"ALGORITHMS: cutting cost of measuring nanoscale images"

Imaging nanoscale objects usually requires expensive electron-beam microscopes since the wavelength of visible light is too long--between 400 and 700 nanometers. Now, features as small as 3 nanometers can be imaged with inexpensive optical microscopes using an algorithm that subtracts the differences between multiple exposures, thereby determining the shape of the object so that the image can be reconstructed. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed the technique, called Through-focus Scanning Optical Microscope (TSOM) imaging. It works by taking multiple out-of-focus images at different focal lengths, then stacking them on top of each other.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212000350

"CHIPS: NIST researchers claim their electronic nose knows"

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) claim its electronic nose can identify hundreds of different chemical compounds using pattern-recognition algorithms that mimic the way animals recognize odors. NIST's electronic nose depends on 16 microheater elements supplying samples to eight different types of sensors, enabling them to detect everything from nerve gas to environmental contaminants. NIST researchers suggested the microheater technology could be used in handheld devices used by first responders and hazardous material teams as well as for industrial processes monitoring and space exploration.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212000236

"MEMS: attack interference with spread-spectrum scheme"

MEMS oscillator maker SiTime Corp. said Monday (Nov. 3) it is expanding into the electromagnetic compliance business with a family of MEMS electromagnetic interference products. SiTime (Sunnyvale, Calif.) said its spread-spectrum clock oscillators are designed as drop-in replacements to bring prototypes into compliance with Federal Communications Commission rules. They also meet most compliance standards for Canada, Europe, Japan and Taiwan. The devices aim to reduce cost and development time.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212000123

"MATERIALS: E-book reaches orbit"

Chinese taikonauts orbiting the Earth last month took with them a five-inch electronic paper display made by Hanwang Technology Co. The crew of the Shenzhou-7 orbital flight took notes, read books and listened to recordings on the e-paper display, called the Hanvon eBook, said Bangjiang Wang, general manager of Hanwang Technology (Beijing). The Hanvon N510 used an electrophoretic display from E-Ink Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.). Based on E-Ink's technology, the notepad-size display measures 11-mm thick, weighs six ounces, provides 15 days of standby power. It can be read at any viewing angle using normal reflected light.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211800510

"OPTICS: Silicon fiber optics debut"

Fiber optics for communications have vastly more bandwidth than standards networks, but cannot be manipulated as easily as electrical signals. By inserting crystalline silicon into the core of conventional optical fibers, Clemson University researchers hope to harness the embedded semiconductors to process optical signals. Applications could include multiplying frequencies and providing access to longer wavelengths not currently available when using conventional glass fibers.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211800117
Audio: http://i.cmpnet.com/eetimes/audio/slideshow/56/1.mp3

"ALGORITHMS: Search engine beats Googling"

Serious research into science and technology has a new tool called illumin8 that harnesses semantic searches, which understand the meaning of queries. Unlike the free Google search engine, which merely matches the words in a query against Web pages containing those keywords, Elsevier's illumin8 uses a thesaurus with a half-million pre-defined technology terms to associate semantics—the meaning of the phrases—with queries.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211800061
Audio: http://i.cmpnet.com/eetimes/audio/slideshow/56/5.mp3

"MATERIALS: Organic wires interface to body"

Linking electronics to medical devices like pacemakers and insulin pumps requires the careful monitoring of foreign metallic and semiconducting materials to ensure the body does not reject them. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Univeristy think they have a better idea about how to do this: use self-assembling organic wires made from naturally occuring proteins.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211600846
Audio: http://i.cmpnet.com/eetimes/audio/slideshow/56/3.mp3

"ROBOTICS: Research seeks to replace service dogs with robots"

Service dogs assist the disabled by fetching medications and opening drawers and doors, but they are expensive--about $16,000 per dog. They also take two years to train and there are not enough service dogs to meet the growing demand. By designing a robot that obeys the same verbal commands as service dogs, Georgia Tech researchers said they are aiming to increase the supply of inexpensive robots to fill the multi-year waiting list for service dogs.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211601091
Audio: http://i.cmpnet.com/eetimes/audio/slideshow/56/4.mp3