Tech Universe: Friday 24 June

University of Sheffield scientists have developed polymers that change colour depending on viewing angles. Photo / Supplied

PLASTIC PASSPORT: Passports, banknotes and other precious items need to include measures that make counterfeiting difficult or impossible. Scientists at the University of Sheffield have come up with polymers whose very structure creates colour. They mix together highly ordered polymer layers that can create any colour in the rainbow using just 2 polymers. The colour changes depending on the viewing angle. The polymers are very complex to create, so should be hard to counterfeit.
No more colour photocopying the money. More details here and video here.

TRICK ROBOT: OK, we know cyclists can stay upright because they're moving. A new thin unicycle robot from Poland can balance even while standing still. The robot consists of a single wheel. The motor, battery and controls stay stationary in the centre, while a rubber tyre rotates around the outside. A weighted lever sits inside the body of the wheel. If the wheel tilts, 3 sensors - an inclinometer, an accelerometer and a gyroscope - detect the movement. They send signals to a control unit that moves the lever as a counterbalance. The next step is to have the robot roll and steer. This would fit so well into a sci-fi scenario. New Scientist has more.

GREEN PANELS: In the US Google have put $280 million into a fund that helps homeowners install solar panels on the roof. This is their first investment in distributed renewable energy, rather than big projects that set up energy plants. Just think what that kind of funding could achieve here. Details at Google and video here.

BRAINWAVE: The BioBolt is an implant that goes into a human brain. Unlike other such implants it doesn't penetrate the cortex and is covered over with skin. It's about the size of a coin and has a small film of microcircuits attached. The microcircuits detect patterns of firing neurons, amplify and filter the signals, then transmit them through the skin to a computer. Researchers hope to be able to send signals through the skin to a smaller device worn like jewellery, rather than a computer. Eventually they hope the BioBolt will be able to help paralysed people control their limbs through their thoughts.
Each brain implant is a step closer to giving paralysed people more control. here.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz