Electric specs

A new type of eyeglasses with electrically adjustable focus might someday render bifocals and reading glasses obsolete, the device’s inventors say. So far, the researchers have made a battery-powered prototype with close-up focus that flicks on and off with a switch. Future versions of the eyeglasses may incorporate a distance sensor to automatically adjust the focus as the viewer’s gaze changes between far and near viewing, says one of the inventors, reports Sciencenews.

Cancer scanner

Researchers from the US National Institutes of Health are working on a safer early-warning system for breast cancer, reports the New Scientist. The new system would use broadcast frequency radiation instead of X-rays to detect tumours, allowing women to undergo frequent checks without exposure to hazardous ionising radiation. An array of up to a hundred mini-antennae would be built into a soft, breast-shaped sensing device. Each antenna would emit a very short burst of microwave energy, rapidly scanning across several frequencies, at just one-hundredth of the power output of an ordinary cellphone.