Collaborate Disseminate
Researchers have prototyped sensor-packed robot bugs that mimic biological digestive systems to meet energy needs, employ a Janus interface for a steady supply of nutrients and move on the water’s surface like a water strider.Continue ReadingCategory: … Continue reading Water-skimming Ocean-of-Things bugbots run on bacteria-powered fuel cells
‘Pandemic gardens’ were almost as popular as new pets and sourdough starters during 2020, but many of us learnt the hard way that indoor greenery is not always the easiest thing to keep healthy (or alive). This little gadget is out to change all of tha… Continue reading Clever gadget makes it (near) impossible to kill your houseplants
In this Help Net Security video, Sonu Shankar, Chief Strategy Officer at Phosphorus, discusses how Blackjack’s Fuxnet malware should be a wakeup call to industrial operators about the vulnerability of sensor networks and the outsized impact these attac… Continue reading Fuxnet malware: Growing threat to industrial sensors
As computing power increases with each new iteration of processors, actual power consumption tends to increase as well. All that waste heat has to go somewhere, and while plenty of …read more Continue reading Upgrading PC Cooling With Software
What if you could rebuild a jellyfish: better, stronger, faster than it was before? Caltech now has the technology to build bionic jellyfish. Studying the ocean given its influence on …read more Continue reading The Six Million Dollar Jellyfish
Using a 3D-printed material sensitive to electric fields, researchers have created a novel sensor that can accurately recognize and distinguish objects up to 10 centimeters – about four inches – away without needing to touch them physically. The touchl… Continue reading Hypersensitive touch sensor ‘feels’ things from 4 inches away
Really interesting research: “Lend Me Your Ear: Passive Remote Physical Side Channels on PCs.”
Abstract:
We show that built-in sensors in commodity PCs, such as microphones, inadvertently capture electromagnetic side-channel leakage from ongoing computation. Moreover, this information is often conveyed by supposedly-benign channels such as audio recordings and common Voice-over-IP applications, even after lossy compression.
Thus, we show, it is possible to conduct physical side-channel attacks on computation by remote and purely passive analysis of commonly-shared channels. These attacks require neither physical proximity (which could be mitigated by distance and shielding), nor the ability to run code on the target or configure its hardware. Consequently, we argue, physical side channels on PCs can no longer be excluded from remote-attack threat models…
Researchers have developed contact lenses with embedded sensors that measure the pressure inside the eye and send the information to an ophthalmologist for evaluation. It’s hoped that the lens will lead to the early diagnosis of glaucoma, which can lea… Continue reading New contact lenses monitor changes in eye pressure to diagnose glaucoma
Soft robotic devices often need to sense both mechanical deformation and changes in temperature, requiring multiple integrated sensors. ChromoSense technology, however, combines both functions in one simple, robust, color-changing device.Continue Readi… Continue reading Smart sensor uses color to monitor deformation and temperature
They’re not that good:
Security researchers Jesse D’Aguanno and Timo Teräs write that, with varying degrees of reverse-engineering and using some external hardware, they were able to fool the Goodix fingerprint sensor in a Dell Inspiron 15, the Synaptic sensor in a Lenovo ThinkPad T14, and the ELAN sensor in one of Microsoft’s own Surface Pro Type Covers. These are just three laptop models from the wide universe of PCs, but one of these three companies usually does make the fingerprint sensor in every laptop we’ve reviewed in the last few years. It’s likely that most Windows PCs with fingerprint readers will be vulnerable to similar exploits…