John Oliver on Net Neutrality

Remember at the end of The Empire Strikes Back where Luke gets his hand chopped off by Vader? During one of the closing scenes, a robot doctor finishes up installing a replacement hand for Luke.

Luke Skywalker's Cyborg Hand

Kevin Warwick did something similar as an experiment, but without the whole getting his hand chopped off step. Instead he put an electrode in his hand that could transmit commands to a robotic hand through radio waves. This was done back in 2002, and somehow I never heard of it. I’m sure Ray Kurzweil would be proud. Check out the video below for more information about how he did this, and some other advances like using rat brain cells to power robots. If you are at all interested in robotics, cyborgs, or AI, you’ll be in for a treat.

A few years ago, the Science Channel aired an episode of SciFi Science, “How to Build a Lightsaber” hosted by theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku. He explained some theories that might be used and developed a rough design that should be “workable in our lifetimes.” Of course almost all of his episodes end up with that qualification. Last month it looks like there was a breakthrough in the hardest part of making a lightsaber work, getting the blade to stop at a certain point.

Although the most prominent uses for controlling the depth of laser cutting are surgical and clinical, Fraser said the team is “very excited about the potential industrial applications,” especially since compared to clinics it’s easier to get new technology into industries.

Unfortunately, the goal is to make the lasers useful surgery, not chopping off alien arms at cantinas.

Via  National Post

If you’d like to watch the episode I’m referring to, use this Google Search: How to build a light saber on Youtbue