Hasta La Gadget!

Prog group of researchers from the School of Electronic Engineering at Bangor University in the UK are working on a plan that could result in broadband Internet speeds up to 2000 times faster than we have today – with little additional cost. Incredibly fast speeds combined with little added cost comes from the fact that the technology uses off-the-shelf components available today. The trick is that data is transferred over fiber-optic connections rather than copper wire.

So far, Professor Jianming Tang and his team have been able to reach speeds of 20 Gbps in testing. That is fast enough to download a full-length HD movie in only 10 seconds – a far cry from the minutes or hours it takes on today’s best broadband connections. The group of researchers are working on a three-year project to make this technology commercially available.

The way the scientists were able to significantly increase the speed of Internet connections is thanks in part to something called Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, or OOFDM. The hardware allows both coding and decoding of optical signals on-the-fly. The researchers believe that they will be able to hit speeds of around 40 Gbps soon.

[via BBC]

Advancements in biotechnology continue to amaze me. We’re rapidly approaching the point where human/cyborg combinations are becoming more and more plausible, as is evidenced by this recent accomplishment by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This past sunday, a man wearing the first “thought-controlled bionic leg” used the limb to help him ascend 103 floors of the skyscraper formerly known as the Sears Tower.

This past Sunday, 31-year-old Zac Vawter made history by climbing countless stairs inside the iconic Chicago skyscraper, all with the help of this incredible bionic leg. This mechanical and technological marvel is controlled by Vawter’s own neurons, and was developed by the Rehabilitation Institute’s Center for Bionic Medicine, and partially-funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. You can see Zac and his amazing bionic leg in action in the video clip below:

The leg actually interacts with Zac’s nerve impulses, allowing him to climb stairs much more easily than he could with an ordinary prosthetic leg. Vawter lost his leg after a motorcycle accident back in 2009, and his trial of the leg will help him and potentially many others with disabilities to walk again.

Anyone who’s gotten a flat tire on their bike before knows how painful it can be to change it out. However, if you’re running runflat tires, this won’t be a problem, since your tire won’t have any innertube or air chamber at all.

This airless bicycle tire concept is by Colorado-based designer Brian Russell. The tire would eliminate the need for air, preventing punctures, tube replacement, and pressure checks. The Energy Return Wheel (or ERW) uses rubber that’s stretched over a series of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite rods to provide cushioning. These rods can be adjusted to change the tension in the tire to suit different terrain.

While it won’t be suited to all terrains, it should work pretty well in most situations.

For now it’s just a prototype, but I have no doubt that this, or something very similar will be made someday.

[via designboom]

We’ve seen a lot of notable applications of 3D printing technology, but this one has to be the most cutting edge of them all. Some companies have made considerable progress in special 3D printers and ink. Instead of printing replicas, food or gadgets, they print living tissue.

The screenshot above is from a presentation made by Andras Forgacs at a conference held by The Economist. Forgacs is the co-founder of Organovo, one of the companies who are looking into 3D printing live tissue, which is now being called bioprinting. Forgacs implies that Organovo is interested in using bioprinting to help pharmaceutical companies reduce costs in developing drugs. Listen to Forgacs explain bioprinting in a nutshell in the video below, courtesy of Fora.tv:

As noted by the Wall Street Journal, researchers and “bioengineers” in various academic institutions have also been experimenting with bioprinting. Some have been able to print blood vessels, while others are making a portable printer designed to print tissue directly to a wound to make it heal faster.

All of these experts hope that someday they will get to the next level and print entire organs. Perhaps by then we can “map” the organs of other people, then copy and print those templates. Want to be smarter? Download a template of Stephen Hawking’s brain, print it then have it transplanted on your noggin. Want to be stronger? Download and print Lebron James’ physique. Want to be braver? Download and print the heart of a champ. Or not.

[via ZDNet, Wall Street Journal & CNBC Tech Edge]

This isn’t the only robot that can kick your butt at ping pong. But unlike other ping pong playing ‘botsot, this one wasn’t programmed with its abilities. It has learned through experience. Robotics experts at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany created this robot arm that learns to adapt its game as it plays.

Much like the Borg, it assimilates knowledge and adapts. But there is no cube ship or sexy Seven of Nine model. This is just an arm. The team attached the robot arm to the ceiling and attached a camera to watch and analyze the game. They taught the arm to play ping pong by feeding it more and more difficult shots. The arm was soon generating its own shots thanks to it’s amassed knowledge.

That’s right. It learned. It wasn’t trained in advance… and it is armed with ping pong balls. We are all so dead. I can already see the little plastic bits sticking out of open wounds in human foreheads.

[via Geekosystem]