Tech Scrape

The company hopes a “smart pedal” will help defuse criticism. In the wake of a massive public-relations nightmare involving brake problems in its cars, Toyota is investigating two more reports this week of unintended acceleration in its vehicles. Both cases involved Priuses: one in Harrison, NY, that resulted in a crash, and the other on an interstate east of San Diego.

A new tool explores large sets of data–and might help organize the Web. “How do you take a big collection of things and make sense out of it?” asks Gary Flake , founder and director of Microsoft Live Labs , a division of the software giant that designs experimental Web tools. The problem is becoming more common, even for the average user, because the Web makes huge quantities of information readily available.

New technology being tested could provide a noninvasive approach to treating stroke. An ultrasound device designed to produce highly focused sound waves might one day be used to break up stroke-causing blood clots in the brain without surgery or drugs. So far, the system has only been tested on clots in test tubes and animals, but researchers aim to start human tests by the end of 2011.

Francis Collins’s book offers optimism but no grand plan. In the final pages of his new book about personalized medicine, Francis Collins offers a compelling vision of the future via a fictional character named Hope, born on January 1, 2000. Collins describes a world where Hope and most other people have had the entirety of their DNA sequenced and integrated with predictive models that make suggestions about diet, lifestyle, and treatments to optimize their health. The result for Hope is a healthy and productive life beyond age 100.

A nano diamond agent is 15 times more sensitive.

Carbon dioxide captured from power plants could make geothermal energy more practical.