Tech universe: Wednesday, 30 June

A round-up of the latest technology news from around the globe.

SOCCER CALLS: There are two main techie ways to see if a soccer ball went into goal: using cameras or a chip inside the ball. Both alert the ref through an earpiece. Boo. Is that ref deaf?

FOLDING FOIL: Folding things into intriguing shapes just got easier. A new alloy foil can be taught what shape it should be, then laid flat. When heated, the flat item folds up by itself. Stand back. It's going to fold. Video here.

3D EARTH: Two German radar satellites are working together on a mission to map the world in 3D, picking out height differences as small as a metre. When East meets West at BBC.

NUMB GUMS: Soon your dentist may dab a healing peptide gel onto a tooth cavity rather than drilling and filling. That really will hurt the dentist more than it hurts us. Painless dental work at Discovery.com.

TWICE THE TRAFFIC: The T.25 Minicar is so small that two can fit side by side in one traffic lane, or three in a single parking space. So which driver feeds the parking meter? And it's made by F1 genius Gordon Murray. Popsci tells all.