Super silicon

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a fully stretchable form of single-crystal silicon with micron-sized (one micron= 0.0000001 metre) wave-like shapes. This can be used to build high-performance electronic devices on rubber compounds. According to engineers at Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, such bendable electronics can be used in sensors and hard drives for computers, for integration into artificial muscles or biological tissues, for structural monitors wrapped around aircraft wings, and ‘skins’ for robotic sensors.

Exercise kit

Sony has come up with a unique exercise kit for the couch potatoes and game freaks. Eyetoy: Kinetic, which runs on PlayStation 2, is not a game but an interactive exercise programme that comes with a peripheral video camera to track your movements. You watch yourself on the television while onscreen indicators show you where to move your hands and feet. Workouts are divided into heart-pumping ‘Cardio’, martial-arts style ‘Combat’ and slower ‘Mind and Body’ exercises. In one Combat exercise, you punch a place onscreen where a blue ball appears, then duck to avoid the ball as it moves to a new site.