Monday, January 28, 2008
adventures in Convergence XX: Your White Cells Are Pansies
Nano Blasters. Sounds like a video game, but researchers with the University of Missouri-Columbia have been working on some nanobots meant to seek and destroy cancer cells in the body. Injected into your system these bots can break holes into cancer cells, sending shockwave of drug delivery to tumors at a speed approaching Mach 3. Hat's off to the speed racer ambitions, but what's particularly significant about this is the success rate - 99% in animal tissue.Should we be surprised that the US Army is funding the study? I guess not - it could prove useful for IED and landmine detection as well. Let's just hope that they don't let somebody like Lockheed Martin get proprietary with the technology.
Labels: convergence, technology
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Lasagna Cat
I've been doing a lot of Adventures in Convergence in the last few posts so I thought I'd dumb it down by posting a video that has occupied me lately....
These guys from Fatal Farm put together a little album of tributes to Garfield creator Jim Davis, featuring re-enactments of favorite strips, and then montages of the strip set to an evocative soundtrack. This could be construed as a case of people having too much time on their hands. However, I think it's a pretty genius experiment in comedy in the post-ironic age. These guys are paid to make some pretty nice commercials in the real world. I figure putting their talents too use in a non-sequitur here and there helps to retain some artistic integrity.
These guys from Fatal Farm put together a little album of tributes to Garfield creator Jim Davis, featuring re-enactments of favorite strips, and then montages of the strip set to an evocative soundtrack. This could be construed as a case of people having too much time on their hands. However, I think it's a pretty genius experiment in comedy in the post-ironic age. These guys are paid to make some pretty nice commercials in the real world. I figure putting their talents too use in a non-sequitur here and there helps to retain some artistic integrity.
Labels: Fatal Farm, Lasagna cat
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Adventures in Convergence XIX: Bio-Polyester
I don't know how I missed the rise of synthetic biology, a discipline focused on the engineering of life. While programmers and roboticists sit around thinking of ways to create artificial life, biologists have slowly come to realize that we know enough about the nuts and bolts of cells, genes, and DNA to create life on our own. Going beyond mere genetic manipulation or cloning, biologists recently constructed the first synthetic genome and are on their way to creating the first full-fledged synthetic organism.
Labels: biology, convergence, technology
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Adventures in Convergence XVIII: Someone at 3M Just Shuddered
If you've spent more than say, three hours freestyle Googling (as I have), you get addicted to the interface. On more than one occasion I've gotten up from my computer, tried to find something in the physical world - a book, keys, underwear - and wondered, "Why can't I just Google my apartment?"Well, we're not THAT close, but thanks to researchers at MIT, we're not that far off either. A project called Quickies aims to take some of Google's artificial intelligence concepts and apply them to the world of Post-Its. The idea: write your message onto a "Quickie Note," and the information will automatically back up to your computer/cell phone/calendar/whatever.
Each Quickie Note is enabled with an RFID tag. A Quickie Note pad digitally interprets the handwriting, parses out keywords and symbols, and decides where the note applies. You write a note that says "Dinner with Eric and Sarah on Saturday at 6pm," the notepad interprets the day and time as an appointment which is sent to your cell phone as a text and input into your calendar.
With RFID as inexpensive as it is, Quickies could become as ubiquitous as Post-Its, and certainly more useful for us forgetful folks. Researchers predict the product could make it to market in 2 to 5 years. And then, Alzheimer's wins!
Labels: convergence, technology
Adventures in Convergence XVII: Optical Allusion
You've got the eyeball mounted screen (see below). But DARN! You burned out your retinas staring at the new Samsung HD screens at Best Buy. How will you ever be able to watch your brand new contact lenses/video screens? Try this little gem: the eyeball mounted camera.The image to the right (albeit hand drawn) is not for the ocularly sensitive. What you see there is an actual video camera that can be mounted directly onto the lens of the human eye, reported on Monday by New Scientist. The transmission projected onto the back of the eye is then interpreted by nerve cells into an actual image.
Used as an artificial eye, this would be a great tool for the blind and near blind. Alternately, signals can be transmitted to an external hard drive, much to the delight of unwashed lifebloggers everywhere.
Labels: convergence, technology
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Adventures in Convergence XVI: Eye Have a Funny Feeling About This One...
Normally I'd have a snarky picture ironically illustrating today's feature, but this one is crazy enough.
Engineers at the University of Washington have come up with what essentially is a contact lens mounted display. The lens, imprinted with an electronic circuit and lights, could in the future be used to mount any display you'd expect to see in the real world on the eye. The circuit could pack a punch - receiving information wirelessly, and power via solar cell and/or radio-frequency. Currently a prototype they may have one capable of displaying a couple of pixels soon. Right now they're just making sure rabbits aren't completely freaked out by them.
Potential uses: enhancing the video game experience; displaying vehicle speed and GPS info; watching youtube in church.
Labels: convergence, technology
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
D-Day: The Making Of
Is it a bad sign when I'm more interested in the making of a re-enactment of D-Day than with the actual event itself?
Either way: a re-enactment of D-Day in four days by three graphic designers with a prosumer camera:
Monday, January 14, 2008
Adventures in Convergence XV: Just When You Thought Your Home Theater Was Safe...
...Japanese scientists come around to tell you your HDTV isn't big enough.The Japanese government has been funding research into new 33 megapixel, or "Super Fun Joy Vision," TVs. See left for a comparison of how this future screen stacks up with your puny monitor.
No matter that they haven't developed a camera to capture such high-res, nor a device to decode a 24Gbps stream. The Japanese are pouring their millions of yuan into this project to see if they can make something viable by 2015 (or about when Marty MacFly will be coming back to the future with Doc Brown to save his future son).
What? You think a screen capable of airing 7680 x 4320 moving images is beyond superfluous? What kind of anti-capitalist neo-Luddite are you? Why don't you go join an Amish cult? (Of course I'm still watching TV on a 1986 Magnavox and sending my blogs via carrier pigeon.)
Skeptics can take a look at this research to get an idea of how far they'd have to be from such a huge TV for it to be worthwhile. So start booking seats to watch Superbowl XLIX from the other side of the Grand Canyon! Add infinite contrast ratio to that TV and the Bills might as well be right in front of you!
Labels: convergence, technology
