According to the scientists at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) , they are working on creating the smallest high-performance and low-power sensor in the world. The sensor is made in silicon and it will be used in the fields of biosensing (the development of devices able to identify, record or transmit physiological information, especially information regarding the presence of chemical compounds) and environmental monitoring. Together with his colleagues, Pr. Hiroshi Mizuta is working on a 3-year project, which will allow the production of world's smallest sensors. The project is funded by the European FP-7 and it is entitled NEMSIC, which stands for nano electro mechanical system integrated circuits.
The Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7) is the central tool of the European Union for funding research throughout the period between 2007 and 2013. FP7 supports RD activities that cover nearly all scientific fields.
Besides being the smallest in the world, the sensor will also feature high sensitivity and will consume very little power. Such advantages are going to be achieved through co-integration (on a universal silicon technology) of transistors with a single electron and nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS).
"Power consumption is a big issue at the moment as devices use current whether they are switched off and on. The single-electron transistor combined with the NEM device technology reduces power consumption at both ON and OFF states of the sensor. Stand-by power is reduced to zero by having a complete sleep with the NEM switch when it is off," said Pr. Mizuta.
The professor and his team will create a single-electron transistor, which will include a unique suspended silicon nanobridge. The work of the nanobridge will resemble the work of a very sensitive detector for organic and chemical molecules.
"This is the first time that anyone has combined these two nanotechnologies to develop a smart sensor. The traditional CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) approach has many limitations so we needed to find a new approach," said Pr. Mizuta.
After the opening of the new ECS Mountbatten building, scientists will be able to get a new electron beam lithography machine. The latter will help in making sensing devices to the nanoscale. "This sensor will be the smallest and use less power than any other on the market. The fact that it will be at the nanoscale means that it will be able to detect either single-charge transfer and/or change in masses caused by a small amount of chemical and biological molecules electrically."
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Latest Invention: Washing Machine That Doesn't Need Water
British company Xeros looks forward to conquer the American market with its latest invention, a new washing system able to save a lot of water using nylon beads. The beads tumble wash clothes using 90 percent less water than traditional washers.
In addition, the company's latest invention, which is currently in the development stage, requires less detergent. Xeros claims that there would be no need for tumble drying and if the homes in the United States would switch to the new system, the emissions of carbon dioxide would be considerably reduced. The result would be as though 5 million vehicles have been removed from the road. The company also says that the new washing machine will save 1.2 billion tons of water each year, which equals 17 million swimming pools.
The washing machines does its job using small nylon beads that eliminate stains off clothes and lock them into the molecular structure of the nylon. The beads can be used for hundreds of washes and afterwards they can be easily recycled. The technology behind the new washing machine is the result of a research carried out at the University of Leeds. It has been used in a concept washing machine by the Cambridge Consultants.
After carrying out tests for over three years, Xeros, a spinout from the University, managed to achieve an agreement with Kansas City-based GreenEarth Cleaning, which intends to market Xeros' latest invention across North American continent in 2010.
In addition, the company's latest invention, which is currently in the development stage, requires less detergent. Xeros claims that there would be no need for tumble drying and if the homes in the United States would switch to the new system, the emissions of carbon dioxide would be considerably reduced. The result would be as though 5 million vehicles have been removed from the road. The company also says that the new washing machine will save 1.2 billion tons of water each year, which equals 17 million swimming pools.
The washing machines does its job using small nylon beads that eliminate stains off clothes and lock them into the molecular structure of the nylon. The beads can be used for hundreds of washes and afterwards they can be easily recycled. The technology behind the new washing machine is the result of a research carried out at the University of Leeds. It has been used in a concept washing machine by the Cambridge Consultants.
After carrying out tests for over three years, Xeros, a spinout from the University, managed to achieve an agreement with Kansas City-based GreenEarth Cleaning, which intends to market Xeros' latest invention across North American continent in 2010.
The Most Dangerous Computer Viruses in History
Computer Virus......
have a relatively short history, but the damages caused by some of them pushed cyber-experts to opening a new chapter on computer viruses. Some viruses led to serious damages and affected a large number of companies, universities and even governments.
Here are some of the most dangerous computer viruses in history:
Jerusalem - 1987
This is one of the first MS-DOS viruses in history that caused enormous destructions, affecting many countries, universities and companies worldwide. On Friday 13, 1988 the computer virus managed to infect a number of institutions in Europe, America and the Middle East. The name was given to the virus after one of the first places that got "acquainted" with it - the Jerusalem University.
Along with a number of other computer viruses, including "Cascade", "Stoned" and "Vienna" the Jerusalem virus managed to infect thousands of computers and still remain unnoticed. Back then the anti-virus programs were not as advanced as they are today and a lot of users had little knowledge of the existence of computer viruses.
Morris (a.k.a. Internet Worm) - November 1988
This computer virus infected over 6,000 computer systems in the United States, including the famous NASA research Institute, which for some time remained completely paralyzed. Due to erratic code, the worm managed to send millions of copies of itself to different network computers, being able to entirely paralyze all network resources. The damages caused by the Morris computer virus were estimated at $96 millions.
To be able to spread, the computer virus used errors in such operating systems as Unix for VAX and Sun Microsystems. The virus could also pick user passwords.
Solar Sunrise - 1998
A decade later the situation didn't change, in fact it even got worse. Using a computer virus, hackers, in 1998, penetrated and took control of over 500 computer systems that belonged to the army, government and private sector of the United States. The whole situation was dubbed Solar Sunrise after the popular vulnerabilities in computers that run on the operating system called Sun Solaris. Initially it was believed that the attacks were planed by the operatives in Iraq. It was later revealed that the incidents represented the work of two American teenagers from California. After the attacks, the Defense Department took drastic actions to prevent future incidents of this kind.
Melissa - 1999
For the first time computers got acknowledged with Melissa computer virus on March 26, 1999, when the virus shut down the Internet mail system, which got blocked with e-mails infected by the worm. It is worth mentioning that at first Melissa was not meant to cause any harm, but after overloading the servers, it led to serious problems. For the first time it spread in the Usenet discussion group alt.sex. Melissa was hidden within a file called "List.DiC", which featured passwords that served as keys to unlocking 80 pornographic websites. The original form of the virus was sent through e-mail to different users.
Melissa computer virus was developed by David L. Smith in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. Its name comes from a lap dancer that the programmer got acknowledged with while in Florida. After being caught, the creator of the virus was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000. The arrest was made by a team of representatives from FBI, New Jersey State Police and Monmouth Internet.
Melissa had the ability to multiply on Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000, as well as on Microsoft Excel 97, 2000 and 2003. In addition, the virus had the ability to mass-mail itself from Microsoft Outlook 97 and Outlook 98.
I Love You - May 2000
Using a similar method as the Melissa, the computer virus dubbed "I Love You" managed to infect millions of computers around the world overnight. Just like Melissa this computer virus sent passwords and usernames, which were stored on the attacked computers, back to the developer of the virus. After authorities traced the virus they found that a young Filipino student was behind the attack. The young man was released due to the fact that the Philippines did not have any law that would prevent hacking and spreading malware. This situation served as one of the premises for creating the European Union's global Cybercrime Treaty.
The Code Red worm - July 2001
This 21st century computer virus managed to penetrate tens of thousands of systems that ran Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 server software. The damages caused by the Code Red computer virus were estimated at $2 billion. Core Red was developed to use the power of all computers it infected against the official website of the White House at a predetermined date. In collaboration with different virus hunters and tech firms, the White House managed to decipher the code of the Code Red virus and stop traffic as the malware started its attacks.
Nimda - 2001
Shortly after the September 11 tragedy this computer virus infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Nimda was considered to be one of the most complicated viruses, having 5 different methods of infecting computers systems and being able to duplicate itself.
Downadup - 2009
The latest and most dangerous virus is the "downadup" worm, which was also called "Conficker". The computer security company F-Secure stated that the computer virus has infected 3.5 million computers worldwide. This malicious program was able to spread using a patched Windows flaw. Downadup was so "successful" in spreading across the Web, because it used a flaw that Microsoft patched in October in order to distantly compromise computers that ran unpatched versions of Microsoft's operating system. But the greatest power of the worm is believed to be the ability of computers, infected with the worm, to download destructive code from a random drop point. F-Secure stated that three of the most affected countries were China, Brazil and Russia.
have a relatively short history, but the damages caused by some of them pushed cyber-experts to opening a new chapter on computer viruses. Some viruses led to serious damages and affected a large number of companies, universities and even governments.
Here are some of the most dangerous computer viruses in history:
Jerusalem - 1987
This is one of the first MS-DOS viruses in history that caused enormous destructions, affecting many countries, universities and companies worldwide. On Friday 13, 1988 the computer virus managed to infect a number of institutions in Europe, America and the Middle East. The name was given to the virus after one of the first places that got "acquainted" with it - the Jerusalem University.
Along with a number of other computer viruses, including "Cascade", "Stoned" and "Vienna" the Jerusalem virus managed to infect thousands of computers and still remain unnoticed. Back then the anti-virus programs were not as advanced as they are today and a lot of users had little knowledge of the existence of computer viruses.
Morris (a.k.a. Internet Worm) - November 1988
This computer virus infected over 6,000 computer systems in the United States, including the famous NASA research Institute, which for some time remained completely paralyzed. Due to erratic code, the worm managed to send millions of copies of itself to different network computers, being able to entirely paralyze all network resources. The damages caused by the Morris computer virus were estimated at $96 millions.
To be able to spread, the computer virus used errors in such operating systems as Unix for VAX and Sun Microsystems. The virus could also pick user passwords.
Solar Sunrise - 1998
A decade later the situation didn't change, in fact it even got worse. Using a computer virus, hackers, in 1998, penetrated and took control of over 500 computer systems that belonged to the army, government and private sector of the United States. The whole situation was dubbed Solar Sunrise after the popular vulnerabilities in computers that run on the operating system called Sun Solaris. Initially it was believed that the attacks were planed by the operatives in Iraq. It was later revealed that the incidents represented the work of two American teenagers from California. After the attacks, the Defense Department took drastic actions to prevent future incidents of this kind.
Melissa - 1999
For the first time computers got acknowledged with Melissa computer virus on March 26, 1999, when the virus shut down the Internet mail system, which got blocked with e-mails infected by the worm. It is worth mentioning that at first Melissa was not meant to cause any harm, but after overloading the servers, it led to serious problems. For the first time it spread in the Usenet discussion group alt.sex. Melissa was hidden within a file called "List.DiC", which featured passwords that served as keys to unlocking 80 pornographic websites. The original form of the virus was sent through e-mail to different users.
Melissa computer virus was developed by David L. Smith in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. Its name comes from a lap dancer that the programmer got acknowledged with while in Florida. After being caught, the creator of the virus was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000. The arrest was made by a team of representatives from FBI, New Jersey State Police and Monmouth Internet.
Melissa had the ability to multiply on Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000, as well as on Microsoft Excel 97, 2000 and 2003. In addition, the virus had the ability to mass-mail itself from Microsoft Outlook 97 and Outlook 98.
I Love You - May 2000
Using a similar method as the Melissa, the computer virus dubbed "I Love You" managed to infect millions of computers around the world overnight. Just like Melissa this computer virus sent passwords and usernames, which were stored on the attacked computers, back to the developer of the virus. After authorities traced the virus they found that a young Filipino student was behind the attack. The young man was released due to the fact that the Philippines did not have any law that would prevent hacking and spreading malware. This situation served as one of the premises for creating the European Union's global Cybercrime Treaty.
The Code Red worm - July 2001
This 21st century computer virus managed to penetrate tens of thousands of systems that ran Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 server software. The damages caused by the Code Red computer virus were estimated at $2 billion. Core Red was developed to use the power of all computers it infected against the official website of the White House at a predetermined date. In collaboration with different virus hunters and tech firms, the White House managed to decipher the code of the Code Red virus and stop traffic as the malware started its attacks.
Nimda - 2001
Shortly after the September 11 tragedy this computer virus infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Nimda was considered to be one of the most complicated viruses, having 5 different methods of infecting computers systems and being able to duplicate itself.
Downadup - 2009
The latest and most dangerous virus is the "downadup" worm, which was also called "Conficker". The computer security company F-Secure stated that the computer virus has infected 3.5 million computers worldwide. This malicious program was able to spread using a patched Windows flaw. Downadup was so "successful" in spreading across the Web, because it used a flaw that Microsoft patched in October in order to distantly compromise computers that ran unpatched versions of Microsoft's operating system. But the greatest power of the worm is believed to be the ability of computers, infected with the worm, to download destructive code from a random drop point. F-Secure stated that three of the most affected countries were China, Brazil and Russia.
Latest Invention: The Smallest Laser in the World Created by US Researchers
The latest invention of American researchers is the laser that claims to be the smallest in the world. They managed to develop the laser by squeezing light into a space that is even tinier than a protein molecule. Their latest invention could be a significant breakthrough in the field of optical technology, making one step closer to nanolasers, which can be used to investigate and manipulate DNA. In addition, the laser can lead to the creation of super-fast computers and improved telecommunications.
The team of researchers was led by Professor Xiang Zhang. He mentioned that the plasmon laser constricts light into a gap that is only 5nm wide. An important step was the ability to detain light in a small space for a specific period of time required for light to stabilize into a "coherent" laser state, having all of its waves synchronized.
It is worth mentioning that plasmons are in fact wave-like movements of excited electrons on the surfaces of different metals. By connecting light to these oscillations, scientists managed to compress it further than usually, reports The Telegraph. More information on lasers and latest inventions you can find here at www.IfoNIAC.com, please check the links at the bottom of the story.
Professor Zhang, from the University of California at Berkeley said: "Plasmon lasers represent an exciting class of coherent light sources capable of extremely small confinement. This work can bridge the worlds of electronics and optics at truly molecular length scales." Their latest invention was described in the online version of the journal Nature. The scientist who co-authored the research, Dr Thomas Zentgraf, from the University's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centre, stated: "The advantages of optics over electronics are multifold. For example, devices will be more power efficient at the same time they offer increased speed or bandwidth."
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