Metamaterial is the circuit board of the future
Oxford University has come up with a way to ditch the traditional circuit board... and it could change technology as we know it
Circuit boards? Dull, dull, dull
Yep. But what if you had a circuit board made of Velcro? instead of wires and solder, science has worked out how to make conductive paths in an otherwise uniform material. Instead of carefully inserting components into pre-ordained slots, you dump them onto a surface and tell them how to connect using radio frequencies. Effectively, it’s NFC on steroids. But dull, you say?
Okay, not dull. But why?
Oh, I don’t know. Flexible, wearable gadgets? Pick ‘n’ mix hardware upgrades for your phone, tablet or TV? Easy home gadget repair? Reliability? Longevity? Streaming 4K movies and CD-quality music through the wallpaper in your house? Should I go on?
No, because it’ll never happen
Actually, boffs at Oxford University have been trying to jimmy metamaterial into the Microsoft Surface tablets due out later this month. And a USB stick has already transferred data simply by touching a metaboard. Of course, it might be hobbled by funding limits and it’s unlikely to be embraced by manufacturers who have long-standing relationships with traditional circuit board makers, but in this Kickstarter age, anything’s possible…
[via The Guardian]
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Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
