Miscellaneous

Part 1 of 9. Over the centuries, scientists speculated that we could tap into the body's electrical system to restore lost functions or enhance our powers, like machines.

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Would you modify your own body to get super-human abilities? Self-proclaimed "biohackers" are doing just that-- by injecting and implanting things into themselves, they bioengineer new abilities. But is the pain worth the payoff?
Kim Horcher and special guest Andy Riesmeyer (Host of Dweebcast) discuss the idea.

Read more:
"The Most Extreme Body Hacks That Actually Change Your Physical Abilities"

by Kate Knibbs
May 15, 2015

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We all know that injuries happen and doctors sometimes have to use metal screws or plates to support broken bones while the bones heal. What if that implanted metal just disintegrated on its own after the injury heals?

A team at the NSF Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is working to transform current medical and surgical treatments by creating "smart" implants. The major goal is to revolutionize metallic biomaterials to improve treatments for orthopedic, craniofacial, neural and cardiovascular ailments.

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering Research Centers are interdisciplinary, multi-institutional centers that join academia, industry and government in partnership to produce transformational engineered systems, along with engineering graduates who are highly skilled at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy.

The research is this episode was supported by NSF award #0812348, NSF Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials.

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One of this years TR10 innovators, Fiorenzo Omenetto, is developing implants made from silicon and sheets of silk, which dissolve away when no longer needed. We asked Omenetto about why he developed the technology, and the new types of implantable devices it will enable.

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One of this years TR10 innovators, Fiorenzo Omenetto, is developing implants made from silicon and sheets of silk, which dissolve away when no longer needed. We asked Omenetto about why he developed the technology, and the new types of implantable devices it will enable.

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We have the technology! We can rebuild...ourselves!

Human interface technologies like Google Glass, robotic prosthetics, and bionic eyes have the potential to help people recover lost abilities, but also to grant us new abilities. Will you someday be able to turn on your super-human hearing just by thinking about it? Maybe...if you live long enough. The question of whether we /should/ well, we'll leave that to the philosophers. This is SciShow!

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Chinese scientists created intelligence-augmented rat cyborgs controlled via a wireless micro-stimulator. Using a computer, electric stimuli can be delivered into the rat's brain through implanted electrodes. The experimental results show that cyborg rats perform better in escaping from mazes. Researchers believe the novel cyborg intelligent system (rat cyborg) has great potential in various applications, such as search and rescue in complex terrains.

Credit:
Intelligence-Augmented Rat Cyborgs in Maze Solving
Yipeng Yu, Gang Pan , Yongyue Gong, Kedi Xu, Nenggan Zheng, Weidong Hua, Xiaoxiang Zheng, Zhaohui Wu
PLoS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147754

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Body mods can be like giving yourself a super power, or joining the singularity, or...like risking a serious infection. Would you mod your body? One writer did, and he shares what he learned in the process!

Kim Horcher and special guest Leo Camacho (Host, Web Personality, Actual Disney Prince) discuss!

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Making robots that move like living things is hard. Why not make robots out of living things?

Although biomimicking robots may be the wave of the future, our technology isn't quite there yet. Until we make a few major breakthroughs in shrinking and powering portable mechanical parts, there's just no way that our robots can compete with the movement we see in swimming bacteria or rippling muscles.

This is where an old adage comes in: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. In this case, literally join the two together: Some researchers are incorporating living tissue into robotic designs.

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When JC Sheitan Tenet lost his right arm, he didn’t lose his will to make incredible tattoos. In fact, working without an arm gave his work more meaning. Then Tenet met artist Jean-Louis Gonzal, who creates spellbinding “biomechanic” works, and the two brainstormed a remarkable custom prosthetic tattoo machine. The device can pivot 360 degrees and allows Tenet to create abstract designs unlike anyone else.

This Great Big Story was made in partnership with Lenovo

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The Creators Project visits the Konvent, a monastery-turned-avant-garde art space in Spain, to meet two artist cyborgs.
Moon Ribas and Neil Harbisson have received electronic implants that heighten their perception, allowing Neil to hear color, and giving Moon the ability to feel the Earth's seismic activity. At the Konvent, they use these unique extra-human abilities to create a musical performance.

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I made this "cyborg" out of real chicken bones. The claws are actual chicken claws (got them at a pet store.. I guess dogs chew on them). This is running on an MSP430 microcontroller with all the code written in Java (compiled with Java Grinder). I'll post a link to my website later with more information (there's more to come really).

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Technology – from steel to server farm – has always changed what it means to be human. But what happens as we meld with ever more capable machines?

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The video of control the following behavior of turtle by parasitic robot. We developed a parasitic robot for turtle to achieve a waypoint navigation task in a water tank using operant conditioning. After training sessions over five weeks, the robot could successfully control the direction of movement of the trained turtles in the waypoint navigation task. This movie file is one of the sample for the test of navigation performance of parasitic robot. In this test, the parasitic robot control the turtle over 6m during 42 seconds.

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