Tag: Research

First off, no that isn’t some sort of deformed penis with the world’s tiniest testicles in the photo below. Get your mind out of the gutter. It’s a bald mouse that a team of researchers from Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo are using as a test rodent for a cool new sensor that may someday help make monitoring blood sugar less painful for diabetics.

The aptly named Flybox [opens PDF] is just that, a thin flying box shaped six-blade helicopter. It comes from Skybotix, an offshoot of the Autonomous Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Don’t you ever wonder how come most children’s nursery rhymes end in some sort of tragedy? There was Jack who broke his crown, and Humpty Dumpty who fell apart because he had a great fall. Then there was the baby who was rocking-a-bye in the treetop, when the wind blows and drops both baby and cradle.

It’s been a while since I went down over to the local arcade, but I went crazy with the racing games the last time I was there. I’m a really bad driver, so crashing and veering off the road without any real consequences was a welcome change for me.

I know the world’s population is increasing by the thousands every second as we speak, and the time will eventually come that the world’s resources will no longer be able to provide for the needs of all the human beings on the planet.

I am not even remotely surprised that the world’s smallest 3D printer would be created by a team of researchers that hail from a university named after some of the world’s tiniest sausages. A team of geeks at Vienna University of Technology has announced that it has crafted the world’s smallest 3D printer that is about the size of a milk carton.

There is lots of research and money being poured into looking for a way to get people that are paralyzed out of a wheelchair and walking again. One of the places that is making some of the coolest tech breakthroughs is Berkeley where they have developed a cool exoskeleton that we have talked about before.

The fact that I am creeped out more than a grown man should be by some robots is well established. Hector did me in as a kid. There is more than a little creepy to KURMET for me – it’s the blue knob feet I think.

OK chrome-domes, listen up. This will make your day. A potential cure for baldness has been discovered – purely by accident. Apparently, the researchers that happened on the possible cure were researching a new treatment for gastrointestinal disease.

A team of scientists at MIT Cambridge have developed a prototype of a “programmable matter” which can automatically change its shape when electrical impulses are applied to it. A demonstration of the technology was put together using a sheet of the material, which automatically folds itself into various shapes.

Riding in a helicopter can be a thrilling, and sometimes harrowing experience. But this helicopter design is one that I can say that with certainty that I would never, ever set foot inside of.

Back in grade school, I had this cool calculator watch that I used all the time in class. The thing was powered by a solar panel on the top, and I thought was awesome that it would work inside and outside.

ABI Research has unveiled their estimated number of SMS messages that will be sent in 2011. According to the research firm, there will be 7 trillion SMS messages sent during the new year. That is a lot of messages, and I am sure will include billions of spouses and parents that are angry about text overages.

The world has gone germ and bacterial crazy. Each time I go to my kids’ school, I see all the teachers making the kids use hand sanitizer all the time. I made it through the late 70’s and early 80’s of my youth without washing my hands once outside the tub or shower.

Fellow humans, mark this month of November, 2010. For it is on this month that our great science peoples have solved one of our centuries old mysteries, a question that have kept many a stoned person up at night.

I suppose if you’re a nurse, the idea of having to wash various and sundry body parts for patients is one of the less pleasant parts of the job. Sure, it’s slightly above changing bedpans or shaving privates, but it’s still a little weird, I’m sure.