One worry about taking such work forward is that the insides of a cell are far more complicated and unpredictable than the controlled environment of a test tube.

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Mr Borkowski said there were also plans to test self-controlled surveillance blimps equipped with cameras.

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The tablet never fell to the floor, though the company did perform a separate drop test inside a controlled chamber, in which the Surface continued to record video even after plummeting three feet.

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Craig Quigley, who denied charges that conditions for Friday's test were much too controlled and that the system is not capable of discerning real warheads from decoys.

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Test pilots strapped themselves into machines of barely controlled power and complexity, and a quarter of them were killed on the job.

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The engine is mounted on a test-bed and attached to a computer-controlled dynamometer, which is used to apply an adjustable load.

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Ramdin, playing in just his fourth Test, bettered his previous top score of 56 with a controlled display, hitting six boundaries off 190 balls before nicking a catch off MacGill to Warne at slip.

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Government-controlled Ally Financial, the rescued former finance arm of General Motors, was the only bank to fail the test of capital strength.

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