SKIRMISHER

That messy human business of getting old and dying is going to be kaput by 2029, so say aging and increasingly desperate top scientists. They’re descending on Manhattan Beach from November 13 to 15 and do some top scientist stuff, like talk about gene therapy, nanotechnology and “Organ Re-Growth and Transplantation,” and maybe slap one [...]

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Internet and also me in a parallel universe, was interviewed on stage at the Embassy of Finland in Washington recently. And among some pretty interesting things he discussed (aside from describing a photo of a squirrel with huge testicles, and cats!) was the fact of the unnecessaryness of the [...]

Ray Kurzweil really can’t be stopped — at least not from talking. Although die-able and really old himself, he wants people to understand death is really an “option,” or at least your punishment for being stupid or having no money. And that technology, and any other shiny thing, really gets him hard.
For Kurzweil, the crux [...]

With BrainPort, the device being developed by neuroscientists at Middleton, Wisc.–based Wicab, Inc. (a company co-founded by the late Back-y-Rita), visual data are collected through a small digital video camera about 1.5 centimeters in diameter that sits in the center of a pair of sunglasses worn by the user. Bypassing the eyes, the data are [...]

Forget fumbling with tiny cell phone keys.  A prototype of a new application allows cell phone users to write short notes in the air and send them automatically to an e-mail address.
This represents just one possible step toward allowing people to naturally merge the real world with the information power of the Internet. Travelers and [...]

When the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover lands on Mars in 2012, it will face a unique obstacle: With an Earth weight of nearly a ton (compared to about 400 pounds for previous Mars rovers) and a Mars weight of about 750 pounds, it is too massive for any existing space parachute. So to cushion [...]

A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star.
The National Ignition Facility’s main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in [...]

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Adding small amounts of metal to spider silk – a material already stronger and lighter than steel – makes it up to 10 times tougher, German researchers report.
The scientists devised a way to incorporate zinc, titanium and aluminium ions into natural spider silk. They say the method could one day prove useful for creating super-strong [...]

The Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System has been developed at the Toronto General Hospital with the aim of repairing lungs prior to transplant. It allows the lungs to be removed from the donor and “breathe” on its own while being assessed for function and transplant outcome.

Intriguing video here.

University of Washington researchers are reporting that they created chlorotoxin-bound nanoparticles that have an augmented anti-brain cancer properties. These novel compounds, composed of an iron oxide nanoparticle core linked to an amine-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol) silane and chlorotoxin, a scorpion venom, seem to have substantially enhanced cellular uptake, hence their anticancer properties.
And we’d block-quote more from [...]

These batteries are made up of yeast, which in turn feed on the glucose in blood to produce enough energy to power devices like, say, pacemakers. That’s one step right there toward efficient cyborg-ification.

The new fuel cell consists of a colony of Saccharomyces cerevisiae – the kind of yeast commonly used in brewing and baking [...]

The world’s first synthetic human blood from embryonic stem cells, courtesy of vampire-dodging British scientists.
The ground-breaking project could provide an unlimited supply of blood for emergency transfusions free of the risk of infection.
Because stem cells multiply indefinitely, it would be possible to enormous quantities, researchers said..
The cells can be made from universal donor embryos – [...]

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata is wearing in space a new no-stink underpants. He’s seen here (below) very very happy that his claustrophobic space capsule doesn’t smell of pee, anymore. Nothing like a pair of underpants that stays fresh for seven days can bring a smile to that face.

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Frantz Lasorne is working on what he calls a “tangible augmented reality gaming experience”. If you think the “concept” is totally rad, then read him as he says all this shit is real, and not simply CGI.

In a lab in this Seattle suburb, researchers in long white coats recently stood watching a small glass box of bugs. Every few seconds, a contraption 100 feet away shot a beam that hit the buzzing mosquitoes, one by one, with a spot of red light.
The insects survived this particular test, which used a non-lethal [...]

Boston Dynamics’ Big Dog packbot, seen in action here with the US Army. Now if only they’d fit it with a fire-breathing head.