Presenting the future (Image: Charles Gullung/Photonica/Getty)
Oops, I dropped it again
Even the clumsiest klutz needn’t worry about dropping an expensive new phone, camera or laptop if it is protected by a “smash-proof” case. Made using a combination of granular materials, ceramics and polymers, such cases will be engineered to away from sensitive components, and then trap or cancel them out. A , funded by the US Department of Defense, hopes to produce prototypes by 2014. The military are interested because it would make munitions safer to handle.
The vodkamatic
Freshly distilled and drip-fed to your own hip flask, a steady supply of vodka could be produced by a that runs a continuous fermentation and . All the necessary components, mostly based on microfluidics, are under development and could be turned into consumer products – local liquor laws permitting.
Everlasting power
Imagine putting a battery in your latest gadget knowing that you’ll never have to replace it. Several industrial and teams are competing to develop a new generation of small, long-lasting batteries powered by radioactive decay. Among the most promising are betavoltaics, which use a simple semiconducting device to generate current by capturing electrons from a radioactive material. One approach is to , which helps the battery last longer. Betavoltaics promise energy densities well beyond ordinary batteries, but there’s one inevitable problem: how to dispose of them.
Lord of the ringers
This phone will let you listen to digital radio, watch TV, check the weather, find buried treasure – and, yes, even call your friends. To manage all…
