Mircobot Motors to Help Surgeons Treat Stroke Victims

Australian scientists recently presented their latest invention, a real scientific breakthrough - one of the smallest motors in the world, having a width of just 1/4th of a millimeter. Researchers from Micro/Nanophysics Research Laboratory at Australia's Mon ash University hope their 21 century invention will have enough power to drive a tiny robot around the human body. They believe the robot will be able to reach delicate structures of the brains of patients highly affected by strokes.

Thus the 2009 will most likely see a safer method of performing difficult surgical operations to treat stroke victims. By injecting the device into the bloodstream, scientists hope the invention will be able to tackle hardened arteries or inform about the blockages in a patient's bloodstream.

Information published ON, January 20, 2009 in IOP Publishing's Journal of Micromechanics and Micro engineering provides details on how scientists are exploiting piezoelectricity (energy force often used by researchers to trigger-start a gas stove) to create really small mic robot motors.

This new invention also features a camera that can provide useful information to the surgeon who wants to remove body tissue to perform a biopsy or deliver the necessary drugs to the areas where these are mostly needed.

Specialists, who worked on the creation of the new motor, dubbed their latest invention Proteus, a name inspired from the Oscar-winning movie filmed back in 1966. Till now the device showed good results in swimming through human blood in laboratory conditions. However, researchers believe it could also reach the narrow arteries of the human brain.

The device features a sort of tail that has the function of a propeller. The tail is only 1 millimeter long and it swishes thousands of times per second.

Professor James Friend said of his invention that it is not that fragile and at the same time is rather simple to control, being about 70 percent smaller than the tiniest design created so far.

"Unfortunately, pushing a catheter into the body can rupture a blood vessel and can cause the patient to die. Using the Proteus would be a much safer way of carrying out the procedure. It is very exciting to think what could be done", he said. The next step for researchers is to get permission to test their invention on animals.

Transparent Electronics

Inventors, Jung Won So, Jae-Woo Park, Keong Su Lim, Ji-Hwan Yang and Sang Jung Kang, who are scientists at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, have created the world's first transparent computer chip.

The chip, known as (TRRAM) or transparent resistive random access memory, is similar to existing chips known as (CMOS) or metal-oxide semiconductor memory, which we use in our electronic devices. The difference is that TRRAM is completely clear and transparent. What is the benefit of having transparency?

"It is a new milestone of transparent electronic systems," says Jung Won So. "By integrating TRRAM with other transparent electronic components, we can create a total see-through embedded electronic systems."

The technology could enable the windows or mirrors in your home to be used as computer monitors and television screens.

This technology is expected to be available within 3 to 4 years.

Biomimicry Creates New Tires

Biomimicry is the science that imitates nature to create new products.

Resilient Technologies, a Wisconsin based company, has created a tire that can't go flat.

Instead of using a pressurized air cavity, the tire design relies on a geometric pattern of six-sided cells that are arranged in a matrix like a honeycomb.

It has the same ride, reduced noise levels and heat generation as pressurized tires. The goal was to create an airless tire with uniform flexibility and load transfer that would endure tremendous wear and tear and still perform well.

The best design was found in nature, which was the honeycomb.

Power Meter from Google to Help Cut Energy Consumption

Recently Google.org has announced its latest invention entitled "Power Meter", which represents a platform that people can use in order to track in real-time the usage of electricity in their home. The platform is developed to receive information from "smart meters" as well as other devices that collect detailed information on electricity consumption.

Information collected by the smart meters is displayed on a graph illustrating the amount of energy used and devices that consume electricity at any given period of time. With such information people will be able to monitor electricity consumption and make smart decision on the matter. By reducing power usage people will not only save money but tackle global warming.

According to latest studies, monitoring the information on power consumption can help you save between 5 and 15 percent on monthly electric bill. Currently the latest invention from Google is in beta, but the company hopes that Power Meter will ultimately be distributed to anyone who uses a smart meter.

Dancing Cell Phone

Disappointed with your cell phone’s lack of enthusiasm? Then you'll be relieved to hear that Motorola has devised a handset that dances for joy when it receives a call.

The "ambulatory" device, as it is described, sits on four vibrating feet that shake with different strength and in slightly different directions to make the whole handset wriggle around.

The device could, for example, shimmy in a clockwise direction to signal an incoming call from the office, or wobble counter-clockwise to alert the user to a new message.

Motorola even proposes using accelerometers to let the owner teach the phone how to dance when a certain person calls. A further party trick would see the device detect the beat of a music track and dance along in time.

Explosives Alarm

Airports and border checks could improve security using a new type of explosives scanner patented by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in California, on behalf of the US Department of Energy.

Existing security systems use X-ray wavelengths to look at the shape and density of suspect objects. The LBNL system could, however, pick up explosives automatically, by firing a beam of neutrons through a target bag or package.

The neutrons target the high levels of nitrogen found in most explosives, causing the material to emit gamma rays, which can then be detected using a simple sensor. As an added bonus, the neutron beam causes fissile materials to release more neutrons. So a combined gamma and neutron detector should be able to spot explosives or potential nuclear contraband in a single swoop.

A prototype neutron beam-based probe developed at the lab has a coil in the centre, surrounded by a layer of deuterium gas and a titanium shield. When a high-frequency radio signal is fed through the coil, the gas emits ions that bombard the titanium to release neutrons.

Output from the probe is a thousand times more powerful than other designs, the patent says, but a shaped shielding steers the neutrons forwards and away from the operator, making the system safe to use. The same approach could perhaps also be used to locate buried landmines, the creators suggest.

Eyeball Electronics

Second Sight of California has come up with a novel way to operate retinal implants, one that could restore the vision of those with damaged eyes more effectively.

As with other systems, a camera fixed to a pair of glasses captures video images, and a small computer converts this into electrical impulses that can be fed to electrodes attached to the patient's retina.

But Second Sight thinks it has a neater way to link the electronics to the retinal implant. An electronic unit is attached to the white of the eyeball, the sclera, which is pierced to let a flexible line pass through to the retinal electrodes behind.

Unlike standard designs that require physical links between elements of the equipment, the video camera connects to the electronics wirelessly and receives its power wirelessly too, from an inductive coil on the glasses.