Hasta La Gadget!

All multi-cell organisms start their existence as microscopic blobs of goop. As you can imagine, these little snot balls of life are very difficult to discern one from another. As embryo-centric science marches forward, the need arises for a precise method to readily tell these little gloopies apart, thus mitigating the potential for (very damaging) human error.

That is why researchers at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona have developed a technique to insert microscopic bar codes directly into developing embryos. In test trials, these tiny silicon bar codes have been safely injected into the outer layer of mouse embryos. Eventually, through the natural course of development, the outer layer of the embryo is “shed” with bar code in tow, leaving no lasting effect. The Health Department of Catalonia has given the all-clear to use the procedure to be used on human embryos in Spanish fertility clinics.

Humans and cans of soup: in the future, they won’t be so different after all.

via SingularityHub

Personally, I hope that future wars look like scenes from Tron (diplomacy through Light Cycles)–or, perhaps, just American Gladiators (diplomacy through giant Q-Tips). Near future wars, however, will be fought with that thing above.

It’s the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System. It’s a programmable grenade launcher that’s more or less roughly the size of a rifle. The ammunition is microchipped and can be used to seek out enemies hiding behind walls. The gun can clast 25mm shells up to 2,300 feet.

The US government is calling it a “game changer.” AFP has tossed around the phrase “the Taliban’s Worst Enemy.” The gun XM25 is said to be 300 times more effective than current squad weapons.

The gun’s “program” manager Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lehner told AFP ominously, “You get behind something when someone is shooting at you, and that sort of cover has protected people for thousands of years. Now we’re taking that away from the enemy forever.”

The gun is said to have “very limited” collateral damage.

Imagine a world where serious skin wounds could be healed with an over-the-counter spray-on battle. A University of Utah pilot project is showing some amazing early results with just that concept in mind.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Amit Patel and burn care surgeon Amalia Cochran are overseeing experimental procedures utilizing this new “bedside stem cell technique.” By combining a patient’s own cells with a few other chemicals thrown in, the research team is able to create a sort of bio jelly that can be sprayed directly onto a wound. Preliminary trials have shown some promising results at accelerating the healing process.

Researchers are starting with small burns and hope to move on to larger injuries in future trials. In the future, research like this may lead to actual regenerated skin tissues created from a patient’s own cells that could be grafted onto large injuries.

via ksl

This sounds like a far more horrible idea than it actually is. Read on.

Researchers recently presented their work on a robo-chair for infants that was fitted with a Wii balance board. The chair would allow rugrats to move about by simply leaning to where they want to go. Collisions were avoided via a sonar system built into the chair.

Sounds like a recipe for injured babies protected only by their own rolls of sloth-borne blubber, right? But actually it’s a techno-hack that could do a lot of good for special needs children.

The chair was developed for infants with mobility issues such as spina bifida or cerebral palsy by allowing them to explore surroundings that would otherwise be off-limits to them. The paper presented at the recent RESNA conference (Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America) states that “Children with physical disabilities and restricted mobility have been
found to demonstrate increased dependence, frustration, depressed
motivation, lack of curiosity, and a lack of confidence.” Giving these ankle-biters the ability to explore may help with these emotional issues that can stem from physical shortcomings.

via PopSci

Scientists in Geneva, Switzerland claimed to have trapped antimatter for the first time this week. The international team at the CERN lab created an atom of anti-hydrogen, capturing it long enough to actually study the thing.

“This field is 20 years old and has been making incremental progress toward exactly this all along the way,” Jeffrey Hangst, an American scientist and spokesman for the team told the press. “We really think that this was the most difficult step.”

Antimatter, which was created during the Big Bang (along with all of the, you know, regular matter), has seemingly largely disappeared for the past several billion years or so.

The scientists have yet to actually say how long they were able to hold onto the illusive anti-atom, but they assure us that they were “much, much longer than a tenth of a second.” His words:

“Unfortunately I can’t tell you how long, because we haven’t published the number yet,” Hangst said. “But I can tell you that it’s much, much longer than a tenth of a second. Within human comprehension on a real clock.”

“Much, much longer than a death of a second” is pretty good when you’re dealing with materials that are known to disappear instantly after being created.