One application Sotzing has been working on is meat packaging with a built-in tongue that can taste the first signs of spoilage and activate a color change as a warning.

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It used a flashlight-like device to activate photo cells on the television set to change channels.

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In iA mode users can automatically activate a suite of technologies to enhance photos without adjusting settings every time conditions change.

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If hepatocytes and their genomes become disarrayed by disease, Willenbring says, it may activate oncogenes in the same way their experiment did, causing the cells to change identity and form cancers.

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