Cool technology.....

[wacki]

Li-Ion batteries with a 1 minute recharge
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_03/pr2901.htm
The company's new battery can recharge 80% of a battery's energy capacity in only one minute, approximately 60 times faster than the typical lithium-ion batteries in wide use today, and combines this fast recharge time with performance-boosting improvements in energy density.


Optical computer chips.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1779951,00.asp
The company claims that its optical modulator for transforming electrons into photons runs at 10-GHz, ten times the speed of an optical modulator Intel Corp. researchers began talking about last year. Beginning in mid-2006, Luxtera hopes to enter production of photonic devices using standard CMOS manufacturing processes.


Not so soon (funding is weak in this area)... but still cool.
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2005/0,4814,98804,00.html

Where will the next big leap come from? Solid-state batteries. We think the next improvement will come from eliminating any liquid from the battery. We think that there are opportunities for looking at multilayer thin-film laminate with no liquid, a polymer as the electrolyte separator. You're looking at something that's similar to a potato chip bag, a polymer web coated with a different layer of chemistry. We can make that by the square mile -- it's not difficult to do. We're talking about a doubling or tripling of the capacity of today's batteries, as opposed to a 20% or 30% improvement.

Artificial eyeballs

http://www.bostonretinalimplant.org/
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/09/demo0904.asp

I think about a dozen normally blind people are seeing with these.

[wacki]

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/05/issue/feature_emerging.asp?p=

Airborne Networks
Quantum Wires
Silicon Photonics
Metabolomics
Magnetic-Resonance Force Microscopy
Universal Memory
Bacterial Factories
Environmatics
Cell-Phone Viruses
Biomechatronics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4357613.stm
Artificial black hole created in a lab.

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=202
http://www.rense.com/general20/transparentalum.htm
Transparent Aluminum
3x stronger then steel.

Yes, like the kind from star trek.

[mmbt0ne]

Cool information, as usual.

Next time, maybe put the links in the URL code though, because the commas seem to mess up 2+2's autoformatting. I'm lazy enough to complain about copy/pasting links, but willing to write out this explanation for how to fix it. Go figure.

[wacki]

Bendable concrete (http://www.physorg.com/news3985.html)

http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/bending2.jpg


A new type of fiber-reinforced bendable concrete will be used for the first time in Michigan this summer- and University of Michigan scientists hope that their new material will find widespread use across the country.
The new concrete looks like regular concrete, but is 500 times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent lighter in weight. Tiny fibers that comprise about 2 percent of the mixture's volume partly account for its performance. Also, the materials in the concrete itself are designed for maximum flexibility. Because of its long life, the Engineered Cement Composites (ECC) are expected to cost less in the long run, as well.

[wacki]

Nuclear Batteries

http://www.physorg.com/news4081.html

"A battery with a lifespan measured in decades is in development at the University of Rochester, as scientists demonstrate a new fabrication method that in its roughest form is already 10 times more efficient than current nuclear batteries—and has the potential to be nearly 200 times more efficient."

Who says nuclear waste is a bad thing?

Bonus:

Picture of transparent aluminum:
http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content/aluminate-glass.jpg

[MortalNuts]

I thought this was pretty neat the first time I read about it: company that makes "audio spotlights." (http://www.holosonics.com/)

Basically, they're able to create a focused sound beam that is only audible to listeners within the beam's path. The technology is in use at a few places -- a couple museums, a display at Disney World (where passengers in a car each get their own audio spotlight, so they can each listen to different stuff), etc. Not earth-shaking or anything, but pretty cool.

Thanks for the other links; neat stuff.

later,

mn

[IndieMatty]

The word is nuculur, nu cu lar. -HJS

[Jazza]

all that's stuff's cool, but i really want that quantum computer made, that would be tits

[Morgan O'Mally]

[ QUOTE ]
Li-Ion batteries with a 1 minute recharge
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_03/pr2901.htm
The company's new battery can recharge 80% of a battery's energy capacity in only one minute, approximately 60 times faster than the typical lithium-ion batteries in wide use today, and combines this fast recharge time with performance-boosting improvements in energy density.


Optical computer chips.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1779951,00.asp
The company claims that its optical modulator for transforming electrons into photons runs at 10-GHz, ten times the speed of an optical modulator Intel Corp. researchers began talking about last year. Beginning in mid-2006, Luxtera hopes to enter production of photonic devices using standard CMOS manufacturing processes.


Not so soon (funding is weak in this area)... but still cool.
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2005/0,4814,98804,00.html

Where will the next big leap come from? Solid-state batteries. We think the next improvement will come from eliminating any liquid from the battery. We think that there are opportunities for looking at multilayer thin-film laminate with no liquid, a polymer as the electrolyte separator. You're looking at something that's similar to a potato chip bag, a polymer web coated with a different layer of chemistry. We can make that by the square mile -- it's not difficult to do. We're talking about a doubling or tripling of the capacity of today's batteries, as opposed to a 20% or 30% improvement.

Artificial eyeballs

http://www.bostonretinalimplant.org/
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/09/demo0904.asp

I think about a dozen normally blind people are seeing with these.

[/ QUOTE ]

My boy is wicked smart!

[EliteNinja]

[ QUOTE ]


Picture of transparent aluminum:
http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content/aluminate-glass.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean Alumina (Al2O3)?
That's been around for ages.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]

You mean Alumina (Al2O3)?
That's been around for ages.

[/ QUOTE ]

True, but only in laboratories. The breakthrough is the mass production abilities.

[ThaSaltCracka]

I love this [censored], thanks Wacki.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
I love this [censored], thanks Wacki.

[/ QUOTE ]

no problem.

Here's another:

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/7908

Growing giant gem quality diamonds

To further increase the size of the crystals, the Carnegie researchers grew gem-quality diamonds sequentially on the 6 faces of a substrate diamond plate with the CVD process. By this method, three-dimensional growth of colorless single-crystal diamond in the inch-range (~300 carat) is achievable.....

The standard growth rate is 100 micrometers per hour for the Carnegie process, but growth rates in excess of 300 micrometers per hour have been reached, and 1 millimeter per hour may be possible.

[wacki]

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage2640.html

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2005/05/fuel_cell_runni.html

Blood (glucose) powered fuel cell for medical implants

[Blarg]

People producing black holes here on earth scares me.

[ QUOTE ]
Ten times as many jets were being absorbed by the fireball as were predicted by calculations.

[/ QUOTE ]