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Grazing the Nanograss - Adaptable substance may cool computers and put a zoom lens in your cell phone. Future Watch by Gary H. Anthes OCTOBER 11, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - A drop of water glides across the flat surface like quicksilver, moving effortlessly from place to place as the surface is tilted. It's hard to believe that the little bead is water, for it doesn't wet the surface as it races around, seemingly without friction. The little drop in this impromptu laboratory demonstration isn't on an ordinary surface. It's riding on "nanograss," a bed of upright silicon posts a thousand times...

Apple to Recall 28,000 Laptop Batteries Thu Aug 19,12:30 PM ET By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) has agreed to recall about 28,000 batteries used in its 15-inch PowerBook G4 laptop computers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday. The batteries, made by LG Chem Ltd. (051910.KS) of South Korea, could overheat and pose a fire hazard, the CPSC said. "Apple is not financially responsible for this recall," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said. Apple has received four reports of overheating though no injuries have been reported, the consumer protection agency said. The recall affects...

Serious defects hit cell phone batteries, computer parts From wire reports July 18, 2004 Hundreds of thousands of computer parts and cell phone batteries have been recalled in recent weeks because of serious defects. No. 1 PC maker Dell recalled 38,000 Auto/Air Power Adapters connecting laptops to power outlets in cars and planes. Users may get shocked if they plug the wrong cord into the adapter. No. 2 PC maker Hewlett-Packard is recalling the memory component of 900,000 laptops over a problem that can make them crash or lose data. H-P blames memory-makers Micron Technology, Samsung, Infineon Technologies and Winbond....

It's that time of year again...time to change clocks for most of the US...take a moment to also change batteries in things like smoke & CO detectors, and if you're diabtec - change the battery in your glucose meter...and if you have any other battery powered devices around the house to protect your saftey & health, check those and see if they need to be changed.

<p>When the light in the toll plaza lane didn't flash green as Brad Crooks drove his car through the Irwin interchange July 10, he thought the Pennsylvania Turnpike's E-ZPass system had suffered a temporary glitch.</p> <p>When it happened again a few days later, he phoned the E-ZPass control center in Harrisburg.</p>

IDAHO FALLS -- A team of Idaho scientists is working to ensure space exploration takes place in the future. The experts at Argonne National Laboratory-West are developing batteries called radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Their budget for the next 18 months is estimated at $21 million. Department of Energy officials moved the nation's space battery program from Ohio to Idaho last year because of security concerns stemming from the September eleventh terrorist attacks. The plutonium in the batteries produces heat, which can power spacecraft for decades. NASA plans to send an exploration device to Pluto in 2006.

A device that produces electricity from blood could be used to turn people into "human batteries". Researchers in Japan are developing a method of drawing power from blood glucose, mimicking the way the body generates energy from food. Theoretically, it could allow a person to pump out 100 watts - enough to illuminate a light bulb. But that would entail converting all the food eaten by the individual into electricity. In practice, less power would be generated since food is needed by the body. However the scientists say the "bio-nano" generator could be used to run devices embedded in the...

It's early April, days before the fall of Baghdad, and a convoy of trucks from the 11th Signal Brigade is rolling through southern Iraq. The mission: establish a digital beachhead in central Iraq. Without this advance node and a handful like it, the Army's Third Infantry Division cannot receive the precise targeting information it needs to fight its way into the capital. About 9 am, soldiers in the convoy see something that fills them with dread: four dead sheep by the side of the dusty road. Within a mile, they spot two more and quickly pull the convoy to a...

Riddle of 'Baghdad's batteries' Arran Frood investigates what could have been the very first batteries and how these important archaeological and technological artefacts are now at risk from the impending war in Iraq. I don't think anyone can say for sure what they were used for, but they may have been batteries because they do work Dr Marjorie Senechal War can destroy more than a people, an army or a leader. Culture, tradition and history also lie in the firing line. Iraq has a rich national heritage. The Garden of Eden and the Tower of Babel are said to have...

Boy, I hate daylight savings time for a ton of reasons. I hate getting up at 2 am sunday morning to change the batteries in my smoke detector. Oh, yes, if you try to change them early, or late, they detect that. And call the fire department. Since I've saved time all summer long, do you think the government will give me credit for it? Spring ahead, fall back. Now I have to remember a nursery rhyme to tell the time. This is dumb. Well not as dumb as "twinkle , twinkle, little star, now I wonder what time you...

The Israeli Air Force has mobilized reservists on emergency orders to man Patriot missile batteries that have been deployed at various locations around the country in the event of an airborne strike. The Patriot missile batteries have been deployed at three sites around the country - in Haifa in the Negev and in the region of the resort city of Eilat. According to Haaretz daily, the decision to position the Patriots was taken a few days ago in anticipation of the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States. A top defense source said that the decision had...