Technology

Not Your Dad's Holodeck- Really Virtual Reality

Far from being geeky and exotic, virtual reality could be the key to a new range of innovative products. European researchers and industrialists have come together to build a world-leading community ready to exploit that promise. Made famous by the ‘holode ...

Article - News Staff - May 27 2009 - 1:57pm

The Good And The Bad Of Top-Level Domains

Last year, ICANN announced an “open season” on top-level domains, to start some time in 2010. This will dramatically expand the namespace for Internet domain names, and will allow cities, industries, and companies to register specific top-level domains fo ...

Article - Barry Leiba - May 28 2009 - 8:51am

DHS Begins Test Of Biometric Exit Procedures At Two U.S. Airports

DHS Begins Test of Biometric Exit Procedures at Two U.S. Airports, the next step toward deploying biometric exit procedures for international travelers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today began collecting biometrics- digital fingerprints ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 22 2010 - 5:43pm

E. Coli That Count May Mean A Future Synthetic Biology Computer

Biomedical engineers at Boston University have taught bacteria how to count.  The researchers have wired a new sequence of genes that allow the microbes to count discrete events, opening the door for a host of potential applications, which could include dr ...

Article - News Staff - May 28 2009 - 10:50pm

Filling Gaps In The Human Genome

Sequence gaps in human chromosome 15 have been closed by the application of 454 technology. Researchers writing in Genome Biology have described a simple and scalable method for finishing non-structural gaps in genome assemblies. Manuel Garber worked with ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 1 2009 - 10:17pm

Net neutrality and paying for usage

I’ve written about network neutrality before. It’s a difficult topic because of its different aspects, and because there are vehement opinions on all sides of it. Before I left the Internet Architecture Board, I started the process of setting up a network ...

Blog Post - Barry Leiba - Jun 2 2009 - 11:01am

ELAD- 'Artificial' Liver Uses Human Liver Cells

ELAD, the Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device,  is a bedside system that treats blood plasma, metabolizing toxins and synthesizing proteins just like a real liver does. Artificial livers have been attempted since the 1960s but because previous designs didn& ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 2 2009 - 2:39pm

Memristor- Memory With A Twist Thanks To NIST

Electronic memory chips may soon gain the ability to bend and twist, thanks to  engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)(1).   Not too exciting, right?   You probably don't spend a lot of time bending memory chips now but ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 2 2009 - 4:30pm

The Daytime Astronomer Builds A Drawbridge

In two hours, under my guidance, a small group of 5th and 6th graders built a drawbridge. We were operating using a plan essentially sketched on the napkin, with the napkin left at home. We had a stack of wood, rope, 2 hammers, a drill, a hacksaw, and a bo ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Jun 3 2009 - 5:33pm

Copying The Cochlea- MIT Radio Chip Mimics Human Ear

An ultra-broadband, low-power radio chip, modeled on the human inner ear could enable wireless devices capable of receiving cell phone, Internet, radio and television signals.   Rahul Sarpeshkar, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 3 2009 - 12:07pm