Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney(UTS) have developed biosensor(生物传感器) technology that will allow you to operate devices, such as robots and machines, only through thought control. The advanced brain-computer interface was developed by distinguished Professor Chin-Teng Lin and Professor Francesca Iacopi, from the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT, cooperating with the Australian Army and Defence Innovation Hub.

As well as defence applications, the technology has a conspicuous effect on fields such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace and healthcare—for example, allowing people with a disability to control a wheelchair or operate an artificial body part.

“The hands-free, voice-free technology works outside laboratory settings, anytime, anywhere. It makes interfaces such as electrical equipment, keyboards, touchscreens and hand-gesture recognition unnecessary,” said Professor Iacopi. “By using cutting-edge graphene material, combined with silicon(a chemical element), we were able to develop the wearable dry sensors.”

A new study outlining the technology has just been published in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Applied Nano Materials. It shows that the graphene sensors developed at the UTS are very conductive (导电的), easy to use and strong.

The operator wears a head-mounted augmented reality lens which displays white flashing squares.By concentrating on a particular square, the brainwaves of the operator are picked up by the biosensor, and a decoder translates the signal into commands.

The technology was recently demonstrated by the Australian Army, where soldiers operated a Ghost Robotics four-legged robot using the brain-machine interface. The device allowed hands-free command of the robotic dog with up to 94% accuracy.

“Our technology can issue at least nine commands in two seconds. This means we have nine different kinds of commands and the operator can select one from those nine within that time period,” Professor Lin said. “We have also explored how to minimise noise from the body and environment to get a clearer signal from the operator's brain.”

The researchers believe the technology will be of interest to the scientific community, industry and government, and they hope to continue making advances in brain-computer interface systems.

There’s a reason humans have been building homes from wood for 10,000 years. It’s an excellent building material. But since it’s not transparent (透明的), we’re still in the habit of cutting windows in our houses.

But what if wood could be made transparent?

Researchers in Sweden have been trying to do just that. They’ve created a clear wood material they hope could one day be used for more energy-saving building.

“We chemically made wood transparent”, says Celine Montanari, a researcher at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Montanari and her team took wood and removed its lignin(木质素), and filled the resulting micro holes with a special chemical. Then the wood looked rather like the frosted glass of a shower door. They took the material one step further, mixing it with polyethylene glycol, a material that melts at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. When it melts, it absorbs energy and becomes transparent, then releases energy when cooled. In theory, this means the new wood material could be used to make windows that absorb energy during the hot part of the day and release it into the home when it gets cold at night. It makes the new wood an even more eco-friendly material by keeping indoor temperatures constant.

This is not a new technique, says Mark Swihart, a professor at University at Buffalo. Materials that store and release energy are not new either. “The thing that seems to be new is their way of the energy storage.” Swihart says.

Using wood as a base material is attractive because it has strength that’s hard to reproduce in other materials at the same cost, Swihart says. Whether or not the new transparent wood will be successful will depend in large part on how cheaply it can be made, he says. It’s also difficult to get new material widely used by the building industry, as there are existing supply chains for things like glass.

Montanari and her team are currently looking at increasing the heat storage capacity(储热性能) of the transparent wood, for greater energy savings. They’re also studying how to increase production to an industrial scale(规模). They hope to have a product ready for market within five years.

A Dutch company has announced that it will start making the world’s first production car fitted with solar panels. The company will have solar panels in its roof, hood (引擎盖) and trunk (后备厢) that recharge the electric battery.

The car will be able to drive around 388 miles without stopping to recharge, and will have an additional range of up to 44 miles a day from the solar panels. For comparison, that’s slightly more than the best known electric automobile(374 miles).

Each hour in the sun will add up to six miles of charge to the battery. The solar range will not only give an added drip feed of miles for long journeys but also means you’ll spend less time at charging points-or may not even need them at all.

The car has much in common with its previous model that was revealed two years ago, but is able to do more with a smaller battery, says company CEO and co-founder Lex Hoefsloot. “The powertrain (动力总成) is the most efficient in the world,” he claims, adding that the car’s shape and four in-wheel motors enable a smaller battery to provide the same range. “That’s how we’ve been able to get to 1,575 kilograms. If you look at other cars that offer similar range, they’re all about 40% heavier.”

The whole concept of the car is based around improving efficiency and cutting charging time. It has a maximum speed of just 100 miles per hour, while its 0 to 100 miles per hour is a slow 10 seconds, something that Hoefsloot admits is down to a focus on range. It’s expensive too: One will cost you € 250,000-slightly more than a luxury sports car. The company hopes to launch a “people’s model” by 2025, which will be sold for around 30,000.