Nanotech helps blind hamsters see

Nerve growth (shown in green) occurred after the injections

Nanotechnology has restored the sight of blind rodents, a new study shows.

Scientists mimicked the effect of a traumatic brain injury by severing the optical nerve tract in hamsters, causing the animals to lose vision.

After injecting the hamsters with a solution containing nanoparticles, the nerves re-grew and sight returned.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team hopes this technique could be used in future reconstructive brain surgery.

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World's smallest WiFi module

by Marc Perton

Is there a reason for Sharp to boast that its DC2J1DZ115 is the world's smallest WiFi module? After all, unlike the world's smallest MP3 player, this isn't a product consumers can actually buy. However, smaller WiFi modules mean smaller, cheaper (we hope), lower-power WiFi devices, so as far as we're concerned, the smaller the better. Now let's get these modules into cameras, phones, PDAs and DAPs ASAP!

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US issues first RFID passports

by Marc Perton

After an on-again, off-again review process that finally culminated with full State Department approval last year, the US government has finally issued its first passports containing RFID chips. The embedded chips in the new passports -- which are being issued to a group of diplomats as part of a pilot program -- contain the same information that's in the printed document, including a photo of the passport holder. Government officials have said that the use of the RFID chip allows passports to be scanned and cross-referenced with security databases more easily, while privacy advocates have argued they'll make it easier for identity thieves and terrorists to extract information -- especially after a security firm successfully demonstrated that they were able to crack the encryption used on prototype Dutch RFID passports. Despite such concerns, the new passports are scheduled to be rolled out nationally in October.

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USB adapter VoIPs your old analog phones

by Evan Blass

Almost everyone has an old phone or ten laying around the basement/attic, gathering dust and drawing snickers from the younger cellphone-toting generation. Well USRobotics is sick of the dust and the laughter, and they've enlisted their most talented engineers in a Manhattan Project of telephony that has resulted in a USB adapter which allows you to use corded or cordless phones as VoIP handsets. The USR9620 was being shown off at CeBIT, where crowds apparently gathered 'round as USRobotics technicians wowed onlookers by making several Skype calls using one of Alexander Graham Bell's original telephones borrowed from the Smithsonian. Although Bell's model chintzed out on the Caller ID, the 9620 allows your CID-enabled handsets to display Skype names as well as dial SkypeOut numbers directly from the phonebook or keypad. Currently no price or release date has been set for this handy adapter, which is a shame, because we're just itching to break out an old 1.7MHz cordless handset and add fluroscent light and passing car interference to the already sketchy sound quality we've come to know and love from VoIP.

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