3-D Over the Web
Data CompressionThe ability to quickly and reliably transmit 3-D images over the Internet could make everything from shopping for real estate to playing video games a lot more “real.” Imagine clothing...
View ArticleWhere in the World?
A new scheme unites the Internet with geography.The Web can be a world unto itself, but there are many times when it would be nice if you could understand its correspondence to actual geography. Say...
View ArticleDrug Delivery with Muscle
Artificial muscles release medications with precisionPills and injections serve us well, but for a patient with a chronic illness like diabetes or heart disease, they are less than perfect. Dosages...
View ArticleBiochips Go Big Time
Biotech: Microelectronic and communications firms turn to life sciences.In the last few years, the biotech industry has set out to establish its own version of Moore’s Law, shrinking the tools of the...
View ArticleSeed Spat
AG BiotechOver the past two decades, genetically modified plants have graduated from laboratory curiosities to crops planted on millions of hectares. But while major seed firms have struggled with...
View ArticleCalling All PCs
Biotech: Home computers help to find a cure for disease.You leave your computer hooked up to the Internet to go make a sandwich, and in your absence your computer engages in a bit of cancer research....
View ArticleGrowth Industry
Tissue engineering promises to repair and even replace damaged body parts.Tissue engineering is the art of taking a sample of cells and “growing” them under the right conditions to form tissue-even...
View ArticleThe Programmable Pill
Drugs of the near future will be microdevices that search out and destroy germs without the side effects of conventional therapies.The patient leans back in his chair and closes his eyes, waiting to...
View ArticleTotal Recall
MaterialsShape memory plastics are about as close as materials scientists get to doing magic. Bend and twist them all you want, but at the right temperature they’ll bounce back to their original...
View ArticleNew Markets for Biotech
AG Biotech: Developing countries turn to genetically modified crops.Much of the push to commercialize the first generation of genetically engineered crops has come from large companies in the United...
View ArticleAttractive Shapes
Materials: Magnetically controlled metal could yield better machine parts.Materials scientists have long played with “shape memory alloys,” metals that shift between one shape and another when heated...
View ArticleHandy Rules
Wireless: New standards could ease access to the wireless Web.ry accessing the wireless Web with your cell phone, pager or handheld computer and you’ll quickly realize the technology does not live up...
View ArticlePicoPeta Simputers
A simple handheld to bridge India’s digital divide.Vijay Chandru places his pocketbook-sized computer gently on the table. The computer scientist from the Indian Institute of Science believes this gray...
View ArticleSphere Software
Keeping workplace information safe.As companies from banks to butchers’ shops become dependent on their computer databases-and increasingly vulnerable to hackers and overly curious employees-the...
View ArticleLithography Unmasked
Hardware: Researchers pursue a cheaper way of designing and fabricating computer chips.As consumers come to expect that everything from cell phones to stuffed animals will pack significant computing...
View ArticleElectronic Medical Records
Medicine: New rules mean doctors must go digital.Doctors hear it all the time: if they kept patients’ files on computers instead of on paper, it would save time and money-and patients would get better...
View ArticleNew Hubs for Nano
NanotechNanotechnology got a big boost last year when the federal government launched its National Nanotechnology Initiative, which will provide almost $520 million in funding in fiscal year 2002. As...
View ArticleScrutinizing Human Research
MedicineNew medical treatments can be lifesaving-if they work. But for a volunteer in the experiments necessary to evaluate those hoped-for cures, the new treatments can be risky, even deadly. In the...
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Recognizing the Enemy
Creating a central database of photos to identify terrorists through face recognition is a bureaucratic nightmare.Of all the dramatic images to emerge in the hours and days following the September 11...
View ArticleBar-Coding Life
Biotech: Tiny tags to decode disease. Bar codes have revolutionized how everyone from warehouse managers to pharmacists keeps track of items. Mountain View, CA-based SurroMed is using them to help...
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