Scientists at University of Pennsylvania have been tinkering with germanium-tellurium nanowires and have figured out how to make them store data in three states. Yup, that’s 0,1 and 2… binary seems passé now doesn’t it? According to the team, storing trits instead of bits “could allow for a huge increase in the memory density of potential future devices,” meaning higher capacity storage in the same size. And using nanowires read more »

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The moon is a nice place to visit, but you’d never want to live there. Because of the lack of breathable air? Nah. There are no flowers. But now, scientists have successfully grown marigolds in crushed anorthosite, a rocky Earth-based soil that is quite similar to the stuff we see on the moon.

While growing plants in what is essentially rock do not make for optimal green-nurturing conditions, scientists realized that by adding various bacteria to the anorthosite, the plants were able to draw essential nutrients read more »

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Army dudes sat down with scientists at University of Michigan and other schools and asked for a simple frickin’ bionic bat with frickin’ stereo cameras, miniaturized radar, ultra-sensitive self-guidance, “energy scavenging” recharging capability and a radio to send data back to troops in urban combat zones. Was that too much to ask? Here’s how it’s working out for them: read more »

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In a landmark launch that will supposedly “contribute to bridging the digital divide within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world,” the continent’s first satellite successfully made it into orbit aboard a French-made rocket last night. The so-called RASCOM-QAF1 — named after the Regional African Satellite Communication Organization which is funding the venture — lifted off from the European space base in Kourou, French Guiana stowed inside an Ariane 5, the sixth such launch this year and 36th overall of that particular model, manufactured by Paris-based Arianespace. read more »

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By using radioactive materials you could be seeing 30 year batteries in your laptop without a single charge. Work being funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory is going ahead which will hopefully see some cool batteries created.

The batteries are named betavoltaic power cells and are constructed from semiconductors which is radioisotopes as an energy source. They will be small and thin and create a reaction that doesn’t emit heat.

My fear of this is all that radiation sat on your lap… surely that cant be good for you. I am all for long life power sources for mobile devices but this one sounds plain scary. Expect to see these batteries in 2 - 3 years time.

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Ross Lovegrove, designer of beautiful, yet useful, things, has teamed up with Artemide and Sharp Solar to produce these solar-powered street lamps that are to light up the Ringstrasse outside Vienna’s Museum for Angewandte Kunste (that’s the Museum for Applied Arts and Contemporary Art.) They’ll be going up on a tree-line boulevard, so expect the effect to be awesome.

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By modifying a laser pen and using a detector you are able to play music over distances that could reach half a mile. To do this the laser needs to be modified by using amplitude modulation. This is then pointed at the sensor which picks up the changes, converts it in to a signal that can be used as music. As with anything with a laser in, be careful when you try anything and do not look at the laser as it could damage your eyes.

To build the device you need to gather together a few components such as a potentiometer, toggle switch and a phototransistor to name a few and then follow the instructions over at Instructables.

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