Futurology 222: High tech soldier undies
Monday, 30 January 2012
Hi tech soldier undies — The United States military is adding undies to its arsenal of high-powered gadgets and gizmos. Researchers at the US Army Medical Research and Material Command and the Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center are up to. The high tech undergarments use gel-free sensors to make up an electronic network capable of monitoring vitals like respiration, heart rate, body posture, and skin temperature. The data is then used to identify critical information, and could be a new way to keep our soldiers safer while they’re out there fighting.
Comment — And for reasons of state security, beans are now off the menu.
Stem cells prevent blindness — In one of the biggest milestones for stem cells since their discovery, researchers published the first results of a clinical trial where doctors transplanted of stem cells into the eyes of patients suffering from a form of progressive blindness. And the preliminary results look very good – and this is the first study involving human tests of stem cells. The Independent also mentions this research.
Comment — Excellent news. So when do doctors get to use it?
You may be wired to disagree with [insert political ideology here] — Your political leanings are determined, to some extent, by aspects of your biology. The latest installment in this emerging area of research comes from the University of Nebraska, in a study that looks at peoples' responses to certain forms of visual stimuli – politically themed or otherwise.
Research shows that, compared to liberals, conservatives display heightened responses to threatening images.
The same patterns held with pictures of left and right-wing personalities. Conservatives displayed more distaste than liberals for politicians they disliked, while liberals felt more positive than conservatives about politicians they liked.
Comment — Right wing voters do seem to be afraid of a lot.
One million spiders weave a cape — A cape required four years, one-million Malagasy golden orb spiders and eighty workers to catch and release the two-inch arachnids daily. Nicholas Godley and fabric researcher Simon Peers commissioned the work.
Every day, weavers extracted up to 40 yards of silk from a single spider before returning it to the wild. The result is the largest garment ever woven from spider silk, and will be on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum until June 5. There's a video outlining how such an outlandish garment (below) was created.
Comment — And once you put it on, how do you take it off? Spider webs stick like crazy.
Mitochondrial Eve — It's the anniversary of the discovery of groundbreaking work that revealed all humans carried mitochondrial DNA in their cells that dated back to a single woman who had lived just 200,000 years ago. This woman was dubbed Mitochondrial Eve.
Comment — That's only around 50,000 generations back.
Battery-free wireless mouse — A heartfelt welcome to the world’s first wireless but battery-free mouse. This mighty device eschews wasteful AAAs and heavier lithium-ion batteries in favour of an electric double-layer ultracapacitor that requires just a quick 3-minute charge each day. The Genius DX-Eco runs on a 2.4 Ghz connection, is rated to last for 100,000 charges, and is expected to hit store shelves soon at a price point of US$39.99.
Comment — Yay! And it even works of 'carept'. (I think it's supposed to be 'carpet': "Works on dusted glass, marble, carept, sofa")
A computer made some 'art' — The resulting landscape may not look like much, but might still be proof that its creator, a computer program named the Painting Fool, is a creative being.
The program is the brainchild of a computer scientist at Imperial College London, Dr Simon Colton. The program wasn't working from an existing digital image, as it usually does. Instead, this is actually a set of images that sprang from the AI equivalent of imagination. And when the program does work from a preexisting image, the results are more impressive in more traditional aesthetic terms, as you can see in this video and at its website.
Comment — Next: the novel.
