Researchers have developed a highly-sensitive, miniaturized, mobile ozone sensor that can be used not only in the air, but also in water and near explosive gases. Ozone is a powerful oxidising agent that can cause a wide range of symptoms in humans, including irritation of the mucous membranes in the mouth, throat, and bronchial tubes, headaches, coughing, and even deterioration in lung function.

One particularly important area of application involves the regular measurement of ozone content in the air and other media. Project manager Volker Cimalla of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF (Germany) explained: “Since ozone is an agent with high application potential, novel sensors are required, which have to be compact and affordable”.

The main sources of ozone pollution are industrial and transport emissions; particularly in warmer weather, these react with intensive ultraviolet (UV) radiation to form ground-level ozone. Laser printers and copiers, machines prevalent in modern-day offices, can also emit ozone, says a Fraunhofer Institute release. The European Commission has announced its intention to cut the guideline value for ozone in the air from the current level of 90 parts per billion to 60 parts per billion by 2010, and when this new regulation comes into force, there will be an increased demand for inexpensive ozone sensors.

How many of you out there use Bluetooth headsets in your everyday communications over your handset? It is more or less a love it or hate it affair with the majority of folks, since the feeling of having a foreign body hanging off one ear while impeding your hearing is a turn off for some, while others thrive on knowing they are able to pick up a call regardless of where they are. Jabra has been around the Bluetooth town for many years already, and their recent release, the EXTREME Bluetooth headset looks ready to make a splash. This device comes with a new innovation known as Noise Blackout Extreme which has its roots in Jabra’s distinguished heritage in noise cancelling technologies, relying on dual microphones and automatic volume control that dramatically enhances call quality. Apart from that, you will also experience double the background noise reduction (24 decibels) compared to the previous iteration of Noise Blackout technology at 12 decibels.

Just in case you were wondering whether the EXTREME Bluetooth headset is comfortable to wear, we are pleased to inform you that the EXTREME comes with a unique new Ultimate-fit Eargel that was specially developed to guarantee superior comfort even when you wear it throughout the entire working day. Making a debut at the recently concluded CES 2010, Jabra claims that the EXTREME will relegate poor quality calls to a distant memory. With all the technology packed in, you can be sure that the caller will never sound like a robot.

Artificial skin covering prosthetics and humanoid robots might resemble real skin to the ‘T’, but when touched the difference is apparent.

John-John Cabibihan at the National University of Singapore and colleagues from Italy, Norway and France, have found that fake skin responds very differently to being touched.

For the study, they subjected silicone or polyurethane fingertips to a series of physical tests to explore how they stretch, deform and spring back into shape when compared to real fingertips, reports New Scientist.

Their tests involved tapping the fingertip on a surface, and deforming it with a probe.The results revealed that the two artificial materials, like real skin, can deform to closely match an outside force.The difference is that much more force is needed to achieve the same effect.In addition, the moment you probe artificial fingertips, they spring back into shape in a much more predictable manner than human skin does.The researchers have said that for a truly human feel, designers of artificial skin should start using similar experiments to inform their choice of materials and fingertip design.