Tech Universe: Friday 11 March

LIKE A REAL BOY: He's pale skinned, bearded and Danish: Associate Professor Henrik Scharfe of Aalborg University in Denmark. And so is his android double, Geminoid DK. In fact, it's not too easy to tell them apart. A motion-capture system tracks the facial expressions and head movements of a remote operator. The operator controls the Geminoid's realistic movements and expressions with their own movements. The Geminoid will be used to research how human and robots interact and differences in how people from different cultures perceive robots. His still slightly 'wooden' face conjures up horror
movies. Bad actors move aside! More at IEEE and video on YouTube.

LIKE SANDS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS: Nanoparticles are pretty small and very hard to count. A new instrument from UC Santa Barbara that works like a turnstile can detect individual particles as small as a few tens of nanometers across. Suspended in fluid, the particles flow past a detector at around half a million particles per second. In tests the device was able to detect bacterial virus particles in mouse blood plasma. Better health for mice is just around the corner. More at EurekAlert.

THEY GREW A BIKE: Nylon: stockings, brushes, bicycles. The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company used a form of nylon as strong as steel to 'grow' a bicycle. The Airbike was created using Additive Layer Manufacturing, similar to 3D printing, where a laser-sintering process builds up thin layers of material. The nylon in this bike is strong enough to replace steel or aluminium. The bike's auxetic structure provides saddle cushioning, while integrated bearings are encased within the hubs. A Kevlar belt drive system is another unusual feature. Ah, a chain that will never break? Details at Gizmag.

PLAYING WITH FOOD: As a kid did you sculpt the food on your plate into interesting shapes? The fab@home project at Cornell University in the USA is taking that play to a whole new level with their 3D food printer. The printer squirts out a paste made of pureed foods to create 3D objects. In tests so far they've printed chocolate, cheese, scallops, turkey, and celery. That's way beyond pea, pie and pud. More at CBC.

EAR ON THE GROUND: The Murchison Wide-field Array radio telescope in remote Western Australia has no moving parts. 8000 dual-polarization dipole antennas will be arranged as 512 "tiles", each a 4x4 array of dipoles. The dipole signals will be manipulated to 'point' the telescope. The telescope needs radio quiet for its work so special enclosures will protect electronics from the rugged conditions and prevent radio interference. Shhh, telescope at work. Details at MWATelescope.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz