Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
Perfluorocarbons could let mammals breathe underwater
Perfluorocarbon liquids can carry enough dissolved oxygen for mice to breathe while submerged. Researchers have also explored liquid ventilation as a…
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Desalination forces seawater through microscopic membranes
The pressure pushes water through a semipermeable membrane while salt ions are left behind, separating fresh water from seawater.
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Your rose-scented perfume may come from yeast
Engineered yeast can produce the same rose-scented compounds used in perfume, offering an alternative to growing flowers.
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Carbon dating measures the radioactive decay of carbon-14
Living organisms continually take in carbon-14; after death, that intake stops and the isotope decays into nitrogen. Measuring how much remains helps estimate…
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Municipal tap water uses chloramine for cheap disinfection
Treatment plants combine chlorine with ammonia to make chloramine, which lasts longer in pipes and helps protect water on its way to your tap.
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Living E. coli can carry a video in its DNA
Researchers encoded a video in the DNA of living E. coli, and the bacteria passed the data to their offspring—a squishy, self-replicating kind of storage.
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Composting toilets evaporate liquids to decompose waste
A fan evaporates separated liquid while peat moss and aerobic bacteria break down solids, turning waste into compost without a fresh-water flush.
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How pressure kills bacteria without heat
High-pressure processing uses water pressure—up to 87,000 pounds per square inch—to damage pathogens in packaged foods without heat. That helps preserve foods…
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How machines turn humid air into drinking water
Cooling coils lower humid air below its dew point, making water condense; the collected water is then filtered for drinking.
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Pulse oximeters calculate oxygen using red light absorption
The clip compares how oxygenated and deoxygenated blood absorb red and infrared light, then uses the difference to estimate blood oxygen levels.
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Edible plant-based coatings trap moisture in fresh produce
Some companies spray produce with an invisible, tasteless coating made from plant lipids. It slows moisture loss and oxidation, helping fruits and vegetables…
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UV disinfection attacks a microbe's ability to reproduce
Ultraviolet light damages microorganisms' genetic material so they cannot multiply normally. A properly designed system can disinfect clear water without…
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Cultured dairy utilizes genetically modified flora strains
Lactic acid bacteria ferment milk sugars into acid, lowering the pH and helping milk proteins form yogurt's thick texture.
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Titanium pacemaker casings prevent human immune rejection
Pacemaker casings are made of titanium, a biocompatible metal the body generally tolerates well. The casing helps shield the device from the body’s immune…
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Printing tissue is easier than keeping its interior alive
Cells inside a thick printed structure need oxygen and nutrients, and their waste needs a way out. Bioprinting researchers therefore build tiny channels as…
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Older Macs shipped with an unexpected cookie file
Versions that included the Emacs text editor also carried a file with cookie recipes. It sat among software files rather than in a cooking app, inherited from…
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Why :-) was invented
In 1982, Scott Fahlman proposed :-) for jokes and :-( for serious posts on Carnegie Mellon message boards, where sarcasm was causing misunderstandings.
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When shipping hard drives beats sending data online
Transferring 100 petabytes over standard broadband could take decades, so Amazon has used trucks called Snowmobiles to carry hard drives physically across the…
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Your body can weaken a Wi-Fi signal
Wi-Fi signals at 2.4 GHz can be absorbed by water, and the human body contains plenty of it. In a crowded room, people can weaken the signal between a router…
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Spinning cooling fans create turbulent noise
At high speeds, fans force air through narrow spaces, where it becomes turbulent and noisy. That rushing-air sound can make a heavily cooled desktop PC drone…
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A mirror-bright silicon wafer still has several kinds of unevenness
Chipmakers distinguish surface roughness from bow, warp, and thickness variation. A wafer can look perfectly polished yet curve enough to matter when tiny…
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A processor multiplies a clock into billions of beats
A reference oscillator provides a steady timing signal, while clock circuitry derives the faster rhythms used inside the chip. Those cycles coordinate when…
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Why mixing metals can destroy a cooling system
When dissimilar metals such as copper and aluminum touch in a fluid loop, they can trigger galvanic corrosion: one metal loses electrons and deteriorates,…
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Microscopic crystal structures change over time
A timing crystal’s frequency can drift as it ages, partly because internal stresses build up. The result is a clock that gradually falls out of sync.
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