Rice-powered mobile phones, and 5 more great news stories this week

Image courtesy of Oatsandsugar on Flickr

A weekly roundup of the most interesting science and technology news published on the Web.

1) Rice-powered phones

Imagine that the world’s most-consumed food can also be used to make food for your phone! And don’t worry, it’s made from the silica in rice husks – ie the waste – of rice (also used to make bricks, and even stoves!), so it doesn’t waste actual food.

Read: The Next Great Smartphone Battery Tech? Rice!

2) Taking touch screens to a whole new level

As if we didn’t already spend too much time with computers, this new 3-D technology makes it possible to become even more intimate and “hands on” with the content we use them to create.

Read: Reach Inside Your Computer

3)  Smart knives?

It seems everything is getting smarter, even knives. The quicker we have answers and results, the better. As doctors cut into patients, these amazing instruments can detect cancer cells, eliminating the sometimes lengthy wait for lab results.

Read: Smart Surgical Knife Detects Cancerous Tissue

4) And smart streetlamps, too?

The staggering fact that “each year streetlights in Europe generate as much greenhouse gas as 20 million cars and cost the public over 10 billion (euros)?” is enough to make us wonder why it took so long to find a solution for this one. Now can we talk robot roadside assistance?

Read: ‘Smart’ streetlamps save energy by lighting up only when you’re near

5) The power of the sun, right in the trunk of your car

The argument against electric vehicles is that it’s too difficult to charge them. Well imagine if the charge were available to you with just a pop of the trunk? It’s not a reality yet, but with the price of electric vehicles falling, and charging stations becoming more prevalent, we could eventually run out of excuses not to go electric.

Read: Collapsible solar pavilion charges Volvo V60, fits in its trunk

6) Let there be light

Finally learning to harness the power of the sun to power the whole world, the headline says it all. What a wonderful thing.

Read: Peru Solar Power Program To Give Electricity To 2 Million Of Poorest Peruvians

 

 

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About the author

Ilona Braverman

I am the Newsroom Manager with the corporate communications team. Prior to moving to Zurich, I spent over a decade writing, producing, marketing and production coordinating for Fox News in New York City. When I am not working, or enjoying all of the beautiful cities around me, I am busy dancing, cooking or probably making everyone around me howl with laughter.
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