Radio-controlled live flying beetle

Researchers at the University of California, Berkley, have managed to create a live remote-control beetle by using 6 electrodes hooked up to the beetle's brain and muscles. This is the first time it has been done wirelessly.

The U.S. military agency DARPA is looking to making them suitable for covert investigations and search & rescue missions in areas too small or dangerous for humans.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  January 20, 2009--------

Invisibility cloak moving closer into view?

That cloaking device we've been dreaming of appears to be one step closer to actual cloakdom, so start pondering the mischievous possibilities.

Scientists from Duke University have improved on their earlier efforts at producing an invisibility cloak,

coming up with a new type of device they say is significantly more sophisticated at cloaking an object (and eventually a person?) from visible light.

The device is made from a light-bending composite material that can detour electromagnetic waves around an object

and reconnect them on the other side. That creates an effect similar to a distant mirage you'd see hovering above a road on a hot day.

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World’s first flying car prepares for take-off

Is it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it’s both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month. If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months’ time.

Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage. Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”

The Transition, developed by former Nasa engineers, is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air. Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph.

Up to now, however, it has been tested onl y on roads at up to 90mph. Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders, despite an expected retail price of $200,000 (£132,000). “For an airplane that’s very reasonable, but for a car that’s very much at the high end,” he conceded.

There are still one or two drawbacks. Getting insurance may be a little tricky and finding somewhere to take off may not be straightforward: the only place in the US in which it is legal to take off from a road is Alaska.

Dietrich is optimistic. He said: “In the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings.”

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  January 14, 2009-------

Military Automated killer robots

Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey, a top expert on artificial intelligence.

But up to now, a human hand has always been required to push the button or pull the trigger.

If we are not careful, he said, that could change.

There is a subtle progression from the semi-autonomous military robots deployed today to fully independent killing machines.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  January 13, 2009--------

Life As We Know It Nearly Created in Lab

Specifically, the researchers synthesized RNA enzymes that can replicate themselves without the help of any proteins or other cellular components, and the process proceeds indefinitely.

"Immortalized" RNA, they call it, at least within the limited conditions of a laboratory.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  January 9--------

SCIENCE FICTION A REALITY

U.S. scientists learn how to levitate tiny objects

They said they had detected and measured a force that comes into play at the molecular level using certain combinations of molecules that repel one another.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  December 26, 2008--------

**Underwater robot** working on severed internet cables

Engineers are trying to fix cables at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea in an attempt to restore internet and telephone access to millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

A seabed earthquake or trawler net are believed to be responsible for damaging three fibreoptic cables, leaving at least 15 countries with slow or no internet access and poor-quality telephone lines.

A team of specialist engineers, aided by an underwater robot nicknamed Hector, are working on the problem, which they hope will be fixed by Thursday.

The cables, which carry more than 75 per cent of all communication traffic between Europe and the Middle East, were broken last week.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  December 18, 2008--------

The Damage Tolerance technology has moved to "Phase Three" now.

This includes integration and flight demonstration of the technology.

The objective of the flight demonstration is to show the utility of these technologies on an operationally representative killer robot.

The US military already operates a large, five-ton aerial robot armed with target-seeking missiles and smartbombs.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  December 8, 2008--------

WORLD'S FIRST PERSONAL SUPERCOMPUTER UNVEILED

The world's first personal supercomputer, which is 250 times faster than the average PC, has been unveiled.

With its £4,000 price tag, the Tesla supercomputer is beyond the reach of most consumers, but is expected to revolutionize the way scientists and medical professionals carry out their work.

The gadget's power will allow doctors to process the results of brain and body scans much more quickly. This would allow them to tell patients within hours instead of days whether they have a tumor.

Scientists also believe that the supercomputers could help them discover cures for diseases, such as cancer and malaria, much more quickly than using traditional research methods.

This is because the device lets them run hundreds of thousands of simulations to create a shortlist of the drugs that are most likely to offer the potential for a cure.

Until now, supercomputers were massive systems made up of thousands of machines taking up entire rooms, which cost millions of pounds to build and maintain.

By contrast, Tesla personal supercomputers will cost between £4,000 and £8,000 and look much like an ordinary PC.

David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA, the American company which has designed the new technology, said: ‘Pretty much anything that you do on your PC that takes a lot of time can be accelerated with this.’

‘These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1,000 times.

‘If you imagine it takes a week to get a result [from running an experiment], you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day.’

The new computers make innovative use of graphics processing units - a technological breakthrough, which the company claims could bring lightning speeds to the next generation of home computers.

They went on sale to British customers yesterday and will initially be sold to universities and to the scientific and research community.

The PC maker Dell, however, said that it would soon be mass producing them for the general consumer market

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  December 5, 2008--------

BOEING AIRBORNE LASER SUCCESSFULLY ACTIVATES HIGH-ENERGY LASER

The company said the test was the final stage of the first full ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft.

Boeing is the prime integrator for the ABL program. The company said the test was carried out at Edwards Air Force Base in California by its industry teammates and by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

In the test, the laser beam traveled through the beam control/fire control system before exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret. The beam control/fire control system steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic-missile target, the company said.

This test is significant because it demonstrated that the Airborne Laser missile defense program has successfully integrated the entire weapon system aboard the ABL aircraft, said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

With the achievement of the first firing of the laser aboard the aircraft in September, the team has now completed the two major milestones it hoped to accomplish in 2008, keeping ABL on track to conduct the missile shoot-down demonstration planned for next year, Fancher said.

Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director, stated that the next goal for the ABL project would be to conduct several longer-duration laser firings through the beam control/fire control system.

Once we complete those tests, we will begin demonstrating the entire weapon system in flight, Rinn said. The team is meeting its commitment to deliver this transformational directed-energy weapon system in the near term.

Boeing said the latest success followed a series major breakthroughs in the formerly troubled program. It noted a 2005 test that confirmed the high-energy laser could be fired with deadly levels of duration and power in the System Integration Laboratory at Edwards AFB.

Last year the Airborne Laser was subjected to many flight tests that confirmed its ability to monitor, target, hit and destroy airborne targets, including taking offset readings to allow for atmospheric conditions, and then firing an effective high-energy laser's simulated lethal beam on the target…”

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  November 25, 2008--------

IBM TO BUILD BRAIN-LIKE COMPUTERS

IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.

Part of a field called ‘cognitive computing’, the research will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists.

As a first step in its research the project has been granted $4.9m (£3.27m) from US defense agency Darpa.

The resulting technology could be used for large-scale data analysis, decision making or even image recognition.

‘The mind has an amazing ability to integrate ambiguous information across the senses, and it can effortlessly create the categories of time, space, object, and interrelationship from the sensory data,’ says Dharmendra Modha, the IBM scientist who is heading the collaboration.

‘There are no computers that can even remotely approach the remarkable feats the mind performs,’ he said.

‘The key idea of cognitive computing is to engineer mind-like intelligent machines by reverse engineering the structure, dynamics, function and behavior of the brain.’

IBM will join five US universities in an ambitious effort to integrate what is known from real biological systems with the results of supercomputer simulations of neurons. The team will then aim to produce for the first time an electronic system that behaves as the simulations do.

The longer-term goal is to create a system with the level of complexity of a cat's brain.

Prof Modha says that the time is right for such a cross-disciplinary project because three disparate pursuits are coming together in what he calls a ‘perfect storm’.

Neuroscientists working with simple animals have learned much about the inner workings of neurons and the synapses that connect them, resulting in ‘wiring diagrams’ for simple brains.

Supercomputing, in turn, can simulate brains up to the complexity of small mammals, using the knowledge from the biological research. Modha led a team that last year used the BlueGene supercomputer to simulate a mouse's brain, comprising 55m neurons and some half a trillion synapses.

‘But the real challenge is then to manifest what will be learned from future simulations into real electronic devices - nanotechnology,’ Prof Modha said.

Technology has only recently reached a stage in which structures can be produced that match the density of neurons and synapses from real brains - around 10 billion in each square centimeter

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  November 19, 2008--------

First 'humanoid' robot that can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being

Scientists have created the first 'humanoid' robot that can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being. 'Jules' - a disembodied androgynous robotic head - can automatically copy the movements, which are picked up by a video camera and mapped on to the tiny electronic motors in his skin.

It can grin and grimace, furrow its brow and 'speak' as his software translates real expressions observed through video camera 'eyes'. Jules is the first humanoid robot who can realistically mimic a real person's expressions merely by watching their face Jules mimics the expressions by converting the video image into digital commands that make the robot's servos and motors produce mirrored movements.

And it all happens in real time as the robot can interpret the commands at 25 frames per second. The technology works using ten stock human emotions - such as happiness, sadness, concern etc - that the team 'taught' Jules via programming.

The software th en maps what it sees to Jules's face to combine expressions instantly to mimic those being shown by a human subject. 'If you want people to be able to interact with machines, then you've got to be able to do it naturally.

'When it moves, it has to look natural in the same way that human expressions are, to make interaction useful.' Peter Jaeckel, who works in artificial emotion, artificial empathy and humanoids at BRL, said: 'Realistic, life-like robot appearance is crucial for sophisticated face-to-face robot-human interaction.

'Researchers predict that one day, robotic companions will work, or assist humans in space, care and education

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  November 12, 2008--------

Flying car based on Ferrari 'could be reality within two years'

The 'Autovolantor' - based on a £200,000 Ferrari 599 GTB - is being developed by "Moller International". It will have the ability to take off vertically and hover thanks to eight powerful thrusters which direct air down for take off. Vents then tilt so the car can fly forward.

The car is expected to be able to do 100mph on the ground and 150mph in the air. The calculated airborne range is 75 miles and ground range is 150 miles. Designer Bruce Calkins says the car features a specially designed hybrid fuel and electric system to power the thrusters, creating as much as 800 horse power.

He believes it will be able to fly at altitudes of up to 5,000ft. Mr Calkins said: "The Autovolantor is powered by eight fans mounted in the fuselage of the vehicle. "On the ground these fans push the vehicle around with a firm but not-too-powerful thrust of deflected air.

"Small vanes in the exit area of the ducts can direct the air forward or back, or remain in the neutral position for vertical take off and landing. "Once in the air the vehicle manoeuvres like a helicopter, tilting nose down to move forward, rolling right or left for changes in direction.

"While maximum altitude could be much higher, the energy to obtain altitudes above 5,000 feet would be significant so we expect it to stay below that height."

Moller chose the Ferrari to be the model for the ground-breaking machine because of its distinctive shape. He estimates a cost of around £500,000 per car

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  November 6, 2008--------

Calif. Company developing flying car

A California company says it's working on a flying car that would lift drivers above idling rush-hour traffic with the flick of a switch.  

Moller International of Sacramento, Calif., is modifying a Ferrari 599 GTB, outfitting it with retractable wings, 8 mounted engines and a battery-powered booster that would enable it to soar as high as 2,500 feet in the air. 

 Called the Autovolantor, the idea was suggested by a wealthy Russian investor and is being developed into a $3 million prototype.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  October 28, 2008--------

SCIENTISTS DEVELOP ARTIFICIAL HEART THAT BEATS LIKE THE REAL THING

An artificial heart that beats almost exactly like the real thing is to be implanted in patients within three years in a trial that may offer hope to heart disease sufferers unable to receive a transplant.

The device, which uses electronic sensors to regulate the heart rate and blood flow, was developed by Alain Carpentier, France's leading cardiac surgeon, and engineers from the group that makes Airbus aircraft. Presented yesterday, it was described by its inventors as the closest thing yet to the human heart. ‘If you show the graphs to a cardiac surgeon, he will say it's a human heart,’ Professor Carpentier said. ‘But no, it’s not a human heart, it’s the prosthesis.’

He said that he had spent two decades on the project because ‘I found it intolerable to see young people - aged 40, 45 or 50 - dying of massive heart attacks without having a prosthesis available to replace their hearts’.

The French announcement is the latest in a race by doctors to produce a device that could be fitted into the 20,000 patients a year worldwide who are unable to receive a life-saving heart transplant because of a shortage of donors.

Two artificial hearts have been invented in the US, the Jarvik 7 and the AbioCor, but both have drawbacks, according to Professor Carpentier’s team: the first has wires that protrude through the skin, and the second can produce blood clots that can lead to strokes, they said.

Carmat, the company founded by Professor Carpentier and EADS, Europe’s aerospace and defence giant, says that it is close to overcoming these hurdles. Sensors in the artificial heart will automatically regulate the heart beat, detecting the body’s needs: increasing the rhythm when patients are walking, for instance, and slowing it when they are resting

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  October 20, 2008--------

US plans 6,000mph bomber

The Pentagon is drawing up plans for a "hypersonic" bomber able to travel more than 10,000 miles around the globe in about 2 hours.

The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) is designed to fly at a top speed of almost 6,000mph directly from America to neutralize regimes threatening to use weapons of mass destruction.

It would avoid the need to rely on forward airbases in unreliable third countries.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  September 24, 2008--------

Scientists to attempt cloning of fossilized baby woolly mammoth

It is no longer beyond our imaginations to entertain thoughts of dinosaurs once again roaming the earth. Before, it was only an afternoon at the movies that could spark the image of prehistoric beasts chasing us around the neighborhood. Now, behold what a fantastic world we live in.

In May of 2007 a reindeer herder named Yuri Khudi found a nearly intact 10,000-year-old baby mammoth. The frozen remains of the animal were discovered in northwestern Siberia.

The nearly perfect specimen is determined to be a six-month-old female. Scientists at Japan's Jikei University are the lucky ones elected to examine the ice age beast and live the dream of every little boy to see a dinosaur close-up for real.

The thoughts of cloning the baby mammoth are like sugar plum fairies dancing in the heads of researchers everywhere. And why not? After the historic 1996 DNA cloning of Dolly, the sheep in England, the question is not how, but when.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  September 22, 2008--------

Scientists developing small robotic drones to become part of Air Force's arsenal

It may look like a futuristic arcade game, but it's a scene from an official Air Force animated video: Bad guys of indiscernible origin being shadowed, from a careful distance, by small robotic drones designed to resemble birds and insects.

When one of the bad guys opens his apartment door, a tiny robo-bug, looking like a garage door opener with wings, sneaks in to spy. In another scene, a bug - the Air Force calls them Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs - creeps into a sniper's roost and delivers a deadly shot to the back of his head. It might sound far-fetched.

But top Air Force officials believe that MAVs could be a significant part of the Defense Department's arsenal in the not-so-distant future. Civilian researchers and airmen at the Air Force Research Laboratory, based at this installation just outside Dayton, have set a 2015 deadline to roll out the first generation of MAVs.

This first group, they hope, will be the size of birds and be able to operate several days without recharging. "These are one of the assets that in the future could be a game-changer," said Mark Lewis, chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force. U.S. forces and their allies have already used some small vehicles in the field, but nothing that compares in size and stealth to what scientists at the Air Force lab are looking to develop in coming years

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  September 15, 2008--------

Robot Suit To Enter Mass Production

Japan is a world leader in robotics, and in October 2008 a Japanese company will become the first in the world to begin mass-producing a robot that assists humans in moving their limbs.

A research team led by University of Tsukuba Professor Sankai Yoshiyuki has developed the device, which is called Robot Suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) TM. Sankai is the CEO of Cyberdyne Inc., the company that plans to begin making this robot suit available for rental through sales outlets.

Manufacturing robots and realistic humanoid robots are just two of the numerous kinds of robots that are already in use. A robot suit is a wearable device that dramatically increases the strength of the wearer.

Robot Suit HAL is worn over the arms and legs and assists body movement through eight electric motors attached to shoulders, elbows, knees, and the waist. As it supports the wearer's own limb movements, the robot suit must detect how the wearer is trying to move his or her arms and legs and quickly respond.

Most of the robots that have been developed so far in this field rely on sensors to detect motion and then activate motors. When you want to move your body, your brain sends out an electric signal that is received by your muscles, which then contract, thus producing motion. This electric signal travels to the muscles via the body's nerves, generating a slight voltage of electricity on the surface of the skin.

This is known as a bioelectric signal, and Robot Suit HAL detects them using the sensors placed around the wearer's body. Depending on the voltage running the surface of the skin, the computer inside Robot Suit HAL analyzes the signal and sets the appropriate motors in motion.

This unique method of operation means that a person can control Robot Suit HAL by his or her own will, even if he or she is unable to actually move. And as the suit detects the signal sent from the brain even before it gets to the muscle, it can move an instant before the muscle does.

When a person wearing Robot Suit HAL picks up an object that weighs 40 kg, he/she feels as if it weighed only a few kilograms. Robot Suit HAL is therefore expected to have a wide range of applications, such as assisting carers, helping people with physical disabilities to move, and assisting people performing jobs that require a great deal of physical strength.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  September 8, 2008--------

Are we all going to die this Wednesday?

Why should we now be worrying about possible causes of Armageddon? The answer is a gargantuan machine - the largest, most expensive scientific experiment in history, the 'Large Hadron Collider', to be turned on next Wednesday.

Although it was designed to answer the fundamental questions of life, some people have claimed that it could end up destroying the entire cosmos. This gigantic £4 billion-plus atom-smasher has been built under the Swiss-French border near Geneva, and is the most powerful device ever built for probing the secrets of the atom and the forces and particles which make up our Universe.

It is a staggering device, occupying a train-sized tunnel 18 miles long, buried 300ft underground, studded with gigantic, cathedral-sized ring-shaped detectors where collisions between packets of 'heavy' subatomic particles, 'hadrons', will take place in the hope that the innermost workings of matter and energy will be revealed.

The LHC is, arguably, the most impressive machine ever built by Mankind. But a few people are convinced that it should never be turned on. A lawsuit has been lodged at the European Court For Human Rights by a small group of maverick scientists.

They claim there is a small - but not zero - chance that when the LHC is activated it will create either a mini-black hole which would fall into the ground and swallow the Earth from within. Or, even more bizarrely, trigger a catastrophic chain reaction in the very fabric of space and time itself, which would rip apart the entire universe like the skin of a bursting balloon.

The LHC was not designed to destroy the universe, of course, but to fill in some of the embarrassingly large gaps that still run through our basic understanding of physics and how the universe works.

It could discover, for instance, what most of the Universe is actually made of. The ordinary 'stuff' that we see around us - the atoms and molecules of water, carbon, iron, oxygen and the rest that make up our bodies, the planet Earth, the Moon, the other planets, the Sun and all the stars - actually accounts for only about one part in 25 of the total 'ingredients' of the cosmos.

Astronomers know that something else, invisible and mysterious, must pervade every inch of space, its subtle gravity affecting the movements of the galaxy. This material - no one really has a clue what it is - has been dubbed 'dark matter' and it is hoped that the collider just might shed some light on what it is, perhaps uncovering a new type of particle.

Perhaps more embarrassingly, we don't know what it is that gives even ordinary matter its mass. In the 1960s, British physicist Peter Higgs proposed the existence of a new particle, now known as the 'Higgs Particle', which effectively lends 'weight' to the stuff of the universe. So important and fundamental is this hypothetical entity that it has been dubbed the 'God particle'

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  August 29, 2008--------

Human exoskeleton suit helps paralyzed people walk

Paralyzed for the past 20 years, former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof now walks down the street with a dim mechanical hum.

That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old's legs and propelling him forward -- with a proud expression on his face -- as passersby stare in surprise.

"I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it's like," said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in 1988.

"Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below."

The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company.

Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by comic hero Iron Man, ReWalk helps paraplegics -- people paralyzed below the waist -- to stand, walk and climb stairs.

The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries.

The user picks a setting with a remote control wrist band -- stand, sit, walk, descend or climb -- and then leans forward, activating the body sensors

and setting the robotic legs in motion. "It raises people out of their wheelchair and lets them stand up straight," Goffer said

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  August 17, 2008--------

A 'Frankenrobot' with a biological brain

Meet Gordon, probably the world's first robot controlled exclusively by living brain tissue.Stitched together from cultured rat neurons, Gordon's primitive grey matter was designed at the University of Reading by scientists who unveiled the neuron-powered machine on Wednesday.

Their groundbreaking experiments explore the vanishing boundary between natural and artificial intelligence, and could shed light on the fundamental building blocks of memory and learning, one of the lead researchers told AFP. Looking a bit like the garbage-compacting hero of the blockbuster animation "Wall-E", Gordon has a brain composed of 50,000 to 100,000 active neurons.

Once removed from rat foetuses and disentangled from each other with an enzyme bath, the specialised nerve cells are laid out in a nutrient-rich medium across an eight-by-eight centimetre (five-by-five inch) array of 60 electrodes.

This "multi-electrode array" (MEA) serves as the interface between living tissue and machine, with the brain sending electrical impulses to drive the wheels of the robots, and receiving impulses delivered by sensors reacting to the environment.

Because the brain is living tissue, it must be housed in a special temperature-controlled unit -- it communicates with its "body" via a Bluetooth radio link. The robot has no additional control from a human or computer.

From the very start, the neurons get busy. "Within about 24 hours, they start sending out feelers to each other and making connections," said Warwick.

"Within a week we get some spontaneous firings and brain-like activity" similar to what happens in a normal rat -- or human -- brain, he added

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 The U.S. military is paying scientists to study ways to read people's thoughts.
The hope is that the research could someday lead to a gadget capable of translating the thoughts of soldiers who suffered brain injuries in combat or even stroke patients in hospitals. But the research also raises concerns that such mind-reading technology could be used to interrogate the enemy.

Armed with a $4 million grant from the Army, scientists are studying brain signals to try to decipher what a person is thinking and to whom the person wants to direct the message, known as electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures the brain's electrical activity through electrodes placed on the scalp.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  August 15, 2008--------

Brain will be battlefield of future, warns US intelligence report*

Rapid advances in neuroscience could have a dramatic impact on national security and the way in which future wars are fought, US intelligence officials have been told.

In a report commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency, leading scientists were asked to examine how a greater understanding of the brain over the next 20 years is likely to drive the development of new medicines and technologies.

They found several areas in which progress could have a profound impact, including behavior-altering drugs, scanners that can interpret a person's state of mind and devices capable of boosting senses such as hearing and vision.

On the battlefield, bullets may be replaced with "pharmacological land mines" that release drugs to incapacitate soldiers on contact, while scanners and other electronic devices could be developed to identify suspects from their brain activity and even disrupt their ability to tell lies when questioned, the report says.

"The concept of torture could also be altered by products in this market. It is possible that some day there could be a technique developed to extract information from a prisoner that does not have any lasting side effects," the report states.

The report highlights one electronic technique, called transcranial direct current stimulation, which involves using electrical pulses to interfere with the firing of neurons in the brain and has been shown to delay a person's ability to tell a lie.

Drugs could also be used to enhance the performance of military personnel. There is already anecdotal evidence of troops using the narcolepsy drug Modafinil, and Ritalin, which is prescribed for attention deficit disorder, to boost their performance. Future drugs, developed to boost the cognitive faculties of people with dementia, are likely to be used in a similar way, the report adds.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  August 7, 2008--------

Puppies mark birth of commercial pet cloning

A U.S. woman received five puppies that were cloned from her beloved late pitbull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service.

Seoul-based RNL Bio said the clones of Bernann McKinney's dog Booger were born last week after being cloned in cooperation with a team of Seoul National University scientists who created the world's first cloned dog in 2005.

"It's a miracle!" McKinney repeatedly shouted Twhen she saw the cloned Boogers for which she paid $50,000. "Yes, I know you! You know me, too!" McKinney said joyfully, hugging the puppies

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  JULY 23, 2008--------

Star Wars-style laser technology to reach battlefield

Star Wars-style technology is about to take to the battlefield for the first time with the launch of a laser system to shoot down enemy missiles and mortars.

Laser beam technology is being rushed into service to combat the threat of insurgent missiles and mortars raining down on British and American military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After decades of delay and billions of pounds spent, it will be simple commercial lasers rather than the hugely expensive US Department of Defense technology that could be used to save hundreds of troops' lives.

In just 18 months the American defense firm Raytheon has turned a laser used in the car manufacturing industry into a weapon that can hit incoming rounds at the speed of light, melting the outer casing and detonating the explosive inside.

A laser has already been used in a test to destroy a 60mm mortar round and in September the company plans its first "shoot down" of a shell in flight in a test to be conducted with the US military.

If successful it could be used on battlefields as early as next year. "This is a huge enhancement of Phalanx. It will have accuracy to shoot down these targets," said Raytheon's chief of directed energy weapons

"When you trade photons for bullets you have an unlimited magazine you can shot forever as long as you have electricity,"...

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  JULY 10, 2008--------

UK Report Of The Future Predicts Brain Implants, Revolution

A British defense think tank predicts possible “key risks and shocks” for the future in a recently released report.

The report predicts microchip brain implants, flash-bombs, Marxist middle-class revolutionaries, extreme globalization and more, all likely within 30 years.

The “source document for the development of UK Defense Policy” was created by the Development, Concepts and Doctrines Center (DCDC), and will be used to “shape the UK’s future defense requirements” until 2036, according to the report.

The report lumps predictions into four categories: things that will happen (according to the report, more than 95 percent likely, or “near certainty”), things that are likely/probable (more than 60 percent likely), things that may/possibly happen (more than 10 percent likely) and things that are unlikely/improbable (less than 10 percent likely).

Water scarcity will be a major issue, U.S. economic crisis is likely, a pandemic may happen, and the global financial system may fail; these are just a few of the predictions of the report. Several predictions are more futuristic.

Much of the report sounds like science fiction, but according to the DCDC, science fiction that very possibly may become reality

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Stolen OnStar Cars Stop Shut Down Remotely

General Motors says it has developed a technology to put the brakes on car thieves and came to Tampa on Tuesday to prove it.

Representatives from the automaker demonstrated their Stolen Vehicle Slowdown technology before the media, police and fire department officials.

The system is designed to let an operator with the company's OnStar service send a signal to a stolen vehicle to restrict the fuel flow and slow the car, truck or SUV to 3 to 5 mph.

Police and fire-rescue personnel took turns behind the wheel of two Chevrolet Tahoes equipped with the technology.

When activated, the system sent a message to a screen that said, "Engine power is reduced," then the vehicle coasted to a near standstill.

The automaker has talked about stolen-vehicle technology since late last year. Now, it's going on the road to 25 U.S. cities to demonstrate to police and fire-rescue personnel how it works.

After receiving a stolen vehicle report, an OnStar operator can communicate with police about the vehicle's location.

To help identify the stolen vehicle to police on the street, OnStar can activate the flashers for 30 seconds.

In the case of a fleeing vehicle, when police say it's safe, OnStar sends an electronic command to restrict the fuel flow. The brakes and steering will still work

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  JULY 9, 2008--------

      Kostner's "Water World" Fast becoming a Reality

The floating cities that could one day house climate change refugees

At first glance, they look like a couple of giant inflatable garden chairs that have washed out to sea

But they are, apparently, the ultimate solution to rapidly rising sea levels.

This computer-generated image shows two floating cities, each with enough room for 50,000 inhabitants.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  JULY 2, 2008--------

Will palm screening replace fingerprint ID?

The future of automated identification using body parts (biometrics) is in the palm of your hand, at least that's what Fujitsu Computer Products of America wants you to think.

Fujitsu recently unveiled palm-scanning technology for the U.S. market that's already in widespread use in Asia. Hiroko Naito, Fujitsu's business development manager, said the firm's PalmSecure technology uses near-infrared scanning to identify people by the pattern of veins in their palms, which are as distinctive as fingerprints.

"It's a contactless device — you just hold your hand over the sensor, so it's hygienic and easy to use," Naito said. "We have heard so many times from customers that the reason they were hesitant about biometrics is that it could be intrusive."

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  JUNE 30, 2008--------

SCIENTISTS FIND FIRST PHYSICAL EVIDENCE MARS COULD SUPPORT LIFE

Scientists with the US space agency NASA appear to have finally found what they were seeking when they sent Phoenix millions of kilometers to the Red planet.

When the lander analyzed soil it had scooped up two weeks ago, water vapor was released when the lander heated the dirt to over 538 degrees centigrade.

Sam Kovanis is lead chemist with the Phoenix Mars project at the University of Arizona.

‘This is the first wet chemical analysis on the Martian soil and any other planet besides Earth, and we were all flabbergasted with the data we got back,’ said Sam Kovanis.

To the surprise of scientists, the soil was not too acidic to sustain life. In fact, Kovanis says it appears to contain enough minerals that make Earth bound plants flourish.

‘We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life, whether past, present or future, the sort of soil you have there, the type of soil you'd probably have in your backyard, alkaline, you might be able to grow asparagus in it really well, strawberries not very well,’ he said.

‘And again, this is one more piece of evidence showing that the soil's out there by some sort of liquid water action in the history of Mars

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  JUNE 13, 2008--------

Flying saucers could soon be spying on you

Flying saucers may soon be more fact than mere science fiction. University of Florida mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Roy has submitted a patent application for a circular, spinning aircraft design reminiscent of the spaceships seen in countless Hollywood films. Roy, however, calls his design a "wingless electromagnetic air vehicle," or WEAV.

The proposed prototype is small – the aircraft will measure less than 6 inches across, and will be efficient enough to be powered by on-board batteries.

The most obvious functions would be surveillance and navigation. The aircraft could be designed to carry a camera and light and be controlled remotely at great distances, he said.

The U.S. Air Force and NASA have expressed interest in the aircraft, and the university is seeking to license the design, he said.

"This is a very novel concept, and if it's successful, it will be revolutionary," Roy said.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  MAY 21, 2008--------

Monster carnivorous mice overrun British Island

A British owned island in the South Atlantic has been overrun by hundreds of thousands of monster mice which have evolved into carnivores.

A Gough mouse crouches over the remains of a seabird chick

The mice of Gough Island have grown to two or even three times the size of an ordinary house mouse.

They have developed from eating insects and seeds and are now devouring young birds, including albatross chicks, in huge numbers.

Birds on the island had been used to having no predators and are unable to fend off the mice which attack in groups at night.

Gough Island is regarded as one of the most important seabird colonies in the world.

It is thought to have around 700,000 mice all descended from a few that escaped from on a whaling boat.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  MAY 21, 2008--------

Robotic suit could usher in super soldier era

Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows.

But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds—that is, until he steps into an "exoskeleton" of aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as many as 20 times.

With the outfit's claw-like metal hand extensions, he gripped a weight set's bar at a recent demonstration and knocked off hundreds of repetitions. Once, he did 500.

"Everyone gets bored much more quickly than I get tired," Jameson said. Jameson—who works for robotics firm Sarcos Inc. in Salt Lake City, which is under contract with the U.S. Army—is helping assess the 150-pound suit's viability for the soldiers of tomorrow.

The suit works by sensing every movement the wearer makes and almost instantly amplifying it.

The Army believes soldiers may someday wear the suits in combat, but it's focusing for now on applications such as loading cargo or repairing heavy equipment.

Sarcos is developing the technology under a two-year contract worth up to $10 million, and the Army plans initial field tests next year.

The technology already offers evidence that robotics can amplify human muscle power in reality—not just in the realm of comic books and movies like the recently debuted "Iron Man," about a wealthy weapons designer who builds a high-tech suit to battle bad guys.

"Everybody likes the idea of being a superhero, and this is all about expanding the capabilities of a human," said Stephen Jacobsen, chief designer of the Sarcos suit.

"We see the value being realized when these suits can be built in great numbers for both military and commercial uses, and they start coming down in cost to within the range of the price of a small car," said Jacobsen.

He declined to estimate how much the suit might cost in mass production

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  MAY 19, 2008--------

Your future doctor may be a robot

The 'Robo Doc’ - or Matilda as the machine in more personally called by surgeons carried out its first prostate procedure at Manchester’s Christie Hospital, with greater precision than a human hand.

Lower doses of anesthetic are needed for the keyhole surgery under the robot’s steady hand, patients lose less blood and the chances of infection are lower.

The robot has four arms which rotate 360 degrees and grip instruments including a camera which are inserted into the body during an operation. There is also a separate control unit - manned by the surgeon - with hand and foot pedals and a three-dimensional screen which can magnify views by up to 10 times.

Medics believe such robots are the future of surgery.

Surgeons say the robot is very sophisticated. With practice you can achieve the same or better levels or control as if you held the instrument yourself, rather than traditional keyhole surgery which is more like using chopsticks.

It is the future of surgery because it radically reduces most of the risks associated with operations, but the technology enables doctors to see inside the body as well as performing an open operation and manipulate the instruments with high precision.

The machines will be cost effective because patients recover so much quicker - they can be discharged after one or two days and return to work after just a few weeks.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  MAY 13, 2008--------

Real-Life Iron Man: Company looking to mass produce robotic power suits

The prospect of slipping into a robotic exoskeleton that could enhance strength, keep the body active while recovering from an injury or even serve as a prosthetic limb has great appeal.

Unlike the svelt body armor donned by Iron Man, however, most exoskeletons to date have looked more like clunky spare parts cobbled together.

Japan's CYBERDYNE, Inc. is hoping to change that with a sleek, white exoskeleton now in the works that it says can augment the body's own strength or do the work of ailing (or missing) limbs.

The company is confident enough in its new technology to have started construction on a new lab expected to mass-produce up to 500 robotic power suits (think Star Wars storm trooper without the helmet) annually, beginning in October, according to Japan's Kyodo News Web site.

CYBERDYNE (which film buffs will recognize as the name of the company that built the ill-fated "Skynet" in the Terminator movies) designed the HAL exoskeleton primarily to enhance the wearer's existing physical capabilities 10-fold. CYBERDYNE is not the only company developing exoskeleton technology.

The U.S. Army is in the very early stages of testing an aluminum exoskeleton created by Sarcos, to improve soldiers' strength and endurance.

The exoskeleton is made of a combination of sensors, actuators and controllers, and can help the wearer lift 200 pounds several hundred times without tiring, the company said Wednesday in a press release.

The company also claims the suit is agile enough to play soccer and climb stairs and ramps

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Robobug goes to war: Troops to use electronic insects to spot enemy 'by end of the year'

It may have seemed like just another improbable scene from a Hollywood sci-fi flick – Tom Cruise battling against an army of robotic spiders intent on hunting him down.

But the storyline from Minority Report may not be quite as far fetched as it sounds. British defense giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.

Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby.

Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets.

Then they would swarm into the building and relay images back to the soldiers' hand-held or wrist-mounted computers, warning them of any threats inside.

Plans for a creature that can crawl like a spider are said to be well developed, and researchers eventually hope to be able to create creatures that can slither like a snake or fly like a dragonfly.

While some of the creatures will be fitted with small cameras, others will be equipped with sensors that will be able to detect the presence of chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.

Scientists from the UK and America plan an army of the electronic bugs, and have ambitions to equip every front-line soldier with them

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  MAY 5, 2008--------

Israel's military shows off unmanned, armed patrol vehicle

Israel's newest "soldier" can see at night, never nods off on sentry duty and can carry 660 pounds without complaining.

The Guardium, a remote-controlled, unmanned vehicle commissioned by the Israeli military  is among the first such machines to be ready for the battlefield.

The four-wheeled vehicle is designed to replace human soldiers in dangerous roles, and sometimes tedious missions, cutting casualties.

Like the pilot less drones that have become a mainstay of air forces in Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere, the Guardium is operated from a command room far from the front line.

It can carry cameras, night-vision equipment and sensors, as well as weapons like machine guns. Following preprogrammed routes, it can navigate alone on patrol along a barrier fence or make its way through a city - the vehicle knows how to deal with intersections, traffic and road markings.

Relying on cameras that scan 360 degrees at all times, the vehicle's sensors send alerts of anything suspicious to the remote operator, who can take control at any time.

The Guardium never mentally wanders or falls asleep during mind-numbing guard or patrol missions in dangerous war zones.

Robots like this are potentially the future of ground warfare according to John Pike, director of the Virginia-based military think tank Globalsecurity

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 30, 2008--------

HALF MAN, HALF CHIMP - SHOULD WE BEWARE THE APEMAN'S COMING?

A leading scientist has warned a new species of ‘humanzee,’ created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.

In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, warned the controversial draft Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill did not prevent human sperm being inseminated into animals.

He said if a female chimpanzee was inseminated with human sperm the two species would be closely enough related that a hybrid could be born.

He said scientists could possibly try to develop the new species to fill the demand for organ donors.

Leading scientists say there is no reason why the two species could not breed, although they question why anyone would want to try such a technique.

Other hybrid species already created include crossed tigers and lions and sheep and goats.

Dr MacKellar said he feared the consequences if scientists made a concerted effort to cross humans with chimpanzees. He said: ‘Nobody knows what they would get if they tried hard enough. The insemination of animals with human sperm should be prohibited.

‘The Human Fertilization and Embryo Bill prohibits the placement of animal sperm into a woman the reverse is not prohibited. It's not even mentioned. This should not be the case.’

He said if the process was not banned, scientists would be ‘very likely’ to try it, and it would be likely humans and chimps could successfully reproduce.

‘If you put human sperm into a frog it would probably create an embryo, but it probably wouldn't go very far,’ he said.

‘But if you do it with a non-human primate it's not beyond the realms of possibility that it could be born alive.’

Dr MacKellar said the resulting creature could raise ethical dilemmas, such as whether it would be treated as human or animal, and what rights it would have.

‘If it was never able to be self-aware or self-conscious it would probably be considered an animal,’ he said. ‘However, if there was a possibility of humanzees developing a conscience, you have a far more difficult dilemma on your hands.’

He said fascination would be enough of a motive for scientists to try crossing the two species.

But he also said there was a small chance of scientists using the method to ‘humanise’ organs for transplant into humans.

‘There's a desperate need for organs. One of the solutions that has been looked at is using animal organs, but because there's a very serious risk of rejection using animal organs in humans they are already trying to humanize these organs

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 25, 2008--------

US army develops robotic suits

On the big screen, films like Robocop, Universal Soldier and forthcoming release Iron Man show man-machines with superhuman powers. But in Utah they are turning science fiction into reality.

Rex Jameson, a software engineer here at laboratories run by Sarcos, the robotics firm which designed the XOS exoskeleton, steps up and into the suit.

The lightweight aluminum exoskeleton, called XOS, senses Rex's every move and instantly moves with him; it is almost like a shadow or a second skin.

It is designed for agility that can match a human's, but with strength and endurance that far outweigh our abilities.

With the exoskeleton on and fully powered up, Rex can easily pull down weight of more than 90 kilos, more than he weighs.

For the army the XOS could mean quicker supply lines, or fewer injuries when soldiers need to lift heavy weights or move objects around repeatedly.

Initial models would be used as workhorses, on the logistics side but the designers are already imagining future versions more reminiscent of Hollywood

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 23, 2008--------

SURGEONS GIVE HOPE TO BLIND WITH SUCCESSFUL 'BIONIC EYE' OPERATIONS

Surgeons have carried out the first operations in Britain using a pioneering ‘bionic eye’ that could in future help to restore blind people’s sight.

Two successful operations to implant the device into the eyes of two blind patients have been conducted at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.

The device — the first of its kind — incorporates a video camera and transmitter mounted on a pair of glasses. This is linked to an artificial retina, which transmits moving images along the optic nerve to the brain and enables the patient to discriminate rudimentary images of motion, light and dark.

The operations were conducted as part of an international clinical trial of the technology, known as the Argus II retinal implant, which has already proved successful in restoring rudimentary vision to patients who have become blind because of common conditions such as age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.

American researchers are hoping to develop a camera the size of a pea that could be implanted within the eyeball, replacing natural tissue with artificial technology.

Surgeons hope that the implant could be available to NHS patients within three to five years.

The Argus II uses a video camera to capture images. These are converted into electrical signals, which are transmitted wirelessly to the implant behind the retina. The electrodes in the implant unscramble the signal to create a crude black-and-white picture that is relayed along the optic nerve to the brain. The brain can then perceive patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to the electrodes stimulated.

Mark Humayun, Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering at the Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles, California, which developed the technology, said: ‘The camera is very, very small, and very low power, so it can go inside your eye and couple your eye movement to where the camera is. With the kind of missing information the brain can fill in, this field is really blossoming. In the next four to five years I hope, and we all hope, that we see technology that’s much more advanced

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 22, 2008--------

US wants to grow new ears, skin for war wounded

CUSTOM MADE: The US government wants to grow new skin and muscle to care for troops injured in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Teams of university scientists backed by US government funds hope to grow new skin, ears, muscles and other body tissue for troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The $US250 million effort aims to address the Pentagon's unprecedented challenge of caring for troops returning from the war zones with multiple traumatic injuries, many of which would have been fatal years ago.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 18, 2008--------

New security camera can 'see' through clothes

New technology that can "see" through clothing and detect what's underneath can now be used to scan crowds, making it a potentially effective tool to prevent terrorist attacks in public places.

The camera can see through people's clothes from up to 25 meters away, detecting objects.

The ThruVision T5000 camera picks up Terahertz rays, or T-rays, which are naturally emitted by all objects and can pass through fabric or even walls.

The camera can then image metallic and non-metallic objects hidden under clothing on still or moving subjects without revealing any body detail, according to its British manufacturer, ThruVision Limited.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 15, 2008--------

'NOW WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN MAKE A CLONED CHILD'

A new form of cloning has been developed that is easier to carry out than the technique used to create Dolly the sheep, raising fears that it may one day be used on human embryos to produce ‘designer’ babies.

Scientists who used the procedure to create baby mice from the skin cells of adult animals have found it to be far more efficient than the Dolly technique, with fewer side effects, which makes it more acceptable for human use.

***WATCHMAN... FEWER??? WHAT KIND??? HOW MANY??? DEFORMITIES???...

The mice were made by inserting skin cells of an adult animal into early embryos produced by in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Some of the resulting offspring were partial clones but some were full clones – just like Dolly.

Unlike the Dolly technique, however, the procedure is so simple and efficient that it has raised fears that it will be seized on by IVF doctors to help infertile couples who are eager to have their own biological children.

***WATCHMAN... OR HOMOSEX who want PLAT TOYS...

One scientist said this weekend that a maverick attempt to perform the technique on humans is now too real to ignore. ‘It's unethical and unsafe, but someone may be doing it today,’ said Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of American biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology.

‘Cloning isn't here now, but with this new technique we have the technology that can actually produce a child. If this was applied to humans it would be enormously important and troublesome,’ said Dr Lanza, whose company has pioneered developments in stem cells and cell reprogramming.

‘It raises the same issues as reproductive cloning and although the technology for reproductive cloning in humans doesn't exist, with this breakthrough we now have a working technology whereby anyone, young or old, fertile or infertile, straight or gay can pass on their genes to a child by using just a few skin cells,’ he said.

***WATCHMAN... THERE what did I tell you that is HOMOSEX language if I ever heard it...

The technique involves the genetic reprogramming of skin cells so they revert to an embryonic-like state. Last year, when the breakthrough was used on human skin cells for the first time, it was lauded by the Catholic Church and President George Bush as a morally acceptable way of producing embryonic stem cells without having to create or destroy human embryos

***WATCHMAN... It is playing GOD and by my experience as a genetic research scientist it could produce VERY DANGEROUS NEW DISEASE POSSIBILITIES...

ROMANS 1:28 "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient"

***WATCHMAN COMMENT... That verse is speaking DIRECTLY to PERVERSION...

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 9, 2008--------

GM Files: Horrifying New Disease Contains Identical Material to GM "Food"

GM =s GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS!...thewatchman

Nightmare on Elm the Dinner Table. Thank you, Monsanto!

Now it appears that the increasingly prevalent nightmare of a disease called "Morgellon's Disease" may be a result of GM crops and food.

Morgellon's Disease was first described when a woman's 3 year old son developed rashes and intensely itchy sores which produced weird multicolor fibers emerging from his skin.

She put up a website about the condition in 2001 and named it "Morgellons Disease" after a 17th century report of a similar affliction.

It is now known that Morgellon's Disease is no longer rare, nor is it mysterious any longer.

A study of the fibers shows that they contain DNA from *both* a fungus and a bacterium

which are used in the commercial preparation of genetically modified foods and non-food crops (such as cotton).

The fibers themselves are primarily cellulose, which the human body cannot breakdown or manufacture.

So GM technology apparently has, like Professor Frankenstein, found a way to animate the non living.

These fibers twist and twine, grow and divide.

In short, living beneath the skin of people, they form parasitic lesions out of what should be non-living material but which, through the horror of genetic modification, has taken on the characteristics of a living thing.

The symptoms are so unbearable that a number of people suffering from the disorder have committed suicide rather than deal with the unbearable pain, constant feeling of something very much like an insect crawling without stop beneath the skin and unbearable itching any longer.

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  APRIL 7, 2008 -------------

SCIENCE FICTION A REALITY

Laser plane could destroy tanks from 10 miles

The United States Defence Department has developed a prototype of an aircraft armed with a laser gun that could destroy tanks 10 miles away.

The weapon is capable of destroying targets up to 15km (10m) away, according to Defense Update online magazine.

The ten-centimetre-wide beam will heat targets almost instantly to thousands of degrees and will slice through metal even at maximum range.

It is intended both for battlefield use and for missile defense. It is anticipated the beam will be adjustable, allowing the gunner to choose between, for example, targeting a vehicle's fuel tank to destroy it utterly, or slice through a track to bring it to a halt without injuring the driver.

The laser will be housed in a rotating turret attached to the underside of the aircraft and will be aimed independently of the plane.

Early tests have focused on testing the rotation of the laser housing.

So far the laser itself has not been tested in flight, but first trials are expected during 2008.

Tests on a laser for destroying vehicles will be carried out on the prototype based on the C-130 "Hercules" transport aircraft

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  March 11, 2008 -------------

New security camera 'sees' under clothes

A BRITISH company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25m away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry.

The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls passive imaging technology to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays, known as Terahertz or T-rays, that they emit.

The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects even when people are moving.

It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company said.

The technology, which could could be used in crowded airports, shopping malls or sporting events, will be unveiled this week.

"Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally," said Clive Beattie, the chief executive of ThruVision.

"The ability to see both metallic and non-metallic items on people out to 25m is certainly a key capability that will enhance any comprehensive security system."

ThruVision came up with the technology for the T5000 in collaboration with the European Space Agency and from studying research by astronomers into dying stars.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  March 3, 2008 -------------

Move Over Mark Of The Beast!

Subcutaneously Implanted Touch-Screen Runs On Blood, Could Replace Cell Phones, Calculators, Credit Cards

Jim Mielke's wireless blood-fueled display is a true merging of technology and body art.

At the recent Greener Gadgets Design Competition, the engineer demonstrated a subcutaneously implanted touch-screen that operates as a cell phone display, with the potential for 3G video calls that are visible just underneath the skin.

The basis of the 2x4-inch "Digital Tattoo Interface" is a Bluetooth device made of thin, flexible silicon and silicone.

It´s inserted through a small incision as a tightly rolled tube, and then it unfurls beneath the skin to align between skin and muscle.

Through the same incision, two small tubes on the device are attached to an artery and a vein to allow the blood to flow to a coin-sized blood fuel cell that converts glucose and oxygen to electricity.

After blood flows in from the artery to the fuel cell, it flows out again through the vein.

On both the top and bottom surfaces of the display is a matching matrix of field-producing pixels.

The top surface also enables touch-screen control through the skin.

Instead of ink, the display uses tiny microscopic spheres, somewhat similar to tattoo ink.

A field-sensitive material in the spheres changes their color from clear to black, aligned with the matrix fields.

The tattoo display communicates wirelessly to other Bluetooth devices - both in the outside world and within the same body.

Although the device is always on (as long as your blood´s flowing), the display can be turned off and on by pushing a small dot on the skin.

When the phone rings, for example, an individual turns the display on, and "the tattoo comes to life as a digital video of the caller," Mielke explains.

When the call ends, the tattoo disappears.

Could such an invasive device have harmful biological effects? Actually, the device could offer health benefits.

That´s because it also continually monitors for many blood disorders, alerting the person of a health problem.

The tattoo display is still just a concept, with no word on plans for commercialization.

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  February 28, 2008 -------------

KILLER MILITARY ROBOTS POSE LATEST THREAT TO HUMANITY

A robotics expert at the University of Sheffield issued stark warnings over the threat posed to humanity by new robot weapons being developed by powers worldwide.

In a keynote address to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Professor Noel Sharkey, from the University's Department of Computer Science, expressed his concerns that we are beginning to see the first steps towards an international robot arms race. He warned that it may not be long before robots become a standard terrorist weapon to replace the suicide bomber…

Over 4,000 robots are currently deployed on the ground in Iraq and by October 2006 unmanned aircraft had flown 400,000 flight hours. Currently there is always a human in the loop to decide on the use of lethal force. However, this is set to change with the US giving priority to autonomous weapons - robots that will decide on where, when and who to kill.

Others are now embarking on robot weapons programs in Europe and other allied countries such as Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Singapore and Israel. China, Russia and India are also embarking on the development of unmanned aerial combat vehicle. The US DoD report is unsure about the activity in China but admits that they have strong infrastructure capability for parallel developments in robot weapons.

Professor Sharkey, who is famously known for his roles as chief judge on the TV series Robot Wars and as onscreen expert for the BBC´s TechnoGames, said: ‘The trouble is that we can't really put the genie back in the bottle. Once the new weapons are out there, they will be fairly easy to copy. How long is it going to be before the terrorists get in on the act’’

‘With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn't require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons.’…

The robotics expert is also concerned with a number of ethical issues that arise from the use of autonomous weapons. He added: ‘Current robots are dumb machines with very limited sensing capability. What this means is that it is not possible to guarantee discrimination between combatants and innocents or a proportional use of force as required by the current Laws of War

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  February 21, 2008 -------------

DNA strings could become the template for nanotubes and nanowires by 2028

February 21, 2008 (Computerworld) Looking for a way to continually shrink computer chips while still squeezing more transistors onto them, IBM scientists are working on a whole new way to build processors -- using DNA.

Greg Wallraff, a staff scientist at IBM, explained that the researchers are laying single molecules of DNA onto the chip's surface and using them as a template for assembling electronic components, like nanotubes and nanowires.

The DNA used by the researchers comes from a virus, he added.

"People say DNA is the blueprint for life," said Wallraff.

"The specific structure of DNA has unique features.

It's basically programmable.

You can design DNA into unique shapes, with specific attachment sites.

Then we pour this DNA solution onto a silicon substrate, and the DNA assembles itself exactly where we want it to.

***WATCHMAN... CYBORGS A REALITY???...

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  February 21, 2008 -------------

Ministry of Homeland Security’s “LED Incapacitator”

One company has received an $800,000 contract from the Department of Homeland Security to develop a new “non-lethal” method of human incapacitation for use by law enforcement.

By 2010, Intelligent Optical Systems hopes to be selling a sort of high-powered flashlight, the “LED Incapacitator,” which would act by not only effectively blinding its target,

...by overloading his or her brain, with rapidly flashing lights at varying colors and frequencies.

In addition to disorientation, headache and nausea are also likely.

The device, designed with help from the Los Angeles Police Department, could end up in the hands on the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Secret Service and air marshals.

DANIEL 12:4 "even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased."

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  February 18, 2008 -------------

MACHINES 'TO MATCH MAN BY 2029'

Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.

Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people's brains to make them more intelligent said engineer Ray Kurzweil.

He said machines and humans would eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health.

‘It's really part of our civilization,’ Mr. Kurzweil said.

‘But that's not going to be an alien invasion of intelligent machines to displace us.’

Machines were already doing hundreds of things humans used to do, at human levels of intelligence or better, in many different areas, he said.

‘I've made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029,’ he said.

Humans and machines would eventually merge, by means of devices embedded in people's bodies to keep them healthy and improve their intelligence, predicted Mr. Kurzweil.

‘We'll have intelligent nanobots go into our brains through the capillaries and interact directly with our biological neurons,’ he told BBC News.

The nanobots, he said, would ‘make us smarter, remember things better and automatically go into full emergent virtual reality environments through the nervous system’

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  February 8, 2008 -------------

RAILGUN ANOTHER REPORT

Navy Tests Incredible Sci-Fi Weapon

The U.S. Navy yesterday test fired an incredibly powerful new big gun designed to replace conventional weaponry aboard ships. Sci-fi fans will recognize its awesome power and futuristic technology. The big gun uses electro

magnetic energy instead of explosive chemical propellants to fire a projectile farther and faster.

The railgun, as it is called, will ultimately fire a projectile more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) with a muzzle velocity seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7) and a velocity of Mach 5 at impact.

The Navy's current MK 45 five-inch gun, by contrast, has a range of less than 23 miles (37 kilometers).

The railgun has been a featured weapon in many science fiction universes, such as the new "Battlestar Galactica" series.

The Navy's motivation? Simple destruction. The railgun's high-velocity projectile will destroy targets with sheer kinetic energy rather than with conventional explosives

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  February 4, 2008 -------------

Navy Tests High-Powered Electromagnetic Railgun

A futuristic weapon getting a trial run by the Navy demonstrated its destructive power at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.

In the demonstration Thursday, engineers fired the electromagnetic railgun at what they said was a record power level: 10 megajoules.

The previous railgun power-use record was about 9 megajoules of muzzle energy.

Railguns use electromagnetic energy to launch projectiles long distances — more than 200 nautical miles.

Because the railgun uses electricity and not gunpowder to fire projectiles, it eliminates the possibility of explosions on ships.

The Navy hopes the railgun will eventually replace the standard 5-inch gun on its ships. The weapon isn't expected to be deployed until at least 2020.

A joule is defined as the energy needed to produce one watt of electricity for one second.

The railgun tested Thursday actually has a capacity of 32 megajoules, but the Navy is slowly building up the energy level in a series of tests.

That's a lot of power, but with a new series of electrically-powered ships coming on line, the Navy figures generating capacity will not be a problem.

According to the Navy, the railgun, when fully developed, will be able to launch solid projectiles at Mach 5, or about 3,700 mph.]

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FINNISH PATIENT GETS NEW JAW FROM OWN STEM CELLS

Scientists in Finland said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient's upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.

Researchers said on Friday the breakthrough opened up new ways to treat severe tissue damage and made the prospect of custom-made living spares parts for humans a step closer to reality.

‘There have been a couple of similar-sounding procedures before, but these didn't use the patient's own stem cells that were first cultured and expanded in laboratory and differentiated into bone tissue,’ said Riitta Suuronen of the Regea Institute of Regenerative Medicine, part of the University of Tampere.

She told a news conference the patient was recovering more quickly than he would have if he had received a bone graft from his leg.

‘From the outside nobody would be able to tell he has been through such a procedure,’ she said.

She added, the team used no materials from animals -- preventing the risk of transmitting viruses than can be hidden in an animal's DNA, and followed European Union guidelines.

Stem cells are the body's master cells and they can be found throughout the blood and tissues. Researchers have recently found that fat contains stem cells which can be directed to form a variety of different tissues.

Using a patient's own stem cells provides a tailor-made transplant that the body should not reject

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Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  January 25, 2008 -------------

Prince Charles Debuts 'Image Of The Beast' Hologram Tech

Prince Charles beamed all the way to Dubai

The Prince of Wales was beamed in Star Trek-style for his first appearance as a hologram when he delivered a powerful speech on the environment to the world's leaders before vanishing into thin air.

A life-size, three-dimensional image of the Prince was projected onto the stage of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

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Archived from News & Views page

Coming soon, an X-ray vision gun

The superhero power to see through walls will soon be within the grasp of ordinary mortals, thanks to a new hand-held X-ray scanner.

Inventors hope the gadget could revolutionize police work and Customs searches by allowing officers to seek out contraband, weapons, bombs or hidden people.

The LEXID device sends out low-level X-rays which are collected in a lens based on the design of a lobster's eye.

Rick Shie, senior vice-president of its American inventors, Physical Optics Corporation, said that lobsters' eyes, which are able to see in deep, murky water, use thousands of tiny squares to focus by reflection rather than the bending or refraction of light like human eyes.

Mr. Shie said: "The LEXID works by emitting a low-level X-ray and then the lobster eye interprets what is returned and the image is produced on a screen.

"We are still in the research stage but have conducted successful trials and the government iskeen to test it. "It can detect bombs, contraband or people and will show up anything within a couple of meters."

America’s Department of Homeland Security is already understood to be interested in the device for use in its war on terror.

While the images produced by the scanner are not crystal-clear, they are sharp enough to reveal a cache of weapons or parts of a bomb.

Mr. Shie said: "Down the line we hope that these will be available to anyone and are likely to cost several thousand pounds. "They could be used to find wires within walls and they have a variety of security uses.

"It could find drugs or arms hidden in containers, and a robotic version could be used to see whether there are bombs in car boots.

"We think we will be able to improve the image by four or five times and although we are still in the research stage we hope it can be trial led by the government in a year."

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Archived from News & Views page

Researchers create new rat heart in lab

Medicine's dream of growing new human hearts and other organs to repair or replace damaged ones received a significant boost Sunday

when researchers at the University of Minnesota reported success in creating a beating rat heart in a laboratory.

Archived from News & Views page

Scientists create machine that knows what you are thinking

Scientists have developed a machine which is capable of reading our mind and revealing our most private thoughts.

American researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, found that, with the aid of a sophisticated scanner and computer program, they were able to determine how the brain lights up when thinking about different subjects.

Using an advanced form of MRI scanner, they analyzed how the brain reacted to ten drawings of tools and buildings.

They then used a computer program to work out whether a person was thinking about a tool or a building.

The researchers' analysis was found to be 97 per cent accurate but they went on to show that they could distinguish between two similar objects, such as two different tools, almost as successfully.

This is the first time the technique has been fine tuned to distinguish between similar objects.

The brain scans also showed many different brain regions are involved in processing information even in the case of something as simple as a line drawing of a hammer.

Thinking about how a hammer is used activated the areas involved in movement, while thinking about the shape of a hammer and what it is used for lit up other regions.

Despite being limited to picking up the thoughts behind just ten pictures, the researchers are confident that they will soon be able to identify entire sentences.

One of the team, Dr Svetlana Shinkareva, said: "We hope to progress to identifying the thoughts associated not just with pictures but also with words and eventually sentences."

The technique could also have medical applications by, for example, providing valuable insights into conditions such as autism.

Study leader Professor Marcel Just said: "People with autism perceive others in a distinctive way that has been difficult to characterize.

"This approach offers a way to discover that characterization." The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, also showed that different people think about the same thing in the same way.

"This part of the study establishes, as never before, that there is a commonality in how different people's brains represent the same subject," the study said.

"There has always been a philosophical conundrum as to whether one person's perception of the color blue is the same as another person's.

"Now we see that there is a great deal of commonality across different people's brain activity corresponding to familiar tools and dwellings."

The device's possibilities can, however, be extended and the team envisage a time when it will be used to conduct infallible lie detector tests, while the accurate interpretation of a person's intentions could allow police to arrest criminals before they break the law, as seen in the film Minority Report.

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Archived from News & Views page January 8, 2008 ------

NASA To Find Most Earth-Threatening Asteroids By End Of 2008, But Wormwood Is Only One Worry

January 03, 2008 (Computerworld) By the end of this year, NASA hopes to find about 90% of the largest asteroids that could potentially strike Earth, a blast that could throw dust into the atmosphere and cause firestorms and acid rain.

These asteroids can be as large as mountains but are at least 1 kilometer (3,280.8 feet) in diameter. NASA estimates that 900 of these objects are in potentially hazardous range of Earth.

But the more immediate threat is from much smaller asteroids, such as the asteroid that has a 1-in-25 chance of hitting Mars on Jan. 30. The asteroid, which has the unglamorous name of 2007 WD5, is only 50 meters (164 feet.

Small, yes, but such an asteroid has the explosive force of a 10-megaton nuclear weapon.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from News & Views page January 3, 2008 ------

Military Use of Unmanned Aircraft Soars

The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq.

And new Defense Department figures show that the Air Force more than doubled its monthly use of drones between January and October, forcing it to take pilots out of the air and shift them to remote flying duty to meet part of the demand.

The dramatic increase in the development and use of drones across the armed services reflects what will be an even more aggressive effort over the next 25 years, according to the new report.

The jump in Iraq coincided with the build up of U.S. forces this summer as the military swelled its ranks to quell the violence in Baghdad.

But Pentagon officials said that even as troops begin to slowly come home this year, the use of Predators, Global Hawks, Shadows and Ravens will not likely slow.

"I think right now the demand for the capability that the unmanned system provides is only increasing," said Army Col. Bob Quackenbush, deputy director for Army Aviation. "Even as the surge ends, I suspect the deployment of the unmanned systems will not go down, particularly for larger systems."

For some Air Force pilots, that means climbing out of the cockpit and heading to places such as Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where they can remotely fly the Predators, one of the larger and more sophisticated unmanned aircraft.

About 120 Air Force pilots were recently transferred to staff the drones to keep pace with demands, the Air Force said.

The increased military operations all across Iraq last summer triggered greater use of the drones and an escalating call for more of the systems - from the Pentagon's key hunter-killer, the Predator, to the surveillance Global Hawks and the smaller, cheaper Ravens.

In one recent example of what they can do, a Predator caught sight of three militants firing mortars at U.S. forces in November in Balad, Iraq.

The drone fired an air-to-ground missile, killing the three, according to video footage the Air Force released.

The Army has a total of 361 unmanned aircraft in Iraq alone - including Shadows, Hunters and Ravens.

And in the first 10 months of 2007, they flew more than 300,000 hours.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from News & Views page December 31, 2007 ------

Chance of Asteroid Hit on Mars Increases

The chance of a football field-sized asteroid plowing into Mars next month has been increased to 4 percent, scientists said Friday after analyzing archival data.

Though still a long shot, some researchers are hoping for a cosmic smash.

"I think it'll be cool," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Usually when an asteroid is headed toward Earth, I'm not rooting for an impact."

The space rock, known as the nondescript 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. Based on the latest information available, scientists said last week there was a 1-in-75 chance the asteroid could hit Mars on Jan. 30.

The odds were increased to 1-in-25 this week after a Ph.D. student pored through the archives and plotted the asteroid's motions before its official discovery. The new information allowed scientists to improve their calculations of the asteroid's orbit and flight path.

Scientists will continue to monitor the asteroid to better predict the possibility of a Martian impact. Yeomans said he expects the odds to decrease with new observations gathered early next year.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from News & Views page December 20, 2007 ------

Caught on Tape: Death Star Galaxy

The latest act of senseless violence caught on tape is cosmic in scope: A black hole in a "death star galaxy" blasting a neighboring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy.

A fleet of space and ground telescopes have captured images of this cosmic violence, which people have never witnessed before, according to a new study released Monday by NASA.

"It's like a bully, a black-hole bully punching the nose of a passing galaxy," said astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, who wasn't involved in the research.

But ultimately, this could be a deadly punch.

The telescope images show the bully galaxy shooting a stream of deadly radiation particles into the lower section of the other galaxy, which is about one-tenth its size. Both are about 8.2 billion trillion miles from here, orbiting around each other.

The larger galaxy has a multi-digit name but is called the "death star galaxy" by one of the researchers who discovered the galactic bullying, Daniel Evans of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Tens of millions of stars, including those with orbiting planets, are likely in the path of the deadly jet, said study co-author Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.

If Earth were in the way - and it's not - the high-energy particles and radiation of the jet would in a matter of months strip away the planet's protective ozone layer and compress the protective magnetosphere, said Evans. That would then allow the sun and the jet itself to bombard the planet with high-energy particles.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from News & Views page December 18, 2007 ------

U.S. Eyes 'Pain Beam' for Home Security, Law Enforcement

Burglars break into an apartment, hoping to pick up some expensive electronics or jewelry. But they're out again, empty-handed, within seconds, howling with pain and surprise. They've been driven back by waves of intolerable heat: Entering the apartment is like stepping into a furnace. It's the Active Denial System, or ADS, at work, the ultimate in home protection ... among other uses.

Also known as the "pain beam," ADS is a revolutionary non-lethal weapon that uses microwaves to cause burning pain without injury. The 95-GHz waves only penetrate a fraction of an inch, heating the outer surface of the target's skin. According to the Air Force, nobody can tolerate the beam for more than five seconds, and improvised protection such as wrapping yourself in wet towels or tin foil is useless.

There have been repeated calls for ADS to be deployed in Iraq, but the military is bogged down in reviews of the technology. However, now that ADS exists, the pain beam's manufacturer is exploring domestic U.S. uses, like industrial- and home-security systems.

The Department of Energy is looking at employing the technology to protect America's nuclear stockpile. Meanwhile, some U.S. law enforcement officials are eager to get their hands on the pain weapon, and the Department of Justice is funding a multimillion-dollar research project to give it to them.

"We seem to have no qualms about dropping bombs on people, but are afraid of being embarrassed if we accidentally hurt someone while trying to save their lives," says Charles "Sid" Heal, a commander at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department "Those restrictions do not apply to the Department of Justice and we are zealously looking for ways of resolving confrontations without having to kill or seriously hurt our adversary."

A former Marine, Heal has tested Active Denial and believes it could be invaluable in situations like jail riots, where the searing pain could cow rebellious prisoners. His biggest problems are the system's size and price tag; it's currently mounted on a Hummer and costs millions of dollars, putting it far beyond the reach of police departments.

That's where the U.S. Justice Department comes in. The National Institute of Justice, the department's R&D branch, believes police need a cheaper, lightweight Active Denial system with shorter range. NIJ tested a prototype of such a system earlier this year, but the results of testing have not yet been revealed.

A working device is expected to be delivered towards the end of 2008. A handheld ADS would deliver an intermediate level of force, between verbal commands and more drastic means such as pepper spray or Tasers.

But some have concerns that it could be used to punish or torture suspects rather than control them. Pepper spray and Tasers have caused plenty of debate, and any police use of "pain compliance" methods invites controversy.

A device that causes intense pain but leaves no physical or chemical traces could easily be abused.

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Archived from News & Views page November 15, 2007 ------

US plans new space weapons against China

The Pentagon is spending billions of dollars on new forms of space warfare to counter the growing risk of missile attack from rogue states and the "satellite killer" capabilities of China.

Congress has allocated funds to develop futuristic weapons and intelligence systems that operate beyond the Earth's atmosphere as America looks past Iraq and Afghanistan to the wars of the future.

The most ambitious project in a new $459 billion (£221.5 billion) defense spending Bill is the Falcon, a reusable "hypersonic vehicle" that could fly at six times the speed of sound and deliver 12,000lb of bombs anywhere in the world within minutes.

The bombs' destructive power would be multiplied by the Earth's gravitational pull as they traveled at up to 25 times the speed of sound towards their target.

The cost of the vehicle has not been revealed, but a spokesman for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) said a first test flight was scheduled for next year.

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Archived from News & Views page Archived from News & Views page November 12, 2007 ------

Army tests James Bond style tank that is 'invisible'

New technology that can make tanks invisible has been unveiled by the Ministry of Defence.

In secret trials last week, the Army said it had made a vehicle completely disappear and predicted that an invisible tank would be ready for service by 2012.

The new technology uses cameras and projectors to beam images of the surrounding landscape onto a tank.

The result is that anyone looking in the direction of the vehicle only sees what is beyond it and not the tank itself.

A soldier, who was at the trials, said: "This technology is incredible. If I hadn't been present I wouldn't have believed it.

I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees - but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun."

How the technology works in a combat situation is very sensitive, but the MoD is believed to be testing a military jacket that works on the same principles.

It is the type of innovation normally associated with James Bond, and the brains behind the latest technology is the MoD's very own "Q" - Professor Sir John Pendry, of Imperial College London.

He said the only drawback was the reliability of the cameras and projectors.

But he added: "The next stage is to make the tank invisible without them - which is intricate and complicated, but possible".

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Genetic Modification - the path to becoming superhuman

Scientists have been astounded by the creation of a genetically modified "supermouse" with extraordinary physical abilities – comparable to the performance of the very best athletes – raising the prospect that the discovery may one day be used to transform people's capacities.

The mouse can run up to six kilometers (3.7 miles) at a speed of 20 meters per minute for five hours or more without stopping.

Scientists said that this was equivalent of a man cycling at speed up an Alpine mountain without a break.

Although it eats up to 60 per cent more food than an ordinary mouse, the modified mouse does not put on weight.

It also lives longer and enjoys an active sex life well into old age – being capable of breeding at three times the normal maximum age.

American scientists who created the mice – they now have a breeding colony of 500 – said that they were stunned by their abilities, especially given that the animals came about as a result of a standard genetic modification to a single metabolism gene shared with humans.

They emphasized that the aim of the research was not to prepare the way to enhance the genes of people.

However, they accepted that it may be possible to use the findings to develop new drugs or treatments that could one day be used to "enhance" the natural abilities of athletes.

The professor of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University at Cleveland in Ohio, Richard Hanson, said that the physical performance of the super mouse can only be compared to supremely fit athletes like the cyclist Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005.

The genetic alteration to a gene involved in glucose metabolism appears to stimulate the efficient use of body fat for energy production.

At the same time, the mice do not suffer from a build up of lactic acid – which causes muscle cramps – a feature also seen in the best endurance athletes.

Professor Hanson said yesterday: "They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up the Pyrenees. They utilize mainly fatty acids for energy and produce very little lactic acid.

They are not eating or drinking and yet they can run for four or five hours. They are 10 times more active than ordinary mice in their home cage.

They also live longer – up to three years of age – and are reproductively active for almost three years.

In short, they are remarkable animals.

"On the downside, they eat twice as much as control mice, but they are half the weight, and are very aggressive.

Why this is the case, we are not really sure."

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The High Tech Future of Warfare

What will soldiers be wearing on the battlefield by the year 2025? According to the 24th Army Science Conference, future warriors will be equipped with high-tech uniforms of "liquid body armor" now under development using nanotechnologies.

The battledress would also be equipped with 360-degree situational awareness technology, plus virtual reality screens that enable troops to navigate an environment by projecting maps on the ground—sort of like R2-D2 on Star Wars.

The new form-fitting suit is being developed through the wonder of nanotechnology, which involves manipulating atoms and molecules to create things at the nanometer scale. That's about 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of a strand of hair. The suit would also have the ability to match background colors.

Soldiers wearing the suit would have the ability to blend into any environment, like a chameleon. In this prototype uniform, the helmet is the main hub where "all of the action happens," Staff Sgt. Raul Lopez said.

A tiny video camera in front provides 360-degree situational awareness. A series of sensors inside give the Soldier three-dimensional audiological hearing and the ability to amplify specific sounds, while lowering the volume of others.

Complete voice translation is also provided, for what the Soldier hears and what he or she says. Night vision sensors, minimized to the size of pencil erasers, are also in the helmet. 

Maps and other situational awareness information are projected on the inside of the visor, while everything the Soldier sees and hears is sent in real time up to higher headquarters.

"It's all voice activated," Lopez said. "I can tell it to show me where my buddies are, and it projects it on the visor."

Thermal sensors weaved into the fabric of the uniform control its temperature, based on the Soldier's environment.

An on-board respirator, tethered to the Soldier's back, provides a continuous supply of fresh air – eliminating the need for a protective mask.

Should the Soldier have the visor up, or the helmet off, and breath in some kind of harmful agent, the uniform sensor will immediately detect it, release tiny embedded capsules to counter it and inject treatment into the Soldier's body.

From the waist down, a skeletal system allows the Soldier to carry two or three times his or her body weight, feeling only the weight of their own body through the technology of an XO muscle, which augments a Soldier's strength.

The more advanced features of the uniform may not be ready for battle until around the year 2025.

But when the time comes, this new conceptual uniform could virtually turn an ordinary person into an invincible sci-fi superhero.

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Archived from News & Views page October 2Archived from News & Views page October 2

SCIENTISTS GENERATE POWERFUL ANTIMATTER RAY

Researchers at North Carolina State University have produced the world's most powerful antimatter beam.

‘There is a reactor in Munich, Germany, that has been generating those types of radiation beams for some time now, and our analysis of the data shows that we have exceeded what they have reported,’ Dr. Ayman Hawari, director of the Nuclear Reactor Program at North Carolina State, told the university's Web site.

The beam, consisting of an intense burst of positrons, was generated at the school's PULSTAR campus nuclear reactor, which first went online in 1972.

A positron is the ‘mirror image’ of an electron — it has the same weight and properties of the most basic atomic particle, but is positively rather than negatively charged.

Theoretical physicists believe there are equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the universe, but few antimatter particles have been found ‘in the wild.’

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Archived from News & Views page October 23

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs

Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month. "I heard someone say, 'Oh my gosh, look at those,' the college senior from New York recalled.

"I look up and I'm like, 'What is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."

Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too. "I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?'

That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York.

Some suspect the insect like drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.

Others think they are, well, dragonflies -- an ancient order of insects that even biologists concede look about as robotic as a living creature can look.

No agency admits to having deployed insect-size spy drones. But a number of U.S. government and private entities acknowledge they are trying.

Some federally funded teams are even growing live insects with computer chips in them, with the goal of mounting spy ware on their bodies and controlling their flight muscles remotely.

The robobugs could follow suspects, guide missiles to targets or navigate the crannies of collapsed buildings to find survivors.

The technical challenges of creating robotic insects are daunting, and most experts doubt that fully working models exist yet.

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U.S., British Militaries May Deploy Flying Saucers

Researchers in England have developed their own flying saucer — and it might be going to work for the U.S. and British militaries.

GFS Projects' unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can soar high in the air, hover, bank and fly over any terrain, making it ideal for military surveillance.

It uses an aerodynamic principle known as the Coanda effect to take off vertically from any solid surface.

A propeller mounted atop the two-foot-wide aircraft pushes air down over the saucer-shaped body, creating a broad cone of thrust extending outward.

"The key to it is that it's very stable," explains David Steel, a director at GFS Projects in Peterborough, a medium-sized English city about 75 miles north of London.

"You have a large base of air extending downward supporting the craft, looking something like a woman's skirt.

"The current model, the GFS 13, is made of plywood and plastic and powered by electric batteries driving a regular automotive radiator fan.

"It can travel at 30 or 40 miles per hour over an open area," says Steel, "but that's not really important.

What matters is that it can move in any direction over a large area, and is difficult to knock out of the air.

"Since the underside of the craft is an aerodynamic "dead zone," a camera, cargo or payload could easily be mounted there without affecting the UAV's flight performance.

At the moment, a human operator controls the craft, which is about two feet across and weighs 15 pounds, via radio signals.

Steel says future models will be made of carbon composites, be powered by gasoline or diesel engines driving a much more efficient propeller and be guided by GPS-based autonomous flight-control systems.

"You would input coordinates via a laptop or PDA," says Steel, "and the craft would navigate itself. Best of all, those systems are now off the shelf as well."

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Archived from News & Views page October 16, 2007 ------Archived from News & Views page October 1, 2007 ------

Archived from News & Views page October 12, 2007 ------Archived from News & Views page October 12, 2007 ------

US accused of making insect spy robots

The US government has been accused of secretly developing robotic insect spies amid reports of bizarre flying objects hovering in the air above anti-war protests.

No government agency has admitted to developing insect-size spy drones but various official and private organizations have admitted that they are trying.

But official protestations of innocence have failed to kill speculation of government involvement after a handful of sightings of the objects at political events in New York and Washington.

Vanessa Alarcon, a university student who was working at an anti-war rally in the American capital last month, told the Washington Post: "I heard someone say, 'Oh my God, look at those.'

"I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?'. They looked like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."

Bernard Crane, a lawyer who was at the same event, said he had "never seen anything like it in my life". He added: "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical or is that alive?'"

The incident has similarities with an alleged sighting at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York when one peace march participant described on the internet seeing "a jet-black dragonfly hovering about 10 feet off the ground, precisely in the middle of 7th Avenue".

Entomologists suggest that the objects are indeed dragonflies. Jerry Louton, an expert at the National Museum of Natural History, said Washington was home to large, impressively-decorated dragonflies that "can knock your socks off".

However, he admitted that the dragonfly theory did not explain claims made independently by three people at the Washington event.

They all described seeing a row of spheres the size of small berries attached along the tails of the "dragonflies".

They also reported seeing at least three together. Mr Louton said that dragonflies never fly in a pack.

The CIA secretly developed a petrol-powered dragonfly drone back in the 1970s but the "insectothopter" was considered a failure as it couldn't handle crosswinds.

The Last Days Signs - The End Times - Are Upon The Earth!

Archived from NEWS+VIEWS page  September 17, 2007 ---------

Robot Maker Builds Artificial Boy

David Hanson has two little Zenos to care for these days. There's his 18-month-old son Zeno, who prattles and smiles as he bounds through his father's cramped office. Then there's the robotic Zeno.

It can't speak or walk yet, but has blinking eyes that can track people and a face that captivates with a range of expressions.

At 17 inches tall and 6 pounds, the artificial Zeno is the culmination of five years of work by Hanson and a small group of engineers, designers and programmers at his company, Hanson Robotics.

They believe there's an emerging business in the design and sale of lifelike robotic companions, or social robots.

And they'll be showing off the robot boy to students in grades 3-12 at the Wired NextFest technology conference Thursday in Los Angeles.

Unlike clearly artificial robotic toys, Hanson says he envisions Zeno as an interactive learning companion, a synthetic pal who can engage in conversation and convey human emotion through a face made of a skin-like, patented material Hanson calls frubber.

"It's a representation of robotics as a character animation medium, one that is intelligent," Hanson beams.

"It sees you and recognizes your face. It learns your name and can build a relationship with you."

He plans to make little Zenos available to consumers within the next three years for $200 to $300.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

..............................................

Implanted Brain chip reads man's thoughts

A paralyzed man in the US has become the first person to benefit from a brain chip that reads his mind.

Matthew Nagle, 25, was left paralyzed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair after a knife attack in 2001.

The pioneering surgery at New England Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts, last summer means he can now control everyday objects by thought alone.

The brain chip reads his mind and sends the thoughts to a computer to decipher.

He can think his TV on and off, change channels and alter the volume thanks to the technology and software linked to devices in his home.

Scientists have been working for some time to devise a way to enable paralyzed people to control devices with the brain.

Posted August 23, 2007 -------------------------------

We have broken speed of light

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second. However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.

For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunneling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."

....................................

Robot Wars -a Reality?

Increasingly, the military wants to hand over the responsibility of killing to conscienceless machines. 

Some say it’s a great way to protect our troops and others are calling it a cold-hearted cop-out.

In either case, the US military hopes to dehumanize military operations as quickly as possible.

The US National Research Council advises "aggressively exploiting the considerable war fighting benefits offered by autonomous vehicles".

They are cheap to manufacture, require less personnel and, according to the navy, perform better in complex missions.

One battlefield soldier could start a large-scale robot attack in the air and on the ground.

The US military already has unmanned aerial vehicles armed with hellfire missiles.

"At present they require a human to give, by remote, permission to fire," says Owen Holland, professor of computer science at the University of Essex, "but it will not be long before they can take the human out of the loop."

South Korea and Israel are deploying armed robot border guards and China, Singapore and the UK are also increasingly using military robots.

But so far the biggest player is the US, which is putting $230bn into a future combat systems project, an ambitious plan to develop unmanned vehicles that can strike from the air, water and land.

Congress has already set a goal of having one-third of ground combat vehicles unmanned by 2015.

Fully autonomous robots that make their own decisions about lethality are high on the US military agenda

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted August 16, 2007 -------------------------------

Giant Robotic Spy Blimp Creeps Forward

Imagine a blimp so huge, you could fit an entire, 1000-foot aircraft carrier inside. And the radar at heart of that monster zeppelin? Well, that would be as big as the 15-story hotel where DARPA, the Pentagon's mad science division, is holding its conference.

DARPA first proposed a king-sized, robotic airship, four years ago. The idea was to have the blimp is at nearly 65,000 feet in the sky, spotting enemies up to 180 miles away, and watching out for incoming cruise missiles 350 miles in the distance.

During down times, ISIS might even serve as a cell tower in the sky, relaying communications to U.S. troops. It didn't take long, though, to realize that such a ginormous undertaking was going to be tough to pull off -- even for a group was way-out as DARPA.

So, instead, the agency refocused its "Integrated Sensor is Structure" (ISIS) blimp effort, looking at component technologies instead: stuff like solar panels, fuel cells, and flexible radar arrays. Fast forward a few years.

Now, ISIS program manager Tim Clark says, those components are starting to prove out. Clark set a goal of 400 kilowatt hours per kilogram for the blimp's power structure -- everything from the fuel cells to the solar panels to the cables in between.

DARPA-funded researchers are likely to hit 700 kilowatt hours in upcoming tests. DARPA wants to build a prototype, third-scale model of the blimp -- one that'll be a mere football-field long, and stay up for 90 days at a time.

Assuming they can get, say, the Air Force to play ball -- and assuming that first prototype works -- the eventual goal is to get a carrier-sized, unmanned zeppelin that would stay up for 10 years at a time, keeping watch on everything below.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted August 13

This pic of a SWORD was from Feb 5, 2005 click HERE 

First Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq

Robots have been roaming the streets of Iraq, since shortly after the war began. Now, for the first time -- the first time in any war zone -- the machines are carrying guns.

After years of development, three "special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system" (SWORDS) robots have deployed to Iraq, armed with M249 machine guns.

The 'bots "haven't fired their weapons yet," Michael Zecca, the SWORDS program manager.

"But that'll be happening soon."

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted August 8, 2007 -------------------------------

PHYSICISTS HAVE 'SOLVED' MYSTERY OF LEVITATION

Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.

In earlier work the same team of theoretical physicists showed that invisibility cloaks are feasible.

Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together.

Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this phenomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.

Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.

The Casimir force is a consequence of quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the world of atoms and subatomic particles that is not only the most successful theory of physics but also the most baffling.

The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a ‘dry glue’ effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling.

Now, using a special lens of a kind that has already been built, Prof Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin report in the New Journal of Physics they can engineer the Casimir force to repel, rather than attract.

Because the Casimir force causes problems for nanotechnologists, who are trying to build electrical circuits and tiny mechanical devices on silicon chips, among other things, the team believes the feat could initially be used to stop tiny objects from sticking to each other

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted July 30, 2007 -------------------------------

Saucer shaped drone makes first flight

A futuristic plane made its first flight over California's high desert last week.

Boeing sent the unmanned X-45B Blended Wing Body, or BWB, experimental aircraft into the sky last week at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base for a 31-minute flight that reached an altitude of 7,500 feet.

The flight was announced by Boeing Thursday. It marked what could become a major step forward in aircraft design. The aircraft has a tailless design and wings that blend seamlessly into a wide and flat fuselage. The result is a futuristic flying machine with the classic UFO look.

"We've successfully passed another milestone in our work to explore and validate the structural, aerodynamic and operational efficiencies of the BWB concept," said program manager Bob Liebeck. "We already have begun to compare actual flight-test data with the data generated earlier by our computer models and in the wind tunnel."

Engineers at Boeing Phantom Works see BWB as leading the way to high-flying military aircraft that is virtually silent in flight and very low in its fuel consumption.

The X-48B weighs in at 500 pounds and has a 21-foot wingspan. It is powered by three turbojet engines and will be put through its paces in a series of low-speed flights at around 140 miles per hour.

***WATCHMAN... Looks like there might have been some truth about the sightings over AREA 51 after all!...

Posted July 17, 2007 -------------------------------

Advanced polymer could revolutionize industries

Its rock-hard surface can take a full- on assault from a baseball bat, yet remains flexible enough to allow you to kick, leap and roll with perfect ease.

Crafted from cutting-edge science, its unique molecular structure means that while providing armored protection against crude concrete and even barbed wire, it remains light enough to allow you to run at high speed.

It sounds like the stuff of Batman comics - but the superhero suit is here. Identified as a major breakthrough that could impact on every sector from the military to motor sports, the revolutionary shock-absorbent material d3o is taking the world by storm.

Blessed with the kind of properties your average costumed crime fighter would kill for, it is being hailed as an invention with the potential to change entire industries and save real lives.

***WATCHMAN... WHAT IF crooks get this???...

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted April 6-8, 2007 -------------------------------

Heart valve grown from stem cells

British scientists have grown part of a human heart from stem cells for the first time.

Heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, who led the team, said doctors could be using artificially grown heart components in transplants within three years.

His researchers at Harefield hospital managed to grow tissue that works in the same way as human heart valves.

Sir Magdi said a whole heart could be produced from stem cells within 10 years…

Researchers will see their achievement as a major step towards growing entire organs for transplant.

Stem cells have the potential to turn into many different types of cell.

Many scientists believe it should be possible to harness the cells' ability to grow into different tissues to repair damage and treat disease.

Sir Magdi, professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College London, had been working on ways to address a shortage of donated hearts for patients.

He said he hoped that soon an entire heart could be grown from stem cells…

His team extracted stem cells from bone marrow and cultivated them into heart valve cells.

After they were placed in scaffolds formed from collagen, 3cm-wide discs of heart valve tissue were formed.

Later in the year, these will be implanted into animals such as sheep or pigs to see how well they fare.

Dr Stephen Minger, a stem cell expert at London's King's College, said Sir Magdi's team were at the forefront of tissue engineering for cardiac disease.

‘If the valves they've engineered prove successful in experimental animals, this could open the door to generating complex tissues from stem cells for a wide variety of clinical application

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted March 23-25, 2007 -------------------------------

Israeli 'Drones' Fly Over Iraq

Pilot less

Elbit Systems, one of Israel's leading defense electronics companies, said its little "Skylark" can cover an area within a range of 6 miles day or night. It is about 7 feet long with a wingspan of nearly 8 feet, the company said.

"Skylark is operational and currently deployed in the global war on terror in Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement said. It described the Skylark as suited for "close range, beyond-the-next hill, counter-terror missions."

Lt. Col. Matthew McLaughlin of CENTCOM, the American command that handles Iraq and Afghanistan, said the military "would not confirm the use of the drone," but is always looking for aircraft with such capabilities.

The U.S. relies heavily on pilot less planes of all shapes and sizes for surveillance, launching missiles and other missions in the region.

Elbit said the Skylark, one of several items of Israeli defense hardware deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, would be unveiled to the public at the March 20-25 Australian International Airshow.

==================

Scientists Fear Asteroid Heading 'Uncomfortably Close'

Circle your calendar. April 13th, 2036 could be a really, really bad day on planet Earth.

A group of astronauts and engineers warns that an asteroid may pass uncomfortably close to Earth that day. The chances it will actually hit are just one in 45,000, but even at those odds, the scientists warn, the United Nations should consider a response.

Most feared is Apophis, a large asteroid that will pass within 10,000 miles of Earth around 2029 and even closer in 2036.

Dr. Dan Barry, a retired astronaut said, "Even if the probability is low of an asteroid hitting Earth, if it has the potential to have a significant impact, then it has to be looked at. It is the absolutely responsible thing to do. In fact, it would be irresponsible not to do so."

Barry said more research is needed so that when a potentially dangerous asteroid is found, there is a plan in place. He said it is therefore important to start the search for asteroids now, to allow enough time to effectively deal with them.

Scientists believe that if advance warnings of dangerous asteroids like Apophis can be made decades in advance, there will be enough time to try and knock them off course.

Suddenly, Bruce Willis on a mission to stop a devastating asteroid from destroying Earth, as he did in the movie "Armageddon," does not seem as far-fetched.

Nobody knows for sure what it would take to push a massive asteroid off its course, but the theoretical possibilities include detonating weapons on an asteroid's surface or using gravitational pull to alter a possible collision course.

But it could also break an asteroid into many pieces, all still headed toward Earth.

Some scientists say a better option could be to launch a large satellite to rendezvous with an asteroid. The mass of the satellite alone could produce enough gravitational pull to change the asteroid's course.

Another suggestion is to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in the hopes of changing its direction.

"Done far enough away, only a small deflection would be needed and it is kept in one piece," said Barry.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted March 20, 2007 -------------------------------

Teraflops Micro chip points to future

A chip with 80 processing cores and capable of more than a trillion calculations per second (teraflops) has been unveiled by Intel.

The Teraflops chip is not a commercial release but could point the way to more powerful processors, said the firm.

The chip achieves performance on a piece of silicon no bigger than a fingernail that 11 years ago required a machine with 10,000 chips inside it.

The challenge is to find a way to program the many cores simultaneously.

Current desktop machines have up to four separate cores, while the Cell processor inside the PlayStation 3 has eight (seven of them useable). Each core is effectively a programmable chip in its own right.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted March 13, 2007 -------------------------------

Israel unveils portable hunter killer robot

An Israeli defense firm on Thursday unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades.

The VIPeR, roughly the size of a small television, was invented as part of Israel's efforts to develop weaponry that could reduce the risks to its forces from hand-to-hand fighting against Palestinian or Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

The manufacturer, Elbit Systems Ltd, said that the VIPeR's small size and dual treads enable it to move "undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels". As well as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment, the VIPeR can carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade. The weapons would be aimed using an onboard video camera.

According to Elbit, which has close links with the Defense Ministry, Israel plans to deploy the VIPeR among its infantry units after field tests. The robot could also be of interest to foreign police units or U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted March 5, 2006 -------------------------------

Battlefield laser almost ready

A laser developed for military use is a few steps away from hitting a power threshold thought necessary to turn it into a battlefield weapon.

The Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) has achieved 67 kilowatts (kW) of average power in the laboratory.

It could take only a further six to eight months to break the "magic" 100kW mark required for the battlefield, the project's chief scientist told the BBC.

Potentially, lasers could destroy rockets, mortars or roadside bombs.

The US military has been researching laser weaponry since the 1960s. But the technology has struggled to live up to high hopes; directed energy weapons projects have failed to enter the battlefield, for a variety of reasons.

Chemically powered lasers have been able to achieve megawatts (one megawatt=one million watts) of power. But they are large and heavy, and require a constant supply of chemical fuel.

Solid state lasers may lack this power potential, but they tend to be more compact and lightweight, holding promise for the eventual development of a mobile, vehicle-mounted weapon.

"We have a lot of power coming out considering this is a very small system," said Dr Yamamoto.

"In our 25kW configuration and our 2.5 sq cm spot size on a one-inch thick steel target, we blow a hole through it in seven seconds."

SSHCL uses an array of many diodes - not dissimilar to the LEDs used in bicycle lights and remote controls - to generate a beam.

Chilled water is piped through the diode array and other components of the laser to cool it down during operation.

SSHCL generates a pulsed beam which fires 200 times a second at a wavelength of one micron. However, other experts place more stock in a continuous wave (CW), or "always-on", beam format.

Dr Yamamoto said the power required of directed energy weapons depended very much on the task: "If you have an improvised explosive device (IED), exposed by the roadside in Baghdad, detonating that device in five seconds or 15 seconds is not such an issue," he said.

"You could have - for example - a 25kW laser and have it dwell a little longer on the target.

"Conversely, if you have a katyusha rocket that you are trying to engage three or four kilometres away, having more power is a useful thing. Maybe 100kW in that application is exactly what you want.

He added: "More power on one level equates to a quicker response on the target you are trying to destroy."

On a good day, said Dr Yamamoto, a 100kW solid state laser with reasonable beam quality could have a range of several kilometers.

The team believes that a 100kW mobile version of the laser could be contained in a 9m- (30ft-) long trailer.

The effectiveness of directed energy systems is affected by many variables. These can include atmospheric conditions, turbulence (changes in air density as the result of heating and cooling), humidity, clouds, the time of day, and, of course, the nature of the target.

Perhaps the most successful of the US military's laser projects has been the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), which has shot down a small arsenal of mortars and rockets in live tests.

THEL uses a highly focused, high-power laser beam to engage and destroy aerial targets.

Another high-profile system currently under development is the US Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL), which is designed to destroy enemy missiles shortly after they have been launched.

The megawatt class chemical laser is to be carried aboard a modified Boeing 747 freighter aircraft.

One of the biggest hurdles to surmount for solid state lasers is achieving a sufficient beam quality. This is a measure of how tightly a laser beam can be focused under certain conditions.

Dr Yamamoto said improving the beam quality was one of the current goals for his team. The Livermore group is one of a number working on solid state lasers and is looking for further funding.

In 2005, Massachusetts-based Textron Systems won a $40m grant from the US Department of Defense to build a 100kW laser by 2009.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted March 1, 2006 -------------------------------

Shooting Pain The Future of Heat Beaming Weapons

If you're worried about terrorism, upset about the war in Iraq, and depressed by global chaos, violence, and death, cheer up. We've just invented a weapon that fires a beam of searing pain.

Three weeks ago, the U.S. armed forces tested it on volunteers at an Air Force base in Georgia. You can watch the video on a military Web site. Three colonels get zapped, along with an Associated Press reporter.

The beam is invisible, but its effects are vivid. Two dozen airmen scatter. The AP guy shrieks and bolts out of the target zone. He says it felt like heat all over his body, as though his jacket were on fire.

The feeling is an illusion. No one is harmed. The beam's energy waves penetrate just one-sixty-fourth of an inch into your body, heating your skin like microwaves. They inflame your nerve endings without actually burning you. This could be the future of warfare: less bloodshed, more pain.

Military technology has always sought greater precision from longer range. In the Gulf War, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, we exploited the increasing accuracy of laser-guided bombs. In the post-9/11 terrorist hunt and the occupation of Iraq, we've sent hundreds of remotely piloted aerial drones to spy and kill.

But the lives protected by drones are ours. The pain beam is more ambitious: It can spare civilians and even the enemy. Precision isn't just the ability to kill. Sometimes, it's ability to disperse and deter without killing.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted February 28, 2006 -------------------------------

Security Scanner Can See Through Clothes

The Phoenix airport on Friday became the first in the United States to test new X-ray technology that can see through people's clothes and show the body's contours with blush-inducing clarity.

Critics have said the high-resolution images created by the "backscatter" technology are too invasive. But the Transportation Security Administration adjusted the equipment so the pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still detecting concealed weapons.

During the testing, the machine will be used only as a back-up screening measure. Passengers who fail the standard screening with a metal detector will be able to choose between the new device or a pat-down search.

"It's 100 percent voluntary, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it, the passenger doesn't have to go through it," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

***WATCHMAN... OH SURE it is RIGHT NOW -BUT- NOT FOR LONG!...

Passengers selected for screening by the device are asked to stand in front of the closet-size X-ray unit with the palms of their hands facing out. Then they must turn around for a second screening from behind. The procedure takes about a minute.

Passenger Kristen Rodgers, 22, of Little Rock, Ark., who did not go through the screening, likened it to going to the doctor.

"If you tell yourself they have to look at that all day long, it makes yourself feel better," Rodgers said. "If it's just for security, just for 45 seconds, I think it would be worth catching somebody with something harmful."

The machine will be tested for up to 90 days at a single checkpoint at Sky Harbor's largest terminal, which hosts US Airways and Southwest Airlines, the two busiest airlines in Phoenix.

The technology could be left in place after the trial period, and the TSA hopes to roll out similar machines at the Los Angeles airport and New York's Kennedy Airport by the end of the year.

The security officer who works with the passenger going through the screening will never see the images the machine produces. The pictures will be viewed by another officer about 50 feet away who will not see the passenger, the TSA said.

The machine cannot store the images or transmit them.

"Once we're done screening the passenger, the image is gone forever," Melendez said.

The device at Sky Harbor costs about $100,000 but is on loan from the manufacturer, AS&E of Boston, Melendez said.

==================

Distant Planets: Warm, Weird, Waterless

The first "sniffs of air" of two huge far-away planets reveal that they seem to be missing water, a surprising finding amid weather unlike any planets in our solar system with blast furnace-like gusts amid supersonic winds.

The absence of water from the atmosphere of both these Jupiter-sized gaseous bodies upsets one of the most basic assumptions of astronomy.

One of the researchers, Harvard University astronomy professor David Charbonneau, called the planets "very different beasts ... unlike any other planets in the solar system."

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted February 26, 2006 -------------------------------

Security Scanner Can See Through Clothes

The Phoenix airport on Friday became the first in the United States to test new X-ray technology that can see through people's clothes and show the body's contours with blush-inducing clarity.

Critics have said the high-resolution images created by the "backscatter" technology are too invasive. But the Transportation Security Administration adjusted the equipment so the pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still detecting concealed weapons.

During the testing, the machine will be used only as a back-up screening measure. Passengers who fail the standard screening with a metal detector will be able to choose between the new device or a pat-down search.

"It's 100 percent voluntary, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it, the passenger doesn't have to go through it," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

***WATCHMAN... OH SURE it is RIGHT NOW -BUT- NOT FOR LONG!...

Passengers selected for screening by the device are asked to stand in front of the closet-size X-ray unit with the palms of their hands facing out. Then they must turn around for a second screening from behind. The procedure takes about a minute.

Passenger Kristen Rodgers, 22, of Little Rock, Ark., who did not go through the screening, likened it to going to the doctor.

"If you tell yourself they have to look at that all day long, it makes yourself feel better," Rodgers said. "If it's just for security, just for 45 seconds, I think it would be worth catching somebody with something harmful."

The machine will be tested for up to 90 days at a single checkpoint at Sky Harbor's largest terminal, which hosts US Airways and Southwest Airlines, the two busiest airlines in Phoenix.

The technology could be left in place after the trial period, and the TSA hopes to roll out similar machines at the Los Angeles airport and New York's Kennedy Airport by the end of the year.

The security officer who works with the passenger going through the screening will never see the images the machine produces. The pictures will be viewed by another officer about 50 feet away who will not see the passenger, the TSA said.

The machine cannot store the images or transmit them.

"Once we're done screening the passenger, the image is gone forever," Melendez said.

The device at Sky Harbor costs about $100,000 but is on loan from the manufacturer, AS&E of Boston, Melendez said.

==================

Distant Planets: Warm, Weird, Waterless

The first "sniffs of air" of two huge far-away planets reveal that they seem to be missing water, a surprising finding amid weather unlike any planets in our solar system with blast furnace-like gusts amid supersonic winds.

The absence of water from the atmosphere of both these Jupiter-sized gaseous bodies upsets one of the most basic assumptions of astronomy.

One of the researchers, Harvard University astronomy professor David Charbonneau, called the planets "very different beasts ... unlike any other planets in the solar system."

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted February 23-25, 2006 -------------------------------

Robot driven cars on roads by 2030

Scientists are developing the next generation of robot driven cars and predict they could be shuttling humans around by the year 2030, a conference was told.

The first wave of intelligent robot cars, capable of understanding and reacting to the world around them, will be tested this November in a competition run by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Scientists are developing vehicles which will not only be driven by robots independently, but will be able to operate in a simulated city environment.

"In the past it was sufficient for a vehicle just to perceive the environment, said Sebastian Thrun, an associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University.

"The new challenge will be to understand the environment. The robot must be able to recognize another car, to understand that it is moving and that it will interact with it as it gets closer."

Thrun, who was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Francisco, is a member of the Stanford team participating in the DARPA competition, which will take place on November 3.

Stanford's entrant "Junior" is a converted 2006 Volkswagen Passat whose steering, throttle and brakes all have been modified by engineers to be completely computer-controllable.

An array of lasers fitted on the car bumpers, radar and global positioning systems feed data into the on-board computer to determine its location and position.

Thrun predicted that leaps in artificial intelligence would lead to driverless cars on the roads by 2030.

"Today we can drive about 100 miles (160 kilometers) before human assistance is necessary, by 2010 I expect this to go 1,000 miles (1,160 kilometers), by 2020 up to a million miles (1.6 million kilometers)," he said.

"By 2030 you'll be able to see them on the highway, with a driving reliability that will exceed humans by orders of magnitude.

"We believe this technology will affect all of us. It is going to have enormous significance for people who can't drive because of disabilities or because they are ill or impaired."

Thrun said he believed robot-driven vehicles would be deployed in war zones before they are seen in everyday civilian environments.

"I think they'll be on the battlefield by around 2015," he said. "It is going to make sense to use them in situations such as convoys, or in hostile environments where there is danger to personnel."

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted February 21, 2006 -------------------------------

Scientists prepare way for Bionic man

Researchers aim within five years to restore natural arm and leg movements to people who are completely paralyzed, using the power of neurotechnology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Francisco heard on Friday.

John Donoghue of Brown University and Hunter Peckham of Case Western Reserve University, neurotechnology pioneers, are to collaborate on the project with funding from the US National Institutes of Health.

The goal is to give quadriplegic patients an electronic brain implant, linked to an electrical system of muscle stimulation, enabling them to move their limbs by thought alone – just like healthy people. ‘This system will represent a quantum leap in rehabilitation technology,’ said Prof Donoghue, ‘and it will fundamentally alter the lives of people with spinal cord injury.’

Prof Donoghue’s lab has developed the world’s most advanced brain-computer interface, called BrainGate. This neural implant, a silicon chip with 100 ultra-fine electrodes, sits on top of the brain and relays thought patterns to a computer, which then carries out the appropriate actions. The experimental system has already enabled paralysed patients to operate a cursor on a computer screen, control a wheelchair and operate a robotic hand.

Meanwhile Prof Peckham has developed a Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) system. This enables people who are largely but not completely paralyzed to move their limbs, by activating muscles that would otherwise be immobilized through spinal injury. Patients have electrodes implanted in their back and legs – but not their brain, so they must have enough residual movement to operate switches

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Navy May Deploy Anti Terrorism Dolphins

SAN DIEGO - Dozens of dolphins and sea lions trained to detect and apprehend waterborne attackers could be sent to patrol a military base in Washington state, the Navy said Monday. In a notice published in this week's Federal Register, the Navy said it needs to bolster security at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, on the Puget Sound close to Seattle.

The base is home to submarines, ships and laboratories and is potentially vulnerable to attack by terrorist swimmers and scuba divers, the notice states.

Several options are under consideration, but the preferred plan would be to send as many as 30 California sea lions and Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins from the Navy's Marine Mammal Program, based in San Diego.

"These animals have the capabilities for what needs to be done for this particular mission," said Tom LaPuzza, a spokesman for the Marine Mammal Program.

LaPuzza said that because of their astonishing sonar abilities, dolphins are excellent at patrolling for swimmers and divers. When a Navy dolphin detects a person in the water, it drops a beacon. This tells a human interception team where to find the suspicious swimmer.

Dolphins also are trained to detect underwater mines; they were sent to do this in the Iraqi harbor of Umm Qasr in 2003. The last time the animals were used operationally in San Diego was in 1996, when they patrolled the bay during the Republican National Convention.

Sea lions can carry in their mouths special cuffs attached to long ropes. If the animal finds a rogue swimmer, it can clamp the cuff around the person's leg. The individual can then be reeled in for questioning.

The Navy is seeking public comment for an environmental impact statement on the proposal.

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Teraflop Micro-Chip hints at the future

A chip with 80 processing cores and capable of more than a trillion calculations per second (teraflop) has been unveiled by Intel.

The Teraflop chip is not a commercial release but could point the way to more powerful processors, said the firm.

The chip achieves performance on a piece of silicon no bigger than a fingernail that 11 years ago required a machine with 10,000 chips inside it.

The challenge is to find a way to program the many cores simultaneously.

Current desktop machines have up to four separate cores, while the Cell processor inside the PlayStation 3 has eight (seven of them useable). Each core is effectively a programmable chip in its own right.

But to take advantage of the extra processing power, programmers need to gives instructions to each core that work in parallel with one another.

There are already specialist chips with multiple cores - such as those used in router hardware and graphics cards - but Dr Mark Bull, at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Center, said multi-core chips were forcing a sea-change in the programming of desktop applications.

...the same computing power required 2,000 square feet

"It's not too difficult to find two or four independent things you can do concurrently, finding 80 or more things is more difficult, especially for desktop applications.

"It is going to require quite a revolution in software programming.

"Massive parallelism has been the preserve of the minority - a few people doing high-performance scientific computing.

"But that sort of thing is going to have to find its way into the mainstream."

The first time teraflop performance was achieved was 11 years on the ASCI Red Supercomputer built by Intel for the Sandia National Laboratory.

It is going to require quite a revolution in software programming-Dr Mark Bull

That machine took up more than 2,000 square feet, was powered by almost 10,000 Pentium Pro processors, and consumed more than 500 kilowatts of electricity.

"Our researchers have achieved a wonderful and key milestone in terms of being able to drive multi-core and parallel computing performance forward," said Justin Rattner, Intel Senior Fellow and chief technology officer.

"It points the way to the near future when teraflops-capable designs will be commonplace and reshape what we can all expect from our computers and the internet at home and in the office."

The Teraflop chip uses less electricity than many current high-end processors, making the design attractive for use in home computers.

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

Posted February 19, 2006 -------------------------------

Bionic eye implants look ahead

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years.

U.S. researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients.

The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye.

Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement.

‘What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise blind eye and allow patients to see,’ said Professor Mark Humayan from the University of California…

The new devices work by implanting an array of tiny electrodes into the back of the retina.

A camera is used to capture pictures, and a processing unit, about the size of a small handheld computer and worn on a belt, converts the visual information into electrical signals.

These are then wirelessly sent to a receiver just under the surface of the skin, which in turn feeds them to the electrodes.

The whole process happens in real time

The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!

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