Futurotica

Scientists Create Cloak of Partial Invisibility

Scientists have created a cloaking device that can reroute certain wavelengths of light, forcing them around objects like water flowing around boulders in a stream. To creatures or machines that see only in microwave light, the cloaked object would appear nearly invisible.

"The microwaves come in and are swept around the cloak and reconstructed on the other side while avoiding the interior region," said study team member David Smith at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering. "So it looks as if they just passed through free space."

Electric Cinderella Shoes with built-in stun gun

She wanted to be empowered without losing her femininity, to have the freedom to be sexy without fear. The shoes certainly achieve that, offering 100,000 volts of high fashion stun gun power which can be activated by a control on the matching necklace. The weapon is hidden and when the wearer taps on the matching necklace an electric spark is displayed in the transparent tip, warning the would-be assailant to back off. The weapon is designed for a one time use, in case of emergency, by breaking the tip of the shoe.

BAE Systems has developed a material that closely mimics the feet of a gecko lizard, which can scale vertical glass and other slippery surfaces with ease.

The research is still at an early stage but the firm said "infantry climbing suits" could be made out of the material, giving the troops gecko-like abilities.

[Source: The Scotsman]

SILENT LONDON
March 2005 - 735x500mm - Blind embossed etching
by Simon Elvins

Using information the government has collected on noise levels within London, a map has been plotted of the capitals most silent spaces. The map intends to reveal a hidden landscape of quiet spaces and shows an alternate side of the city that would normally go unnoticed.

Sitting stone still under a skull cap fitted with a couple dozen electrodes, American scientist Peter Brunner stares at a laptop computer. Without so much as moving a nostril hair, he suddenly begins to compose a message -- letter by letter -- on a giant screen overhead.

"B-O-N-J-O-U-R" he writes with the power of his mind, much to the amazement of the largely French audience of scientists and curious onlookers gathered at the four-day European Research and Innovation Exhibition in Paris, which opened Thursday."

(link, received from a coworker)

"Magic Sand"

Sand that is "hydrophobic" and thus remains dry, even when immersed in water.

Special forces to use strap-on 'stealth wings':

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings.

The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target.

The technology was demonstrated in spectacular fashion three years ago when Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner - a pioneer of freefall gliding - famously 'flew' across the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft 30,000ft above Dover and landing safely near Calais 12 minutes later.

Link

Canned air as a commodity:

Exhausted Japanese workers in need of a pick-me-up will soon be able to get a hit of canned oxygen at their local convenience store.

Seven-Eleven Japan will start marketing the new product, "O2 Supli," at select stores in the Tokyo area later this month and expand sales nationwide in June.

Each can contains enough oxygen for about 35 doses, in either a grapefruit or peppermint fragrance.

Link

James Sooy, a miniatures artist, wears a beautiful example of a piercing-mounted set of eyeglasses that he made himself with his friend Oliver, (one of the founding members of the suspension group TSD).

"They feel exactly like a regular pair of glasses, actually. I put the nose pads on to keep them from swinging around, so all the pressure is placed there, just like any other pair of glasses. Since they have no frame on the side I can wear them while I sleep and still roll onto my side."

Link to interview

Link to site
old news, but worth mentioning

Electric Fish on Verge of Evolutionary Split:

...in the Ivindo River in Gabon, Arnegard and colleagues have found fish with the same DNA emitting distinctly different signals.

... Arnegard cautioned that it is possible the differing electrical signals might be like varying eye color and possibly won't result in speciation. He plans to return to the site this month to continue the research project, which is funded by the National Geographic Society.

Link