Bionic eyes that return sight to the blind might not be as far off as previously thought, with researchers in London carrying out the first treatment on a pair of patients in a study of a new technology. The new bionic eyes are connected to a camera on a pair of glasses, so they aren't the all-in-one models you're envisioning. And if successful, they'll really only allow patients to see light and dark outlines rather than full sight. But still, to someone who has no vision at all, this is still pretty great news. And if the... lire la suite
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Bionic eyes that return sight to the blind might not be as far off as previously thought, with researchers in London carrying out the first treatment on a pair of patients in a study of a new technology. The new bionic eyes are connected to a camera on a pair of glasses, so they aren't the all-in-one models you're envisioning. And if successful, they'll really only allow patients to see light and dark outlines rather than full sight. But still, to someone who has no vision at all, this is still pretty great news. And if they're working on it in this state now, you know that they'll have the camera in the eye itself and the vision improved as the years go on. [BBC]
Tesla Motors has taken a huge step closer to reaching the top of the gigantic mountain that is building an electric car in America. The Tesla Roadster has emerged victorious after undergoing dozens of federally mandated tests, including the crash and safety tests that are required for automobiles. Big Oil execs certainly aren’t shaking in their Egyptian cotton undies quite yet, but production of the Tesla Roadster will mark a big victory for alternative-energy autos here in the US. The electric beauty is six times more efficient than a standard sports car and produces 90 percent less pollution. Tesla’s reusable battery takes about 3.5 hours to charge and gives the Roadster a range of approximately 220 miles on a single charge. With a shelf-life of about 100,000 miles, Tesla’s battery technology represents huge steps in the auto industry as we all know. With a hefty price tag up over $100K however, the type of buyer who can afford this sporty car is going to be looking for performance that an electric could never deliver, right? In terms of acceleration, the Tesla Roadster trumps the $180K Lamborghini Gallardo and even creeps up on the $315K+ Murcielago, which by the way touts a horrific fuel economy of 9 mpg. Under four seconds from 0-60; not too shabby for a green-friendly electric sportster. Of course in the grand scheme of things, we’d like to see some more accessible options out of the Silicon Valley automaker, but the Roadster looks to be right on schedule to go into production on March 17th as promised. Fingers crossed, a few successful runs of the Roadster should help Tesla step up the pace on some lower-end models.
The Boston Retinal Implant Project recently developed a bionic eye implant that will restore vision to those affected by degenerative blindness. The device works by being implanted into the back of the eyeball and working as a light transmitter to the brain, where the two are connected by a nerve/wire thinner than a human hair.
I was unaware of this but there is a race among 23 teams around the globe to develop the first bionic eye. The goal is to have someone develop a functional bionic eye by 2020. A sense of humor always helps put things in, ahem, focus.
"Solid-state lasers will revolutionize the battlefield by giving the warfighter an ultra-precision engagement capability that can dramatically reduce collateral damage," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "These successful tests show that Boeing has made solid progress toward making this revolutionary capability a reality."
Well, we'll see about that. All I know is, if years from now I'm suddenly standing in a Los Angeles parking lot half naked and swinging away at things with my katana thanks to a particularly crazy bar fight in a virtual reality world - I'll know who to blame. [New York Times]
Well, we'll see about that. All I know is, if years from now I'm suddenly standing in a Los Angeles parking lot half naked and swinging away at things with my katana thanks to a particularly crazy bar fight in a virtual reality world - I'll know who to blame. [New York Times]
newVideoPlayer("/Robothand.flv", 506, 423,""); We've written about the amazing iLIMB bionic hand before, but the newest version of it was showed off on the Today Show this morning, and it looks pretty incredible. For one, the guy who had it was able to simply pop one off and put another on without skipping a beat, with the new hand working almost instantly. He seemed able to control the fingers easily, and he had the added bonus of being able to rotate the hand 360 degrees, which is something those of us with fleshy, non-bionic hands are unable to do. In the future, bionic hands won't be replacements for real hands; they'll be upgrades.
Good news! XBLA and PSN title Bionic Commando Rearmed seems like it's getting one step closer to digital shipping. On developer GRIN's official site, the game's Creative Director Simon Viklund blogs: The final date for completing Bionic Commando Rearmed is closing in - we're stabilizing the game and polishing all the details now, and soon this product of almost a year of late nights and hard work will ship to a digital distribution channel near you! ...Within weeks we will see with sad eyes how it leaves to enter the approval process, and I'm sure that just days after things have calmed down here at the office and our schedules say "wait and see", the team and I will already start longing to get back to the backbreaking work we've gotten used to during the project.