Technology and Society News

Archaeological treasures are brought to life by Fraunhofer software. Real images are enriched with digital information on a virtual tour through ancient buildings, creating a more vivid experience for the museum visitor.

A dozen years into the "1 to 1" computing movement's push to pair every schoolchild and teacher with a laptop, studies show the students in these programs outperformed their peers in traditional classrooms, according to researchers.

Communication is a central aspect of everyday life, a fact that is reflected in the wide variety of ways that people exchange information, not only with words, but also using their face and body.

A group of scientists has succeeded in creating the first transistor made from a single molecule.

A recent AFOSR-funded technology should enable the Air Force to achieve advances in object and target detection technology by using sophisticated algebraic theories called groups, rings and fields.

Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts predict results of many different possible military and policy actions.

A study at Örebro University in Sweden indicates that mobile phones and other cordless telephones have a biological effect on the brain. It is still too early to say if any health risks are involved, but medical researcher recommends caution.

Researchers can use 3-D facial images, or combine 2-D images of the face with 3-D models of the ear, which they construct from a sequence of video frames, to identify people by unique facial features and ear shapes.

Cyber criminals are using fake messages claiming to be from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to deliver a virus capable of stealing unsuspecting victims' bank passwords and other sensitive personal information.

The latest technology in optics and lasers will be on display at the Optical Society's (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO), which takes place Oct. 11-15 at the Fairmont San Jose Hotel and the Sainte Claire Hotel in San Jose, Calif.