Science

One of the most exciting, applicable but often ignored areas of technology research is that involving the development of prosthetics. A new project aims to give amputees the ability to reacquire limb functionality by effectively connecting the brain ... to a prosthetic limb through a computer interface. A first look at the new technology may cause some film fans to shudder. That's because the new prosthetics, free of their synthetic skin and flesh, look eerily similar to the exoskeleton used in the movie 'The Terminator'. New Technology Transfers 'Feeling' to the Brain The technology allows ... (view more)

Tired of the stress associated with fighting traffic on your daily commute? General Motors (GM) predicts such battles could be a thing of the past by the end of this decade. The company recently forecasted a rise in the number of driverless cars ... before 2020. In a recent report, GM notes that there are a number of reasons to look forward to a driverless future. For one, the Detroit-based company believes such technology would see to a 15 per cent reduction in fuel consumption and says that, as the tech improves, reductions could actually increase as time goes on. (Source: tested.com ) The ... (view more)

If you're a big fan of the 'Back to the Future' movies, you'll be very pleased to hear that the company which produced the films' iconic vehicle, DeLorean, will soon release an electric version of the slick ride. Called the DMCEV, the car will go ... into production in 2013 and cost $90,000. The exotic DeLorean, complete with hard edges and gulf-winged doors, is undoubtedly a big part of 1980s pop culture. Featured in all three 'Back to the Future' films, the vehicle has remained a cult favorite in the years since. The DeLorean Motor Co., which is based in Humble, Texas, to this day continues to ... (view more)

Wildlife researchers have created the first ever "smart" collar for animals in the wild that is able to track and record their daily patterns in ways never before thought imaginable. Thanks to a series of tests featuring a ten-year-old captive ... female mountain lion, researchers were able to develop a "library of signatures" to identify nearly every kind of animal movement. The collar itself utilizes a combination of global positioning technology and accelerometers to measure the metabolic inner life of the animal when leaping, running or sleeping. The end result, as University of California ... (view more)

Many adults avoid regular visits to the dentist -- oftentimes because they're afraid of discovering a cavity, or worse. Having a tooth cavity filled can be time-consuming, costly, and an unpleasant experience. But the fears of many might soon ... subside, as scientists have been working to create a high tech dental gel that makes trips to the dentist virtually painless. The anti-cavity dental gel, developed at the University of Leeds' School of Chemistry, penetrates the microscopic pores of a decaying tooth. The gel actually contains a peptide (called P 11-4) that develops into fibers and acts ... (view more)

The number of organ donors in North America is consistently lower than the number awaiting a donation. Now Organovo, a biotech company based in San Francisco, is attempting to save thousands of lives with their "organ printer" that is supposedly ... able to create artificial blood vessels made entirely from human cells. While it might sound like a wishful, futuristic endeavor, the way an "organ printer" operates is incredible. An Assortment of Printable Cell-Types Instead of dispensing ink (as with a traditional printer) the "organ printer" uses two robotic tips that deposit an ... (view more)

A recently published report from NASA's Planetary Science Division and Pennsylvania State University suggests that poor pollution habits on Earth could not only lead to the destruction of humanity as whole, but may even result in a preemptive strike ... fired by environmentally-friendly alien life forms. (Source: about.com ) The idea of aliens saving the galaxy from polluting humans is certainly a unique perspective. The completed study, entitled "Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis," suggests that aliens might destroy humanity before it ... (view more)

Do you remember the 2002 movie Minority Report, in which police used a synthesized computer system to predict crimes before they happened? Flash forward 9 years later in the year 2011 and detecting pre-crime is now a reality. Police officers in ... Santa Cruz, California have had tremendous success in combating crime this past month. Their good fortune can be attributed to the launch of a new computer program that is able to predict key locations for criminal activity and deploy officers before any actual wrongdoing occurs. The computer program, which is updated daily, generates predictions about ... (view more)

Jodie Foster was the star of Hollywood's 1997 science fiction film 'Contact', but encountering extraterrestrial life forms isn't just made for movies, it seems. Instead, it was recently revealed that the big-name actress is fully behind a project ... that seeks to prove that Earth is not the only planet boasting intelligent life. According to a new report, Foster recently made a donation to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute based in California. It was an important move for the institute, which in recent years has faced steadily increasing funding cuts. Donation Helps ... (view more)

Just when you thought that innovations could not get any more compact, a new report out of Rice University is claiming that scientists have been able to construct a working battery that is six times thinner in size than a bacterium. The microscopic ... battery measures 150 nanometers in width, meaning that it is literally hundreds of times thinner than a human hair follicle, and more than 60,000 times smaller than a regular AAA battery. Battery / Supercapacitor Hybrid The diminutive power pack is manufactured by the thousands in dense arrays. It is actually a cross between a battery and a ... (view more)