Tech Universe: Thursday 28 April

Purdue's PSPE Rube Goldberg Machine. Photo / Supplied

HOW HARD IS IT TO WATER A FLOWER?: Rube Goldberg machines are those ludicrously overcomplicated (but fun) contraptions that use dozens of actions to achieve one small goal. At the 24th annual national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest held recently the winner, The Time Machine, uses 244 steps to water a flower. It all starts with the Big Bang, works its way through dinosaurs and the dark ages, and even a shuttle launch. Ingenious. More at PopularMechanics and video on YouTube.

POLYMER HEAL YOURSELF: US researchers have created a new self-healing polymer that requires only one minute under UV light to repair itself. The team used rubbery oligomers as the basis. When cuts in the film were exposed to UV light they sealed up, essentially disappearing. The film remained as tough as it was previously. Under UV light the cuts heat up quickly to around 220 C, becoming liquid. The cuts heal as the material cools. That's bound to be useful. More at ArsTechnica.

PRECISELY HERE: The US military's GPS system is finding wide use in everyday life - perhaps you use a GPS in your car to help you navigate. The 24 satellites that provide the service are now aging and their replacements, the GPS IIF, will bring improved service. Accuracy is expected to increase from around 7 metres to one. One of the new satellites has been in place for 6 months now; the others are on their way. No more driving into rivers, maybe. More at Physorg.

TRICKY CHIP: Usually a computer chip has a fixed configuration - if you need to move things around for new functions you're out of luck. Tabula, in the USA, are working on a different kind of chip that can rearrange its logic gates on the fly. The one-level chip behaves as though it has 8 stacked layers. In fact the chip can cycle between up to 8 different layouts at up to 1.6 billion times per second. The chip is around 1/3 the size, 1/5 the cost and has 4 times the performance of similar chips. 3 out of 3 isn't bad. More at TechnologyReview.

ONE ELECTRON, TWO ELECTRON: From the University of Pittsburgh comes a transistor made from a single electron, the SketchSET. Its central component is only 1.5 nanometers in diameter. To operate it you need only add one or two electrons to switch on distinct conductive properties. The device could make new super-supercomputers possible or be the foundation for developing new classes of artificial electronic materials. Micro-computers sound so big and clunky these days. More at the University of Pittsburgh.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz