Scientists have created a way to control a robot with signals from a human brain. By generating the proper brainwaves—picked up by a cap with electrodes that sense the signals and reflect a person's instructions—scientists can instruct a humanoid robot to move to specific locations and pick up certain objects...

In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, a full-size underwater vehicle was shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the blood vessels of a person. Now, a team headed by Dr. Moshe Shoham of Haifa's Technion has created a novel propulsion system for a miniature robot to travel through the spinal...

A remarkable new anti-viral polymer can be applied like paint and could help reduce the spread of germs in public areas and hospitals. The biocidal paint was developed by MIT's Alexander Klibanov. In a graphic demonstration (see photo), a regular commercial glass slide and another one coated with alkylated PEI...

A pair of new, immersive technologies allows a person to inhabit the body of a distant robot in an experiment conducted in Germany. The first is the haptic system (from a Greek word meaning touch) that allows the operator to don a pair of gloves that can actually feel what...

We often jokingly refer to delivery of letters by the post office as snail mail, comparing it to the lightning speed of email and instant messaging. RealSnailMail is a performance art piece in which the artists create snail mail with real snails. The intent is to harness the power of...

A microscopic robot hand, made of silicon and plastic balloons, could help perform surgery and defuse bombs. The microhand is so tiny that when clenched into a fist it measures a little over one millimeter across, or roughly as thick as a dime [image]. It is made using silicon finger...

BluScreen, an interactive advertising technology that identifies passers-by using their Bluetooth-enabled cellphones, is being tested at the school of Electronics and Computer Science at Southampton University in the UK. At the school, the system will chose from different announcements about school events and scheduling. Once out in the real world,...

NEW YORK—The continual advancement of technology will be critical in determining whether humanity will evolve into a true global civilization or destroy itself in the next century, a panel of experts said this week. In the next 100 years, humanity could leap forward into a true global civilization—complete with a...

The Vecna BEAR robot (Battlefield Extraction and Retrieval Robot) is being developed as an adjunct to other rescue technologies for extracting combat casualties. The BEAR bot has three main elements; hydraulic upper body, mobile platform and dynamic balancing behavior. The robot should be able to fully stand up by straightening...

A new type of robot balances on a ball rather than relying on legs or wheels. The Ballbot, as it is called, can move in tight spots, making it potentially more useful than other designs for some uses. Carnegie Mellon University robotics Professor and inventor Ralph Hollis first started fiddling...

Cyberviolence, a form of vigilante justice in which a large group of Internet users post attacks against an individual, are increasing in South Korea. In Seoul, a 30-year-old accountant named Kim Myong Jae became theNo. 1 hate figure of South Korea's huge Internet community.People who belied that he had killed...

The Pong Dress is the creation of artists Max Moswitzer and Magarete Jahrmann of the Ludic Society. The classic video game Pong is implemented on a 5x7 LED screen worked into the front of the dress. Two pixels on the right and left borders form the paddles; a single pixel...

Scientists have yoked bacteria to power rotary motors, the first microscopic mechanical devices to successfully incorporate living microbes together with inorganic parts. In far future plans, we would like to make micro-robots driven by biological motors, researcher Yuichi Hiratsuka, a nanobiotechnologist now at the University of Tokyo, told LiveScience. Hiratsuka,...

Multiple Gear Speed Reduction Unit (Image credit: Courtesy Sandia National Laboratories, SUMMiTTM Technologies, www.mems.sandia.gov)Microelectromechanical systems or MEMS are micro versions of electrical gears, motors, switches, etc. that are used to significantly reduce the size of many of today's and future devices from all kinds of industries. Common uses include defense/munitions...

First, for the uninitiated, an explanation of the lighter salute: You're at a concert. The music slows, the first guitar wails of a power ballad begin, and hundreds of disposable lighters illuminate the audience like so many sequins on a vest. Three or four (or 10, if it's a particularly...