- Author: admin
- Filed under: Science
- Date: Apr 2,2011
It’s been a while since we last heard about nanogenerators — you know, those insanely tiny fibers that could potentially be woven into your hoodie to juice up your smartphone.
Dr. Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology has reported that he and his team of Einsteins constructed nanogenerators with enough energy to potentially power LCDs, LEDs and laser diodes by moving your various limbs.
These micro-powerhouses – strands of piezoelectric zinc oxide, 1 / 500 the width of a single hair strand — can generate electrical charges when flexed or strained.
Wang and his team of researchers shoved a collection of their nanogenerators into a chip 1 / 4 the size of a stamp, stacked five of them on top of one another and can pinch the stack between their fingers to generate the output of two standard AA batteries — around 3 volts. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: General
- Date: Feb 26,2011
This as-of-yet-unnamed mini computer was fashioned as an implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients, but its creators envision a future where we’re all crawling with the little buggers.
Taking up just over one cubic millimeter of space, the thing stuffs a pressure sensor, memory, thin-film battery, solar cell, wireless radio, and low-power microprocessor all into one very small translucent container.
The processor behind this little guy uses an “extreme” sleep mode to keep it napping at 15-minute intervals and sucking up 5.3 nanowatts while awake, and its battery runs off 10 hours of indoor light or one and a half hours of sun beams.
Using the sensor to measure eye pressure and the radio to communicate with an external reader, the system will continuously track the progress of glaucoma, without those pesky contacts. Read the rest of this entry »
Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a flexible, stretchable OLED that acts something like rubber, and does not tear or break when stretched.
The material is produced by spraying a layer of carbon nanotubes with a fluoro-rubber compound, creating a rubbery, conducive material.
The current, monochrome display prototype has a resolution of just 256 pixels, is 10-centimeters square, and can apparently be folded about 1,000 times with out falling apart, tearing, or imploding. Read the rest of this entry »
Why is Nokia always trying to outdo everyone with its fancy-schmancy concepts and designs? Why can’t they just get in line and keep it simple?
We may never know the answer to those questions, but what we do know is that the company is presenting a new concept device called the Morph that would be right at home… in the year 3000.
The unit is included in the MoMA’s “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition catalog, and boasts the ability to stretch and flex to almost any shape a user could think of. Read the rest of this entry »
