This report provides an overview of the current state of circularity in the electronics value chain in Africa, identifies key areas of concern, provides appropriate recommendations, and proposes priority actions to improve circularity of the sector. The recommendations focus on the individual life cycle stages of the electronics value chain, …
That voltage fluctuations and frequency variations spoil the fun of hi-fi digital sound systems is the complaint of many a music fan. PS Audio, a company based in Avon, Colorado, USA, has developed a device worth US $1,000 that delivers a pure waveform when plugged into the electricity mains. The …
imagine a robot that recognises and understands you and carries out every command of yours. nec, a Japanese company, says that its new robot, r100, can process spoken commands. Says Aston Bridgeman, a nec spokesperson: "The robot is more of a prototype for interaction and communication. Till recently, home robots …
despite tremendous advances in the field of microelectronics, the material used in almost all electronic devices is still silicon. This is because no other material has the electrical properties of silicon, combined with the ease with which it can be fabricated into useful circuits. It is also true that the …
one of the cherished goals of material scientists has been a circuit that has photons of light moving in it, instead of electrons. Such a circuit would not only be several times faster and efficient than the conventional electronic one, but could also be seamlessly integrated into other opto-electronic components. …
one of the basis of the tremendous revolution in electronics has been the enormous advances in materials science. Whether it is the accuracy of photolithography or the ability to fabricate extremely pure materials, microelectronics would not be possible without concomitant growth of material science. An important requirement for the fabrication …
the technological advances in lasers never cease to surprise. But the recent discovery of laser action in a light-trapping powder by scientists at the Northwestern University is astonishing. The importance of such powder lasers is that they could revolutionise flat panel displays which are an essential part of many consumer …
it was first done in the 1960s. Then a few disastrously expensive projects in 1980s and that was it: the birth and death of three-dimensional ( 3d ) films happened within just three decades. Of course, 3d dreams still surface occasionally, within television manufacturers, virtual reality enthusiasts and computer game …
In an age where every mode of communication is going either "electronic' or "digital', how can good, old pens be left stranded in ancient times? Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, is patenting its "electronic ink' technology. This involves an electronic "page' that sandwiches a suspension of coloured particles in …
COG and Kismet are "brothers". They might not share the same blood, but they definitely share a microchip or two. Their parents, several scientists wracking their brains to come up with intelligent, artificial life forms, are trying to "teach" this robotic duo a thing or two about the world they …
Sharp, the Japanese electronics giant, says that illusions created when head-mounted video displays are used to display films could be made to appear more natural. At present, the viewer sees an image on a liquid crystal display (LCD) suspended in space. But Sharp is currently working on a head-mounted viewing …
Plastic electronics is by now fairly common; polymer-based transis-tors and fabricated polymer light emitting diodes (LEDs). But now researchers in the US and the UK have reported integrating the two to develop an organic transistor. They are using it to drive a polymer-based LED which is built on top of …
SILICON is quintessential to microelectronics. Since the first transistor, silicon has been the element of choice in the manufacture and fabrication of the chips which form the heart of all microelectronics. But now, Sander 1 Tans and his collaborators at the Delft Institute of Technology, the Netherlands, have reported the …
radio stations that sound almost as good as a compact disc could be with us soon. Broadcasters in Europe and Canada are already testing these high-quality digital broadcasts, but the special sets needed to receive them are so expensive that nobody is making them. Now, a British company has come …
After the digital pets, Japans latest contribution to alternative technology is the "lovegety', which aims to get lonely hearts fixed up with blind dates. It is basically a thumb-sized transmitter-receiver. If a man's lovegety picks up a signal from a woman's lovegety (and vice versa) less than 10 metres away, …
Do you want to know what your baby or pet is trying to tell you? Well, thanks to Japanese inventor Yamamoto Masomi of Yokohama, understanding baby or pet talk will never be difficult again. He is patenting a system that might help you comprehend what exactly your baby or pet …
A high-quality Video Home System (VHS) video machine has been developed by Japan's electronic giant JVC. Around a decade back, the company had tried to launch a superior video system, called Super-VHS, but this flopped as it was not compatible with the existing VHS tapes and recorders. Like the Super-VHS, …
optoelectronics has revolutionised the field of communications. With lasers, optical switches and fibber optics, the data-transfer rates routinely achieved now on optical networks are thousands of time those of their conventional counterparts. In the last few years, there have been many advances in optoelectronics which have made this possible. Now …
Researchers have developed a hybrid pollution sensor in the form of a bioluminescent bacteria placed on a standard microchip. A common bacteria is genetically altered to glow in the presence of certain pollutants. This is placed in a porous polymer on the surface of a chip which contains a photo-detector. …
Staring at the Sun Welcome to Roque de los Muchaches, one of the Island of La Palma in the Canaries. This mountain is littered with the eerie domes of astronomical telescopes. But amid the white domes, another unworldly structure rises on seemingly fragile metal legs. It is the Dutch Open …
thousands of robotic pikes may soon help reveal why fish are so much more efficient at swimming than they should be. The first free-swimming robotic fish is nearing completion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( mit ), usa . John Kumph and his colleagues at the department of ocean …
