New Technologies
Behind Coors’ color-changing beer cans
An ink-stained entrepreneur revamps beer labels and CD cases.
As an undergraduate at Cornell University, Lyle Small annoyed his housemates by spending days on end painting their Ping-Pong table in rainbow shades of ink. He brewed chemicals to create inks that changed hue when exposed to light and heat.
“I got obsessed,” says Small, now 41. “I [...]
The Bar Code Is Taking a Leap Forward
Look closely at recent supermarket coupons, and you may see some new markings on them near the traditional bar code: sets of neat black bars stacked in two rows.
The new symbols, called GS1 DataBars, can store more data than traditional bar codes, promising new ways for stores to monitor inventory and for customers to save [...]
Invention allows pregnant women to hold models of their unborn babies
Pregnant women are being given the chance to hold life-size models of their unborn babies, thanks to an invention that converts data from ultrasound and MRI scans.
Jorge Lopes, a Brazilian designer, uses 3-D printing technology to create the plaster models that go on show at an exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London.
Dr [...]
Boy discovers microbe that eats plastic
PhDs have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16 year old finds the answer.
It’s not your average science fair when the 16-year-old winner manages to solve a global waste crisis. But such was the case at last month’s May’s Canadian Science Fair in Waterloo, Ontario, where Daniel Burd, a [...]
Opportunities for Nanomaterials as Conductive Coatings
Recently completed market analysis conducted by NanoMarkets and published in our recent study, “Conductive Coatings Markets: 2009 and Beyond” indicate that by far the fastest growing opportunity in the conductive coatings market at the present time lies in the area of nanomaterials. While negligible in 2009, NanoMarkets expects sales of conductive coatings using nanomaterials to [...]
Inventor to Receive MIT Prize
The Lemelson-MIT program based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology expects to name Chad Mirkin, creator of a range of sensitive diagnostic tests for diseases, as the winner of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, a premier award recognizing invention.
In choosing Mr. Mirkin, a chemistry professor and nanotechnology research director at Northwestern University, the program recognized his [...]
Desertec: World’s Largest Solar Pipeline Charges Ahead
The world’s largest and most ambitious solar power initiative, dubbed “Desertec”, is pushing ahead on July 13 with a meeting of a 20-firm consortium, including companies like Siemens, Deutsche Bank, and E.on. Companies present at the meeting will determine the next step for the German-led project, which will ideally take solar power from North Africa [...]
