Wouldn’t it be great if everything was as good at healing itself as our own skin? That’s the concept behind a new self-healing plastic that’s been developed over at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Unlike ordinary plastics, this one contains a thin network of tubes, aping the human vascular system, containing two separate gels that react when they come into contact with each other. … Read More → "Self-healing plastic bleeds when cut, and that’s a good thing"

Nearly eight years ago, DARPA, the US Defense Department’s advanced research agency, set out to find a better solution for amputees than the metal hooks still widely used today. Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its approval to one of the projects that came from that effort: a mind-controlled prosthetic limb called the DEKA Arm. A number of other … Read More → "Mind-controlled prosthetic arm from Segway inventor gets FDA approval"

Designer Hydrogene created a series of six minimalist posters in 2013 honoring women who changed science. Grace Hopper, for example, is known for developing the first compiler for a computer programming language among other accomplishments.
via Laughing Squid

Read More → "A series of minimalist posters featuring women who changed science"

Looking at this legged robot gives us the same feeling we had the first time we saw a two-wheeled balancer. At first glance it just shouldn’t work, but after a little thought it makes a lot of sense. The six-legged bot called OutRunner uses two sets of three legs to propel itself. The  footfalls are staggered to mimic how a biped runs, but mechanically it’s just spinning … Read More → "Robot runs on six legs but never more than two at a time"

Spurious Correlations is the virtual embodiment of a useful rhetorical cudgel: correlation does not equal causation. Sift through its data sets, and you’ll find all sorts of statistics that can be mapped onto each other — margarine consumption and the divorce rate, crude oil imports and number of train collision deaths, bee colony growth and the marriage rate. If you ever need to demonstrate … Read More → "Spurious Correlations finds the hidden, totally pointless connections between everything"

Surgeons in Devon are trialling the use of “smart glasses” in the operating theatre.

The voice-activated glasses, designed by Google, are worn like spectacles but contain a video camera, a tiny display and can connect to the internet.

David Isaac, orthopaedic surgeon at Torbay Hospital, was first in the UK to use the technology in a live operation.

The device allows surgeons to show … Read More → "Surgeons in Devon trial smart glasses in theatre"

Steganography is the ancient practice of stashing secret text, images, or messages inside a different text, image, or message. It dates back to as early as the fifth century BC, when Spartan King Demaratus removed the wax from a writing tablet and wrote a message hidden on the wood underneath warning of an imminent invasion by Xerxes. Steganography was a common technique used by German spies in both World Wars. More recently, … Read More → "How to stash secret messages in tweets using point-and-click steganography"

Got Chess? is an ingenious portable wooden chess set with flat, laser cut pieces that slot into the chess board during play. When not in use, the set flattens into 4 wooden tablets that stack into a notebook-sized package. The set is a design concept by product designer Peter Baeten.
via Laughing Squid

< … Read More → "Laser cut wooden chess set flattens when not in use"

Now, the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications has put out a brand-new request for proposals. This time, it’s not for pie-in-the-sky designs—it’s for real budgets and designs to create a “citywide Wi-Fi network and state-of-the-art information hubs.”

There are roughly 11,000 pay phones scattered across the city, and … Read More → "NYC will turn 7,000 old payphones into a huge, free wi-fi network"

The Navy doesn’t allow iPads on submarines; they’re too dangerous. Spies could use the camera to record inside, and cell signals could betray its location when it surfaces. Similar precautions apply to Kindles and other e-readers. If a service member wants to read, he needs to go to the miniature onboard library and check out a book.</ … Read More → "The Navy just announced an e-reader designed for life on a submarine"