Thu, 29 Jul 2004
Weird World Web
We interrupt this weblog to bring you news of Weird Technology
...
The Aviation and Missile Command in Huntsville, Alabama, are
building a missile designed to patch up injured soldiers; the
10 kilo Quick-MEDS
projectile will be launched from a UAV at injured soldiers who
can't be evacuated by helicopter because a fire fight is still
in progress: it's packed with "blood, bandages, an oxygen generator, burn
packs, critical-care supplies, vaccines and bio-chem
antidotes". The second generation of the missile, once they
get past proof of concept, will be GPS-guided and accurate
enough to land in a 10 metre by 20 metre area.
(Anyone willing to place bets on how long it takes before a
recipient is accidentally brained by one of these things? Adds
a whole new meaning to "friendly fire".)
Meanwhile, according
to Gizmodo (who got it off the UPS newswire, so it must be
true), "researchers in the Sao
Paulo University's Physics Department have successfully
connected a group of 11 neurons from a blue crab's mouth parts
to a computer, allowing them to control the movements of the
crabs mouth parts via electrical signals." I, for one, welcome
our new cyborg crustacean overlords. (And make mine a
caipirinha.)
(Speaking of cyborg crustaceans, if you want to know where the
lobsters in ACCELERANDO came from, this
was the inspiration.)
[Discuss
singularity]
posted at: 22:30 | path: /weird | permanent link to this entry
|