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New Metamaterial Lens Focuses Radio Waves

In many respects, metamaterials are supernatural. These manmade materials, with their intricately designed structures, bend electromagnetic waves in ways that are impossible for materials found in nature. Scientists are investigating metamaterials for their potential to engineer invisibility cloaks — materials that refract light to hide an object in plain sight — and “super lenses,” which focus light beyond the range of optical microscopes to image objects at nanoscale detail.

Researchers at MIT have now fabricated a three-dimensional, lightweight metamaterial lens that focuses radio waves with extreme precision. The concave lens exhibits a property called negative refraction, bending electromagnetic waves — in this case, radio waves — in exactly the opposite sense from which a normal concave lens would work.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/11/new-metamaterial-lens-focuses-radio-waves

The Updated Brain - Neurons of Tomorrow: Natural Scouts Man-Made

Image:An artist’s illustration shows nerve cells, purple, exploring tiny tubes made of semiconductors.

Brains and computers have a lot in common. They both process information, they both need energy to work and they’re both made of many complicated parts that work together. In the world of science fiction, computers and brains have been mixed and melded for decades. The results include Darth Vader from “Star Wars,” the “Six Million Dollar Man,” any of a number of “Terminators” and the human-looking cyborgs from “Battlestar Galactica.”

In real-world laboratories, a brain-computer meld is more difficult. Experiment by experiment, scientists are exploring ways to bring brains and computers together.

In one recent experiment, scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison brought together neurons and semiconductors. In the brain, cells called neurons communicate with each other. On a computer chip, materials called semiconductors help transmit signals and keep information flowing. The Wisconsin researchers decided to grow one (neurons) on the other (semiconductors).

First, they built tiny tubes out of silicon and germanium, two materials that have been used as semiconductors. Then they laid the tubes out in various shapes and patterns. Finally, they added some mouse neurons to the mix to see what would happen. The neurons grew around the structures — and even sent teeny extensions into the tubes to explore.

“They seem to like the tubes,” Justin Williams told Science News. Williams, a biomedical engineer, worked on the experiment along with others, including graduate students Minrui Yu and Yu Huang. Biomedical engineers use ideas from engineering to solve problems in medicine or biology. Williams said the neurons-in-tubes experiment may lead to a way to build networks that can be many different shapes: The tubes could be used to lead neurons to connect together and form particular shapes. “Neurons left to their own devices will kind of glom on to one another or connect randomly to other cells.”

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Robotic Hand Types As You Speak

In tests, one hand managed a top speed of 20 words per minute - but by adding a left hand, a typing speed of over 30 wpm is anticipated. The average human typing speed is 33 wpm with two hands.

Of course, some machines have touchscreen control - so the DART hand has its own silicone skin that allows such use in addition to making the robot look more human.

From New Scientist