Technology

If one thing has been learned in the last half century, it’s that sending astronauts into the harsh, unforgiving environment of space is both dangerous and expensive. To find a way to minimize risk and cost, NASA is sending a pair of prototype humanoid robots back to school. The space agency is giving two R5 …

University of Washington engineers have developed a novel technology that uses a Wi-Fi router — a source of ubiquitous but untapped energy in indoor environments — to power devices. The Power Over Wi-Fi (PoWiFi) system is one of the most innovative and game-changing technologies of the year, according to Popular Science, which included it in …

by Michelle Roberts For the first time, doctors have breached the human brain’s protective layer to deliver cancer-fighting drugs. The Canadian team used tiny gas-filled bubbles, injected into the bloodstream of a patient, to punch temporary holes in the blood-brain barrier. A beam of focused ultrasound waves applied to the skull made the bubbles vibrate …

By Dario Borghino Practical quantum computers are still years away, but lately the pace of research seems to have picked up. After building the basic blocks of a quantum computer in silicon and storing quantum information for up to 30 seconds, scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have now violated a principle …

This is a collection of the 10 best and most popular stories from science and technology over the past 7 days. Click the individual images below to read the stories and follow the This Week in Science on wakelet (here) to get these weekly updates straight to your inbox every Sunday.

by Jonathan Webb A dig in Jersey has yielded a stash of hunter-gatherer artefacts from the end of the last Ice Age, including stone pieces criss-crossed by carved lines. They are similar to engravings found from the same period in continental Europe, but are the first of their kind in the British Isles. Archaeologists are …

Source: United Nations University Biogas from human waste, safely obtained under controlled circumstances using innovative technologies, is a potential fuel source great enough in theory to generate electricity for up to 138 million households — the number of households in Indonesia, Brazil, and Ethiopia combined. A report from UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment …

Source: Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) VTT develops new method for wearable technology and cosmetic applications VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a new high-volume production method for hot embossing microscopic channel structures onto large areas of plastic film at a low cost for use, for example, in wearable technology and cosmetic applications. …

Photo credit: REUTERS/ASIER MARZO, BRUCE DRINKWATER AND SRIRAM SUBRAMANIAN/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS By WILL DUNHAM The tractor beam, a staple of science fiction including “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” that is employed to grab spaceships and other things remotely, is entering the realm of reality. Researchers on Tuesday said they have developed a tractor beam that uses …

Image Credit: Pascal Pavani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By MARK LYNAS CALL it the “Coalition of the Ignorant.” By the first week of October, 17 European countries — including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland — had used new European Union rules to announce bans on the cultivation of genetically modified …