Things are on hold for the moment for the LightSail, the new solar sail spacecraft launched last week by Bill Nye and his Planetary Society organization. The prototype satellite, which uses energy from the Sun to propel through space has suffered a computer malfunction while in lower Earth orbit, ceasing communication between the tiny spacecraft and Earth.

via Popular Science</ … Read More → "Bill Nye’s ambitious solar sail has lost communication with Earth"

A team from the EPFL integrated Systems Laboratory have unveiled a new implantable sensor that is about a centimeter long that is designed to be implanted under a person’s skin and gets power from a patch on the surface of the skin. The sensor is able to communicate with a mobile phone and is designed to measure the concentration of certain molecules in the body at the same time.

… Read More → "Implantable biosensor chip can monitor glucose and drugs in real-time"

Chinese electronics giant Lenovo unveiled a slew of new products at its inaugural “Tech World” event in Beijing yesterday, including laptops,personalized search experiences powered by Microsoft’s Cortana, a new media streaming device, an enterprise-focused storage product, and a tablet for businesses.

via Venture … Read More → "Lenovo demos new smart shoes with a screen that displays your mood"

Researchers from Drexel University in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Academy, have invented a way to embed activated carbon particles into different types of yarn to form a knitted textile that can store energy to power sensors and electronics integrated into smart clothing.

Smart fabrics, which incorporate different types of sensors into garments, have been in development for decades. However, only in recent years have we started seeing the first … Read More → "Knitted supercapacitors to power smart shirts"

A new study by linguists at the Ohio State University and the University of Rochester in the journal Language Variation and Change tested how people reacted to ideologically charged speech. The participants heard different versions of sentences from people with different accents using a slightly different word order. For instance, some heard  “Congress is giving too much money to welfare moochers,” while others heard “ … Read More → "We mimic the speech patterns of people we agree with"

Researchers in Japan have found that human aging may be able to be delayed or even reversed, at least at the most basic level of human cell lines. In the process, the scientists from the University of Tsukuba also found that regulation of two genes is related to how we age.

via Gizmag

Read More → "Researchers may have discovered fountain of youth by reversing aging in human cells"

From sophisticated imaging tools to cancer-sniffing dogs, researchers are constantly seeking better ways to detect disease, which could lead to earlier and more effective treatment. In recent years, genetically manipulated bacteria seemed like promising indicators, but they never made it to the clinical setting because they couldn’t reliably distinguish important chemical signals in complex samples. Now, two research teams have engineered E. coli< … Read More → "Mutant bacteria will test you for disease and color your pee accordingly"

Scott Parenteau wanted a cool vehicle he could ride around in. He also liked the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller and the many-legged Strandbeests created by Theo Jansen. So he combined the two designs to create his “walking pod,” a steel shell that trundles along on 12 legs, and can be entered via an elevator.

via Popsci</ … Read More → "A 12-legged pod you can ride"

Tattoo Art Magazine has come up with an ingenious idea to help aspiring tattoo artists practice their skills without fear of damaging people’s skins. 

‘The SkinBook’ contains pages that resemble artificial skin so that artists have an appropriate material on which to practice. 

via Design Taxi

< … Read More → "A book made of synthetic skin allows novice tattoo artists to hone skills"

Northrop Grumman has a new idea for exploring Venus. Announced earlier this month, the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverability Platform (or VAMP) would let NASA skim Venus’s upper atmosphere with an inflatable aircraft, deployed from space.

Since the craft is self-inflated, it would be light enough to stay aloft with little to no energy, but still be maneuverable enough to navigate Venus’s significant atmospheric winds and … Read More → "This inflatable plane could explore the clouds of Venus"