Touch screens such as those found on the iPhone or iPad are the latest form of technology allowing interaction with smart phones, computers and other devices. However, scientists at Fraunhofer FIT has developed the next generation non-contact gesture and finger recognition system. The novel system detects hand and finger positions in real-time and translates these [...]
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
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A Plane That Lands Like a Bird
July 26th, 2010 Everyone knows what it’s like for an airplane to land: the slow maneuvering into an approach pattern, the long descent, and the brakes slamming on as soon as the plane touches down, which seems to just barely bring it to a rest a mile later. Birds, however, can switch from barreling forward at full speed [...]
Advanced Weapon System Helps Respond to Attacks by Small Swarming Boats
July 20th, 2010 The Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS), an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored technology, could soon give the U.S. Navy and coalition military ships an upper hand in swiftly defeating multiaxis attacks by small swarming boats. Managed by ONR’s Naval Air Warfare and Weapons Department as a Future Naval Capability (FNC), LCITS equips the unguided Hydra-70 [...]
Submarines Could Use New Nanotube Technology for Sonar and Stealth
July 16th, 2010 Speakers made from carbon nanotube sheets that are a fraction of the width of a human hair can both generate sound and cancel out noise — properties ideal for submarine sonar to probe the ocean depths and make subs invisible to enemies. That’s the topic of a report on these “nanotube speakers,” which appears in [...]
Super-High Pressures Used to Create Super Battery: ‘Most Condensed Form of Energy Storage Outside of Nuclear Energy’
July 3rd, 2010 The world’s biggest Roman candle has got nothing on this. Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, Washington State University researchers have created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy. “If you think about it, it is the most condensed form of [...]
New Technique Improves Efficiency of Biofuel Production
July 1st, 2010 Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from conventional biofuel production techniques. The technique is a significant step toward creating a commercially viable new source of biofuels. “This technique makes the process more efficient and less expensive,” [...]
Cell Signaling Classification System Gives Researchers New Tool
June 27th, 2010 Using ever-growing genome data, scientists with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee are tracing the evolution of the bacterial regulatory system that controls cellular motility, potentially giving researchers a method for predicting important cellular functions that will impact both medical and biotechnology research. A new study from [...]
Depth Charge: Using Atomic Force Microscopy to Study Subsurface Structures
June 22nd, 2010 Over the past couple of decades, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as a powerful tool for imaging surfaces at astonishing resolutions — fractions of a nanometer in some cases. But suppose you’re more concerned with what lies below the surface? Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that under [...]
Researcher Develops Green, Bio-Based Process for Producing Fuel Additive
June 15th, 2010 A new green, bio-based method for producing a much-used fuel additive and industrial chemical that is currently made from petroleum products has been developed by an Iowa State University researcher. Thomas Bobik, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, invented a process for manufacturing isobutene (isobutylene) by identifying a new, natural enzyme that produces the [...]
Car Steered With Eyes, Computer Scientists Demonstrate
May 21st, 2010 “Keep your eyes on the road!” Scientists at Freie Universität working under the computer science professor Raúl Rojas have given a completely new meaning to this standard rule for drivers: Using software they developed, they can steer a car with their eyes. On the site of the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport, the head of the [...]