We're well aware that almost all technological appliances are getting smaller and smaller but now US scientists have unveiled a detector thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair that can translate radio waves into sound.
According to a University of California team, the study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in a working radio system.
According to a University of California team, the study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in a working radio system.
It's the kind of technology that Q in the James Bond films could only dream about!
Made of carbon nanotubes a few atoms across, it is almost 1,000 times smaller than current radio technology.
Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen incorporated the microscopic detector into a complete radio system. They used it to transmit classical music wirelessly from an iPod to a speaker several metres away from the music player.
Full details of their findings will be published next month in the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters.
"Though we have only demonstrated the critical component of the entire radio system out of a nanotube (the demodulator), it is conceivable in the future that all components could be nanoscale, thus allowing a truly nanoscale wireless communications system," they write.
Made of carbon nanotubes a few atoms across, it is almost 1,000 times smaller than current radio technology.
Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen incorporated the microscopic detector into a complete radio system. They used it to transmit classical music wirelessly from an iPod to a speaker several metres away from the music player.
Full details of their findings will be published next month in the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters.
"Though we have only demonstrated the critical component of the entire radio system out of a nanotube (the demodulator), it is conceivable in the future that all components could be nanoscale, thus allowing a truly nanoscale wireless communications system," they write.
