More tech stories and images

[dracodraconis]

Turning radiation directly into energy - Researchers at Los Alamos are testing the use of carbon nanotubes packed with gold to convert radioactive particle emission directly into electricity, potentially making them 20 times as effective as current thermo-electric approaches. The materials could be used to augment nuclear power plants to increase their operating efficiency. The first commercially-available materials are not expected for another decade.

Earliest known voice recording found - and, no, it wasn't Thomas Edison. Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville generated at 10-second recording of a woman singing "Au Clare de la Lune" in 1860, more than 17 years before Edison.

Muslims outnumber Catholics - According to the Vatican, Muslims now account for 19.2 percent of the world population, overtaking Catholics that account for 17.2 percent of the population. Christians in general make up 33 percent of the world's population.

Piracy funding terrorism - at least according to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Apparently counterfeiting and identity theft are new sources of funding for terrorist groups so he would like to see wiretapping used during piracy investigations and the criminalization of copyright infringement.

Hackers attack epileptics - An epilepsy support site was closed down while they attempted to clean up Javascript  applications designed to trigger migraines and seizures in users. Certain types of rapidly flashing patterns are known to trigger people who have what is referred to as pattern-sensitive epilepsy.

PistolCam shoots a 3.2 megapixel image (or a 30 fps movie) of what you're shooting at. Found on interactiveleaf

A 271 lens high-resolution camera is capable of capturing details from a 21-kilometre area down to 0.3 metres from an altitude of 15,000 feet.

These cyber-goggles contain a video camera linked to object recognition software to record everything the wearer looks at, then stores the images in a user-searchable database. Found on Slashdot.

ConsuME is supposed to be able to grow muscle tissue into a donut-shaped piece of meat. Found on grinding.be.

A prototype artificial eyeball developed by the Boston Retinal Implant project. Found on grinding.be.

Speaking of eyes, here is an eye repaired using a tooth. Found on grinding.be, as well as on a previous post here (I'm too lazy to look it up).

Gun in the shape of a cell phone. This one is a four-shot .22 calibre gun fired using a key sequence. Found on grinding.be.

Audio-Tooth Implant is a wireless receiver that retransmits signals along the jawbone to the inner ear. No earbuds or other external equipment required. Found on grinding.be.

"The Door to Hell" is a cavern in Turkmenistan, believed to have been created in the 1970s when some geologists found, and ignited, a gas-filled cavern. Click on the image to visit grinding.be where there is a video of the site.

One of many images of the Kilauea volcano that recently became a touch more active. Click on the image to see more images. Found on io9.