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Temporary nanotech 'tattoos' can track your facial expressions
Wired, electronic temporary tattoos may have started off as fun novelties, but a new type of stick-on, nanotech "tattoo" has already found some practical medical applications. According to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed a thin, non-invasive carbon electrode that can be placed on the skin to measure muscle and nerve activity and could soon be used to help restore damaged tissue.
'Cyborg heart patch' combines electronics and living tissue
One of the latest inventions out of Tel Aviv University can patch up broken hearts. We're talking about the real organs here, especially those damaged by myocardial infarction or heart attack. A team from the Israeli university created a "cyborg heart patch" that combines both living tissue and electronic components to replace the damaged parts of the organ. "It's very science fiction, but it's already here," says one of its creators, Prof. Tal Dvir. "[W]e expect it to move cardiac research forward in a big way." The patch can contract and expand like real heart tissue can, but it can do much, much more than that.
The $300 'PITA' steals encryption keys with radio waves
Your computer is leaking information. It's not from the usual suspects: WiFi, Bluetooth or ethernet, but from radio waves originating from your processor. Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Israel's Technion research institute have built a $300 device that captures those electromagnetic waves and uses them to decrypt RSA and ElGamal data from up to 19 inches away. The PITA (Portable Instrument for Trace Acquisition) device is the size of (you guessed it) a pita and was built using off-the-shelf parts and runs on four AA batteries. The stolen data can be saved to the onboard microSD card or sent via WiFi to the attacker's computer. The team demonstrated the hack by extracting the keys from GnuPG. Fortunately, GnuPG was updated when the research paper was published to thwart the delicious-sounding PITA.
You can steal data from a computer by touching it
Normally, breaking a PC's security involves either finding security exploits or launching brute force attacks, neither of which is necessarily quick or easy. However, a team at Tel Aviv University has come up with a potentially much simpler way to swipe data from a computer: touch it. If you make contact with a PC while you're wearing a digitizer wristband, you can measure tiny changes in electrical potential that reveal even stronger encryption keys (such as a 4,096-bit RSA key). You don't even have to touch the system directly in some cases -- researchers also intercepted keys from attached network and video cables.
Computers share their secrets if you listen
Be afraid, friends, for science has given us a new way in which to circumvent some of the strongest encryption algorithms used to protect our data -- and no, it's not some super secret government method, either. Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science discovered that they could steal even the largest, most secure RSA 4,096-bit encryption keys simply by listening to a laptop as it decrypts data. To accomplish the trick, the researchers used a microphone to record the noises made by the computer, then ran that audio through filters to isolate the vibrations made by the electronic internals during the decryption process. With that accomplished, some cryptanalysis revealed the encryption key in around an hour. Because the vibrations in question are so small, however, you need to have a high-powered mic or be recording them from close proximity. The researchers found that by using a highly sensitive parabolic microphone, they could record what they needed from around 13 feet away, but could also get the required audio by placing a regular smartphone within a foot of the laptop. Additionally, it turns out they could get the same information from certain computers by recording their electrical ground potential as it fluctuates during the decryption process. Of course, the researchers only cracked one kind of RSA encryption, but they said that there's no reason why the same method wouldn't work on others -- they'd just have to start all over to identify the specific sounds produced by each new encryption software. Guess this just goes to prove that while digital security is great, but it can be rendered useless without its physical counterpart. So, should you be among the tin-foil hat crowd convinced that everyone around you is a potential spy, waiting to steal your data, you're welcome for this newest bit of food for your paranoid thoughts.
Tel Aviv University develops biodegradable transistor, literally man made
Blood sweat and tears go into many projects, and in this case almost literally -- although technically it's blood, milk and mucus. Yep, researchers at Tel Aviv University have created biodegradable transistors from proteins found in the aforementioned organic substances. When the proteins are mixed with base materials in the right combinations, it seems they self-assemble into a semi-conducting film. Why blood, milk and mucus? Apparently, the different proteins each have unique properties. Blood's oxygen storing ability, for example, helps mix chemicals with semi-conductors to give them specific properties, while milk and mucus (the only time we want to see them together) have fiber forming, and light-creating properties respectively. The hope is that this can lead to flexible and biodegradable technology. The team at Tel Aviv says it's already working on a biodegradable display, with other electronic devices to follow -- which should help stem the flow of waste.
Hyperspectral camera captures 1,000 colors, identifies contaminants
Putting our dinky point-and-shoots to shame, researchers at Tel Aviv University have created a hyperspectral HSR camera that detects more than 1,000 colors -- something that can be used to pinpoint contaminants or hazards in the environment. According to lead scientist Professor Ben-Dor, different elements produce different colors, helping researchers identify hazards or contaminated soil without being forced to bring samples back to the lab. It works as such: the sensor analyzes sunlight as it bounces off an object, which it then interprets. The shooter is so sensitive that it can read samples anywhere from 0.4 inches to 500 miles away, meaning it could operate from weather balloons or even one of these -- rendering Joseph and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat most jealous. Check out the full PR after the break.
Scientists build digital cerebellum for Roborat: to protect, serve and spook
You'd be forgiven if talk about Cyborg Rats made you think about precision gaming mice, but in this case we're yapping about the real thing. A team from Tel Aviv University has found a way to restore lost motor function in rodents by building a digital cerebellum. As the story goes, they anesthetized a rat, disabled its natural abilities and installed the device -- and were able to teach the chip to make the rat blink when a sound was played. It's all very early-days, but the hope is to develop implants to aid people with long-term disabilities -- or to ensure our sewers are crime free. For those not paying attention, rat-brained innovations are on the up: in June, researchers at the University of Southern California were able to construct an artificial memory, not to mention last year's Tokyo brain-car. After all this mistreatment, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Cyborg Rats sided with the machines in the forthcoming Robopocalypse. Which, you know, is exactly what we need weighing on our conscience.
Superconducting sapphire wires are as cool as they sound
Copper wire's relatively cheap, pliable and can conduct electricity, but it's hardly ideal. Powering cities requires cables meters wide and the metal loses a lot of energy as heat. Fortunately, a team from Tel Aviv University thinks it's solved the problem. Borrowing a fiber of sapphire from the Oakridge National Lab in Tennessee, it developed a superconducting wire barely thicker than a human hair that conducts 40 times the electricity of its copper brethren. Cooled with liquid nitrogen, the sapphire superconductors carry current without heating up, which is key to their efficiency. The team is now working on practical applications of the technology -- because it's so small and pliable (unlike previous superconductors) it could replace copper in domestic settings and its cold efficiency makes it perfect to transmit power long distances from green energy stations. The wire's going on a world tour as we speak and will touch down at the ATSC conference in Baltimore in October. Anyone who makes jokes about wires and Baltimore will be asked to leave, politely.
Peptide nanotube 'forest' coating could mean self-cleaning windows, more efficient batteries, Alzheimer's cure, world peace
We are rapidly coming to grips with the idea that there is nothing nanotubes can't do. They're boosting solar cell efficiency, hoisting more junk into space, and even providing an exceptionally light meal. Now they'll even clean your windows -- well, not your windows, but your future self's windows thanks to research at Tel Aviv University, where a team has created a way to grow a so-called forest of nanotubes out of peptides. This means they're exceptionally cheap to produce and, as they've been shown to repel dirt and water, they'll make an ideal coating for windows and solar cells. They can also act as a super-capacitor, increasing the output of batteries, and there's even hope that they could treat Alzheimer's disease. Yes, nanotubes certainly are the future -- prepare for obsolescence.
Researchers create microwave drill/death ray
If any of our peeps at Tel Aviv University have been noticing some suspicious holes around the campus lately, here's your culprit. It seems some researchers at the university have created a microwave drill that can easily bore holes through concrete, glass and other materials without leaving so much as a trace of dust left behind. It works by heating up the material to a toasty 2,000 degrees Celsius (over 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit), which softens the material enough for a metal rod to be pushed through it. Like any good death ray, however, the microwave drill has its weaknesses. For starters, the beam is unable to penetrate steel or sapphire, and there's also the small issue of microwave radiation, which could have some nasty consequences for the poor soul stuck operating the drill. According to the researchers, however, a simple shielding plate should be enough to protect anyone in the vicinity of the monstrosity -- maybe, but are there enough steel plates to protect us all if the device falls into the wrong hands? Like ours?[Via Core77]
