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Jul. 10th, 2008 03:35 pmPhotonic switching device 60 times faster than existing system - University of Sydney researchers have developed an optical switching circuit that could increase the throughput of an optical network by a factor of more than 100 while retaining almost all of its existing infrastructure.
Windows that generate energy from the sun - An MIT researcher has developed an approach to harvest energy from the light passing through your window. An organic dye coating an ordinary sheet of glass absorbs a wide range of wavelengths, then re-emits them at a longer wavelength. 80% of the re-emitted light is trapped within the glass until it is absorbed by photocells along the edge of the window. Current systems can achieve almost 7% efficiency, but they hope to eventually achieve 20%. Physorg also has an article on this technology.
Bisexual species - an interesting article in Scientific American on bisexuality among various animal species.
Pet-friendly pesticide alternatives - Scientific American provides some ideas about how to deal with pests in your lawn and garden in a way that won't harm your pet.
Video games close gender-disparity gap in mathematics - Some sources have claimed that men have an edge in mathematics because they tend (on average) to have a better visuospatial sense than women. Several researchers recruited 20 students and confirmed that the men in the group tended to score much higher than women on tests of visuospatial and mental rotation tasks. All members were then required to spend 10 hours playing the same 3D puzzle game as a training exercise. The result? The men still outperformed the women, but the performance gap between men and women narrowed significantly. In fact, the women's performance scores after training were no different than the performance scores of the men before training. The same results were observed five months later, showing that the gap remained narrowed long after the training exercise had been completed.
Windows that generate energy from the sun - An MIT researcher has developed an approach to harvest energy from the light passing through your window. An organic dye coating an ordinary sheet of glass absorbs a wide range of wavelengths, then re-emits them at a longer wavelength. 80% of the re-emitted light is trapped within the glass until it is absorbed by photocells along the edge of the window. Current systems can achieve almost 7% efficiency, but they hope to eventually achieve 20%. Physorg also has an article on this technology.
Bisexual species - an interesting article in Scientific American on bisexuality among various animal species.
Pet-friendly pesticide alternatives - Scientific American provides some ideas about how to deal with pests in your lawn and garden in a way that won't harm your pet.
Video games close gender-disparity gap in mathematics - Some sources have claimed that men have an edge in mathematics because they tend (on average) to have a better visuospatial sense than women. Several researchers recruited 20 students and confirmed that the men in the group tended to score much higher than women on tests of visuospatial and mental rotation tasks. All members were then required to spend 10 hours playing the same 3D puzzle game as a training exercise. The result? The men still outperformed the women, but the performance gap between men and women narrowed significantly. In fact, the women's performance scores after training were no different than the performance scores of the men before training. The same results were observed five months later, showing that the gap remained narrowed long after the training exercise had been completed.