March of Progress Dept.: 4 new ideas & inventions

New scientific and technological ideas worth checking out:

• Researchers say they can divine the power structure of an organization just by examining who sends e-mail to whom.

• It's not quite a universal translator a la "Star Trek" but SpeechGear's portable speech translator works well enough to have caught the U.S. Navy's interest.

• A cell phone powered by shots of vodka? Could happen.

• Or, if you'd rather put the vodka to some other use, a U.K. company has developed a way to recharge electronic devices without cords or plugs.