20
10
science news of the year | Technology
$1,700 per troy ounce | Approximate value of platinum in catalytic converters
Got sound? Sterilizing milk
by bombarding it with sound
waves leaves a fresh, raw
taste that is lost in high-temperature pasteurization
(SN Online: 7/21/10).
Tsunami alert Giant waves
can create voltage pulses in
underwater communication
cables, offering a potential
early warning system (SN:
2/13/10, p. 15).
Dusty detector A new twist
on an analytical method
called Raman spectroscopy
uses a sprinkling of gold to
detect trace substances and
could be used at crime scenes
(SN: 4/24/10, p. 15).
Lie detectors blend fact and fiction
Devices that can discern honest statements from lies are much sought after, especially
since a 2003 National Research Council report concluded that traditional polygraphs flag
stress, not deception. But newer gadgets increasingly used by police departments and
other agencies don’t tell fact from fiction either, researchers now say (SN: 7/3/10, p. 28).
Known collectively as voice stress analyzers, these next-gen lie detectors aim to tease
out truth by reading consistent changes in speech that occur when someone is lying—a
signature that acoustics researchers say may not exist. Two large studies, one examining
voice stress analyzers in a lab and the other in a jailhouse setting, found that the analyzers do pinpoint some lies. But they also peg true statements as lies at similar rates.
These false positives, which are often left out of studies and company descriptions of the
technologies, are key for evaluating merit, says James Harnsberger of the University of
Florida in Gainesville. “A common mistake is to only report how many lies were successfully detected,” he says. “You could write ‘lie’ on a piece of paper and hold it up every
time someone speaks to you, and you will detect 100 percent of the lies.”
Trading places Researchers have found the optimal
spots on the globe for speedy
electronic communication
with the world’s 52 major
financial exchanges (SN:
11/20/10, p. 10).
Mind over machine With
only their thoughts, people
whose brains are connected
to computers can toggle
between images of Marilyn
Monroe and Josh Brolin (SN
Online: 10/27/10).
New voice-based lie detectors are no more reliable than polygraphs, studies now suggest.
Picker-upper A gripper made
of a bag of coffee grounds
(left) has advantages over
robots that use individual
digits (SN: 11/20/10, p. 10).
lytic converters would lower
the cost of diesel vehicles
(SN: 4/24/10, p. 14).
Cheaper wheels Trading
platinum for perovskite, a
cheaper and possibly more
effective material, in cata-
Smoother pixel Fifty years
after the first digital image,
one of its creators devises
an algorithm to take the
edge off square pixels (SN:
7/17/10, p. 17).
Bomb foiler A handheld
device can sniff out minuscule amounts of TATP, the
explosive favored by the
would-be shoe bomber (SN:
12/4/10, p. 8).
Live in 3-D A new technology sends holograms via the
Internet in nearly real time,
putting holographic teleconferencing and 3-D video
chatting almost within reach
(SN: 12/4/10, p. 8).
