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A synthetic material that mimics the qualities of an iridescent opal may have wide-reaching technological applications, its creators say. With the application of an electric current the material can rapidly change to any color of the spectrum, and the developers, who said they’re ready to sell the technology today, added that their ‘photonic ink’ (P-Ink) material could soon be used in electronic books or advertising displays [ZDNet].

The synthetic material can be likened to an opal, a mineral that owes its variety of colours to its layered structure: regions with a high refractive index, in which light travels slowly, are interleaved with regions with a low refractive index. Light waves with a wavelength - or colour - similar to that of the space between layers are scattered in a way that gives opal its iridescent sheen [New Scientist]. The synthetic material has a similarly layered structure, but with the addition of a little voltage the space between the layers swells or shrinks, allowing for fine-tuned control of what color of light the material scatters.

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A new intelligent pill designed by Philips, the Dutch electronics company, promises to deliver medicine in the right place, at the right time, inside your body. The company, best known for consumer products like webcams and wireless headphones, is packing some of the same technology into the new pill, known as the iPill. Containing a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a reservoir for medication, the inch-long capsule is designed to treat digestive tract disorders such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis [Times Online].

Once swallowed, the iPill allows researchers to keep track of its precise location through a wireless transmitter. It sends dispatches about the temperature and acidity of its surroundings to an outside receiver as it travels through the GI tract over the course of a day or two. The acidity, measured by pH, of the gut decreases as the pill gets further from the stomach, and that allows researchers to pinpoint the place where the drug is needed [San Francisco Chronicle]. Researchers can pre-program drug release when certain conditions are met or cue the drug release using a remote controller.

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How do you get a snot sample from a shy behemoth of the deep? That question stumped researchers studying whale health, who wanted to give the animals check-ups without corralling and traumatizing them. Now, researchers have come up with an ingenious answer, flying a remote-control helicopter through the jets ejected by the whales’ blowholes. The helicopter has petri dishes strapped to it, which collect any bacteria, fungi, and viruses that were in the whales’ lungs.

The collected samples could make a big contribution to scientists’ understanding of infectious diseases in whale populations. Researcher Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse explains: “We don’t know much about them because they are so big and they are in the water all the time, and that makes it really difficult to obtain biological samples that are relevant to determining health in these populations; unless they’ve already stranded or unless they are in captivity, which are hardly representative of a normal population” [BBC News].

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Honda’s robotics division has unveiled the prototype of a strange new helper: a “walking assistant.” Honda says the robotic legs could restore mobility to the elderly or infirm, and could help prevent factory workers from straining their muscles–if they don’t mind being joined to the strange looking device. The user would employ the device by stepping into a pair of shoes attached to jointed legs. The legs support a mildly-scary looking U-shaped saddle, which cups the wearer’s groin and buttocks firmly to deliver solid uplift…. Honda say that the machine reduces load on the hip joints, and helps not just with walking but also standing - and especially with maintaining a crouched position [The Register].

The device, which weighs about 14 pounds and is powered by a motor and Lithium ion battery, is the result of Honda’s nine-year-old initiative to develop mobility-assisting technologies. The creation of the device borrowed heavily from the walking research that went into Honda’s advanced humanoid robot, ASIMO [Daily Tech]. Honda hasn’t yet announced plans to begin selling the walking assistants, but tests of the prototype will begin this month.

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Next-generation loudspeakers could be as thin as paper, as clear as glass, and as stretchable as rubber. Chinese researchers have discovered that sheets of carbon nanotubes can amplify sound as loud as conventional speakers can. These nanotube speakers could eventually be used to add audio capabilities to windows, video screens, and clothing. “It is so wonderfully simple, that it brings up a strong wave of ‘Duh, why didn’t I think of that!’,” says physical chemist Howard Schmidt at Rice University [Nature News].

The researchers made the speaker by aligning carbon nanotubes, each about 10 nanometers in diameters, into thin flexible sheets. When they applied an electric current with an audio frequency to the sheets, the sheets broadcast the sounds loud and clear. The researcher describe their device in Nano Letters. The physics behind the nanotube speakers is different from that of conventional speakers. Unlike standard loudspeakers that generate sound by vibrations in the surrounding air molecules, the nanotube speaker doesn’t emit vibrations. The team used a laser vibrometer to detect vibrations in the sheet, but found nothing [Physorg.com].

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An electronic sniffer can not only determine when plants are under stress, it can also differentiate between those that have been damaged by caterpillars, mites, mildew, or by humans armed with a hole-puncher. In a new study, researcher Nigel Paul showed that an electronic nose can detect the subtle volatile organic compounds given off by plants that are under attack.

In previous experiments with artificial noses, researchers have found that they can tell the difference between champagne and other white wines, can find minuscule gas leaks in the space shuttle, and may even be able to detect the chemical compounds given off by cancer cells. But the new study, published in Environmental Science and Technology [subscription required], is the first to apply the technology to agriculture. Paul says that a number of electronic noses could be dotted around a glasshouse, checking the air for the early signs of pest attack. Portable electronic noses – about the size of a four-pack of beer – could be used to precisely locate infected plants [New Scientist].

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A biotech company is developing an “ultrasonic tourniquet” that could be used to quickly staunch bleeding for soldiers in the battlefield. The company, Siemans Healthcare, announced that it has won a contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which hopes to have a prototype of the device in hand within 18 months.

The hope is that the device, known as the Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation cuff (or DBAC), will be able to non-invasively clot blood vessels and stop internal bleeding from combat limb injuries - the leading preventable cause of death of soldiers in action. Longer term, Siemens believes the technology will also find applications in civilian care [Medical Physics Web].

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In a development that may pave the way for the invention of an “artificial nose,” researchers have found a way to mass-produce the odor receptors found in human nostrils. An artificial nose could have military applications: DARPA has taken an interest in the research, which it believes could lead to the development of tools to replace drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs [io9]. But the technology could eventually be used in medical diagnostics as well, as diseases like skin and bladder cancer have distinctive odors.

Many researchers worldwide are working on “E-noses”, which detect the same molecules that make up the scents we recognise…. However, while many rely on sensors constructed from artificial materials, the US researchers are working on a sensor with the biology of the human nose at its centre [BBC News].

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Developments in “electronic ink” technology are letting publishers experiment with new ways of bringing printed material to the public, and several futuristic products are close to hitting the marketplace. A new device  being previewed by the company Plastic Logic is pointing the way to the sci-fi dream of carrying one flexible screen that could display written material from any source at the touch of a button, from newspapers to complete novels. Meanwhile, the men’s magazine Esquire will sport an electronic image on the cover of its October issue: A 10-square-inch display on the cover … flashes the theme “The 21st Century Begins Now” with a collage of illuminated images [AP].

Both Plastic Logic and Esquire are using technology created by the company E Ink, which has also provided screens for Sony’s eReader and Amazon.com’s Kindle, two devices primarily intended for book-reading. The screens use electronic ink, which is made up of microcapsules embedded with white and black pigment. The capsules respond to electric charges, creating images that are easily viewed during the day, from any angle and require very little power [San Francisco Chronicle].

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Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, announced yesterday that they were able to construct a prism that bent light “the wrong way” and so would make an object appear to vanish [Times UK]. Details of the two different experiments will be published separately later this week in Nature and Science.

To bend the light, the scientists used “metamaterials,” mixtures of metal and circuit board materials such as ceramic, Teflon or fiber composite [AP]. One group built what they called a metal “fishnet” of alternating silver and magnesium fluoride; the other used tiny silver nanowires. Both created negative refraction: Light is neither absorbed nor reflected by the objects, passing “like water flowing around a rock,” according to the researchers. As a result, only the light from behind the objects can be seen [BBC].

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Airfare prices are soaring, and airlines have tried to cope by charging for food, drinks, and other formerly free items. But there’s one bright spot on the horizon: Passengers may soon be able to access the Net during flights—although you’ll have to pay for that, too.

Delta Airlines says it will beginning offering Internet access on some flights beginning as early as October, and plans to outfit the entire domestic fleet with Web capability by next summer. Fliers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices like laptops, smartphones and personal digital assistants will be able to access the Internet while in flight. The service will cost $9.95 on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 on longer flights [The New York Times].

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Researchers have invented a microscope that’s about the size of a tiny iPod shuffle, and say the cheap, disposable, and sturdy device could be a boon for doctors in the developing world. The microscope, which researchers say could be mass-produced for about $10, could be used to quickly scan a patient’s blood for the parasites that cause malaria, sleeping sickness, and other tropical diseases, for example.

The new tool could be a useful alternative to the typically bulky optical microscopes, in which lenses and lights normally needed to illuminate, magnify and focus an image take up a lot of space, and are fragile and expensive to boot [New Scientist]. In contrast, researcher Changhuei Yang says his invention could be slipped into a doctor’s pocket, and could be brought to the most isolated village. “The whole thing is truly compact, it could be put in a cell phone, and it can use just sunlight for illumination, which makes it very appealing for Third World applications,” he said [The Independent].

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The director of a cancer research center in Pittsburgh issued a surprising warning to his staff yesterday, advising them to avoid using cell phones as much as possible, because of the possible risk of brain cancer. The memo was promptly leaked to the media, igniting a firestorm of debate over whether the ubiquitous devices are dangerous.

The claim from the Pittsburgh researcher, Ronald Herberman, was particularly unexpected because numerous academic studies have found no connection between cell phone use and the risk of brain tumors. But Herberman says he’s basing his alarm on early unpublished data. He says it takes too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action now — especially when it comes to children. “Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn’t wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later,” Herberman said [AP].

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