Rat Walks Again After Spinal Cord Injury. A Cure For Human Paralysis?

The rat you see in the above photo, besides being in an action shot you'd compare to the likes of a 90s training montage, was paralysed with a spinal cord injury just a few weeks ago. Thanks to a special treatment developed by researchers at the EPFL, control over its own limbs has been regained, posing a possible cure to human paralysis.
Shoulder-Mounted Robot Gives You A Borrower-Sized Companion

To conquer the modern day pressures of loneliness, this rather bizarre shoulder-mounted MH-2 (or 'miniature humanoid') will follow you through the day, perched on your shoulder, and offer a holographic visual presence of any of your closest people.
Plans Are Being Laid Out To Build Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise. No, Really.
With what has to be one of the most extraordinary and geekiest ideas ever conceived, there’s a group of people out there putting a very real amount of hope into plans to construct a full-scale, working Starship Enterprise. The time scale needed? Around 20 years. The cost? A staggering $1 trillion. Totally worth it.
Researchers Hoping To ‘Eliminate Death’ By 2045, Working On Humanoid Robot Avatars
It is estimated that a total of 55.3 million people die each year, equivalent to almost 2 every single second. Death is a fact of life, or so we thought. A project by the name of Russia 2045 is ambitiously attempting to conquer immortality in as little as 33 years by way of creating humanoid robots that have human personalities stored on artificial brains.
Sleep Mask ‘Remee’ Allows You To Control Your Dreams, Inception-Style

“Dreams feel real when we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realise something was actually strange.”
What if you were able to identify dream from reality? What would you do if that world you’re seeing you knew to be made up of projections of your subconscious? Defined by Lucidnet as a state in which you become “aware that you are dreaming, and when you become aware of your dreams, you can start learning to influence and control [them],” 'lucid dreaming' has been scientifically researched for decades but is still relatively unknown to the average person. But that might well be set to change…
SpaceX And Bigelow Join Forces, Paving The Way For Inflatable Space Stations

Having already passed seven out of the ten checks required by NASA before its seven-person Dragon cargo ship is deemed safe for ferrying human cargo to and from outer orbit, SpaceX has now signed a deal with private spaceflight firm Bigelow Aerospace to take its BA 330 inflatable modules into space in the near future.
Man Creates DIY Tesla Gun. Promises It's Just Art

Self-proclaimed 'mad scientist' Rob Flickenger has brought the Tesla coil of the steam punk era into rifle form, creating an awe-inspiring lightning gun.
Disney Creates Touch Sensing Technology That Works On Any Surface

Disney Research have released a paper detailing their rather intuitive new touch-sensing technology, which they're calling Touché.
Researchers Detail Quantum Computing ‘Breakthrough’

A team of scientists have today published the design details of an ion crystal, made up of just 300 atoms and a millimetre in diameter, capable of running a quantum computer so powerful that it would take a supercomputer the size of our known universe to match its performance.
It's Official: Planetary Resources Lifts The Curtain On Its Plan To Mine Asteroids

Five days ago we detailed how a group of investors that included Google co-founders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, director James Cameron, CEO of the X-Prize Foundation Peter Diamandis are funding a project known as 'Planetary Resources' that would help “chart the future”, “add trillions of dollars to the global GDP” and ultimately “[breed] a new definition of 'natural resources'.” Open to interpretation at the time of writing, the company has today revealed exactly what that all means; fuelling a new age of space exploration and eventually mining nearby asteroids for precious metals and rare minerals.
Brain-Activated Muscle Stimulation Restores Movement After Paralysis

All nerves and brain signals to operate your limbs go through the spinal cord, so most forms of paralysis occur due to damage of this area. But what if this was bypassed entirely, and your brain directly controlled these otherwise motionless limbs instead? This is a feat that researchers at Chicago's Northwestern University have been successful in carrying out.
James Cameron, Google Co-Founders Backing Space Resource Project

Titanic, Avatar director and self-confessed diving junkie James Cameron is one name from a number of high-profile investors (a list that also includes Google co-founders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi and chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, co-founder of Zero-G Corporation Peter Diamandis) who are hoping to kick-start a new age of space exploration and “ultimately create a better standard of living on Earth”.
3D Printers Can Print Drugs

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have been pioneering 3D printing technology, and have formed what could well be a revolution in pharmaceuticals scientists, doctors and the world.
Brain Scan Can Predict How Sexually Active You'll Be And How Fat You'll Get
A team of researchers have successfully been able to predict a person's weight gain and sexual activity, from the use of MRI scans, giving you a heads up in advance to just how many charms of temptation you may fall for (be it fatty foods or sexual conquests).
Scientists Publish Research Into Self-Healing Material, Posing A Future Of 'Bruisable' Gadgets

A team of scientists at the University of South Mississippi have presented research that indicates gadgets of the future could be made of a self-healing plastic material that is designed to ‘bruise’ when dropped or scratched in order to make damaged areas noticeable to the user. The device could theoretically then be placed in direct sunlight for a few minutes in order to the material to literally heal itself, repairing the damage and eventually causing the bruising to fade, bearing striking similarities to human skin.
The Flying Car Is Getting Closer To Reality, 'Transition' Completes Test Flight

Imagine, if you will, being stuck in a tail-back miles upon miles long, no hope of moving past your 2mph average speed any time soon and your frustration with the motorway infrastructure of our country becoming ever greater. Then imagine pulling out of the traffic, taking your wheels to the hard shoulder and putting your foot firm to the floor, using the slip road as if it were a runway at Heathrow. Thanks to the Massachussets-based Terrafugia Inc, taking your car to the skies is no longer a distant concept resigned only to the pages of science-fiction novels and the visuals of films, the congestion-avoiding ideal is closer than you might first think...
Virgin Set For The Centre Of The Earth. Time Travel A Possibility?

Being well on the way to conquering commercial flights to space, but having lost the race to the bottom of the ocean – Titanic director James Cameron this week made history as by completing the first solo trip by submarine to the deepest point of the ocean – Richard Branson's Virgin is now looking to conquer something else entirely: the very core of the earth.
Dutch Engineer Takes To The Skies On Custom-Built 'Human Birdwings'
The tale of Daedalus and Icarus engineering two pairs of flying wings out of feathers and wax to escape exile imprisonment at the hands of King Minos is one likely familiar to you all. Icarus might have ultimately failed in his attempt to save himself by flying too close to the sun – upon melting the wax that affixed feathers to his arms - but we humans seem to be fascinated by the idea of real human flight, outside of twin-engines and rocket-powered boosters of course. It’s an almost romanticised idea, being able to stretch your arms and go wherever you so choose, ill-constrained by gravity rooting you to terra firma. If a viral video is to be believed however, it is possible and Belgian engineer Jarno Smeets has achieved it.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Demands A #Penny4NASA To Dream For The Future
The final mission of the space program, launched in July 8th 2011, left a significant void in the hearts and minds of anybody who was fascinated by the discoveries of the world beyond our own. But Ph.D astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has begged to differ, claiming that America's encouragement and interest in space exploration has been slowly dying off way before the previous manned spaceflight.
Scientists Build Artificial Bones Using Lego

Researchers at Cambridge University have used Lego Mindstorms robotics kits for something more practical than we've created, forming a fully automated production line for the creation of artificial bones.

