Hello everyone! Today’s a bit of a short one, but I thought it was a good time to introduce something I’ve been planning to do for a while. I don’t get to talk very much about a lot of neat science fiction stuff that comes out over the course of the week, and I am a firm believer in keeping up with technology as it comes into the news. So, today will be the first of many brief roundups of various articles I’ve come across that I think every sci fi enthusiest should be made aware of! So, without further ado, here’s the first Science Fiction Roundup:
Bone Putty: Kind of Like Wood Putty, But for Your Hairline Fractures
I stumbled upon this on a few sites and went to the source to read about it. A team of researchers at the University of Georgia used adult stemcells (incredibly variable human cells that can be manipulated into growing int a huge number of tissues and biological structures) to create a kind of putty that quickly fuses broken bone to reduce healing times from months to mere days! Really incredible, especially considering it sidesteps the controversial embryonic stemcell issue as it uses cells from adult tissues. I’m sure I’ll do a post about this technology later, but for now, this is a really cool tech to look into!
Here They Come, by Land and Air!
- Nano Quadrotor Robots Perform Acrobatic Feats:http://singularityhub.com/2012/02/05/flying-robotic-swarm-of-nano-quadrotors-gets-millions-of-views-new-company/
- Snake-like Robot Explores Neat New Locomotion: http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/snake-like-robot-slithers-to-the-rescue/
- Researchers Seek to Uncover the Secrets of Insect Flight: http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/spry-robot-built-to-zip-like-the-butterfly/
Tons of robot-related news recently! These all revolve around researchers creating robots in an attempt to refine methods of maneuvering for various applications. Check ‘em out for some ideas for your robot apocalypse epic tale!
Siri and Evi: the Rise of Virtual Intelligence
- Evi comes on the scene to compete with Apple’s baby: http://singularityhub.com/2012/01/29/need-a-new-assistant-evi-makes-a-bid-to-replace-siri-on-iphone-and-android/
While Siri might be a bit old news to you Apple fans out there, a new virtual assistant has 
recently come on to the scene, and it’s available for Android platforms too! While not quite as extensive and useful, Siri operates on the same technology and represents a new frontier of competition for the most useful virtual intelligence. Go check it out! Even if you don’t have an iPhone 4S, you can download Evi and play with it for free ($0.99 on iOS, unfortunately, due to Apple’s licencing policies).
Well, that’s it for now! Next week I’ll wax eloquent about a new science fiction problem in a more full-blown piece. See you then!
