Spy camera

Novel millimetre-wave cameras, which are able to ‘see’ all objects, not just metallic items, will soon replace huge metal detector gates at airports or other security points. ESA Spacecraft of Ireland has named this Tadar, after the Brazilian Tadarida bats. Tadar uses millimetre-waves to detect and identify suspicious objects hidden under clothing or to see through cloud and fog, in the same way that bats use high-frequency signals to navigate and locate insect prey in the dark. High-frequency energy pulses emitted by them bounce off objects in their path and the reflected signals are interpreted by different types of sensory cells in their brain to determine both the location and physical properties of these objects.

Flexible display

Flexible colour displays will soon be available in cartons, medicine packaging or admission tickets. At the Plastics Electronics Trade Fair in Frankfurt, Siemens’ researchers exhibited extremely thin, miniature colour displays that can be printed on paper or foil. The first displays will become available in the market in 2007. Flexible miniature displays operate using electro-chromic substances, materials that change their colour when an electrical voltage shifts charges in their molecules.