So sad to see them go
Looking back at the 20th century, it’s clear that even the biggest and baddest gadget sensations will one day fall victim to technological evolution.

Solar power system 
The idea of harnessing solar power from space has been around for a while; Asimov included it in at least two of his stories that I remember-but may finally be a reality come 2016.

Girl sneezing 
Mark Nicas has given some of his best years to spittle. He builds models – the mathematical kind – of how someone else’s slobber ends up on you. The size of the particles, whether they come out in a dry cough or a wet sneeze, their evaporation rate, air speed – these are all [...]

Extra Ear Project 
Luckily for us, the Australian performance artist known as Stelarc, formerly Stelios Arcadiou, is not prone to sensationalism.  He only wants to transform his body into a portal on the internet. Which is why visitors to Exit Art, a gallery in Midtown Manhattan, are being treated to a video of Stelarc’s left arm being [...]

Healthcare X Prize
Organizers of the X Prize, who have set up contests for space travel, DNA research and super-efficient cars, said on Tuesday they are offering $10 million to the winner of a contest to transform the health of people in a small U.S. community.

Bodyweight Support Assist 
Not so long ago we spoke highly about the Chariot that helps the amputees stand tall, and as if the world has taken to such technology development in a frenzy, we now have robotic aid to help people walk and lift coming from the American Honda Motors. Dubbed the Stride Management Assist and [...]

Prescription Drugs are Drugs Too, Often as Dangerous as so called ”Street” Drugs.

While people in the United States endlessly debate what should be done with the country’s drug problem, Portugal went ahead and decriminalize the use and possession of illicit drugs 5 years ago.
Here’s what the country learned…

Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe opens with a horrifyingly poetic description of a monkfish as the “Quasimodo of the Atlantic” whose “uncooked flesh, especially the liver can be virtually ambulant with marine worms”.
The book goes on in squirm-inducing detail to educate readers about why we shouldn’t [...]

Do You Hear What I Hear?

65-year old Toshiko Fukuda of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, lost her husband to asbestos on April 17th last year. Her husband, Motoo, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, probably from the steel pipe factory he worked at. He got worker’s comp, but the disease ultimately destroyed his lungs and left him [...]

Sewing Machines contain red mercury?

Saudi police say they are investigating a hoax that has seen people rushing to buy old-fashioned sewing machines for up to $50,000 (£33,500). The Singer sewing machines are said to contain traces of red mercury, a substance that may not exist…