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SCIENCE NEWS OF THE YEAR | Technology
15 frames/second | update speed for princess leia hologram
Connecticut cat A cougar
took a 2,000-mile journey
from the Black Hills of South
Dakota to the green lawns of
southern New England
(SN: 8/27/11, p. 5).
Mice boom A syndrome
that has wiped out swaths of
aspens across the western
United States is linked to an
increase in disease-carrying
deer mice (SN: 1/29/11, p. 15).
Evolutionary dawdling
The last common ancestor of all living animals
probably arose nearly 800
million years ago, scientists report — suggesting
animals started evolving
roughly 200 million years
before what’s known as the
Cambrian Explosion (SN:
12/31/11, p. 12).
Tiny test drive A miniature
roadster (above) with four
molecular wheels and a
carbon-based frame rolls
across a surface when
zapped with electricity
(SN: 12/17/11, p. 8).
Virtual princess A team
unveils a 3-D holographic
video that plays at 15 frames
per second, displaying a
real-time projection of a
grad student dressed as
Princess Leia (SN Online:
1/26/11).
Epidermal electronics
scientists have created an ultrathin electronic device
that puckers, stretches, wrinkles and bends just like
human skin (SN: 9/10/11, p. 10). this flexible patch
could one day allow the human body to enter the digital
world, enabling internet browsing without the mouse or
communication without words. the patch’s electronics
form a flexible net of wavy s-shaped curves that can
stretch in any direction and still work. two supple polymer
sheets sandwich the business layer of the gadget and
the whole thing sits on a film that sticks to skin.
Developed as less obtrusive health monitors,
versions of the device have been used to track vital
signs. in a more lighthearted demonstration, the patch
analyzed a person’s throat muscles as directions were
spoken to move a cursor in a computer game. mixing
and matching electronic components could lead to a
variety of jobs, says study coauthor John rogers of the
university of illinois at urbana-champaign. “creative
folks out there will think of things we haven’t even
contemplated.” — Laura Sanders
An electronic device sticks to skin like a temporary
tattoo, connecting the body to the electronic world.
Electric sensibilities
The dolphin is the first true
mammal found to detect
electrical fields, via organs
thought to be long-lost
whiskers (SN: 8/27/11, p. 12).
Stress goes on Not only do
zebra finch nestlings dosed
with stress hormones tend
to die early, but the nestlings also pass the risk of a
shortened life span on to
future long-term mating
partners (SN: 9/24/11, p. 14).
No batteries A prototype
sensor produces enough
electrical charge when flexed
mechanically to transmit
a wireless signal several
meters. Such sensors may
help monitor the strength of
a bridge, for example, while
getting power from the vi-
brations of trucks rumbling
overhead (SN: 7/30/11, p. 18).
Do the twist A new way
to mold radio waves into
spirals could let multiple
radio stations broadcast
at the same frequency
(SN: 8/27/11, p. 16).
Engineered release
Lab mosquitoes infected
with a bacterium that renders them unlikely to pass
along dengue mate well
enough with wild populations to make the bacteria
widespread, field tests in
towns in Australia reveal
(SN Online: 8/24/11).
’Stiltskin science In a feat
that puts Rumpelstiltskin
to shame, researchers spin a
multitude of hi-tech materials into superfine nanowire
bundles 1,000-plus meters
long ( SN: 7/16/11, p. 16).
life span and safety of today’s
energy-storage technologies
(SN Online: 2/21/11).
Built for speed A robot
that curls itself into a loop
and peels out at speeds
faster than half a meter per
second has been created
(SN: 5/21/11, p. 10).
Fix thyself A new lithium-ion battery capable of healing itself may improve the
Follow the flies Mimicking
how some developing nerve
cells in flies pick a leader has
led to a computer algorithm
that could make wireless
sensor networks more efficient (SN: 2/12/11, p. 13).
www.sciencenews.org
December 31, 2011 | SCIENCE NEWS | 31
