 E-Ink has developed a full-colour electronic ink display using coloured filters over their patented display system. The system consists of black and white charged chips in a clear liquid that move depending upon the charge of a nearby electrode. They have also managed to push the "refresh rate" to the equivalent of 30 frames per second, making it viable for displaying video information in colour. |
 Researchers have developed a 300-nanometer wide silicon wire that is able to generate electricity from sunlight. A "forest" of such wires could be eventually be used as a cheap, efficient sources of solar energy. |
 Standford researchers have developed way to allow microchips to remain in communication with each other, even when the surface on which they are mounted expands. Each chip inhabits an island of silicon, surrounded by a coil of wire. When the material on which they are mounted is stretched, the coils unwind. They have been able to expand a surface to 50 times its original size, but were limited by the size of their equipment. The technology could eventually result in cheaper solar panels and sensor networks. |
 Holosonics has introduced a novel way to annoy you from a distance with advertising, while making you appear deranged to those around you. The speakers, mounted seven stories above the street, are able to focus sound such that it is heard only by people within the beam. The technology had previously been used in museums so that patrons could obtain information about what they are observing without disturbing the quiet of those around them.Found on SlashDot |
 Nature reports that a more environmentally-friendly way to process crude deposits is to allow bacteria to do the work. Scientists are planning to field test the idea of using anaerobic bacteria to convert deeply-buried oil into methane, eliminating the need for steam-injection and refining. |
 A new ultrasound scanner uses a laser to "twang" cells (that's how the authors put it) into emitting an ultrasonic wave that is detected, a process referred to as photoacoustic tomography. The result is a high-resolution image of things like blood vessels. The sound is generated by a cell a when near-infrared laser warms it briefly, causing it to expand and contract and in doing so emitting an ultrasonic wave. |
 The transistor was invented on 16 December 1947.Found on MAKE Magazine |
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