Super Velcro

Image: Reusable superglue: An atomic force microscope image shows the surface of a shape memory polymer that has been treated to make a strong reusable adhesive. Two pieces of the polymer stick together when heated, stay stuck when cooled down, and come apart when heated again. Credit: Tao Xie, GM Research and Development Center

From Technology Review:

A novel adhesive is extremely strong, and its stickiness is reversible.

General Motors researchers have made an extremely strong adhesive that comes apart when heated. The adhesive is 10 times stickier than Velcro and the reusable gecko-inspired glues that many research groups have been trying to perfect.

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Wonder Material Graphene Becomes Lighting For Future Devices And Homes

Light-emitting Electrochemical cells Lighting the way for a graphene-based future Linkoping University/Umea University/Rutgers University

From Popular Science:

New light-emitting electrochemical cells could replace OLEDs.

Graphene may brighten the future more literally than we had originally anticipated, besides merely revolutionizing electronics and Silicon Valley. Swedish and American researchers have transformed the one-atom-thick carbon material into a new, inexpensive lighting component that could give organic light diodes (OLEDs) a run for their money.

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How To Make A Liquid Invisibility Cloak

Hiding behind water (Image: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty)

From New Scientist:

When J. K. Rowling described Harry Potter's invisibility cloak as "fluid and silvery", she probably wasn't thinking specifically about silver-plated nanoparticles suspended in water. But a team of theorists believe that using such a set-up would make the first soft, tunable metamaterial – the "active ingredient" in an invisibility device.

The fluid proposed by Ji-Ping Huang of Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and colleagues, contains magnetite balls 10 nanometres in diameter, coated with a 5-nanometre-thick layer of silver, possibly with polymer chains attached to keep them from clumping.

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2010 Will See A Blizzard Of Television Innovations

From Times Online:

Las Vegas TV manufacturers and broadcasters are trying to bring the magic back to the living room.

Soon through your TV set you will be able to watch immersive 3D, talk to your grandma, browse all your favourite websites and update Facebook.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week a blizzard of TV innovations were unveiled to bring high tech 3D, video chat and internet capabilities to the humble box in the corner.

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Great Gizmos At Vegas Electronics Show

Watch CBS News Videos Online

From CBS News:

CNET.com Senior Editor Natali Del Conte Highlights Flashy Products at the Consumer Electonics Show.

(CBS) From 3-D televisions to the latest in computers, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has it all.

The event has so much that Natali Del Conte, senior editor of CNET.com, returned to "The Early Show" Friday to highlight more of the latest gizmos and gadgets from this year's show -- after showcasing several on Thursday.

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Samsung 9000 Series 3-D TV Is No Thicker Than a Pencil

Samsung LED9000: It's a bit slim

From Popular Science:

Samsung is going whole hog into 3-D with their newly announced TV lineup, but at the top is the 9000 series: an LED-backlit panel that's just 0.3 inches thin. And on its remote. a color touchscreen that can carry broadcast TV while you watch a Blu-ray disc.

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'Ferropaper' Is New Technology For Small Motors, Robots

Purdue researchers have created a magnetic "ferropaper" that might be used to make low-cost "micromotors" for surgical instruments, tiny tweezers to study cells and miniature speakers. Babak Ziaie, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, holds a miniature birdlike shape made from the material. The wings move slowly, but the structure is not capable of flight. (Credit: Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 6, 2010) — Researchers at Purdue University have created a magnetic "ferropaper" that might be used to make low-cost "micromotors" for surgical instruments, tiny tweezers to study cells and miniature speakers.

The material is made by impregnating ordinary paper -- even newsprint -- with a mixture of mineral oil and "magnetic nanoparticles" of iron oxide. The nanoparticle-laden paper can then be moved using a magnetic field.

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Tellyphone: America Is Finally Poised To Get Mobile Television

From The Economist:

YOUR correspondent is always miffed when he sees others taking for granted things he has waited years for. Case in point: the way the Japanese think it is perfectly normal to watch live national and local television free on their mobile phones. In fact, they can do so on practically anything they care to carry around with them—from portable game consoles and electronic dictionaries to satnavs for their cars. And it is not just in Japan that you can watch live television on the hoof. It is also taken for granted in South Korea, China, Brazil and parts of Europe.

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Hitachi Reportedly Develops Brain-Powered Remote Control

From Market Watch:

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Hitachi Ltd. has developed a prototype remote control that allows users to operate electronic devices telepathically -- simply willing the television channel to change or the air-conditioning to turn on -- according to a report Monday.

Hitachi's (TSE:JP:6501) (NYSE:HIT) "brain-machine interface system" features a headset that measures slight changes in blood flow in the brain, specifically by scanning it with near-infrared rays, business daily Nikkei reported in its Monday evening edition.

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The (Last and Next) Decade In Gadgets

(Photograph by George Frey/Getty Images)

From Popular Mechanics:

In January 2000, odds are that you didn't own an MP3 player, digital camera or even a cellphone. You certainly couldn't send saliva through the mail to a service (23andMe) to analyze your DNA. Times have changed. Here, Gizmodo's Mark Wilson breaks down the biggest tech breakthroughs of the past 10 years, and predicts where tech is going in the next 10.

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Our Vision Of the Future Of Magazines

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

From Popular Science:

Although we believe in a strong future for print media, we’re even more excited about the digital potential for magazines. That’s why we’re thrilled with this initial vision for a future PopSci developed by Bonnier’s R&D group with design firm BERG.

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Mind-Machine Breakthrough: People Type With Just Thoughts

Electrodes placed directly on the surface of peoples' brains allow them to type just by thinking of letters. Image credit: stockxpert

From Live Science:

By focusing on images of letters, people with electrodes in their brains can type with just their minds, scientists now reveal.

These findings make up one more step on the road to mind-machine interfaces that may one day help people communicate with just their thoughts. Researchers have recently employed brain scans to see numbers and maybe even pull videos from inside people's heads.

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Electromagnetic Pulse Cuts Through Steel In 200 Milliseconds

The Riddle of Steel Freedom Steel International

From Popular Science:

Cutting through solid steel with flaming bacon certainly has its appeal, but for large-scale industrial processes, the Fraunhofer institute thinks electromagnetic pulses may work better than the other white heat. Case in point: their new electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device that cuts through steel faster than a laser, and cheaper than a machine tool.

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Conquering The Digital Data Overload

A visualization of the human brain using VisTrails. In recent decades, researchers have used computers to build complex visualizations based on large data sets to gain a better perspective on their research. A computer-generated visualization can help a surgeon better understand what is happening inside a patient's heart before ever picking up a scalpel. Credit: Juliana Freire, University of Utah

From Live Science:

If you're feeling a little overwhelmed by all the information you have to keep track of, you're not alone. Between the proliferation of 'smart' devices — ranging from phones to power grids — and the ever-growing Internet, the world is drowning in data. But not to despair, computer scientists like Juliana Freire are trying to help us gather and make sense of this modern monsoon of data. A computer scientist at the University of Utah, Freire's work centers on finding data that might otherwise be missed, as well as integrating and managing that data into knowledge that people can actually use. She and her collaborators have created the DeepPeep project, an attempt at integrating typical web-based data with other databases that are publicly available, but not easily found through standard methods like online searching. Freire has also created a tool called VisTrails that allows users to take several computers and 24 large, flat-screen video monitors and produce a single high-resolution visualization, such as the brain's vascular system or the dynamics of an erupting volcano. For more about the work, see the recent NSF Discovery feature story. For more on Freire, see her answers to the ScienceLives 10 Questions below.

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For 2010, IDC Predicts An Apple iPad And Battles In The Cloud

From CNET:

Apple brings out an iPad digital tablet. Netbooks move upscale. And IBM buys Juniper Networks.

Those predictions for next year, and others, are being presented on Thursday by the technology research firm IDC.

DC's entry in the year-end forecasting sweepstakes doesn't lack for detail. There will be 300,000 iPhone applications by the end of next year, nearly triple the current number, according to IDC. There will be 50,000 to 75,000 Google Android applications, up from about 10,000.

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Bendable Antennas Could Reshape Electronics

The bendable antenna consists of liquid metal injected into tiny channels within the silicon elastomer. The antenna can be deformed and snap back to its original shape. Credit: Ju-Hee So, North Carolina State University

From Live Science:

Tiny antennas that can bend, twist and stretch, before snapping back to their original shapes, could some day find themselves in flexible electronics and equipment that needs to be rolled up before deployment.

The shape-shifting antennas are still in the lab and the researchers from North Carolina State University are not sure when the invention would hit the market.

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Spin-Based Electronics Gets Boost

Photo: The effect was shown in silicon, the standby of the semiconductor industry

From The BBC:

The next generation of computers may make use of the "spin" of electrons instead of their charge.

Spintronics relies on manipulating these spins to make them capable of carrying data.

The technique has been shown in a number of materials at low temperatures before.

But researchers writing in Nature have made use of these "spin-polarised" electrons in silicon at room temperature for the first time.

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Bendable Magnetic Interface

Image: Bladder control: Manipulating a magnetic fluid on top of the researchers' "sensor tile" (top) offers a novel way to control a computer. The interface can be used to sculpt virtual shapes (bottom). Credit: Microsoft

From Technology Review:

A sensing surface developed by Microsoft researchers offers new ways to use computers.

Computer users have been typing on keyboards and clicking on mice for more than 20 years. An experimental new interface under development at Microsoft could give them a completely new way to use their system.

Multi-touch and motion-sensing devices have recently emerged from research labs, offering new ways to operate computers. Microsoft's experimental tactile interface takes things further still, letting users interact by squashing, stretching, rolling, or rubbing.

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Improving Security With Face Recognition Technology

This photo shows how to determine discriminative anatomical point pairings using Adaboost for 3-D face recognition. (Credit: University of Miami)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 15, 2009) — A number of U.S. states now use facial recognition technology when issuing drivers licenses. Similar methods are also used to grant access to buildings and to verify the identities of international travelers. Historically, obtaining accurate results with this type of technology has been a time intensive activity. Now, a researcher from the University of Miami College of Engineering and his collaborators have developed ways to make the technology more efficient while improving accuracy.

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Are You Ready For The Third Dimension?

Photo: Coming to a home near you: Sky and Channel 4 are set to bring 3D technology into the living room

From The Daily Mail:

Cameras, laptops, computer games, even Channel 4 - the 3D experience is about to leap off the big screen and into your living room...

This Is It, the movie that documents Michael Jackson's final rehearsals for his never-to-be O2 residency, includes 3D movie sequences originally intended to be used in his comeback shows.

It's part of a new generation of 3D movies designed to tempt recession-hit movie-lovers back into the cinema - and it follows this year's string of 3D successes, including Coraline, Monsters vs Aliens and Bolt.

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