Built to order - Hearts anyone?
March 31, 2008
University of Minnesota scientists have rebuilt and reanimated a heart. This is a major step in creating “built-to-order” organs that will help countless transplant patients currently waiting for donors.
“Someday, doctors may routinely extract cells from heart failure patients and use them to reseed a new organ from a cadaver-derived ECM. ” — UoM
Read more here
Spyshots - Asus’s Eee PC Desktop
March 29, 2008
HotHardware released these not so official images of the upcoming Asus Eee PC Desktop. Although the picture shows that they have definitely got their styling right, we’re going to wait to see what’s inside before dropping a couple of hundred on this beauty.
“We should caution you that these are not “official” pictures per se. In fact, we can’t really comment on the source of these pics except to say that they are indeed shots of an Asus Eee PC Desktop product that should be arriving to market some time in the next quarter or so.” –HotHardware.com
A Step in the Quantum direction!
March 29, 2008
A small step for making quantum computers a reality has been achieved by researchers in the U.K. This minor but important advancement — The creation of the first logic gate on a silicon chip that can process individual photons.
Individual photons of light show great promise as quantum bits of information (qubits) in a quantum computer because they can travel great distances through optical fibres or even air without losing their quantum nature. One reason for this is that individual photons of light do not normally interact with each other. However, this makes it hard to create devices for processing quantum information such as logic gates, which rely on the interaction of two or more photons.
3-D chip stacks - Future of Computing?
March 23, 2008
Mr. Moore predicted that the number of transistors that fit on a piece of silicon would double almost every two years. However, this axiom will be trumped in 15 years or less. This is due to the increasing difficulty faced when manipulating transistors the size of atoms. So, what direction can our favourtie piece of silicon go?
It looks like IBM has been working on a solution to help. It’s called a 3-D chip stack and it looks promising. Hypothetically, it’s possible to move data 1000X faster than we do now. How? Using TSVs (through-silicon vias) that go through the chip and connect to the next layer directly below it. Currently, chips connect along the outer edges which is slow and limiting.
Keep your eyes peeled — IBM is slated to begin selling this technology soon.
Plen - The Bluetooth controlled Robot
March 16, 2008
Plen is a humanoid robot that can be controlled via Cell Phone or Desktop PC. This little guy is probably more skilled than you! Unfortunately, in order to buy the best toys you must have money in the bank — Now on sale for a measly $2000USD
Check the video below to see some of these skills:
aizen Design