6 // REMOTE CONTROL

          BRAIN IMPLANT

Have you ever been watching TV and thought to yourself: “This remote is just too much work. I wish I could just change the channel with my brain!” Well, it doesn’t matter, because Intel is banking on the fact that people will get so lazy in the next ten to fifteen years we won’t have the wherewithal to lift a single finger.
In their Pittsburgh laboratory, Intel is developing an implant chip that would sense neurological activity— this technology would then allow us to operate computers, televisions, and cell phones with our minds!
The chip is based on the theory that certain concepts ignite specific potions of the brain. Using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) the Intel team is scanning the brains of volunteers to see if indeed this is the case. According to the Pittsburgh-based laboratory, the results “look promising.”
After their research is complete, the next obstacle for Intel will be a matter of finding people willing to test the product. I, for one, wouldn’t line up. Buttons aren’t really an issue for me—but then again I can use my arms. The chip will initially be geared towards people who are unable to move. This makes a lot of sense. But after that I’m sure the Intel implant will just be used by people who don’t want to move.

- CAITLIN CUTT

7// STEM CELLS

Stem cells have come a long way since the days of the Bush administration, in which they were maligned as the hellspawn harvest of aborted fetuses and shoved into the ever-widening crevice of things old people are afraid of. Thankfully, science doesn’t give a shit about your hang-ups, and now a slew of companies have developed ways of extracting more effective stem cells from loads of different, non-controversial sources. The “holy grail” aspect of stem cells is owed to their “pluripotency,” their ability to become many different potential types of cells. In January of 2009, the FDA approved the first research patent for human stem cell studies. And just recently, the National Institute of Health approved the first new batch of stem cell lines since 2001, when Bush banned funding of the spooky stem cell research. And as much progress as we’ve seen just in the past year, the year 2010 looks to be even more dramatically significant in stem cell research. The goals of the stem cell research community are as pluripotent as the stem cells themselves. While spinal cord injuries and severe skin burns are the first human ills to see treatments being developed, that’s just a drop in the primordial ooze. Scientists are confident that cancer, heart disease, diabetes, blindness, muscular dystrophy and Crohn’s disease will see new treatments due to stem cell research. And if life-ruining illnesses aren’t your bag, stem cells may also soon be used to regrow teeth, reverse baldness, correct vision, restore fertility, and speed up wound healing. Paging Steve Rogers.

- MATT DUPREE

8// WIRELESS ELECTRICITY

Since the days of Nikolai Tesla, the idea of wireless technology has been the source of dreams for eggheads all over the world. Trust me though, you want this technology too. MIT egghead Eric Giler recently demoed this technology at a TED Talk. He blew the socks right off the crowd as he powered a flatscreen TV completely wirelessly, all using safe technology. Just as the crowd was putting on a fresh pair of socks, Giler blew them off again and probably their underpants too as he whipped out a cell phone and charged it just by waving it in front of the wireless generator. He then showed off a little bit and charged an iPhone, too. A little cocky, Giler.
This display shows that Tesla’s vision of a wireless future is actually quite possible. Giler also explained all of the cool implications of this new technology. Some of the possibilities he thought of were things like: no wires ever anymore and not having your cell phone beep at you because it’s running out of batteries. Okay maybe he thought of some other crap like no batteries spilling acid all over landfills and creating mutant seagulls or having an electric car that you don’t have to plug in like a dope. These are pretty cool things, especially if you’re into the Earth and not murdering it. Giler or Tesla or whoever obviously haven’t thought of the actual best use for this technology: Electric underpants.

- ANDY KNEIS

9// SYNTHETIC BIOLOGICAL        

        ORGANISMS

tic biological organisms and human genome data—done already? Good, because the truth is no one can retain all that information, which is exactly why Craig Venter has created a computer program to do it for us. It’s called the Human Reference Genome Browser (HuRef), a program that contains everything we know about organisms and their make-up. Considering the accelerated increase in population we’re facing, Venter’s program could save humans from extinction. We can easily create new forms of clean fuel and energy and vaccines by synthetically altering existing microorganisms. We can find cures for diseases that don’t even exist yet and create fuel that doesn’t pollute our atmosphere. We can create anything from anything. Venter is in a controversial position much like Einstein—he’s created a program that can synthesize bacteria, which could definitely be used against us, but the intentions of the project are pure, and if used for good, we could rapidly improve our way of life as we know it.

- RACHEL RUFRANO

10// AUGMENTED REALITY

As if laptops and cell phones weren’t portable enough, MIT has developed a new mobile technology that uses an interactive visual interface to stream information from the Internet; this new augmented reality is being called, “The Sixth Sense.”
The Sixth Sense developed by Pattie Maes and her students at MIT is a wearable computer system—literally you wear it around your neck—which employs a small projector to project information from the Internet onto any surface in front of you to reveal data about the image that is being projected back. An example: place yourself at the supermarket buying toilet paper. This new Sixth Sense technology can visually project valuable information about each product on the actual product, from reviews, to carbon footprint stats, etc. You can control the images with your own fingers, which are capped with special detectors. It is the internet, quite literally, at your fingertips. You can also dial calls, take photos, and Google new acquaintances with the simple wave of a finger.
The technology will, in theory, give us access to an abundance of information at any given time, dare I say all of it, and that can work to help us make informed decisions, hopefully environmentally responsible and health-conscious ones. These choices will be more accessible than ever and as a result, we can be a technologically progressive world while still sustaining our already limited resources.
However, the more information there is available to us, the more we are pressured to keep developing technology that dictates our every move, threatening prized liberties like privacy, identity, and old-fashioned social skills. We already have these problems with the less complicated Internet browser, but at least for now we’re still able to be professionally successful and happy without a cell phone and/or internet connection—something tells me that humble reality will change faster than we are ready for.

- KATHY MIRANDA