Sony's freshly granted patent claims that a microphone can take on that job instead by listening to the sound your finger or stylus makes when it hits the screen and deducing force from that.
These are intended for use in flat-panel displays (in which the tips of the nanotubes are used to spray electrons on to individual phosphor elements of the screen) and atomic-force microscopes.
But wait times could lengthen if millions of dollars in mandated spending cuts force the Transportation Security Administration to trim the number of agents that screen passengers and cargo for bombs, guns and other prohibited items.
In May 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routine PSA screening (Prostate-Specific Antigen test to screen Prostate cancer) before being diagnosed as it did not benefit patients.
Other members of my laboratory will use techniques such as force spectroscopy and single-molecule assays to further investigate the compounds that I screen, providing a more complete picture of the actions of these compounds.