Face it, the past few decades of flat holograms have been a sham. Baseball cards? Security logos? Software piracy protection? This isn't what sci-fi had in mind at all. Thankfully, some University of Arizona scientists are getting the technology back on track with a new three-dimensional holographic display. What makes this one special is that the display is dynamic -- it can be rewritten with an entirely new image in a few minutes. Obviously the refresh rate's going to need some work before we're all chugging along on a holographic workstation, but it's certainly a start. The current prototype is 4-inch by 4-inch, and only displays in red, but the researchers believe a full color display is feasible, and they're already at work on a 1-foot by 1-foot version.

We're no strangers to the use and abuse of insects in the name of science, but we've gotta say that this robo-moth mech is the best example yet. Built by a few mad scientists over at the University of Arizona, robo-moth intercepts signals sent by the moth's eyes to its teensy brain and turns them into movement. The bot can detect where the moth is looking, and turns in that direction. Since moths have quite the fancy pair of preceptors and built-in reflexes, it's going to allow for some pretty complicated actions once scientists figure out how to control more motion than left and right. Researchers are looking down the road to where a moth could act as a disposable bomb-sniffing robot, or where paralyzed humans could more accurately control wheelchairs with their thoughts, but that's all still a ways out.

The image of a backed-up highway leading away from the scene of a natural disaster may soon be history, if researcher Yi-Chang Chiu and his colleagues at the University of Arizona have their way. They've developed a traffic simulator that uses real-time traffic data along with detailed state and federal traffic statistics and behavior modeling to allow officials to simulate disaster evacuations in real time -- or even predict the course of events as a disaster is happening. The software adjusts for such varied data as driver reactions to radio reports and wind dispersal of smoke and other pollutants; it even calculates the number of casualties and their effect. Chiu has been building the simulator since 1995, and he's ready to start selling to state transportation and medical emergency agencies. Interestingly, Chiu says his real research focus is on calculating optimum "value-priced" toll rates -- something we're certain most state transportation departments regard as the real disaster.