Technology

This robot set a new speed record for legged robots, we all know that robots on wheels are a lot faster. This robot is moving like the fast-running animals and especially cheetah. The record is now 18 miles (29 kilometers) per hour with the previous record being set on 1989 with 13.1 mph. It is running by flexing and un-flexing its back and if you have seen documentaries the first image that pops in your mind is the wild predators of the nature. The creator of this robot is Boston Dynamics of Waltham which works with US department of defence (DOD).

The history of transistors is very interesting, about fifty years old and it is coming to an end. Scientists have created a single-atom controllable transistor and as they told us it can’t get any smaller.The team that created the smallest transistor ever has researchers from University of New South Wales, Purdue University and the University of Melbourne. That transistor is engineered from a single phosphorus and shows that electronic components can be engineered very very small. Some say that it is the end of Moore’s Law too because if they can successfully create processors with one atom transistors it will dramatically increase the number of transistors in a processor. This will not happened in the next few years because it is very difficult to manufacture such chips and single-atom transistor must be kept cold, in temperature of minus 196 Celsius. This technology can lead to smaller processors and this means also thinner products.

Scientists are trying to identify us with as many ways as possible. So far, they have used fingerprints, footprints, eyes, voice, walking patterns and DNA that I can remember right now. Apparently those ways are not enough, they are now trying to identify us using our heartbeat. Each heartbeat is unique, it follows an irregular pattern that is repeated. A unique key can be generated based on that pattern which can be used to encrypt binary data. This will help us to encrypt our data without the need to remember passwords but there are many disadvantages. First of all, you can’t change the key, once someone successfully find it then he can access your data and you can’t do anything about it. Secondly, if you have an arrhythmia or problems with your heart you will not be able to access your data because the pattern will probably change. I want to believe that I am not the only one that thought about those problems and scientists will take them into consideration when creating the key. This is very interesting and we will see how they will use those patterns in the near future.