Washington, October 2: University of Michigan researchers have come up with a system that can enable computer chips to work around all functional bugs, including the ones that have not been detected as yet.

Their idea is to build a virtual fence that prevents a chip from operating in untested configurations.

The researchers say that their approach keeps track of all the configurations Intel processor may encounter, and loads the information onto a minuscule monitor that would be added to each processor.

Recently a ‘biodegradable’ phone has been introduced by Sony Ericson, The phone reportedly will be made of materials like the bio-plastic, recycled plastic keypads, zero charger that has 3.5mW standby power. 

To add more, it will come in an eco-friendly packaging and to reduce paper waste, the manuals would be digital. 

London, Oct 1 : A winged robot, inspired by dragonfly, called the ExoFly, would soon be guiding planetary rovers on the bumpy surfaces of Mars.

The ExoFly will first be sent out first to explore the terrain of the red planet, reports New Scientist.

Team member Tanja Zegers of the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, said that the rover would then be directed towards any sites of interest by the easiest route.

One predecessor of the ExoFly, called DelFly, has already been developed at the Technical University of Delft.

However, ExoFly has to flap its wings much faster than DelFly to stay aloft in the thin atmosphere of Mars.

Similarly, other ExoFlies would also be tailored to their host planets or moons.

Washington, Oct 1 : Researchers suggest that active, hands-on experience can be an immensely effective way of improving infants'' ability of learning.

The team has found that infants who had an opportunity to use a plastic cane to get an out-of-reach toy were better able to understand the goal of another person''s use of a similar tool than were infants who had previously only watched an adult use a cane to retrieve a toy.

"Acting on the world is one way infants learn about the world, and only recently have there been studies showing that active, hands-on experience is a more effective way of learning than watching," said Jessica Sommerville, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and lead author of a study.

London, Oct 1 : With advertisers finding it increasingly difficult to capture the attention of consumers during programme breaks, ITV is developing a new technology that may address the issue.

While watching their favourite programmes, television viewers usually like to fast-forward through advertising breaks.

Now, ITV is developing a new form of unavoidable advertisement that can be embedded in television programmes.

The new technology, developed for ITV by Keystream, a Californian company, uses complex computer algorithms to find clear space, such as blue sky or blank walls, in video footage in which to display logos or messages.