With the rapid perfection of technology, miniaturization is apparent. It seems as if the radio couldn't escape this extreme miniaturization, and researchers have created the world's tiniest radio just out of a carbon nanotube, escalating the capabilities of nanotechnology to a higher rung.

They have found out that a nanotube, placed between two electrodes, would function as all the major electrical components in a radio, including the tuner and amplifier. It can tune in to a radio signal and play the audio through an external speaker.

The practical importance of such a tiny radio would seem hazy. But, this has shown interesting prospects of being used in biological and environmental sensors.

Researchers are now developing microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensors to measure blood sugar levels or cancer markers in the body. Replacing the stamp sized RFID tag, a nanotube radio could be packaged with the MEMS-based sensor and injected directly into the bloodstream.

Once in the body, the radio could provide wireless communication between the tiny biological sensors and an external monitor. To do that, however, the nanotube radio would have to work as a transmitter. Although it is only configured as a receiver at the moment, the same physics are expected to work as a transmitter.

Carbon nanotubes have been previously used to make electronic components such as diodes, transistors, and rectifiers because of their unique electrical properties. This has turned out to become a revelation that all of this could be built into the same nanotube.

The nanotube radio works differently than a conventional radio does. Conventional radios have four main functional parts: antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator.

Radio waves falling on a radio antenna create electric currents at different frequencies and when someone selects a radio station, and the tuner filters out just one of the frequencies. Thereafter, transistors amplify the signal, while a demodulator separates the data or other audio that has been encoded on a carrier electromagnetic wave.

The part where this differs from the conventional sense is that instead of picking up electromagnetic waves electrically, it picks them up mechanically. This happens because of the nanotube's natural resonance frequency.

As soon as it encounters radio waves that match the frequency, the nanotube starts vibrating in step with the waves, effectively tuning in only to that radio signal. The nanotube's vibrations change the field emission current, and the mechanical vibrations are converted into an electrical signal.

An external battery powers the field emission current and amplifies the radio signal. The field emission naturally allows current to flow only in one direction, just like the diodes and rectifiers used in demodulators. Therefore, the nanotube also acts as a demodulator and detects the music encoded onto the carrier wave.

To tune to a different radio station, the researchers change the resonance frequency of the nanotube, by simply changing the voltage applied across the electrodes, which is analogous to tuning a guitar.

This way, researchers can cover the entire FM radio band with the same nanotube, and let's look forward to what this new 'nanoradio' has to offer the world in the days to come by.

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Trendy gadgets of the week

A new solution to dental patients

Going to a dentist is a nightmare for most of the patients. They prefer an anesthesia doze when the treatment is on, to prevent a painful experience. Dutch-based RelaxView has release the RelaxView 5.0 Dental Pack, a light-weight video eyewear, to distract dental attention of the patients without side effects.

The extremely portable and comfortable device includes a head mounted display and has the capacity to showcase a cinema screen of 1.4 meters on a distance of 3 meters that offers a resolution of 640x480 and full color viewing angle of 32 degrees.

Dr. Rob Roef, a dentist in Nijmegen, the Netherlands has stated, "It is all about focus. Patients that, only occasionally see, hear, taste and smell the things that happen in dentistry tend to become very sensitive even for the more simple procedures.

The pain that people experience should not be minimized. Some people are so frightened that they require anesthetic treatment, or they simply don't seek necessary treatment until it is too late. Facilitating and helping to get the patients' focus away from pain to pleasure pays off for both the patient and the dentist."

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A new Bluetooth headset concept

A new concept has arisen in the field of Bluetooth headsets. This, which is known as Pillete, is so tiny that it is almost invisible to the untrained eye when you are wearing it.

So you don't have to worry anymore about looking like Robocop when walking down the street with it, but you have to consider the possibility of people starting to think you have lost your marbles and you are talking to yourself.

The downside is the fact that people have different sized ears and the device might be too small and slip out or too big and not fit. However, once they figure out a way to make the Pillete adjustable, this design will be the future of all headsets.

Aravinda Dassanayake