Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
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Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#2That's very interesting, considering our smallest nerve-cell -I believe- is about 4 ųm.
I'm disappointed the article doesn't mention the significance of age, or even the average age of the study.
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#3Disney Research has done some interesting work on touch screens for the visually impaired.
http://www.olivierbau.com/teslatouch.php
One of the side benefits of this kind of tech -- for everyone, not just visually impaired -- is being able to experience otherwise untouchable objects (camera takes an image, you touch the screen instead of the object).
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#4The title is a bit misleading though. Though it would be real cool, saying we can detect molecule size pattern does not mean we could read Braille alphabet on molecule size dots.
The eye can detect nanometer size patterns: we can make the difference between blue light ( radiation with a 400 nanometers wave length ) and red light ( radiation with a 800 nanometers wave length ). Does not mean we can see nanometer size objects. Bottom line, be careful talking about patterns ....
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#5In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel like a different set of buttons? I'm obviously not an electrical engineer, but I'd be interested to hear more informed opinions.
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#6In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel lik…
Yes, that is already one of many options of haptic feedback being explored actually:
> A new technique that does not require actuators is called reverse-electrovibration. A weak current is sent from a device on the user through the object they are touching to the ground. The oscillating electric field around the skin on their finger tips creates a variable sensation of friction depending on the waveform, frequency, and amplitude of the signal.
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#7In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel lik…
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Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#8"large molecule" is pretty misleading. DNA is single molecule and unrolled has length over 2 meters. Organic molecules are practically unlimited in their size.
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#9In the article they talk about making sections of a smartphone's screen feel different (permanently, I assume), but would it be possible to have a type of glass where the texture of the glass can be changed quickly and repeatedly by applying some sort of magnetic/electrical field and an app could, for example, make your phone's glass feel like it has buttons, then you could switch to another app and it would feel lik…
Simply put, glass is molecularly geometric - building actuated buttons into the glass itself isn't very probable. But a film of actuated buttons could be added much like with capacitive touch sensors today.
Microfluidics is near the 100nm range today. Throw in a bit of ferrofluid and something like this is at least plausible. The challenge is in making all this transparent. The microfluidic channels would need to not create a 'screen door effect' and the fluid transparent.
The Royal Society of Chemistry's 'Lab on Chip' Youtube Channel [1] is a good place to daydream about the future of such things.
Re: Fingers can detect nano-scale wrinkles even on a seemingly smooth surface
#10Can someone suggest a molecule I might of heard of that is 13nm in size?