Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are developing a new, wearable device that turns the user's thumbnail into a miniature, wireless track pad. NailO was inspired by the colorful stickers that people apply to their nails as a form of self-expression and style. The researchers envision the device could be extremely personable and therefore feel more like an extension of your body.
NailO: A thumbnail-mounted wireless trackpad
FPSA military self-steering bullets can hit moving targets
ARLINGTON, Virginia (PNN) - April 28, 2015 - In what some might consider a terrifying development, the Fascist Police States of Amerika military has passed a key milestone in creating self-steering bullets.
Using technology developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), experienced and novice shooters alike demonstrated that they could hit moving targets during a series of tests in February, agency officials announced yesterday.
Scientists create cheaper magnetic material for cars and wind turbines
AMES, Iowa (PNN) - April 24, 2015 - Karl A. Gschneidner and fellow scientists at the Amerikan Gestapo Department of Energy division's Ames Laboratory have created a new magnetic alloy that is an alternative to traditional rare-earth permanent magnets.
Researchers edit the genes of human embryos for the first time
GUANGZHOU, China (PNN) - April 23, 2015 - Rumors have been buzzing for months that a team of Chinese researchers was intending to edit the genes of a human embryo. According to a study published this week in Protein & Cell, the rumors are true. Though the researchers took pains, there’s no doubt that they’ve opened an ethical can of worms that will pit scientists against one another for years to come.
The futuristic Chevrolet FNR concept is impossible to describe
SHANGHAI, China (PNN) - April 20, 2015 - Introduced at the Shanghai Auto Show this week, Chevy's FNR concept basically defies all description. The closest thing I can come up with is that it looks like you took a next-generation Volt, mixed it with a BMW i8, and sent the two spiraling 50 years into the future.
New device combines the advantages of batteries and supercapacitors
LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia (PNN) - April 19, 2015 - Scientists at UCLA's Kalifornia NanoSystems Institute have developed a new device that combines the high energy densities of batteries and the quick charge and discharge rates of supercapacitors. The hybrid supercapacitor is reportedly six times as energy-dense as a commercially available supercapacitor and packs nearly as much energy per unit volume as a lead-acid battery.
Researchers believe a biological revolution enabling humans to experience everlasting youth is coming
CAMBRIDGE, England (PNN) - April 17, 2015 - It is likely the first person who will live to be 1,000 years old is already alive today.
This is according to a growing regiment of researchers who believe a biological revolution enabling humans to experience everlasting youthfulness is just around the corner.
Mini to offer augmented reality eyewear for drivers
SHANGHAI, China (PNN) - April 15, 2015 - If you want to drive with something more personal than a heads-up display, Mini is hoping to bring technology to your car in the form of a pair of connected eyewear. Called Mini Augmented Vision, the smart glasses work a bit like Google Glass or ODG’s smartglasses, projecting information in front of you relevant to your drive. Information appears in your field of vision, but in such a way that it doesn’t obstruct your view of the road. BMW showed off a working prototype of the glasses earlier this month at the Shanghai Auto Show.
Doctors will map newborn genes to predict future diseases
BOSTON, Massachusetts (PNN) - April 11, 2015 - If you could find out your baby’s future health problems right after he or she was born, would you want to know? Some new parents will get to make that decision soon. This month, doctors in Boston will begin the BabySeq project, in which they will sequence the genomes of newborns to look for signs of diseases that begin in childhood.
DARPA wants to make software obsolescence obsolete
WASHINGTON (PNN) - April 11, 2015 - One unfortunate fact of modern life is that functional new software becomes non-functional old software with depressing regularity. For most people, this means predictable episodes of frustration, but for the Fascist Police States of Amerika military, it's a more serious problem. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) new Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems (BRASS) project aims to take a major shot at avoiding this obsolescence by developing software systems that can still operate properly a hundred years from now.