ViennaUniversityofTechnology
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ICYMI: Trees rest their branches at night
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: There's no doubt you'll be well-acquainted with everything that happened with LinkedIn, Apple and XBox, so today's show will look just a little different. I focused the show on just one story to get a little more into the details on a study out of Europe that tracked how trees relax their branches at nighttime. We also threw in the video of the first child-sized exoskeleton suit, just because. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Scientists eye secure communications by slowing down light
We've already seen what fiber optics can do for internet speeds, and it looks like the medium could be used for quantum communications too. See, as EurekAlert tells it, scientists from the Vienna University of Technology have figured out a way to modify the material so it can be used to control the speed of light. The researchers successfully grafted cesium atoms to the fibers, allowing them to slow light down from its typical 671 million MPH pace to around 112 MPH (180 KPH). The researchers were able to bring the light to a complete stop and then restart it later, too -- something EurekAlert says in a pretty major step toward quantum internet. It'd be much more secure than what we have currently as well, given that professor Arno Rauschenbeutel says that quantum physics at its very core allows for a connection between sender and receiver and anyone tapping in won't go unnoticed. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
Vienna University of Technology builds a 3D printer, 3D prints the key to our hearts
We've all spent a good portion of the past few years imagining what we'll do as soon as we get our hands on our very own 3D printer. Of course, if you're of the particularly crafty, Make Magazine-subscribing sort, you've probably already built a few of your own. For those who don't know a soldering iron from a freshly-burned hole in their hand, however, it's been a matter of waiting for the technology to come down in size and price. A machine designed by professors at the Vienna University of Technology still has a ways to go on the roughly €1,200 (about $1,700) price, but it weigh in at a bit over three pounds, and that's not for your run-of-the-mill extruder -- this breadbox-sized machine uses lasers to harden plastics, allegedly with enough precision to produce medical parts. Looks like picking out the perfect gift for your professor friends in Vienna just got a lot harder.
