A round-up of the latest technology news from around the globe.
STICKY FEET: Gecko feet inspired a new method of printing electronics on to clothes, plastic, leather and various other tricky surfaces. A polymer stamp has pyramid-shaped tips on the bottom. The tips collapse under pressure which increases their surface area to pick up the electronics. Then when pressure's removed they snap back into shape and release the item. That's similar to how a gecko's foot sticks to walls. Are there possibilities there for creating silent velcro? More at ScienceDaily.
HEAVY PHOTOS: If you have US$32,000 to spend on camera equipment consider the 80 megapixel medium format digital camera backs from Leaf. The camera back has a Dynamic Range of 12 f-stops, and TIFF files weigh in at 480MB each. Now factor in the high powered computer you'll need to handle the images. Details at Leaf-Photography.
FRESH AIR: Workers in the Westarkade tower in Frankfurt can open the windows, but that creates some terrible cross-draughts. To compensate, sensors measure temperature, pressure, and sunlight to control vertical ventilation flaps in the tower's outer skin. With geothermal heat exchangers, and other heat capture mechanisms, the tower should use only a third of the energy of similar buildings in the US. Breathe deep of the clean air. More at DiscoveryNews.
LIGHT THE WAY: Scientists from Harvard University and the Institute of Laser Physics in Novosibirsk shone polarized light through a cloud of rubidium-87 atoms. This created a small, highly sensitive compass able to measure magnetic fields very accurately. Such accuracy is needed for discovering oil, detecting earthquakes and for navigation if the GPS system fails. What did people do before they had clouds of
rubidium-87 atoms and a laser? More at Wired.
SHOOT THE MOON: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre's Laser Ranging Facility fired a laser 28 times per second at the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter orbiting the moon. When the focused light bounced back to Earth they could calculate the LRO's exact position. That helps ensure the accuracy of maps the LRO generates. It didn't even need rubidium-87. More at iO9.
- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz
