The individual fibers are composed of two rolled-up semiconducting glass layers, coated in an insulator. When light interacts with the semiconductor, the current changes through the fibers, thus providing a way of measuring how much light is hitting the fabric.

The resulting data can be run through a computer to create a "photograph" of whatever is near the fabric. The color of the light can be determined by comparing one semiconductor sheet's data with the other.

All of that data eventually becomes a full scale photo of the fabric's surroundings. The researchers tested their fabric camera, too, reporting their results in Nano Letters. The material could take a photo of an 800 micron smiley face.

Further development could lead to larger fabric samples, or even military uniforms that can record what's happening all around a soldier. The possible applications of this are pretty amazing.

Flexible fabric that takes 'takes pictures' [via PhysicsWorld]
Paper, "Exploiting Collective Effects of Multiple Optoelectronic Devices Integrated in a Single Fiber" [Nano Letters]

The Standoff Patient Triage Tool (SPTT), developed by the Science and Technology Directorate in the Department of Homeland Security, uses lasers that can chart vibrations in the human skull and chest and then calculate a patient's pulse, body temperature and respiration from that data. Similar technology has already been applied to airplanes, acoustic speakers, and landmine detectors.

Although the device could theoretically be used in any setting, it is at disaster sites that its developers see the biggest application. The triage process, in which emergency responders assess the severity of patients' injuries and prioritizes who needs care first, can take three to five minutes per person using current methods. The SPTT, on the other hand, could do the job in only thirty seconds per person. That amount of time saved could make a huge difference in life-or-death situations.

Greg Price, the director of S&T's Tech Solutions office, which is handling the project, also pointed to a more subtle advantage of the SPTT:

"Human nature is to pay attention to the person who is screaming and bleeding, but someone else with a less obvious internal injury may need to be the first priority. In the case of large-scale triage, it is not always the squeaky wheel that needs the grease. The SPTT may someday help first responders hear a lot more from their patients, and much more quickly."

From an engineering standpoint, the ultimate goal is to make a device that's roughly the size of a legal notebook. To do that would require making strides in stabilization technology, as an SPTT that small would too easily be affected by the paramedic's own shaking hands. Developers will continue working on this as they begin field tests for the current model in the fall of this year.

And, though the medical community is largely excited by the potential of the SPTT, it still has fundamental shortcomings. The device still can't measure blood pressure or oxygen saturation, two other vital signs key to the triage process.

Despite the device's current drawbacks, I think we can safely say that, like the communicator before it, the tricorder has officially crossed over from Star Trek into real life. Now if only scientists could get to work on that transparent aluminum I keep hearing such good things about.

[Scientific American's 60-Second Science]

Rattner reassured the audience that it would be perfectly safe. According to Yahoo! News:

"It turns out the human body is not affected by magnetic fields; it is affected by electric fields. So what we are doing is transmitting energy using the magnetic field not the electric field."

Examples of potential applications include airports, offices or other buildings that could be rigged to supply power to laptops, mobile telephones or other devices toted into them . . .

"Initially it eliminates chargers and eventually it eliminates batteries all together," analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said of Intel's wireless power system. "That is potentially a world changing event. This is the closest we've had to something being commercially available in this class."

Previous wireless power systems consisted basically of firing lightning bolts from sending to receiving units.

Wait, what? OK first of all, I totally want my lightning bold sender/receiver. But how does this shit really work? Thankfully, John Markoff of the New York Times has the story:

The research project, which is being led by Joshua R. Smith, an Intel researcher at a company laboratory in Seattle, builds on the work of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Marin Soljacic, who pioneered the idea of wirelessly transmitting power using resonant magnetic fields. The MIT group refers to the idea as WiTricity, a play on wireless and electricity. Both the M.I.T. group and the Intel researchers are exploring a phenomenon known as “resonant induction,” making it possible to transmit power several feet without wires.

Induction is already used to recharge electric toothbrushes, but that approach is limited by the need for the toothbrush to be placed in the base station.

Currently, Intel can transmit 60 watts for 2-3 feet. I still think the lightning option might be better. Especially when it's being used to charge up my brain implant.

Intel Cuts Electric Cords [Yahoo! News]

Intel Moves to Free Gadgets of their Cords [NY Times]

1. Humans are not designed to fly. Until you gene-mod a nice aerofoil onto your back, you are never going to soar like a bird. Nothing about the way you are shaped creates lift. That means the jet pack has to provide all the lift via thrust.
2. Thrust burns a lot of fuel. All that lifting power comes at a price, and we're not talking $4 per gallon (it's actually a lot more expensive than that). You can only fly as far as your fuel will take you, which today is about a 30 second flight. No problem, just carry more fuel, right? To get any kind of practical flight time, you need a massive fuel tank on your back. The extra fuel weight requires more thrust, which burns more fuel. It's a vicious cycle made worse by the fact that most "jet packs" are actually rocket packs. They need to carry their own chemical oxidizer along with the fuel.
3. Danger! Jet and rocket packs are notoriously unstable flight platforms. They're really hard to fly. Then there's the altitude problem. With a 30-second flight, you're not going to get high enough for a parachute or any other safety system to do any good. If the engine cuts out or you lose control, you're probably going to create a small crater.
4. Rockets and jets are really, really loud. You're not going to sneak up on anyone with your jet pack, so military uses are mostly out. In fact, you can forget using one anywhere near other people.
5. Inefficiency. There's really no point in flying one person around. Pretty much any practical use you can come up with for a jet pack can be done with a lower tech, cheaper and more efficient solution. This is the main reason the other problems haven't been overcome by awesome engineers yet — beyond looking cool and flying around, we don't really need jet packs.

That said, there are companies still working on this stuff. Many of them seem to be moving in the direction of jet propulsion instead of the old rocket belt technology, which could offer longer flight times. I think Swiss engineer Yves Rossy (pictured) has the right idea. He combined jet engines with a lightweight wing and can use it to do aerobatic maneuvers. You can read more about the history and development of jet packs over at HowStuffWorks.com. Image by: Getty Images.

Professor Subrata Roy started working on his "wingless electromagnetic air vehicle" (WEAV) for NASA. The surface of the saucer-shaped craft will be covered with electrodes that, when powered by a battery or other power source, will ionize the surrounding air to create plasma. When charged with an electric current, the polarized plasma will repel the non-polarized air, creating lift and thrust. Such an aircraft would have very stable flight characteristics, with the pilot controlling it by diverting the electrical charge to different parts of the surface. Professor Roy thinks it could be scaled up to useful dimensions (his prototype will be about six inches across).

I'd check out the professor's work while you still can. He's scheduled for a visit from a couple of guys in black suits tomorrow, after which his research will be republished in a heavily redacted form. Image by: Scientific American.

The World's First Flying Saucer: Made Right Here on Earth. [Scientific American]

According to a release from Oregon State University, where some of the research took place:

While using fluorescence to illuminate organic material has been done for decades, light sources were too large and unwieldy to use for a robotic mission to another planet, said [researcher Michael] Storrie-Lombardi. However, new generations of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are very small, reliable and energy efficient, he added.

"Placed on a Mars rover, one of these LEDs positioned a few centimeters from a target can easily provide enough light to produce fluorescence in small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons," Storrie-Lombardi said. "But even more encouraging is the very recent development of a small 375 nanometer laser diode that can illuminate anything a PanCam can see, including geological layers and crevices high up on an otherwise inaccessible rock outcrop."

Added [U.K. scientist Jan-Peter] Muller: "This laser is now undergoing rigorous tests in the laboratory under Mars-like conditions prior to showing that it is flight-ready, even at this late stage, to be seriously considered to be launched in only five years' time."

The instrument appears to be "an ideal initial survey tool," Storrie-Lombardi pointed out.

"It requires no sample preparation, does not destroy sample material and requires only electrical power to operate, conserving precious water and other consumable resources for sister instruments," he said.

I'm waiting for a USB version of the device to attach to my laptop or mobile. You never know where you might need to scan for lifeforms.

Laser fluorescence could find life on Mars [via Eurekalert]

RadBall was developed by Dr. Steven Stanley at Nexia Solutions. It is designed to be used in nuclear power plants and nuclear research facilities to detect specific radiation sources in inaccessible or dangerous areas. The green plastic globe is filled with polymer chains, and is placed inside a reusable lead sheath pierced with more than 100 small holes. As radiation passes through the lead, it reacts with the polymer chains and causes them to cross-link. This shows up as a visible markings inside the ball, sort of like a holographic radiation map.

Once the RadBall has been left in place long enough, it can be analyzed by shining a light through it. The lines and shapes inside can be interpreted by software to show a map of radiation sources, including their intensity and type. They will be cheaper than other detailed radiation scanners, claims Dr. Stanley, and they require no power source or prolonged human exposure in the irradiated area. Do not taunt RadBall. Images by: Nexia Solutions & BBC News.

On the ball. [The engineer online]

The new USB fleshlight is basically an input device that can translate your onanistic thrusts into movements of the mouse. Theoretically it could be used to translate thrusts into other things too, like shooting in a game or moving around in a virtual space. You'd just have to write the controllers to do that.

However, the beauty part of using the fleshlight as a mouse is that the setup is plug-and-play. Plug the old fleshlight in, start thrusting, and you're moving the mouse.

The question is, why the hell is anybody marketing these things? Apparently they come with some kind of awful videogame that is mostly hand-controlled but later switches to thrust control. The game involves you trying to seduce a nurse, and Machulis sums it up nicely:

You have to sit there hitting the "hand presents" or "take medicine" button for 10 minutes. Then she takes off her shirt. Then you have to fondle her by clicking for at least 15 minutes. Notice the problems here?

"Hitting". "Clicking".

All you can do with the fleshlight is move the mouse. You can't click shit. So, you've gotta spend ~20 minutes doing things with your regular mouse before you can do anything with the fleshlight. And you sure as shit ain't gonna have both the mouse and the fleshlight going at once, unless you want to know what it's like to have your penis actively fighting your hand.

Due to popular demand, I actually included pictures of the action scenes. And yes, it really took me about 10-15 minutes to get to this point. My hand hurts. And not in the fun way. And, of course, once you do get the payoff, you find out that the male character (i.e. you) looks like a radiation experiment gone awry. Bugged out eyes, missing half his chest hair...

The fun in this device, however, is going to be all the hacks you could do on it. Think about it: now you have the first-ever cock controller! You could buy stocks . . . with your cock! Read a blog . . . with your boner!

Continues Machulis:

Assuming I can figure out a nice, cross platform way to unfuck the HID shit, expect to see libinteractivefl on sourceforge sometime soon, 'cause you know handing out headshots with this thing in an online shooter would be beyond awesome.

TMI About the Interactive Fleshlight [Slashdong]

Belcher told a rapt audience at the AAAS conference over the weekend about how she could create a liquid full of these altered viruses, dip a thin sheet of plastic into it, add a few more ingredients, and wind up with a translucent, ultra-thin battery. After working on this project for just over a year, her team got the battery to power an LED, and now they're scaling up to something that could power your next laptop or cell phone.

"Let's see what we can get biology to do for us," she said. "It's just a matter of giving biology new opportunities, new materials to work with." One audience member asked if Belcher is concerned about the viruses mutating and perhaps replicating on their own. Not possible, responded Belcher. The only mutations she's seen so far have been viruses reverting back to their old state (ie, making regular virus shells instead of battery components), and viruses making depolarized battery components.

So we won't be seeing a plague that turns your lithium ion batteries into piles of virus any time soon.

Biomolecular Materials Group [Angela Belcher's Lab]