iCandy: January 2010

A new flight simulator being tested by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tübingen, Germany, makes it possible to gauge the reactions of pilots to mock hazards, so simulator makers can enhance student pilots' training for emergency maneuvers. 

Soon, the patterns and designs on clothes will not be just for aesthetics. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, have developed solar cells the size of the pieces of glitter you used in school art projects. If mounted on flexible substrates attached to fabric, they could turn an ordinary shirt into a charging station for your cellphone or digital camera.

Australian amateur scientist Peter Terren has made an art out of letting the sparks fly. He makes electric sculptures like the one pictured here by sending up to 500 000 volts through Tesla coils and other materials he picks up at his local hardware store.

Having a hard time keeping up with your cellphone? Mobile electronics maker Kempler & Strauss just introduced a US $199.99 mobile phone that straps to your wrist. The W Phonewatch (which is Bluetooth enabled, so you don’t have to hold conversations with your arm up against the side of your head) is also a camcorder and an MP3 player.

Roboticists at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy, have designed the world’s first automaton housekeeper for keeping public places tidy, the DustCart. The work was funded by the European Union as part of the continent’s DustBot project, aimed at improving the cleanliness of urban areas.

Researchers from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collected samples from the West Mata volcano when it was erupting and producing a stream of lava and superheated water. The robotic arm was set up at the mouth of the crater, 1200 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Samoa.

This group of students at a high school in Hyderabad, India, have congregated around a computer monitor for an interactive lesson with a “Skype granny,” one of a group of British retirees who, via the Internet, share their knowledge with impoverished children who don’t have access to a full complement of teachers where they live.

You’re walking through the streets of Rome, Tokyo, or New York City and you spot a beautiful building that isn’t listed in your guidebook or indicated on your tourist map. No problem. A new augmented reality app from Google will tell you what you’re looking at. Just snap a picture of the building with your cellphone and the app compares the image with millions of objects and landmarks in its database.