Eric Hartwell's InfoWeb

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Snails Edge Out ADSL [Slashdot: 4/26/2005] Following experiments last year, and after long preparations, a group of IT geeks in Israel has successfully proved that certain gastropods called African giant snails can be faster then ADSL and ... pigeons. The system used, called SNAP (SNAil-based data transfer Protocol), uses biological carriers (snails), and, for the first time, taking advantages of the unique merits of the wheel for data transfer. In spite of the relatively slow speed of the biological carrier, the SNAP system transfers data much faster than conventional technologies.

Innovative fountain pen writes on the nanoscale [ScienceDaily 2005-04-27] The first practical fountain pen was invented in 1884. Now fountain pen history is repeating itself in the tiny world of nanoscale writing. Researchers at Northwestern University have demonstrated writing at the sub-100 nanometer molecular scale in fountain-pen fashion. The ink on the reservoir is driven through the microchannel via capillary action to reach the dispensing tip. At present, the smallest feature width achieved with the device is 40 nanometers. [Small Journal reference; Full article: 177K pdf]