Infrared

For the first time, scientists at ICFO have managed to create a digital imaging sensor that can capture ultraviolet, infrared and visible light at the same time. What wonder materials are behind this breakthrough? No prizes for guessing it’s two of the usual suspects: graphene and quantum dots.

Consumer-grade 3D scanners tend to only handle small items, or scan with a low resolution. Now Fraunhofer has unveiled its new 3D scanner that uses infrared rays to capture objects and people in more detail, snapping up to 36 three-dimensional images per second.

Wi-Fi works by sending information via radio waves, but systems that rely on light have the potential to achieve much faster speeds. A new system uses infrared rays beamed from antennas to reach data transfer rates of over 40 Gbps, regardless of how many devices are hooking into the network.

​On cold days at the computer, we can rug up in sweaters or blankets, but by design our hands need to be free to bang away at the keyboard. The Envavo Heatbuff is a small heater that sits just above your keyboard and warms your hands, apparently without heating up your keyboard or the unit itself.

If you're tired of boring building walls, Manhattan-based experiential design firm ESI Design has a solution. The firm has outfitted Terrell Pace in the US capital Washington, DC, with 1,700 sq ft of interactive media displays that react to activity within the building.

A Canada-based startup is tuning drone technology to the rugged Canadian wilderness, launching a portable drone that can be quickly unpacked and unleashed to stream thermal images of woodlands to sniff out hikers that have wandered off course.​​

The RaspiTrap from tinkerer Alain Mauer makes use of a Raspberry Pi and camera, some IR sensors and a Wi-Fi dongle to send a photo notification when a rodent wanders into the trap and the door is closed.

Researchers at Oregon State University claim to have created a prototype system that incorporates infrared LEDs to boost the available Wi-Fi bandwidth by as much as ten times. Dubbed WiFO, the invention may help meet the ever growing need for connectivity in increasingly Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

Researchers from the University of California at Irvine are developed a stick-on covering that could let soldiers hide from infrared light. It utilizes the same protein that's found in squids' color-changing skin.

The infrared sensor installed on the ESA’s Proba-V satellite is being adapted for use back home. While it’s currently being used to provide pictures of Earth’s flora, its creators believe it’s well suited to applications such as scanning for skin diseases and spotting defects in production lines.

Former NASA engineer-turned-inventor Mark Rober thinks nuking our food shouldn't involve so much guesswork. His take on the microwave offers a thermal vision display of your food as it cooks, so you know exactly when it's time to chow down.

We're now well within the midst of a gold rush, when it comes to smartphone cases that "do things." The Raspberry Pi-based NVC (Night Vision Camera) case has its own trick up its sleeve – it lets the iPhone 6 see in the dark.