Ever wanted to rip open an NFC travel card to see how it all works? One engineer has done just that and it's way cooler than you'd think

They don't require a battery. They don't need to be plugged into anything. You just wave them at a sensor and then you're on your way to pay for goods, travel on a subway, or ride on a bus. NFC cards might appear to work by magic but it's just good old-fashioned electronic engineering. But the scale of what goes on is really incredible, as one distinguished computer scientist discovered.

That person just so happens to be Ken Shirriff, who apart from having a post doctorate in computer science and decades of experience working for Sun...