Tag Archives: CaliforniaInstituteOfTechnology

The world’s smallest Mona Lisa is made from DNA

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Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting isn't actually that big (30 inches tall), but Caltech researchers have found a way to make that seem downright gargantuan. They've used DNA to construct the smallest known Mona Lisa. At several hundred nanomet...

Molecules in space may show how life formed on Earth

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Scientists have known for a while that the molecular ingredients of life can be found in nearby comets and meteorites, but it's now clear that those building blocks exist much, much further away from home. A research team has used spectral analysis...

Researchers turn standard microscope into billion-pixel imaging beast

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DNP microscopy blah blah blah

A team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology, led by Professor Changhuei Yang, have figured out a way to crank their microscopy up to 11. Usually, scientists are forced between a rock and a hard place: they can have high res images of small areas or low resolution pictures of larger fields. Using a strategy known as Fourier ptychographic microscopy, Yang's team was able to computationally correct a standard microscope's low res imagery, producing a billion-pixel picture. By adding an LED array to an existing microscope -- the only hardware tweak their $200 system calls for -- the researchers were able to stitch together a 20X quality image from a 2X optical lens. The information gleaned from the LED lights was corrected entirely on a computer, making it an exceptionally cost effective way to create high res microscopic images. The team's report, published by the journal Nature Phototonics, can be read in full at the source link below.

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Via: California Institute of Technology

Source: Nature Phototonics

Caltech self-healing chips can recover from laser blasts, save power while healthy

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Caltech selfhealing chips recover from laser destruction, save power in the process

While many scientists have heard the call for self-healing electronics, their previous projects have usually had just a limited capacity to come back from the brink. Caltech has developed an integrated circuit that could take much more of a bruising. Its prototype power amplifier chip has a dedicated circuit and sensors that can change actuators in microseconds if there's damage, re-optimizing the connections on the spot. And the chip can take a lot of that damage -- 76 examples in a penny-sized cluster endured multiple laser strikes in tests (like the one above) while still ticking. The self-healing even helps while everything is in tip-top shape, as it can cut power use by watching for the usual hiccups in load and voltage. So long as Caltech can develop the technology beyond its currently expected niches of communication and imaging, many of our computing devices could eventually take a few bumps and scrapes on the inside, not just their rugged exteriors.

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Source: Caltech

Caltech laser accelerometer research may bring fine-tuned position tracking, grocery ads

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DNP Caltech laser accelerometer research may bring finetuned position tracking, grocery ads

One way that sensors can track your position without using an array of satellites is by measuring your acceleration as you move around -- but unless you're piloting a jumbo jet, current devices aren't very accurate. Researchers at Caltech hope to change all that with a new, ultra-sensitive accelerometer they developed, which uses laser light to detect motion changes. The scientists managed to shrink a so-called large-scale interferometer down to micro-scale sizes, creating a device "thousands of times faster than the most sensitive sensors used today." That could allow a smartphone with such a micro-sensor to detect your exact position even while inside a grocery store, and flash "ads and coupons for hot dog buns" while you're in the bread aisle, according to Caltech. All that sounds good, but we can perhaps think of more inspiring uses for the new tech.

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Caltech laser accelerometer research may bring fine-tuned position tracking, grocery ads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Deezmaker 3D Printer Store opens in Pasadena, will sell you a slice of the future for $600

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Deezmaker 3D Printer Store opens in Pasadena, will sell you a slice of the future for $600

If the MakerBot store in Manhattan is the East coast's vanguard for 3D printer stores, Deezmaker's just-opened store in Pasadena, California is the equivalent pioneer for the West coast crew. As of now, you can walk through the doors at 290 North Hill Avenue and at least see the store's own Bukobot printer in action, even if high demand through Kickstarter pre-orders precludes walk-in sales for the next few weeks. When you can make that impulse purchase, however, you'll find the Bukobot at a relatively cheap $600 and may see some alternatives during your visit. Store owner and Bukobot creator Diego Porqueras stresses to Ars Technica that he wants Deezmaker lasting for the long haul, and he may have chosen just the right area to make that happen -- the shop is a stone's throw from the experimenters (and simply curious) at Caltech, NASA's JPL and Pasadena City College. No matter how it all shakes out, we're hoping that the two near-simultaneous store openings are the start of a larger trend that takes 3D printing into the mainstream.

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Deezmaker 3D Printer Store opens in Pasadena, will sell you a slice of the future for $600 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 05:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fake jellyfish made from rat cells have a place in our hearts (video)

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Fake jellyfish made from rat cells have a place in our hearts (video)

There's a whole sea of jellyfish out there ready to sting indiscriminately. So, why do we keep trying to make them? Scientists from Harvard and Caltech have a pretty good reason for creating fake jellies -- they hope to mend broken hearts by adapting their 'pumping' style of movement. Much like our own vital organ, the creatures are a mass of muscle adept at shifting fluid, meaning the research has several medical applications, such as bioengineered pacemakers for busted tickers. In creating the Medusoids, the team used a silicon scaffold coated in functional rat cardiac tissue, copying the muscle layout of a real jellyfish as best they could. When immersed in salt water and treated to bursts of current, the cells contract and cause the silicon sheet to move in a way eerily similar to the real thing. Next step for the team? An autonomous version that can move and potentially feed without their influence, of course. And, after seeing the little swimmers in action, we've certainly got palpitations. See what we mean after the break.

Continue reading Fake jellyfish made from rat cells have a place in our hearts (video)

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Fake jellyfish made from rat cells have a place in our hearts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Register  |  sourceNature Biotechnology  | Email this | Comments