Hasta La Gadget!

We’re sure that most sniffer dogs would rather be playing fetch than hunting for bombs in luggage. If UC Santa Barbara has its way with a new sensor, those canines will have a lot more free time on their hands. The device manages a snout-like sensitivity by concentrating molecules in microfluidic channels whose nanoparticles boost any spectral signatures when they’re hit by a laser spectrometer. Although the main technology fits into a small chip, it can detect vapors from explosives and other materials at a level of one part per billion or better; that’s enough to put those pups out of work. To that end, the university is very much bent on commercializing its efforts and has already licensed the method to SpectraFluidics. We may see the technology first on the battlefield when the research involves funding from DARPA and the US Army, but it’s no big stretch to imagine the sensor checking for drugs and explosives at the airport — without ever needing a kibble break.

Continue reading UCSB sensor sniffs explosives through microfluidics, might replace Rover at the airport (video)

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Via: Gizmag

Source: UCSB

As we know it, 3D printing is usually confined to small-scale projects like headphones. NASA is ever so slightly more ambitious. It’s using a closely related technique from Concept Laser, selective laser melting, to build elements of its Space Launch System on a pace that wouldn’t be feasible with traditional methods. By firing brief, exact laser pulses at metal powder, Concept Laser’s CAD system creates solid metal parts that are geometrically complex but don’t need to be welded together. The technique saves the money and time that would normally be spent on building many smaller pieces, but it could be even more vital for safety: having monolithic components reduces the points of failure that could bring the rocket down. We’ll have a first inkling of how well laser melting works for NASA when the SLS’ upper-stage J-2X engine goes through testing before the end of 2012, and the printed parts should receive their ultimate seal of approval with a first flight in 2017.

Continue reading NASA building Space Launch System with laser melting, adapts 3D printing for the skies (video)

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NASA building Space Launch System with laser melting, adapts 3D printing for the skies (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Forget e-paper: if the University of Tokyo’s Naemura Lab has its way, we’ll interact with the real thing. The division’s new research has budding artists draw on photochromic paper with Frixion’s heat-sensitive ink, turning the results into something a computer can manipulate. A laser ‘erases’ the ink to fix mistakes or add effects, and an ultraviolet projector overhead can copy any handiwork, fill in the gaps or print a new creation. The prototype is neither high resolution nor quick — you won’t be living out fantasies of a real-world A-Ha music video — but the laser’s accuracy (down to 0.0001 inches) has already led researchers to dream of paper-based, Google Docs-style collaboration where edits in one place affect a tangible document somewhere else. It’s hard to see truly widespread adoption in an era where we’re often trying to save trees instead of print to them, but there’s an undeniable appeal to having a hard copy that isn’t fixed in time.

Continue reading University of Tokyo turns real paper and ink into a display, could share doodles from a distance (video)

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University of Tokyo turns real paper and ink into a display, could share doodles from a distance (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One way that sensors can track your position without using an array of satellites is by measuring your acceleration as you move around — but unless you’re piloting a jumbo jet, current devices aren’t very accurate. Researchers at Caltech hope to change all that with a new, ultra-sensitive accelerometer they developed, which uses laser light to detect motion changes. The scientists managed to shrink a so-called large-scale interferometer down to micro-scale sizes, creating a device “thousands of times faster than the most sensitive sensors used today.” That could allow a smartphone with such a micro-sensor to detect your exact position even while inside a grocery store, and flash “ads and coupons for hot dog buns” while you’re in the bread aisle, according to Caltech. All that sounds good, but we can perhaps think of more inspiring uses for the new tech.

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Caltech laser accelerometer research may bring fine-tuned position tracking, grocery ads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Generating solar power from the infrared spectrum, or even nearby frequencies, has proven difficult in spite of a quarter of the Sun’s energy passing through those wavelengths. The Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications may have jumped that hurdle to efficiency through sulfur — one of the very materials that solar energy often helps eliminate. By irradiating ordinary silicon through femtosecond-level laser pulses within a sulfuric atmosphere, the technique melds sulfur with silicon and makes it easier for infrared light electrons to build into the frenzy needed for conducting electricity. The black-tinted silicon that results from the process is still in the early stages and needs improvements to automation and refinement to become a real product, but there’s every intention of making that happen: Fraunhofer plans a spinoff to market finished laser systems for solar cell builders who want their own black silicon. If all goes well, the darker shade of solar panels could lead to a brighter future for clean energy.

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Fraunhofer black silicon could catch more energy from infrared light, go green with sulfur originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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