They’re bending the rules!
Scientists build electrical circuit out of four-stranded DNA
The research could inspire a novel class of microelectronics based on DNA.
Scientists embed flexible, washable integrated circuits into fabric
Smart clothing just got sleeker.
Cheap but smart glove translates American Sign Language into text
The device could enable people with speech impairment to communicate easier.
Paper-thin device turns touch into electricity, flags into loudspeakers, bracelets into microphones
Woah.
Atomic-sandwich material could make computers 100 times more energy efficient
Don’t need a calculator to know that’s a lot.
Researchers double WiFi broadband while halving chip size
A new circuit was demonstrated at the 2016 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference this past February that can, among other things, double Wi-Fi speed, while halving the size of the chip. The researchers at Columbia Engineering invented a new tech called “full-duplex radio integrated circuits” which uses only one antenna to simultaneously transmit and receive at the same wireless radio frequency.
Device harvests energy from walking to charge your mobile and wearable electronics
A promising power generation system uses the energy you expend walking or running to power mobile devices.
The Electronic Rose
When is a rose not a rose? When it’s a transistorized electronic circuit, of course. Scientists at Sweden’s Linköping University have implanted a rose with conductive polymers and arranged the resulting circuitry into a real transistor system – complete with a digital switch. Here’s how materials scientist Magnus Berggren turned a rose into a piece of electronics. He started with
Check out the world’s first 3D electronics printer
I love disruptive technologies, and 3D printing is undoubtedly one of the leading such movements in the 21st century. This kind of tech will democratize manufacturing, moving it away from 3rd world sweatshops to your own garage. And no, you don’t have to be a geek to own one. Ten years from now, it should be as easy to use and as widespread in homes as a regular ink printer. But for now, 3D printing is limited, particularly as far as electronics are concerned. Usually, you have to print the plastic parts, then order electronic parts like circuits, chips or motors, before finally assembling it all together yourself. You can’t have a global manufacturing revolution if you need to be a lab wiz to print a new TV remote control to replace the one the dog just shred to pieces. But this is all changed. We’re just now seeing the first steps that might one day lead people to print their own smartphones.
A first step towards making ‘plastic’ semiconductors for stretchy-electronics
Stanford chemical engineers have developed a theoretical model that sheds light on the electrical conductivity properties of polymers. Their work provides a valuable first step for other researchers to build on, providing an experimental setting for those looking to expand the electrical conductivity of certain polymers (typically plastics) for use in the industry. The word “polymer” is derived from the
How electronics waste is causing a global ecological time bomb
Some 50 million tones of hazardous e-waste, various electronics that have long met their life cycle and now need to be disposed, are being generated each year. The figure has risen dramatically compared to previous years and will continue to do so in the future as well, in part because manufacturers have constantly lowered their product’s life cycles, from five
Graphene transistors made using DNA assembly
As electronics become ever thinner, smaller and faster, scientists always need to think ahead and develop solutions to accommodate the computing needs of the future. For one, it becomes clearer with each passing day that silicon – the most used material in electronics – can’t be used anymore for tomorrow’s tech since we’re nearing its maximum potential. Graphene, the wonder
The Impact of Electronics
This generation is really very blessed because of the evolution of electronics. Most often, all types of person from all over the globe has different electronics in their household. This is mainly because the electronics role is to serve the purpose of communicating with other people. Thus, this is to disregard the different electronic devices found in the household to
Stretchy electronic circuits mimic nature and allow for flexible computers
Flexible electronics are still in their infancy, however scientists have raved about them for years now. Electronics that can bend and stretch a lot without breaking open up a slew of new possibilities, from smart clothing equipped with all kinds of sensors to flexible micro-devices. Recently, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) made a great leap forward
Flexible, high speed electronics built using nanocrystals might open new doorways
Nanocrystals have always interested researchers since their electrical and thermodynamic properties show strong size dependence, which could potentially lead to some highly efficient new technologies. Scientists at University of Pennsylvania recently showed that nanocrystals of semiconductor cadmium selenide can be easily printed or layered on-top of flexible plastics to form electronic devices. This could potentially open up a slew of new technological possibilities.
Biodegradable electronics – are here today, gone tomorrow
Dissolvable electronic materials could be extremely useful in medical procedures and environmentally friendly gadgets – and they’re almost here. Dissolving electronics A team of researchers has created flexible electronic circuits which dissolve in water or inside your own body; the project is led by John Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Fiorenzo Omenetto, a
Self-healing circuits restore electrical conductivity in an instant
In the age where consumer electronic are purposely built with short lived life cycles, there might seem to be no interest for manufactures to invest in technology that enhances reliability. Sophisticated military controls or aerospace on-board circuitry are a different story though from your counter toaster – the kind of applications that yearn for working electronics that can last with confidence. With this
Digital contact lens grants Terminator-vision
A group of ophthalmologists and optoelectronics scientists are currently working on contact lens that can display information directly to the retina. So far the device is quite rudimentary, displaying only one well focused pixel, however further research might allow individuals wearing this special computerized lenses to read e-mails, receive real time notifications of important events or even acquire Terminator-style lock-on. All as easy as
Future devices will rewire themselves thanks to nanomaterial tech
Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new nanomaterial of exciting properties, which will allow for the computer of the future to rewrite and rewire its circuitry, and in the process become an entirely different device. Thus, a single device could rewire itself to become resistor, a rectifier, a diode or a transistor simply based on signals. With smartphones getting smaller and