When cartoon detective Dick Tracy first appeared 70 years ago, his wristwatch communicator was pure fantasy. This week IBM and Citizen announced they would recruit dozens of Dick Tracys on Japanese and US university campuses to trial a wristwatch computer early next year. Polaroid , which made cameras that developed photos on the spot, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The US firm has been struggling under a debt mountain for some months, and the announcement had been widely rumoured. They're neighbours on the periodic table of elements, but carbon and silicon are pretty much strangers in the worlds of physics and technology.
Carbon is the main building block of life, while silicon is the foundation for semiconductors.
But several promising research efforts are under way to combine the two realms, using organic polymers as material for the production of microelectronics, including transistors and displays. Inflatable loudspeakers light enough for anyone to shift could mean rock stars' roadies have had their day. Loudspeakers come in heavy, cumbersome boxes that provide an air enclosure to absorb unwanted vibration and give a fuller sound. But now two companies, SoundTube Entertainment of Park City, Utah, and Ellula Sounds of Loughborough in Leicestershire, UK, reckon an inflatable box will do the job. A woman has stunned the medical world by conceiving triplets while already 10 weeks pregnant.