Electronics

For the third year in a row, the Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit organication that promotes the study and imitation of designs found in nature, is sponsoring the Biomimicry Student Design Challenge.  This year the Challenge, which is open to college students world-wide, is to use biomimicry to design a solution that results in more efficient use of energy and ultimately reduces greenhouse gases.  No small feat, but the Institute provides students with plenty of resources on biomimicry....

Experiments with acne-piercing lasers have been conducted before, but this time, the laser electron is not "the size of an entire hospital," but the size of a DVD player.  The unique laser system, the Raman Fiber Laser, has the potential to permanently alter sebaceous glands, those that give rise to pimples and acne, the bane of adolescence.

PC audio giant Creative Labs has announced a brand new audio processor, dubbed the Core3D, with a whopping four processing cores and a highly integrated design to lower sound card complexity.

It's so great to find innovations for disabled people on design websites, rather than buried in disability association files.  "Design" says the world is paying attention to disability needs, and it cares that the latest technologies are employed in the tools and that they look pretty cool too.  The Finger Reader is at least the second design for blind and visually impaired persons by Hansub Lee and it's a great accessibility creation for finding exactly what you want while shopping.

Historically, surgical removal or oral and throat cancers have not allowed patients to go back to living their normal daily lives.  Oral cancer removals caused severe pain, particularly ugly scarring, and an inability to eat, speak, or swallow normally.  Even breathing problems might result.  But now along comes TORS, the robot with the right stuff.