Symwave demos USB3

This week's SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference, in San Jose, California, marks a significant milestone in the march towards the next generation of USB devices, says Gizmag.

The first public release of the Revision 1.0 Specification USB 3.0 coincides with a demonstration by Symwave of the first device to meet this new standard, which at 10 times faster than current USB transfer rates, will save a lot of people a lot of time.

With 10 billion USB devices shipped to date, the Superspeed USB technology is backwards compatible with USB 2.0, improving power consumption as well as enabling faster connections.

A small infrared sensor currently under development at the University of Massachusetts Medical School promises to detect impending shock earlier than any other non-invasive test, says the Technology Review.

Patients with severe injuries or serious infections run the risk of circulatory shock - a life-threatening condition in which the blood can't supply tissues with enough oxygen and nutrients.

The device beams near-infrared light through the skin over an arm or leg muscle, where it travels through fat and reflects off muscle tissue and back to the monitor. Based on the spectrum of the reflected light, computer algorithms determine the oxygen, pH, and hematocrit levels in the blood.

Three emerging technologies have the potential to significantly improve supplies of drugs to combat malaria, according to a report published today, reports Africa Science News.

With renewed efforts to eradicate malaria - a disease which kills up to one million people every year, most of them young children - the global demand for anti-malarials is set to increase dramatically over the next four years.

The report, launched at a special meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Malaria at Westminster, assesses a portfolio of new technologies, collectively known as The Artemisinin Enterprise.