PRESS THE FLESH: Forgotten your EFTPOS card again? The Japanese Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank is installing scanners that read your palm instead of a card for validation. Customers first register their biometric info with the bank then can go to a branch, enter their birthdate and PIN and scan their palm for cash. It's good not to have to fumble for the plastic card, but do you really want to follow the person who clearly
has flu? I hope they wipe the scanner between uses. Discovery News has more.
LIGHTS OUT: A potential new test for explosives has been developed at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The problem at airports and other borders is to determine whether bags contain explosive material. The team created a specialised polymer that is brightly fluorescent. In the presence of substances similar to explosives though the fluorescence is quenched. So it's dangerous if it doesn't glow — that's good to know. Asian Scientist has details.
FLU ON A CHIP: A lab test for the H1N1 flu takes around three hours and is quite costly. Researchers from Boston University have condensed the flu test down to a prototype microfluidic chip that can do the job accurately in the doctor's office for only a few dollars. A sample is placed on the slide which then channels it through a column that extracts RNA, and another that produces DNA. Finally a climate-controlled lower channel replicates the DNA so it can be detected by an external reader. The next step is to reduce the time the test takes and further reduce the cost. At least three hours with a chip would give a same-day result. Boston University.
RISING SOLAR: An ongoing problem with solar panels is their inefficiency. Researchers at MIT have found that making towers of cells increases their output by between 2 and 20 times. The biggest boost came on cloudier days and in winter months. Unfortunately the cost per unit of energy is higher than for flat panels, but since more fit on a given area and the output is more uniform they could be more easily integrated with a grid. Even solar panels are going 3D now. MIT News has more.
GOLDEN SAVINGS: Some power plants use copper to convert their waste CO2 into methane that can provide electricity. But copper's not very stable, can easily oxidise to become much less efficient and create unwanted byproducts. Researchers at MIT found that adding nanoparticles of gold to copper makes it much more stable. Electrodes coated with the hybrid nanoparticles also need less energy to convert CO2. Of course, gold is an expensive metal, but for industrial-scale use the additional cost may be outweighed by the energy savings. Sometimes you have to spend a lot to save a lot. MIT News.
