Nanowires developed to retrieve data on the double

Those fond of how quickly flash memory reads and writes their data are sure to adore the research that a few University of Pennsylvania scientists have been working on, as Ritesh Agarwal (pictured) and colleagues have crafted "nanowires capable of storing computer data for 100,000 years and retrieving that data a thousand times faster" than existing micro-drives. Moreover, the "self-assembling nanowire of germanium antimony telluride" consumes less energy and space than current memory technologies, and even Agarwal stated that the "new form of memory has the potential to revolutionize the way we share information, transfer data and even download entertainment." Unfortunately, there seems to be no word on if (or when) this creation could be headed to the commercial realm.   

Researchers hope to charge up gadgetry with body heat

 

We've heard of firms tinkering with the idea of converting excess heat directly to energy, and apparently, a team of scientists from the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have done just that. Oddly enough, the researchers admit that they're still unclear on how their findings actually work, but they've nevertheless discovered how to increase the conversion efficiency of converting waste heat to energy "by a factor of 100." The authors of the report suggest that clothing constructed of material embedded with thermoelectric modules could one day "recharge mobile electronic devices off the heat of one's body," and while we're certainly stoked about the idea, we're already conjuring up awful images in our minds about what this garb will actually look like.

[Via textually, image courtesy of FourEyesJokeShop]