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NEWS
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Bubble logic
A microfluidic chip processes logic operations
by controlling the flow of bubbles rather than electrical
pulses. Bubbles are capable of shunting materials around
a chip; bubble logic can be used to control biochips for
developing drugs, diagnosing diseases and testing environmental
contaminants. (Microfluidic
Bubble Logic, Science, February 9, 2007)
Ankle bot
A robotic exoskeletal ankle controlled by the
wearer's neuromuscular activity shows that people can
adapt walking motion to accommodate external changes,
including devices designed to aid or enhance human physiology.
Test subjects who wore the device on one ankle were able
to adapt to the lopsided power increase, and retained
the adapted walking motion over time. (Learning
to Walk with a Robotic Ankle Exoskeleton, Journal
of Biomechanics, published online 5 February 2007)
Water-friendly nanotubes
A positive electrical voltage turns membranes
made of multiwalled carbon nanotubes from hydrophobic
to hydrophilic, allowing water to pass through. The technique
could be used to filter water of impurities and to desalinate
seawater. (Polarity-Dependent
Electrochemically Controlled Transport of Water through
Carbon Nanotube Membranes, Nano Letters, published
online February 13, 2007)
Dimple displays
Arrays of nanoscale dimples on reflective silicon
surfaces can produce any visible color in areas as small
as one hundredth of a square millimeter. The arrays could
be used to make inexpensive displays and sensors built
into biochips. (Submicrometer
Dimple Array Based Interference Color Field Displays and
Sensors, Nano Letters, February 14, 2007)
Biochip printer
A wax method of printing biochips is a fast, inexpensive
way to design and test microfluidic devices for drug discovery
and medical diagnostics. Researchers sized and separated
DNA segments using biochip prototypes made with the wax
printer technique. (Rapid
Prototyping of Microfluidic Devices with a Wax Printer,
Lab on a Chip, published online January 10, 2007)
Biochip separates particles
A biochip splits droplets that contain two types
of particles so that most of one type ends up in one daughter
droplet and most of the other in the other droplet. The
ability to concentrate and separate particles expands
the range of biological and chemical procedures that can
be carried out with digital microfluidic biochips, which
use electric fields to manipulate droplets. (Concentration
and Binary Separation of Micro Particles for Droplet-based
Digital Microfluidics, Lab on a Chip, published
online February 12, 2007) |
FEATURES
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View
from the High Ground: ICL's John Pendry
Physics as machine tool, negative refractive
index, metamaterials, shattered wine glasses, higher capacity
DVDs, scientific backwaters, risk perception and practice,
practice, practice.
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How
It Works: Quantum computing: qubits
Photons, electrons and atoms, oh my! These particles are
the raw materials for qubits, the basic building blocks
of quantum computers. |
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"Physics
is to the rest of science what machine tools are
to engineering. A corollary is that science places
power in our hands which can be used for good or
ill. Technology has been abused in this way throughout
the ages from gunpowder to atomic bombs."
- John Pendry, Imperial College London |
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Thanks
to Kevin from
GoldBamboo.com
for technical support |
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