Not new news, this research has been going on for years,the most 'smart' valve is the one in a camless engine,where the valves are operated by solonids..many engines have been built in R&D projects by people like Riccardo & Cosworth, Cosworh do have engines without conventional valve springs and use nitrogen bags.As the solonoids improve the realm of a camless engine gets closer...the camshaft is the last major compromise in the internal combustion engine.FWIW in the late '70's Ford,PolyMotor,DuPont etc were all doing research into this,I spent a few months on the PolyMotor project myself whilst at Ford R&D...so dont scoff too much,within a few years cams will be 'old tech'....
