OLED data glasses give wearers an eyeful

OLED data glasses give wearers an eyeful

Students at the Fraunhofer Institute are developing eyeglasses that project information onto the retina using an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) array, and tracks the eye's motion so that you can scroll through information my moving your eyes. The resulting device would combine a handsfree display, appearing the user as floating about a metre in front of them, with a hands-free mouse.

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Sustainability: The Clue That Could Solve Fermi's Paradox

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Sustainability: The Clue That Could Solve Fermi's Paradox

The Fermi paradox states that, given the size and age of the universe, would should be able to find many advanced civilizations but not one has been found. Two Pennsylvania State University researchers have postulated that the flaw in the Fermi paradox is that it assumes exponential population spread outward from the home world, something that would require an exponential expansion in the amount of resources available. Instead, they suggest that sustainable growth is limited because materials and energy are finite resources, so any advanced civilizations that do exist are those that have managed to curb the tendency toward exponential expansion.

Radio-controlled bullets leave no place to hide - tech - 04 June 2009 - New Scientist

Radio-controlled bullets leave no place to hide - tech - 04 June 2009 - New Scientist

The US military is developing 25-mm explosive rounds that can detonate a predetermined distance from the target. The gun uses a laser range finder to determine the distance to the target, and the shooter can add or subtract up to 3 metres from the target distance. The bullet contains a magnetic transducer that generates an alternating current as it flies through the earth's magnetic field, allowing it to calculate the number of rotations it has made and, but extension, the distance it has travelled. They hope to field-test prototypes by 2012.