A Practical Way to Make Invisibility Cloaks

The new printing method makes it possible to make a large sheets of metamaterials, a new class of materials designed to interact with light in ways no natural materials can. For few years, researchers working on these materials have promised invisibility cloaks. Metamaterials that interact with visible light have previously not been made in pieces larger than hundreds of micrometers. Metamaterials are made up of intricately patterned layers, often of metals. Rogers has developed a stamp based printing method for generating large pieces of one of the most promising types of metamaterial, which can make near infrared light bend the "wrong" way when it passes through. Materials with this so called negative index of refraction are particularly promising for making superlenses, night vision invisibility cloaks, and sophisticated waveguides for telecommunications. I think the night vision one so cool. Roger Illinois group starts by molding a hard plastic stamp that's covered with a raised fishnet pattern. The stamp is then placed in an evaporation chamber and coated with a sacrificial layer, followed by alternating layers of the metamaterial ingredients silver and magnesium fluoride to form a layered mesh on the stamp. The stamp is then placed on a sheet of glass or flexible plastic and the sacrificial layer is etched away.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37720/page2/

Lasers made from Human Cells

This laser is made up out of human cells. It consist of genetically modified human liver cells that can produce large amounts of green fluorescent proteins that are scattered throughout the cell. A cell carrying these proteins acts as the "gain medium", the part of the laser that amplifies light energy .Like any laser, the cell laser needs an energy source to increase the power of the light it can use. The researchers pumped the living lasers by pulsing the cells with light through a microscope. As light bounces around inside the cell and is re-emitted by the fluorescent proteins, it's amplified, increasing in power before being emitted in a beam. To keep the light bouncing around as long as possible, to gain as much power as possible, the scientist placed these cells inside a biocompatible optical cavity, a tiny, highly reflective, cell-shaped hole. Scientist also say that one day this can be the back bone of the internet.

Two New Tools for Self-Tracking

There is a new watch out that can track your every day regimen. It can also tell you where you are if you connect to a mobile device via wifi. The company takes a different tack on self-tracking, with cheap, sensor-laden stickers for everything from your toothbrush to the dog's leash. The sensors have an embedded accelerometer, along with an ultralow power wireless transmitter to send data on the object's movement to a central base station.

Talking to the Wall

Microsoft and the University of Washington researchers have learned a new way to use electromagnetic radiation and use it as a computer interface for creating walls touch-sensitive. Electromagnetic radiation is all around the air. This new type of techonology could allow people to control light switches, thermostats, security systems and TV's from anywhere in the house. This works by someone touching a wall with electrical wiring behind it and then he/she become the antenna that creates background radiation depending on the position of their body. After this occurs the gesture could be taken as a command to turn up the volume or something similar to that. Researchers have only discovered that only the body can be used to turn electromagnetic radiation into a signal for gesture-based interface.

Spdy, A faster web

Google has revealed the new web browsing called SPDY instead of the normal http. Google had made this so that the browser communicates differently with the servers making it faster. The SPDY sits between the user and the web and makes the pages load quicker by adjusting the code of the page. They made SPDY because one it would help with cell phones using google and they say that because the page will load quicker, more page views will become available.

A Blood Test for Depression

In san diego doctors have figured out another way to test for depression. they figured out that they can find depression in the blood pressure. The test measures changes in 10 biomarkers in the blood and feeds the results into what is called an algoritht. This then assesses four different body systems to compute the final score. With this they are able to show symptoms of diseases at its earliest possible form witch can lead to getting help before it turns serious in anyway. But with this only about 50% are diagnosed and treated.

Social Search, without a Social Network

"The company added social features that will let your friends help determine what ranks high in the search results you see. The approach requires Google to know the social connections of its users something that so far is not a core feature of the company's products or uppermost in the minds of people using them". Google's new social tool is the +1 button, which it wants you to click to signal which search results and Web pages you appreciate. If you use this tool your life for searching would be easier.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/37241/?mod=chthumb