Researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with a tiny solar power system, that could ostensibly keep itself powered for a long time. Theoretically, this could go on forever, but the batteries have to be replaced after a few years. The tiny system measures 2.5mm x 3.5mm x 1mm, with a volume of just 9 cubic mm, making it a lot smaller than conventional solar powered systems. The solar panel and battery are accompanied by an ARM processor that could actually get a few things done by the tiny system.
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Google Earth Application Maps Carbon's Course
Google Earth now has an application to show Earth’s carbon dioxide cycle and can show carbon dioxide in different layers of the atmosphere. Google recently held a contest to show scientific data using KML, the data format used for Google Earth. Tyler Erickson from Michigan Tech Research Institute responded to the call, and with help from NASA-funded researcher Anna Michalak of the University of Michigan, created an application to display the carbon cycle.