Innovation and entrepreneurship

Scientists to fight malaria via spermless mosquitoes

Female mosquitoes just don't get to have any fun. They mate only once, lay eggs, and eventually die.

In an effort to combat malaria, researchers at Imperial College London hope to take advantage of the female mosquito's plight--and reduce the mosquito population--by engineering spermless males. They say the key is that the females don't seem able to tell the difference; they still mate with the sterile males and proceed to lay eggs that never hatch.

This is an improvement over previous attempts to engineer sterile males, the team said, because that process often exposed the males to … Read more

Tiny lens could put projector phones in our pockets

We've been waiting years for smartphones to gain built-in projectors. What's not to like about your phone being able to project a 50-inch display?

There are a few projector phones on the market--outside the U.S.--but the predicted flood has been slow to materialize. That could be changing, thanks in part to a speck of glass not much larger than a grain of sand.

One reason phone projectors have been just out of reach is that they have to be bright to be seen well, and projecting a lot of light takes a lot of power. So while it's possible to put a tiny powerful projector into a phone, doing so involves trade-offs.

The grain-size speck of glass, a lens from Japanese component maker Alps Electric, transmits more light than previous lenses, which means fewer trade-offs. A projector using the lens requires less power to put out a given amount of light. When component makers address efficiency like this, watch for more phone makers to take the plunge.… Read more

Stanford researchers invent transparent li ion battery

Like the idea of a fully transparent cell phone, e-reader, or other device?

Stanford University graduate student Yuan Yang has come up with a way to make a see-through lithium ion battery, and it could pave the way for completely see-through flexible electronics (some partially transparent gadgets already exist). Developed in conjunction with Yi Cui, a professor of photon science at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the battery would cost nearly the same as a regular battery if produced on a mass scale, the creators say.

So how does one make a see-through power source? According to Stanford News, "Yang and Cui devised a mesh-like framework for the battery electrodes, with each 'line' in the grid being approximately 35 microns wide. Light passes through the transparent gaps between the gridlines; because the individual lines are so thin, the entire meshwork area appears transparent." … Read more

Ship to carry 2,000 cars, cut CO2 emissions by 40%

Japanese shipping giant Kawasaki Kisen is building a next-generation car carrier that will run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) instead of fuel oil, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent.

The carrier is set to be about 156 yards long, with a capacity of 5,000 tons, capable of carrying up to about 2,000 cars. Kawasaki Heavy Industries will supply the gas engines, and its nitrogen oxide emissions profile will be up to 90 percent lower than those of vessels using conventional diesel engines.

Kawasaki Kisen, whose K Line containers are a common sight in ports, made the plan … Read more

Robo-vac, bouncing blender in design finals

Even if you're not into home appliances, Electrolux's Design Lab 2011 competition is something worth watching, not least because a neat robot vacuum made it to the finals.

After a field of 25 semi-finalists was announced last month, the judges recently narrowed the hopefuls to eight crushworthy concepts.

One is the Robo TAP Cleaner by Gyu-Ha Choi of Handong Global University in South Korea. This design improves upon automatic vacuums like Roomba by giving users more hands-on (well, make that feet-on) control.

Robo TAP makes use of an indoor positioning system as it follows its own route to vacuum household floors. But when you want it to pay attention to a particularly dirty spot, you just tap your foot twice to summon it. … Read more

Imogen Heap controls music with 'magic gloves'

Grammy Award winner Imogen Heap has a firm grasp on her music. In fact, she's able to perform it with little more than her own hands and one awesome set of gloves.

At a TEDGlobal 2011 event in Edinburgh, Scotland, Heap debuted the "magical musical gloves," which allow her to control music through gestures, in a four-minute performance. The system is connected wirelessly to a laptop that does the actual audio processing.

"The gloves comprise a high-tech musical instrument that enables artists to manipulate multilayered recordings of vocals, acoustic, and virtual instruments live on-stage," says Tom Mitchell of the University of the West of England, who developed the gloves with Heap in mind. "It takes improvisation to a new level and frees the artist from interactions with electronic equipment on-stage."… Read more

MIT demos flexible solar panels printed on paper

MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on paper and other cheap materials, opening a range of possibilities including homes with solar-panel window shades or wallpaper.

Last year, CNET's Martin LaMonica reported on how MIT had developed the world's first solar panel printed on paper. A recent MIT study in the journal Advanced Materials by Karen Gleason and colleagues details the innovation.

The paper photovoltaic arrays are created through an oxidative chemical vapor deposition process at temperatures less than 120 degrees Celsius.

Ordinary uncoated paper, cloth, or plastic can be used. The researchers printed solar cells on a layer of PET plastic, folded it 1,000 times, and found it would still work.

Multiple layers and a paper mask are used to print the cells in a vacuum chamber. MIT says the procedure is nearly as cheap and easy as inkjet printing. … Read more

New software can boost battery life for Wi-Fi devices

A new program developed by a Duke University grad student promises to double the battery life of cell phones and other mobile devices by tweaking how they tap into Wi-Fi networks.

As described by its creator Justin Manweiler in a Duke Today story, downloading videos and other hefty content via Wi-Fi can cause a huge drain on the battery of a mobile device. This drain can be especially severe in crowded cities and other locations where multiple devices have to battle for available bandwidth.

So in an example cited by the story, downloading a movie in midtown Manhattan chews up … Read more

Prius Project concept bike lets you shift by thinking

Powering uphill on your bicycle often comes down to mind over matter. What if, in addition to controlling your protesting thigh muscles, your mind was master of your bike's gear shifter?

That idea is being made flesh in the form of a high-performance concept bicycle that sports a thought-controlled interface.

Electrodes in the rider's helmet pick up neuro-electrical activity. Signals from the helmet are transmitted to an electronic gear shifter mounted under the seat. With training, a person can learn to shift up or shift down simply by thinking it.

Gives "Look Ma, no hands!" new meaning.… Read more

Tooling around San Francisco's TechShop

The maker culture can seem exclusive sometimes, but TechShop is helping to bring the underground community to the mainstream, offering classes and monthly memberships to the general public.

In late June, a fourth TechShop location opened in San Jose, Calif., but it's still building up its own storied history. To see what a TechShop is like after it builds its network of makers, CNET toured the 15,000 square-foot San Francisco location, which opened its doors earlier this year.

During our visit, people where taking prototyping into their own hands. An eclectic bunch of members--including policemen, entrepreneurs, and fashionistas--all … Read more