The lenses that the researchers have developed are made of a kind of electrochromic polymer, a material that can alter its levels of darkness and color in response to an electric current. The glasses only require power when they change hue.

So far Xu and her colleagues have developed prototype shades that resemble a pair of lab goggles with a dial attached onto the frame. Turning this dial activates the tiny watch battery powering the goggles and dials up the desired color. A single watch battery can power thousands of changes, Xu said. The researchers presented their findings Tuesday at the American Chemical Society annual meeting.

In the lab, the researchers have shown their glasses can quickly switch from transparent to blue, plus various shades in between, at the flip of a switch, requiring minimal energy consumption. "We are working on a multicolored device as well, but no prototype is available yet," Xu said.


The chemists have also created red and green electrochromic polymers, but currently they are not yet as stable as the scientists would like, University of Washington materials scientist Minoru Taya told LiveScience. By combining polymers of different colors into multiple layers, virtually any hue of the rainbow should be possible in the lenses.

Ultimately, smart sunglasses could be produced to resemble the size and shape of regular shades for about the same cost, Xu said. Like regular sunglasses, smart ones could be coated with protective layers to screen out damaging ultraviolet light. Still, these kinds of sunglasses won't be available to consumers for another two or three years, as more testing is needed, Xu said.

Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman's chest. The dog's owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.

Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the Cecil Whig she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn't work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.

"The next [thing] I know, Toby's up on his hind feet and he's got his front paws on my shoulders," she recalled. "He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest."

That's when the apple dislodged and Toby started licking her face to keep her from passing out, she said. "I literally have pawprint-shaped bruises on my chest. I'm still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I'm OK," Parkhurst said.

DECATUR — Scott Wiese's rush to become Peyton Manning was sacked by a judge Monday: She ruled he cannot change his name to that of the star quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. Wiese said that Macon County Circuit Judge Katherine McCarthy told him the name change was too confusing and risked infringing the privacy of the football player.

"I had told the judge that I was not doing this because I wanted to change my name, but I was doing it because I was honoring a bet," Wiese said. "I think she understood that." His lawyer and friend, Andy Bourey, thought going in that Wiese had a 50-50 chance of getting away with the name change. "The judge had to do a kind of balancing test, to see if the reason he was changing his name was outweighed by the consequences of what he was changing his name to," said Bourey, 30. "She was really good-hearted about it all, and I think she had a little bit of mercy for him because I am sure she knew this wasn't something he was excited about doing."

Two people overjoyed at Monday's court outcome were Wiese's parents, Debbie and Steve. They had filed an official objection to the name change with the court. "Wiese is our family name, and we're proud of it," said Debbie, 54. "And we just thought that if he was going to change his name, it should be for a better reason than that. I also didn't want to go through the rest of my life calling my son 'Peyton Manning.'"

While he pledged to take on the new identity, Wiese isn't sure how long he's willing to keep it. Say, maybe, until the Bears' next Super Bowl appearance? Not likely, given that their last trip to the big game was in 1985. "I mean, well, it may be another 21 years."

Chud: What was your favorite thing about working on Blades of Glory?
Jenna: Working on the film was great. Those guys are really funny. I'm a huge Arrested Development fan, so I had to work really hard not to freak out on Will Arnett for as long as possible and then I broke down and told him how my favorite episode was 'Afternoon Delight' from season two when he's wearing the expensive suit and keeps telling people how much it cost. I did that to him around week two.

Chud: First big movie out of the gate since The Office, why did you decide this was going to be the one for you?
Jenna: It goes like this; your agent call you up and says "there's this movie with Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Jon Heder, would you like to be in that film? Do you want to read the script?" And I said "Don't need to read that script, already know I want to be in that movie". When I was offered the part in this movie, The Office wasn't really The Office yet so I felt lucky to be included in this cast.

Chud: Are you being offered comedies for the most part?
Jenna: Yeah, but some dramatic roles or some movies that are more like a dramedy. Not everything is a high concept comedy.

Chud: Are there other genres you'd like to play around in?
Jenna: Not so much. I'm sensitive to the fact that I bring the energy of what I'm doing home with me and I'd much rather have that comedic energy in my life. I think doing dramas would really weigh on me; that would be a big choice for me, doing drama, that would be inviting a kind of darkness. That would be hard.

Chud: Was it nerve-racking to take your clothes off for this movie?
Jenna: No. On screen its two minutes but on set it was twelve hours and twelve hours of constant boob play, I mean it was great for the first three, four or five hours but then, I mean seriously, give a girl a break. But Will was a nice guy about it.

Chud: So Will was nice when it came to touching your breasts?
Jenna: Definitely. If you have an opportunity for Will to play with your boobs, he's a master.

Chud: The scene with Jon (Heder) where you first kiss. How many takes was that?
Jenna: That was five hours and my memory of that is that he tasted like snow cones. All it said in the script was 'They Kiss' and we thought these are two people who had never kissed anyone in their lives and they're pretty late into their lives to be experiencing their first kiss so what does that look like? So Jon keeps his mouth closed and I open my mouth and french the outside of his face really graphic and passionate. So that's what we did. That was our take on the best worst kiss.

In one scene, at the end of the movie, the director kept coming to us take after take telling us this is the final kiss of the movie, really go for it. And we're like, 'OK!" And we really went for it and he came back over and said 'Really go for it, really, passionately go for it' and we really go for it again. Finally the director comes up and says 'What I'm trying to say is you guys need to use some tongue. You keep opening your mouths and stage kissing'. We were so innocent; Jon and I had never really done that before, had a passionate on-stage kiss so we were completely stage kissing; open mouths but tongues pushes back so as not to offend the other person. I'm sure that footage is interesting.

[Kal Penn] will be a guest instructor at the University of Pennsylvania during the spring 2008 semester. Penn, 29, will teach two undergraduate courses, tentatively titled, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films," the school announced Monday.

"The Asian American Studies Program is delighted that Kalpen Modi, aka Kal Penn, chose our program to host his teaching engagement at Penn," program director Grace Kao said. "Mr. Modi is one of the leading Asian American actors of his generation and is particularly aware of how his racial and ethnic identification has affected his professional experiences." Students can enroll in the courses as Asian American studies or cinema studies programs in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences, Kao said.

Penn co-starred with John Cho, who played Harold Lee, in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle." His screen credits also include "Epic Movie," "Van Wilder" and "Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj." He recently finished shooting "Harold & Kumar 2" with Cho.

The university said Penn, a native of Montclair, N.J., received a bachelor's degree in sociology with a specialization in theater, film and television from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is pursuing a graduate certificate in international security at Stanford University.