# Gadget Freaks, Prepared to be Boggled **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115 "2007-11-03T17:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/1 "2007-11-03T17:23:29Z")
[World’s smallest radio developed.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7050477.stm) > [@](#): > > US scientists have unveiled a detector thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair that can translate radio waves into sound. > > According to a University of California team, the study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in a working radio system. > > Made of carbon nanotubes a few atoms across, it is almost 1,000 times smaller than current radio technology. > > Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen incorporated the microscopic detector into a complete radio system. If you go [here](http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/) and listen to the podcast “Scientists make a molecule-sized radio” you can actually _hear_ the radio. There’s some static in it’s playback which is caused _by atoms hitting the radio!_ Not interference from stray radio signals or atmospheric problems, but by atoms smacking it. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/2 "2007-11-03T18:16:17Z")
Wow, that’s too cool. My dreams of hooking up with 7 of 9 may come true after all. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/3 "2007-11-03T18:33:35Z")
Wow! My mind is suitably boggled. What an amazing time we live in. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/4 "2007-11-03T18:40:01Z")
I can remember being impressed in the 1950s by Dick Tracy’s wrist radio, and thinking that such a thing would probably never exist in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/5 "2007-11-03T18:41:26Z")
They’re saying it could be used for implantable or hidden radios, but that’s not very impressive at this point, if you ask me. The government has been sending messages to a receiver in my brain since the mid-90’s. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/6 "2007-11-03T19:12:12Z")
Now if we could just stop all those pesky atoms from moving in the universe, we would get perfect reception! What? Oh…never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/7 "2007-11-03T19:16:15Z")
The tuning dial must be a BITCH to turn. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/8 "2007-11-04T12:53:33Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] The tuning dial must be a BITCH to turn. [/QUOTE] Not nearly as hard as plugging your earphone´s jack in it… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/9 "2007-11-04T13:16:21Z")
[QUOTE=Ale] Not nearly as hard as plugging your earphone´s jack in it… [/QUOTE] I dunno… if there’s one thing guys do well, it’s finding holes and sticking things in them, whether or not the hole wants it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/10 "2007-11-04T15:23:25Z")
I’m gonna wait until they make 'em in colors that match my wardrobe. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/11 "2007-11-04T15:41:40Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] I’m gonna wait until they make 'em in colors that match my wardrobe. [/QUOTE] That’s very prudent of you. Also, that’s fucking awesome…I almost wish I were born later. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/12 "2007-11-04T15:42:20Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] I’m gonna wait until they make 'em in colors that match my wardrobe. [/QUOTE] _Is he a dot, or is he a speck? When he’s underwater does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead? Nobody knows, Particle man_ ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gadget-freaks-prepared-to-be-boggled/425115/13 "2007-11-04T16:11:14Z")
_Particle man, Particle man goes wherever an isotope can energizes the valence rings only neutrinos can hear him sing watch out… your composed of particles, man_