A round-up of the latest technology news from around the globe.
SELF-CLEANING SURFACES: One problem with solar cells is how much light they reflect. Any normal smooth surface reflects a lot of the light it receives. Another problem is cells being coated with dust and dirt. A new Finnish technique uses deep reactive ion etching to create
pyramid-shaped nanostructures on a silicon surface. It's fast, the
polymeric surfaces don't reflect but do clean themselves. Sounds great
for spectacles too: non-reflective and self-cleaning. More at ScienceDaily.
DRY FLIGHT: Paper planes are all very well as amusing toys, but do they belong in space? A British team thinks so: their glider, Vulture 1, was made of paper straws, covered in paper, and had a 1-metre wingspan. The paper glider was carried into space by a helium balloon and released at 27,400 metres. It landed successfully 90 minutes after launch, and the cameras aboard were recovered intact. Not a hobby for rainy days though. Details at the BBC and video on YouTube.
SOUND IN FOCUS: Ultrasound scans of the human body tend to give fuzzy images. Researchers have found a way to increase the resolution by around 50 times. They capture evanescent waves that don't travel very far from the source, using a metamaterial consisting of hollow copper tubes. I bet the airports will be onto this one. More at EurekAlert.
INDUCED TO DRIVE: Cables are a big hassle for electric cars - along with finding suitable power points. The Kiwi-conceived HaloIPT inductive power transfer system aims to solve that. Park your car on or near a charging pad, much like putting an electric toothbrush in a charging stand. An inductive coil and capacitors inside the car pick up power from the nearby transmitter pad and charge up the battery. Imagine inductive power transfer tech embedded in roads so cars would charge even as they move! Ah, but does all the power flying through the air pose a health hazard? More at DiscoveryNews and HaloIPT.
THESE AR GLASSES: The Vuzix Wrap 920AR augmented reality glasses have a video camera in front of each lens. Each camera shows a slightly different view of the world for a 3D effect. Accelerometers, gyro sensors, and magnetometers track which direction the wearer is looking, while software locks on to certain objects or colours and provides an appropriately augmenting image. Seeing the world in 3D, eh? That's new. More at TechnologyReview.
- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz