Hasta La Gadget!

Ah, those zany Keio University researchers trying to recreate Smell-O-Vision, do you want to know what they’re up to these days? They’re still trying, of course, but now they’ve taken the opportunity to demonstrate their hardware — which uses basic inkjet printer tech to fire off very short bursts of fragrance — to tech lovers in Japan while still tweaking and refining it. Primarily aimed at helping healthcare professionals in assessing a patient’s sense of smell, the Fragrance Jet II has a high degree of control granularity, permitting the varying of both intensity and duration of a scent, which in turn can provide a very accurate measurement of a given person’s olfactory acuity. A mobile prototype has also been trotted out (pictured above), hinting at the possibility of eventually shrinking these modules to fit inside cellphones and thus leading us to an awesome future of customizable “incoming call fragrances.” Awesome indeed. Video after the break.

Continue reading Fragrance Jet II receives video demonstration, still looks like a terrible idea (video)

Fragrance Jet II receives video demonstration, still looks like a terrible idea (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kaylene Kau’s prosthetic arm is either a sweet modern update of the old-fashioned pirate’s hook, or a terrifying device that will turn its wearer into a Cthuloid-human mongrel. I favor the former, if only because I want to sleep at night.

The prosthesis is not designed to be a prehensile limb, but instead it’s an assistive appendage for the good arm. A simple motor drives two cables inside the tentacle, and the wearer controls it with a pair of switches on the upper section. Just put the “arm” in place, hit the switch and it curls around whatever you might want to carry. The other switch unfurls the arm.

It’s not Dean Kamen’s astonishing robot arm, but then it would also be a lot cheaper, and therefore available to many more people. And if a pirate were to swap this in for his current, eye-gouging hook setup, he’d certainly be keeping to an oceanic theme.

Kaylene Kau’s Prosthetic Arm [Coroflot via the Design Blog]

See Also:

• Bionic Cat Walks on Prosthetic Legs
• Prosthetic Flippers Could Help Amputees Swim – Video – Wired
• New Prosthetic Arms Are Awesome, Need More Steampunk
• Rocket-Powered Prosthetic Arm – Video – Wired

It’s only been a week since we heard about age reversal in mice, yet already we’ve got another big advancement in rodent medical care: a solution for ameliorating the devastating effects of spinal cord injuries. A UCLA research team has shown off a new system that can restore walking motion to a mouse’s hind legs, but not only that, it also grants control to the little fella by responding to its front legs’ actions. Electromyography sensors detect when a mouse starts to walk up front, triggering electronic signals to be sent to the functional lower portion of its spine, which in turn starts up the rear muscles for a steady walking gait. It’s only been tested on a treadmill so far, but the result seems to be a seamless restoration of walking capacity in rodents that doesn’t require any outside assistance. The same will be pretty hard to replicate in humans, bipeds that they are, but that’s why it’s called research and not reobvious.

Electronic neural bridge helps paralyzed mice walk again, human application might prove tricky originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The reversal of aging has been one of the great dreams of humanity, but it seems like our rodent overlords have beat us to it. The Harvard Medical School has demonstrated “a dramatic reversal” in the aging process when reintroducing the enzyme telomerase into old and feeble mice. What happened was that their naturally worn out organs started to regenerate, instead of degenerating further, bringing them back to a youthful state of health. Sadly, while the results of this study are hugely important, there are a couple of caveats to make: firstly, the mice in question were genetically modified to suffer from a lack of telomerase, which might have inflated the results of the tests relative to regular mice, but more importantly, an increase in telomerase in humans is “a hallmark of most human cancers.” So, if you want a shot of Benjamin Button brew, you’ll have to be very patient indeed. For now, let’s just be happy that Algernon and his buddies have found their fountain of youth.

[Thanks, Vygantas]

Harvard scientists reverse aging in mice, laugh maniacally at human possibilities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 06:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Artificial retina reconstructs normal vision in mice, human trials next originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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