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    Category Technology/Electronics

    Wireless System can Power Devices inside the Body

    June 7, 2018, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    MIT researchers have developed technology that could be used to remotely trigger “smart pills” to deliver drugs.

    MIT researchers have developed technology that could be used to remotely trigger “smart pills” to deliver drugs.

    New technology could enable remote control of drug delivery, sensing, and other medical applications. MIT researchers, working with scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have developed a new way to power and communicate with devices implanted deep within the human body. Such devices could be used to deliver drugs, monitor conditions inside the body, or treat disease by stimulating the brain with electricity or light.

    The implants are powered by radio frequency waves, which can safely pass through human tissues. In tests in animals, the researchers showed that the waves can power devices located 10 centimeters deep in tissue, from a distance of 1 meter.

    “Even though t...

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    Transferring Quantum Information using Sound

    June 7, 2018, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Microwaves can influence the 'quantum switches' in a narrow diamond rod, which can be linked by vibrations. Credit: TU Wien

    Microwaves can influence the ‘quantum switches’ in a narrow diamond rod, which can be linked by vibrations. Credit: TU Wien

    How can quantum information be transferred from one atom to another? Quantum physics is on the brink of a technological breakthrough: new types of sensors, secure data transmission methods and maybe even computers could be made possible thanks to quantum technologies. However, the main obstacle here is finding the right way to couple and precisely control a sufficient number of quantum systems (for example, individual atoms).

    A team of researchers from TU Wien and Harvard University has found a new way to transfer the necessary quantum information. They propose using tiny mechanical vibrations...

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    Findings could spur Energy-Saving Electronics, Quantum Computing

    June 5, 2018, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    An exotic magnetic insulator conducts electricity along its edges without energy loss. The M stands for magnetization of the magnet, and this GIF shows the magnetization reversal process (red to blue and vice versa). Image: Wenbo Wang/Rutgers University-New Brunswick

    An exotic magnetic insulator conducts electricity along its edges without energy loss. The M stands for magnetization of the magnet, and this GIF shows the magnetization reversal process (red to blue and vice versa). Image: Wenbo Wang/Rutgers University-New Brunswick

     
    A Rutgers-led team of physicists has demonstrated a way to conduct electricity between transistors without energy loss, opening the door to low-power electronics and, potentially, quantum computing that would be far faster than today’s computers. Their findings, which involved using a special mix of materials with magnetic and insulator properties, are published online in Nature Physics.
     
    “This material, although it’s much diluted in terms of magnetic properties, can still behave like a magnet and conducts elec...
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    A Photosynthetic Engine for Artificial Cells

    May 31, 2018, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology

    A membrane (red outer boundary) encapsulates actin (white lines), the protein building blocks of the cytoskeleton and tissues. The actin was polymerized by coupling ATP synthesis with artificial organelles (green dots) inside the membrane. Credit: Image courtesy of the Disease Biophysics Group/Harvard University

    A membrane (red outer boundary) encapsulates actin (white lines), the protein building blocks of the cytoskeleton and tissues. The actin was polymerized by coupling ATP synthesis with artificial organelles (green dots) inside the membrane. Credit: Image courtesy of the Disease Biophysics Group/Harvard University

    Researchers engineered a cell-like structure that harnesses photosynthesis to perform designer reactions. In the quest to build an artificial cell, there are two approaches: The first, reengineers the genomic software of a living cell. The second, focuses on cellular hardware, building simple, cell-like structures from the ground up that mimic the function of living cells...

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