New Scientist articles

[theFijian]

I get the weekly mailshot from New Scientist and sometimes it has some cracking articles in it. Featured this week are:

Bionic suit offers wearers super-strength

The HAL (hybrisd assistitive limb) 4 and HAL 5 prototypes, which will also be demonstrated at Expo 2005, don't just help a person to walk. They have an upper part to assist the arms, and will help a person lift up to 40 kilograms more than they can manage unaided.

Sony patent takes first step towards real-life Matrix

The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims.

Mini 'light sabres' may battle gum disease

Mini “light sabres” might one day replace the toothbrush in the ongoing battle against gum disease and tooth decay, as scientists are working on a new hand-held device that kills only the “bad” bacteria.

'”The patient feels nothing when blue light is applied to the dental pocket -, the area between the teeth and the gums where dental plaque resides,'” says researcher Nikos Soukos.

 

[Strange_Wonderer]

The real-life matrix article catches my attention the most, very interesting.

 

[Iron Sun 254]

I think the first story is even more important. Think of what it means that most people in the future will never have to use a wheelchair.

 

[MoonlessNight]

Let it be known that Sony is the craziest company on the face of the planet. They do a lot of research into far fetched ideas, for a variety of reasons. For example until recently they had a lab researching psychics, presumably to see if they could create something that would be controlled directly by thought. Interestingly enough they closed it down not because of lack of results, but rather because they said there were no commercial applications for such research (which is just flat-out false).

 

[theFijian]

Here's some more articles from New Scientist:

Mind-reading machine knows what you see

It is possible to read someone’s mind by remotely measuring their brain activity, researchers have shown. The technique can even extract information from subjects that they are not aware of themselves.

So far, it has only been used to identify visual patterns a subject can see or has chosen to focus on. But the researchers speculate the approach might be extended to probe a person’s awareness, focus of attention, memory and movement intention. In the meantime, it could help doctors work out if patients apparently in a coma are actually conscious.

Desktop nuclear fusion demonstrated

An astonishingly simple demonstration of nuclear fusion in a tabletop device has been performed, involving heating an ordinary crystal soaked in deuterium gas.

While the technique is unlikely to lead to power generation, such a device could act as a portable source of neutrons for analysing materials and medical imaging, and perhaps even spacecraft propulsion.

 

[Yamialpha]

Is the first story the technology they are considering using in the security systems in nuclear reactors?

 

[tamtam92]

Technology can be useful to medicine sometimes, but we don't live in a dream... Technology has always been linked to warfare, and it still is.

Think about using the same tools for war... you can make your enemy believe he's in a peaceful area, and he's already lost. Or you can make him fear the worst whereas you're threatening another one.

I didn't really thought about it until a few time ago. I'm studying electronics, and guess what ? The biggest company i could work for would certainly be EADS or Thales, that is, missile-makers.

Oh of course that's not the only purpose, and that' a relief to thinks so. But anything can be turned to evil.

BTW, the articles looked quite interesting. Yet i still find it difficult to read long technical articles in english... so i'm missing a lot.

 

[Yamialpha]

Technology and science are discovery. Both can be used in the most destructive and constructive means imaginable. The first atom of uranium split led to a weapon that slaughtered thousands upon thousands of people and put humanity at its own mercy, but yet it has also been a wonderful tool for medicine that has saved lives. The technologies that humanity developes are both weapons of destruction and tools of progress-it all depends on the intentions of the person who uses them.

 

[theFijian]

Comet put on list of potential Earth impactors

On 26 May, JPL's unique orbital calculation software determined that Comet Catalina was on what could possibly be a collision course with Earth, though the odds of such an impact were small: just 1 chance in 300,000 of a strike on June 11, 2085. Based on the 980-metre size estimate, that would produce a 6-gigaton impact - equivalent to 6 billion tonnes of TNT.

Cue panicking mobs in the streets!!

 

[Yamialpha]

Cue panicking mobs in the streets!!

Too late .

 

[John Allman]

The real-life matrix article catches my attention the most, very interesting.

The Sony patent story in New Scientist is rather speculative. For more serious material about technological mind control applications, try Christians Against Mental Slavery science page.

John Allman

 

[John Allman]

Here's some more articles from New Scientist:

Mind-reading machine knows what you see

Technological mind-reading was accomplished thirty years ago. If you don't believe this, just Google for FEASIBILITY STUDY BIOCYBERNETIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM PINNEO.