Research - SlashGear

Posts Tagged ‘research’

Electric Field RAM memory could be faster, more energy efficient

By Chris Davies on Friday, Sep 26th 2008 No Comments

mram Japanese scientists have discovered a method of changing magnetic domains – such as those used in RAM and hard-drives – using magnetic fields rather than the current process of electromagnets, in a system that could see storage become faster and more energy efficient. Magnetic domains, tiny regions inside magnetic materials that behave as individual magnets and can be flipped from north to south, are currently manipulated by an electromagnet, encoding binary 1 or 0. With the new system that electromagnet is bypassed: applying voltage to a nearby electrode creates an electric field that shifts the domains.

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Hopping Robot Legs use artificial fibreglass tendons

By Chris Davies on Friday, Sep 5th 2008 No Comments

A team at Oregon State University have apparently taken another step toward giving walking robots a more human-like – and energy efficient – gait, by fitting them with artificial tendons. Existing robotic limbs struggle to recover energy through a springy gait, but the Oregon team have introduced steel cable tendons and fibreglass springs made from the same material as archers’ bows that allow far smaller motors to be used.

Hopping robot leg 1

Check out the demo video of the hopping robot leg in action after the cut

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OLEDs not so efficient

By Brenda Stokes on Monday, Aug 18th 2008 No Comments

LEDs are known for their efficiency. And that’s a good thing, considering they’re in just about everything these days. But the truly fantastic thing about LEDs is their ability to convert 50-70% of the energy that goes through them into light. However, high costs have prevented them from taking over traditional lighting like fluorescents, until now. The Organic LED, or OLED may be the cost solution, but energy efficiency will be lost, according to researchers at the University of Utah.

jcresize 480x252

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Metamaterial-slowed light could speed up internet, claim scientists

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Aug 13th 2008 No Comments

Metamaterial design Scientists at the University of Oxford are experimenting with ways to increase internet speeds by, ironically, slowing down the light used in fiber optic communications. The boost would come through replacing the existing system required to separate and route different signals to different destinations. Using so-called metamaterials, that can be engineered to slow light down, the new system would allow different frequencies of light to be stored and delayed by different amounts, replicating the current electronic version but at much faster speeds.

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Nanoantenna Skin to provide next-gen PC cooling

By Brenda Stokes on Tuesday, Aug 12th 2008 No Comments

If you’re looking for the next generation of PC cooling technology or consumer electronic recharging, you may only have to look so far as a group of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory who have developed a flexible solar cell. This cell could be applied to all sorts of electronics to make recharging a snap and cooling devices a breeze.

8911 large nanoantenna1

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Blu-ray not a priority for most, says ABI Research

By Chris Davies on Friday, Aug 1st 2008 No Comments

bluraylgoo Could indiscriminate users be seriously affecting Blu-ray sales? That’s one of the suggestions from ABI Research’s latest report, that cites customers seeing only middling improvements in picture quality over DVD. It adds up to users reluctant to pay for upgrades – both to Blu-ray players and the HDTVs necessary to make the most of them.

“While half of the respondents to our survey rated Blu-ray’s quality as ‘much better’ than standard DVD, another 40-percent termed it only ‘somewhat better,’ and most are very satisfied with the performance of their current DVD players” Steve Wilson, ABI Research

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Microsoft Surface Sphere demos early: no plans for release

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Jul 29th 2008 No Comments

Microsoft Surface Sphere 1 Microsoft isn’t set to officially unveil its Surface Sphere until Demofest 2008 kicks off, but that hasn’t stopped Seattle PI’s Todd Bishop from running his hands-on story a little early. The multitouch-sensitive display, a spherical version of the original Microsoft Surface table, is intended as a design exercise or “an exploration of ideas”, according to project leader Hrvoje Benko, and not planned for a commercial release.

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Ferrofluid could replace mercury in liquid-mirror telescopes, say researchers

By Chris Davies on Thursday, Jul 17th 2008 No Comments

Ferromagnetic fluid is great stuff, but it actually has more practical uses than simply dancing around whenever a magnet gets near. Researchers at Université Laval in Quebec are looking to use the fluid to replace mercury in liquid mirrors, in effect creating a tiltable, highly reflective surface ideal for use in telescopes.

NASA liquid mirror telescope

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MTI Micro Mobion fuel-cell manages 2,700hrs continuous use

By Chris Davies on Friday, Jul 11th 2008 4 Comments

MTI Micro have been putting their Mobion fuel cell through it’s paces, in testing intended to demonstrate just how much improved the technology is over current Li-Ion power packs. A lab test version of the fuel-cell lasted 2,700 hours of continuous use, with further tests suggesting power degradation of less than 15-percent.

MTI Micro Mobion fuel-cell

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Unplugging cellphone chargers improves environment, sort of

By Abby McVay on Wednesday, Jul 2nd 2008 No Comments

uplugging phone chargers

We are all guilty of having our chargers lying about and typically they stay plugged into the outlet even when they’re not in use. That is unless you’ve already caught wind that it’s actually bad to do that.

I sadly, actually caught wind that it was bad and still have stuck to my habits. Mostly because I have a tendency to lose it otherwise. Well it turns out that there is more proof that it could be best to unplug the charger. That is according to a Natural Philosophy Professor, David J.C. MacKay at the University of Cambridge.

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