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LONDON: IBM researchers have shown the possibility of using a network of tiny pipes of water to cool next-generation PC chips.

Experts at the firm have created a prototype device that has thousands of “hair-width” cooling arteries, which they believe may be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.

The researchers demonstrated the technology in IBM's 3D chips, where circuits are stacked one on top of the other.

They say that vertical laying of chips, rather than side by side, reduces the distance data has to travel, enhances performance and saves critical space.

"As we package chips on top of each other....we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don't scale. In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling," the BBC quoted Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory as saying.

He said that conventional cooling techniques, which involve the use of fans and heat sinks, do not work as well with the 3D technology, particularly as heat has to be drawn away from between the individual chips.

According to him, piping water through sealed tubes just 50 microns in diameter between individual layers of the chip seems to offer a solution to the problem.

The researchers suggest that water is much more efficient than air at absorbing heat, and thus even with tiny amounts of liquid flowing through could show a dramatic effect.

IBM experts believe that its water-cooling technology could be available as a product in five years.

source: TOI

LONDON: If clumps of your hair suddenly start falling out due to a common form of premature baldness, please don't fret -- scientists have pioneered a treatment to clone hair.

According to them, the technique, known as follicular cell implantation, works by replicating remaining hair strands and it could eventually help bald people to regain a full head of their own hair, The Daily Telegraph reported.

In fact, the technique has the potential to re-grow a limitless supply hair for individuals who have become bald during cancer treatment, from suffering severe burns, or the onset of age, the researchers said.

However, the treatment may require more than 1,000 tiny injections to produce that number of hair in extensively bald patients, but it promises to be quicker and less invasive than current hair transplant techniques.

The procedure is being developed by Intercytex, a British company based in Manchester, which is among many competing to find a cure for hair loss -- a condition which affects 40 per cent of men over 50.

Trial results have indicated that the cell therapy can increase hair count in at least two thirds of patients after six months, and four out of five if the scalp is stimulated beforehand through gentle abrasions which encourage growth.

The therapy could be made available to patients within five years, the researchers hoped.

source: TOI

WASHINGTON: Those who find it difficult to tell their partners how much they love them need not worry anymore, thanks to a new ‘Cyrano Suit’ that can provide enough confidence to a shy man to express his feelings confidently.

The suit has been designed to give its wearer the scripts/notes to act and perform as sensible and gentlemen with confidence.

It also provides the wearer the lines that may help him reveal his un-shown true feelings.

Apparently, the suit is also capable of suggesting what topics one should discuss with the woman in front of him.

Its designer Eugene Ahn claims that she has embedded a series of sensors in the suit’s arms and chest, which detect physical interaction with a woman.

She says that the system also uses a hacked receipt printer to deliver romantic lines straight to the breast pocket of the wearer.

“What it prints depends on the distance to the woman,” Wired News quoted her as saying.