Paper + Nanotechnology = Greater Power

Scientists have made batteries and supercapacitors with little more than ordinary office paper and some carbon and silver nanomaterials. Lightweight printable batteries is within grasp to be molded into computers, cell phones or solar panels. At the nano-scale, paper is a tangled matrix of fibers where the surface area helps inks stick. The paper acts as a scaffold, and the carbon nanotubes act as electrodes that electrolytes in solution react with. This nanotube-paper combination offers a lightweight alternative to traditional energy storage devices that rely on metals. Calculations indicate that conductive paper coated with a kilogram of the carbon nano-tubes is more efficient than plastic-based flat energy-storage devices. Power storage is an important aspect of the power crisis.

Reference: Wired

Spot Nanoparticles

There is a growing interest in detecting nanoparticles and nanotechnologists are racing to build devices that can detect and characterise these particles. One method is having resonating devices that changes when a nanoparticle is bounced off the surface, measured by a laser. However this method is only ideal in certain cases and positions. Researchers from Washington University have a new vibrating micro-mushroom device that promises greater reliability in detecting nanoparticles.

Reference:
arxiv.org/abs/0912.0078

Roomba Pac-Man

The Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV) at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been developing software that helps robots form ad-hoc networks and distribute cooperative control of their operations. They've implemented a real-life version of Pac-Man using Roombas.

Google Public DNS and Privacy

Google is expanding its grasp on the Internet with a newly revealed DNS where the domain name system finds and directs the user to a website. The system translates that into the matching numerical address of the website's server. DNS lookups is usually done automatically, but there are third-party DNS resolver like Google Public DNS. The advantage of this is that it can be faster, more efficient and more secure. However, the collection of IP address, name, personal identifying data, location, websites and technical details.

Reference: PC World

Bionic Arms Gain Ground

Prosthetic legs have been supported by high-performance carbon-fiber springs, but current prosthetic arms are way behind in terms of technology. Conventional prosthetic arms offer little freedom of movement, where as advance prosthetic arms offer higher flexibility, dexterity and feedback. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency created two prototypes for prosthetic arms. The first one can be controlled naturally with sensory feedback that allow eight degrees of freedom. The second is more ambitious and allows for a range of motion similar to a real arm.

Reference: Wired