Simpler LCDs
Some steps in the process of making liquid-crystal displays for laptop computers can be eliminated, making their manufacturing simpler, suggest V Vorflusev and S Kumar of the department of physics, Kent State University, USA. The researchers' experiments show that the alignment of the liquid crystal can be achieved with a single substrate, whereas two are usually required. In addition, the resulting cells switched their display state faster than conventional cells ( Science , Vol 283, No 5409).