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  Apple CarPlay: Is that all there is for now? July 7, 2014 at 3:36 pm

  Your smartphone already links for music, contacts, and calling. CarPlay adds maps, sort-of texting, and what else?
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  What’s better than a carbon nanotube chip? A transparent and flexible carbon nanotube and IGZO chip! July 7, 2014 at 2:15 pm

  Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have combined two of our favorite materials — carbon nanotubes and IGZO — to create a new hybrid computer chip design that is flexible, transparent, and more energy efficient than conventional silicon chips. Potential applications include flexible OLED displays, circuits, memory, and sensors, eventually leading towards flexible, wearable computers — which, as you may have noticed, appears to be the direction that the computing industry is moving towards.
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  Toyota develops high-efficiency ‘free piston’ no-crankshaft combustion engine… to power an EV July 7, 2014 at 12:09 pm

  A new design for a piston-free linear engine generator has just been released by Toyota. With remarkable efficiency, the device might be scaled up to compete with electric power plants used in cars today.
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  The future of birth control and drug delivery: Remote controlled implants that last for 16 years July 7, 2014 at 11:13 am

  An MIT spin-off in Massachusetts, backed by the Gates Foundation, has developed a small, remote-controlled drug-dispensing implant that sits just under your skin. Such an implant could be used to dispense a whole range of useful drugs — but in this case, one of the first commercial applications will be the contraceptive hormone levonorgestrel. A single implant can apparently provide enough levonorgestrel to be effective for 16 years; currently, no implanted contraceptive works for more than five years.
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  Scientists discover the on-off switch for human consciousness deep within the brain July 7, 2014 at 7:56 am

  Researchers at GWU are reporting that they’ve discovered the human consciousness on-off switch, deep within the brain. When this specific region of the brain, called the claustrum, is electrically stimulated, consciousness appears to turn off completely. When the stimulation is removed, consciousness returns. This could have massive repercussions for people currently in a minimally conscious state (i.e. a coma), and for deciding once and for all which organisms are actually conscious. Are monkeys conscious? Cats and dogs? A fetus?
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  IBM betting carbon nanotubes can restore Moore’s Law by 2020 July 5, 2014 at 9:31 am

  IBM has announced a plan to bring processors based on carbon nanotubes, rather than silicon transistors, to the consumer market by 2020.
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  3D-bioprinted blood vessels are a major step towards man-made tissues and organs July 4, 2014 at 11:05 am

  One of the biggest challenges in building artificial organs is creating the vasculature. A new approach that combines 3D printing with template micromolding suggests that vascularized artificial organs may be within reach.
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  Extreme DIY: Homemade space suits, metal printers, and lifeforms July 4, 2014 at 9:00 am

  The DIY movement has never been more relevant, or more ambitious. These projects aim shockingly high — and they find a lot more success than you might expect.
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  GPU rumor mill: Leaked shots of GTX 880 surface point to 8GB of RAM, while AMD plans August update July 4, 2014 at 7:31 am

  What better way to celebrate the long holiday weekend than with GPU rumors? We round up the news on AMD and Nvidia.
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  A tribute to Cassini: 10 years spent revealing the secrets of Saturn and its moons July 3, 2014 at 3:51 pm

  NASA’s Cassini probe has spent a full decade investigating Saturn and its moons. As the satellite gears up for its Grand Finale, it’s time to look back at a decade of incredible achievement.

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