MIT researchers have found a way to incorporate virus into batteries. Using methods that elude me, they have essentially trained viruses to produce an electric current when accompanied by some nanotechnology.
“They modified the M13 virus’ genes so its outside layer, or coat, would bind with certain metal ions. They incubated the virus in a cobalt chloride solution so that cobalt oxide crystals mineralised uniformly along its length.
They added a bit of gold for the desired electrical effects.”
A Carolina woman has become one of the first of a group of blind people to have had their sight restored through cybernetics.
Electrodes implanted in Cheri Robertson’s brain receive a video signal from a small camera worn on her eyeglasses and processed through a wearable computer, a la Geordi LaForge.
Patients with the implants see flashes of light and outlines of objects, but there’s a good chance that the technology will improve with time.
Below is copied from a Wired article on a website that encourages women to get into electronics and do it yourself projects:
A new web-based show encourages young women to tune in and associate DIY less with bread making and more with breadboard wiring.
Created by Alison Lewis, a web designer and instructor at Parsons School of Design, Switch is a free online show connects young women with technology by guiding them through fashion and design projects.
Lewis said she hopes “to inspire people with design and to get young girls thinking about how electronics are approachable and not so scary.”
Diana Eng of Project Runway fame co-hosted the first episode, which is now available at the Switch site. She instructs viewers on how to make a recordable talking picture frame. Future episodes — Lewis hopes to post two a month — will feature design-slash-tech projects such as electronic pillows.
Doctors have successfully grown an organ from the cells of a patient and ‘transplanted’ the organ into the same patient.
Scientists at Wake Forest University in North Carolina found that you can essentially build an organ. By using a sample of cells from the organ and then growing the cells into a 3D mold shaped like the organ.
“Scientists grew new bladders from the patients’ own cells, which were then transplanted back into the patients’ bodies.
Dr. Anthony Atala and his colleagues described the experiment as a long-term success for the seven patients, who ranged from toddlers to teenagers.”
Over at Short Flip there is a nice article on hybrid technologies used in cars.
If you’ve ever wondered what the technology is behind the cars then you should give the article a read.