Researchers at Harvard University have made several small mechanical devices powered by heart muscle harvested from rats. The mechanical devices include pumps, a device that "walks," and one that swims. The scientists made the novel machines to study the behavior of muscles and provide a platform for testing heart drugs. But one day these devices could be used as parts of new types of robots that can change shape.Neato. There is a lot of this type of stuff happening right now.
As soon as the 21st Century started, I immediately began to feel cheated. Where was my robot servant? Where was my street samurai wetware? Where was my flying car?
Moller International has yet to establish which US agency - the Federal Aviation Administration or the Department of Transport - will authorise its use.
If these scientists are even close to correct, we are about to experience a slight deviation from Moore's Law:
IBM on Thursday announced two major breakthroughs in nanotechnology that could increase computers' data storage capacity by a factor of 1,000 and decrease the size of computer chips to no larger than a speck of dust.
Finally, science is pursuing avenues of research that will benefit all mankind:
Two Northwestern University biomedical engineering graduates have invented a device to make the binge-drinking game of Beer Pong easier.
I've decided to start a Bring It On series about future/emerging technologies. Today's is about mind-controlled, bionic limbs!
With just an hour of remote access to the digital key of one car made by a manufacturer, the researchers say they are able not only to crack the unique code for that specific key but can also determine the key initialization process used to code the digital keys for all of the cars made by that manufacturer. From there, it's pretty simple for them to crack the unique code of another car made by that company.
Looking eerily like Mt. Doom in the above rendering, the mountain-like X-Seed 4000 represents a utopian eco-vision for a self-contained high-rise city in the Tokyo harbor - powered mainly by solar energy. Aesthetically inspired by nearby Mt. Fuji, the behemoth building would measure 13,123 feet tall with a 6 square-kilometer footprint, and could accommodate five hundred thousand to one million inhabitants.
