Nanoscale design of materials
The increasing demand on natural resources requires unprecedented gains in efficiency. Nanostructured materials with tailored properties, designed and engineered at the molecular scale, are already showing novel and unique features that will usher in the next clean energy revolution, reduce our dependence on depleting natural resources, and increase atom-efficiency manufacturing and processing.
• 5. Systems biology and computational modelling/simulation of chemical and biological systems
For improved healthcare and bio-based manufacturing, it is essential to understand how biology and chemistry work together. Systems biology and computational modeling and simulation are playing increasingly important roles in designing therapeutics, materials and processes that are highly efficient in achieving their design goals, while minimally impacting on human health and the environment.
• 6. Utilization of carbon dioxide as a resource
Carbon is at the heart of all life on earth. Yet, managing carbon dioxide releases is one of the greatest social, political and economic challenges of our time. An emerging innovative approach to carbon dioxide management involves transforming it from a liability to a resource. Novel catalysts, based on nanostructured materials, can potentially transform carbon dioxide to high value hydrocarbons and other carbon-containing molecules, which could be used as new building blocks for the chemical industry as cleaner and more sustainable alternatives to petrochemicals.
• 7. Wireless power
Society is deeply reliant on electrically powered devices. Yet, a significant limitation in their continued development and utility is the need to be attached to the electricity grid by wire - either permanently or through frequent battery recharging. Emerging approaches towireless power transmission will free electrical devices from having to be physically plugged in, and are poised to have as significant an impact on personal electronics as Wi-Fi had on Internet use.
• 8. High energy density power systems
Better batteries are essential if the next generation of clean energy technologies are to be realized. A number of emerging technologies are coming together to lay the foundation for advanced electrical energy storage and use, including the development of nanostructured electrodes, solid electrolysis and rapid-power delivery from novelsupercapacitors based on carbon-based nanomaterials. These technologies will provide the energy density and power needed to supercharge the next generation of clean energy technologies.
• 9. Personalized medicine, nutrition and disease prevention
As the global population exceeds 7 billion people - all hoping for a long and healthy life - conventional approaches to ensuring good health are becoming less and less tenable, spurred on by growing demands, dwindling resources and increasing costs. Advances in areas such as genomics, proteomics and metabolomics are now opening up the possibility of tailoring medicine, nutrition and disease prevention to the individual. Together with emerging technologies like synthetic biology and nanotechnology, they are laying the foundation for a revolution in healthcare and well-being that will be less resource intensive and more targeted to individual needs.
• 10. Enhanced education technology
New approaches are needed to meet the challenge of educating a growing young population and providing the skills that are essential to the knowledge economy. This is especially the case in today's rapidly evolving and hyperconnected globalized society. PersonalizedIT-based approaches to education are emerging that allow learner-centerd education, critical thinking development and creativity. Rapid developments in social media, open courseware and ubiquitous access to the Internet are facilitating outside classroom and continuous education.

We know there's nothing like a list of predictions to provoke some healthy debate, so let us know what you think of the GAC on Emerging Technologies' effort in the comments. Is there anything you think they've overlooked, or maybe something they've included that shouldn't be there?

Source: World Economic Forum Blog

Samsung O table concept

Now here is a rather weird looking portable hob that would find a place in any kitchen that hails from the future, thanks to the imagination of the designers over at Samsung. Known as the Samsung O table concept, this portable kitchen hob will come in multiple colors to suit just about any fancy, and in fact, it has also picked up an IF design award along the way, thanks to its dashing good looks. Granted, a kitchen appliance would definitely have a hard time making its way to our hallowed pages, but we will make an exception for the Samsung O table concept.

Samsung intends for the O table to be controlled via a ‘groove touch pad’, where you draw a circle on to control the thermal output of the hob – making cooking seem more and more like a game. I think that old school kitchen hands would find this to be rather disconcerting, and they would most probably prefer to stick to the tried-and-tested physical knobs. No idea on pricing, but this concept has already made its way into production, so it should be out soon.

Experimental optical fibers utilize built-in electronics instead of separate chips

When data is transmitted as pulses of light along a fiber optic cable, chips at either end of that cable must convert the data from and back into an electronic signal - this is what allows an outgoing video image to be converted into light pulses, then back into video at the receiving end, for instance. There are a number of technical challenges in coupling chips to fibers, however. Now, an international team of scientists are developing an alternative ... fiber optics with the electronics built right into the fiber.

The main challenge regarding chips and optical fibers is a mechanical one - it's just plain difficult getting a round fiber to securely connect to a flat chip. It can also be quite a task making sure that all of the data gets from one to the other. An optical fiber is one-tenth the width of a human hair, while the light-guiding pathways on chips are even smaller, so getting everything lined up is a very fiddly business.

For the research project, the team deposited semiconducting materials within tiny holes at either end of optical fibers, to create high-speed electronic junction points - these would ordinarily be located where the fiber meets the chip. The scientists used high-pressure chemistry techniques to deposit the materials directly, layer by layer. Not only does this eliminate the need for an entire chip in the finished product, but the process can also be carried out with simple inexpensive equipment, as opposed to the clean-room facilities required for chip manufacturing.

"If the signal never leaves the fiber, then it is a faster, cheaper, and more efficient technology," said team co-leader Pier J. A. Sazio, of the University of Southampton. "Moving technology off the chip and directly onto the fiber, which is the more-natural place for light, opens up the potential for embedded semiconductors to carry optoelectronic applications to the next level. At present, you still have electrical switching at both ends of the optical fiber. If we can actually generate signals inside a fiber, a whole range of optoelectronic applications becomes possible."

Some of these applications could include improved telecommunications, laser technology, and remote-sensing devices. It would be interesting to see if the new fiber could be incorporated into the hybrid cable being developed by Sandia National Laboratories, which is capable of transmitting both data and power.

The electronic fiber project was initiated and is being led by Pennsylvania State University, and was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom.

Source: Penn State

IBM announces its annual "Next 5 in 5" list

It's late December, and that means that it's time once again for IBM's Next 5 in 5 list. Every year since 2006, the corporation has put together an annual roundup of the top five emerging technologies that its researchers feel "will change the way we work, live and play" within the next five years. Here's a look at what caught their attention this year.

Personal energy harvesting

While big ideas like solar, tidal and wind power certainly show promise, the IBM researchers believe that much of the energy used to run our homes will come from smaller, more personal sources. These could include things such as piezoelectric generators in our clothing, batteries that are charged by the spinning of our bicycles' wheels, or turbines that are spun by the water flowing through our homes' pipes. Essentially, anything that moves could be harnessed as a source of power.

Biological passwords

The days of having to memorize and keep track of alphanumeric passwords will come to an end, as biometrics take over. In order to authenticate our identities online and in person, we will use technologies such as retina scans, voice prints, fingerprint scans or face recognition.

Mind reading

Yep, mind reading. It won't so much be about spying on other people's private thoughts, however. Instead, it will involve things like controlling computers or other devices with our brain waves - if you want to call someone on your smartphone, for instance, you will just have to think about doing so in order to make it happen.

"Mind reading" will also be used to analyze the thought patterns of people with brain disorders, in order to help assist them in daily living, and to treat their condition.

No more information gap

While the world wide web has done much to disseminate information across the planet, its "world" hasn't included people who can't afford computers or smartphones, or who live in places lacking the infrastructure to connect such machines to the internet. With the rise of low-cost mobile devices, however, people in developing nations will gain full access to that world.

Farmers will be able to check weather reports to determine when to fertilize crops, patients will know when the visiting doctor is scheduled to be in town next, and financial transactions can be conducted without the need of a physical brick-and-mortar bank. The possibilities are endless.

Computers that know us

Presently, in the emails and other information updates we receive, we have to sift through a lot of stuff that doesn't apply to us. Within five years, however, analytics and sensemaking technologies will allow our computers to "know" us, and filter out information that we don't need.

It is even suggested that by combining our personal preferences and calendars, computers could proactively reserve tickets to a concert by our favorite rock band, if we were free on the date of the performance.

As you can see by the links, all the technologies on IBM's latest list are already in development, so it's not a huge stretch to state that they will gain prominence in years to come. Perhaps, however, there's something that should have been on the "top five" list, but wasn't. Do you think IBM missed anything?

Awesome Technology Concepts of 2011

This is not quite yet the end of the year, but we would like to look back on four of the coolest technology design concepts that came out in 2011. Some, like the imaging devices, are part of a long quest to ultra-realism, while others try to explore completely new usage models and lifestyles. Either way, they are amazing to look at and to dream about.

Samsung Flexible Tablet

The flexible display is almost a reality for end-users, but the Samsung Flexible Tablet concept takes things much further and shows a tablet that would essentially be a flexible display, with “real” augmented reality capabilities (working image recognition…) and dream features like a perfect two-way translation (I would even take the half-perfect one at this point). Of course, it is capable of perfectly executing today’s must-haves features like video-calls and gaming, but with a twist : the gaming would be in real (holographic) 3D. Of course, we’re nowhere near this. This concept was done as an advertisement for Samsung mobile displays. Yet, this is an awesome goal for 2022 tablets.

Nokia HumanForm

The Humanform is yet another bendable communications device that has been imagined to go beyond communications as we know it, making it more… human. The entire front surface of the Human touch is a display, and it is a bendable structure which allows commands to be sent by applying torque or pressure to the device. It is also smart enough to recognize one’s mood over a video call. It’s a really unique design, but we wonder: what if you’re trying to be productive with it. How do we read email or books?

Philips Beehive

Nutrition is as important (or more!) as communications, so Philips thought of a special way to procure natural sugar: by having a superbly designed beehive at home. Called the Urban Beehive, it has a bee entrance in the back (just above the flower) and  an integrated smoke actuator which comes in handy when it’s time to collect the honey. The smoke is typically used to calm the bees, and works mainly by masking the pheromones with which the bees communicate – it’s a bee jamming technique if you will. We know, it is scary to have a bunch of angry bees at home, but what wouldn’t you do to live the “organic” life… right?

NgSOC concept bicycle

The NgSOC bycicle is one of a kind: designed by Edward Kim and Benny Cemoli (or may be by Aliens, we’re not sure), it’s an electric bycicle that has a battery pack just near the seat which powers the vehicle when in electric mode (and keeps your behind warm in the winter). If you feel like pedaling, it is possible to switch into mixed or full “human-powered” mode , which charges the battery at the same time. Designed for a modern lifestyle, the frame has a smartphone dock receiver which charges the handset too.

NgSOC doesn’t look like anything that you may have seen on the road, and I really like how the designers made the frame stand out while the wheels are as discrete as possible. This highlights the “alien” look of their creation nicely.  This polymer/carbon fantasy bike is only a computer-rendered concept at the moment, but we can only hope that it will become a product soon.

Game Strap concept keeps commuters entertained on the way home

Taking the train home from work is usually a rather boring affair, but designer Jiang Qian has come up with an idea that could make the commute a bit more entertaining while maintaining safety. Dubbed the Game Strap, it essentially transforms the handles that people hold on to while riding the train into a gaming platform.

Sure there is the option of playing a handheld console like the Nintendo 3DS or the PlayStation Portable, but unfortunately that usually leaves you with both hands occupied which could prove dangerous as you might lose you balance when the train starts/stops. By implementing a gaming platform into these handles, Jiang Qian ensures that commuters will be entertained during the ride home while staying safe.

It will feature a small display which will be activated when the handle or strap has been grasped. Buttons are integrated into the sides of the handle allowing users access to it via their thumbs while still maintaining a grip on the handle. So far games like shooting, pinball, tetris and freekick have been suggested as quick and simple games that passengers could play during the commute. It’s a pretty decent idea but unfortunately it appears to remain a concept for now.

Future touchscreens could be a portable lab

They say that our fingers and hands are one of the dirtiest parts of our bodies, after all, who knows how many doorknobs, handles and buttons that you have come into contact with today, and multiply it with the thousands and millions of people who have done the same as you? Having said that, with touchscreen devices being so common, such bacteria and other nasties too, don’t mind residing on your glossy screen – and this is where researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) worked on an interesting low-cost concept that is capable of performing microscopic analyses thanks to a smartphone’s touchscreen display.

Taking into account the advantage of the capacitive touchscreen, through applying a bio-sample like blood, saliva, and even urine from a LOC cartridge to the screen, this group of researchers fully intend to see the smartphone’s screen register specific changes in its capacitance, which will be an indication of what the sample contains. This would mean the phone will be able to perform the analysis and send a report of the results almost instantaneously. Still in the proof-of-concept stage, it might just make touchscreen phones a compulsory purchase for all budding pathologists should it materialize in the real world, don’t you think so?

Skin-mounted electronics that can be applied and worn like a temporary tattoo

Wearable electronics generally take the form of clothing embedded with electronics or miniature electronic devices that can be worn close to the body for purposes such as medical monitoring and communications. Now engineers have developed a device that places electronic components onto an ultra-thin skin-like patch that can be mounted directly onto the skin, paving the way for skin-mounted electronics that could be used for sensing, medical diagnostics, communications and human-machine interfaces.

While the researchers have previously developed thin, flexible silicon electronics on silk substrates that almost completely dissolve when implanted inside the body, the new patches are initially mounted on a thin sheet of water-soluble plastic and are then laminated onto the skin with water, just like applying a temporary tattoo. The researchers say the electronic components could also be applied directly to a temporary tattoo itself to conceal the electronics. Because the circuits are fabricated as tiny, squiggled wires, their wavy, snakelike shape allows then to bend, twist, wrinkle and stretch with the mechanical properties of skin, while maintaining functionality.

The researchers say skin-mounted electronics could be used to replace conventional EEG and EMG sensors for the monitoring of nerve and muscle activity without the need for conductive gel, tape, skin-penetrating pins or bulky wires. They are also more comfortable and less cumbersome than traditional electrodes and give the wearers complete freedom of movement so they can be worn in a natural environment during normal activity.

"If we want to understand brain function in a natural environment, that's completely incompatible with EEG studies in a laboratory," said University of Illinois (U of I) electrical and computer engineering professor Todd Coleman, who co-led the multi-disciplinary team responsible for developing the device. "The best way to do this is to record neural signals in natural settings, with devices that are invisible to the user."

Additionally, skin-mounted electronics could be used to let patients with muscular or neurological disorders to communicate or interface with computers or, when the sensors are applied to the skin of the throat, they can distinguish muscle movement for simple speech. The researchers have already used the electronic patches to control a video game to demonstrate the potential for human-computer interfacing.

The researchers, led by John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder professor of engineering at the U of I, have demonstrated their concept by mounting a variety of electronic components, including sensors, LEDs, transistors, radio frequency capacitors, wireless antennas, and conductive coils and solar cells for power, on a thin, rubbery substrate.

"The blurring of electronics and biology is really the key point here," said Yonggang Huang, a professor at Northwestern University who, with his group, collaborated with Rogers to create the patches. "All established forms of electronics are hard, rigid. Biology is soft, elastic. It's two different worlds. This is a way to truly integrate them."

Because the researchers used simple adaptations of techniques used in the semiconductor industry, they say the patches are easily scalable and manufacturable. Rogers has co-founded a company, mc10, which is already working to commercialize certain versions of the technology.

The researchers are also working to integrate the various devices mounted on the platform so that they work together as a system, instead of as individually functioning devices. They are also working to add Wi-Fi capabilities.

"We think this could be an important conceptual advance in wearable electronics, to achieve something that is almost unnoticeable to the wearer," says Coleman. "The technology can connect you to the physical world and the cyberworld in a very natural way that feels very comfortable."

Speaking, interactive dashboard avatar could replace owner's manuals

At one time not all that long ago, cars had a warning light on the dashboard that simply said "ENGINE." That's pretty vague. Really, it might just as well have said "CAR." Some newer automobiles now have codes that appear on the console, which the driver must then look up in an index in the vehicle's owner's manual. Working with Audi, Germany's Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) Institute of Business Informatics is now working on taking things a step farther, with the development of an on-screen avatar that will talk to drivers, and even understand their spoken questions.

The experimental Avatar-based Virtual Co-driver System (AviCoS) is designed to work with the monitor of the Audi Mulitmedia Interface, which already comes standard on all of the automaker's vehicles.

The system uses artificial intelligence to understand drivers' spoken questions about their car, and responds verbally. Descriptive images and videos also appear on-screen, with the animated avatar character pointing out relevant details. In Touch and Tell mode, drivers can also receive explanations of various vehicle functions by touching the appropriate areas of the screen.

As with many such driver assistance technologies, there is the possibility that AviCoS could distract drivers from paying attention to the road. The designers have somewhat addressed that problem, by suppressing first the image of the avatar, and then all of the graphics, as the vehicle's speed increases. Drivers remain able to converse with the avatar, however, which could still be distracting.

Down the road, the TUM researchers would like to see the system being able to identify the driver's state of mind, by analyzing their tone of voice and speech rhythm. If AviCoS determined that the driver was getting stressed out, it could lessen their sensory overload by suppressing its video output. Working with the car's other systems, it could also do things such as instructing the navigation system to provide directions earlier, and more often.

Latest LHC experiments show early universe behaved like a liquid

Physicists from the ALICE detector team have been colliding lead nuclei together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in an attempt to recreate the conditions in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang. Early results have shown that the quark-gluon plasma created at these energies does not form a gas as predicted, but instead suggest that the very early universe behaved like a hot liquid.
The Large Hadron Collider enables physicists to smash together sub-atomic particles at incredibly high-energies, providing new insights into the conditions present at the beginning of the universe.

ALICE (an acronym for A Large Ion Collider Experiment) researchers have been colliding lead nuclei to generate incredibly dense sub-atomic fireballs – mini Big Bangs at temperatures of over ten million degrees.
Previous research at lower energies had suggested the hot fire balls produced in nuclei collisions behaved like a liquid, yet many still expected the quark-gluon plasma to behave like a gas at these much higher energies.
Additionally, it has been found that more sub-atomic particles are produced in the collision than some theoretical models suggested.
“Although it is very early days we are already learning more about the early Universe,” said Dr David Evans, from the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy, and UK lead investigator at ALICE experiment. “These first results would seem to suggest that the Universe would have behaved like a super-hot liquid immediately after the Big Bang.”

The ALICE experiment aims to study the properties of the state of matter called a quark-gluon plasma. The ALICE Collaboration comprises around 1,000 physicists and engineers from around 100 institutes in 30 countries. During collisions of lead nuclei, ALICE will record data to disk at a rate of 1.2 gigabytes (GB), equivalent to two CDs every second, and will write over two petabytes (two million GB) of data to disk. This is equivalent to more than three million CDs, or a stack of CDs without boxes several miles high!
To process this data, ALICE will need 50,000 top-of-the-range PCs, from all over the world, running 24 hours a day.

Electronic explosive-detecting sensor out-sniffs sniffer dogs

The recent Yemeni bomb threat has only highlighted the need for quick, accurate ways of detecting explosives. With their excellent sense of smell and the ability to discern individual scents, even when they’re combined or masked by other odors, this task is usually given to man’s best friend. But training these animals can be expensive and good sniffer dogs can be hard to find. Scientists have now developed an electronic sensor they say is more sensitive and more reliable at detecting explosives than any sniffer dog.
The new sensor, developed by scientists at Tel Aviv University, is able to detect multiple kinds of explosives and is especially effective at detecting TNT – an explosive that currently requires equipment that is high cost, has lengthy decoding times, is large and needs expert analysis to be detected.
"There is a need for a small, inexpensive, handheld instrument capable of detecting explosives quickly, reliably and efficiently," says lead researcher Prof. Fernando Patolsky of Tel Aviv University's Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Chemistry.
The device is made from an array of silicon nanowires, coated with a compound that binds to explosives to form a nanotransistor. To enhance the device’s sensitivity, the scientists developed each one with 200 individual sensors that work together to detect different kinds of explosives with what the scientists say is an unprecedented degree of reliability, efficiency and speed.
In addition to being portable, the device is also capable of detecting explosives at a distance. This means it can be mounted on a wall, with no need to bring it into contact with the item being checked. Also, unlike other explosives sensors, the device provides a definitive identification of the explosive that it has detected. Its developers say that, to date, the device has not produced a single detection error.

Four ways to harvest solar heat from roads

Walk barefoot on an asphalt road and you'll soon realize how good the substance is at storing solar heat – the heat-storing qualities of roadways has even been put forward as an explanation as to why cities tend to be warmer than surrounding rural areas. Not content to see all that heat going to waste, researchers from the University of Rhode Island (URI) want to put it to use in a system that harvests solar heat from the road to melt ice, heat buildings, or to create electricity.
“We have mile after mile of asphalt pavement around the country, and in the summer it absorbs a great deal of heat, warming the roads up to 140 degrees or more,” said Prof. K. Wayne Lee, leader of the URI project. “If we can harvest that heat, we can use it for our daily use, save on fossil fuels, and reduce global warming.”



The research team has four main ideas for how that harvesting could be performed.

Cells on barriers

A relatively simple method of harnessing the sunlight shining on the road, if not the heat stored in it, is to wrap flexible photovoltaic cells around the top of the Jersey barriers on divided highways (Jersey barriers are those long rectangular concrete slabs). These cells could also be embedded in the asphalt between the barriers and the adjacent rumble strips. The electricity generated by the cells could be used to power streetlights and illuminate road signs.

Water pipes in the road

Another approach would be to install water-containing pipes within the asphalt. As the road heated up, so would the water, which could then be piped underneath a bridge deck to reduce icing, used to heat or provide hot water for nearby buildings, or even turned to steam at a power plant. URI grad student Andrew Correia has created a prototype for such a system, which he hopes will demonstrate how it could actually work in the real world.

Thermo-electricity

A small amount of electricity can be created by connecting two semiconductors to form a circuit linking a hot and a cold area. If those semiconductors were embedded in the road at different depths, or in sunny and shady areas, then the difference in temperature between them could conceivably be used to generate electricity. If enough of them were used together, their electrical output could be used for purposes such as defrosting roadways. URI’s Prof. Sze Yang proposes that instead of traditional semiconductors, inexpensive plastic sheet organic polymeric semiconductors could be used.

Electronic block roadways

In what the researchers admit would be the most costly option, asphalt roads could be replaced with roads made from clear-yet-durable electronic blocks. These would contain photovoltaic cells, LED lights and sensors, and could generate electricity, display changeable lane markings, and display illuminated warning messages. Idaho’s Solar Roadways has been working on just such a system, although according to Lee, a driveway made with the blocks cost US$100,000 to create. He believes that such technology may first show up in corporate parking lots, before decreased costs allow it to be used for public roads.