Hugh Pickens writes 'Scientific American reports that a new device called 'BrainPort' aims to restore the experience of vision for the blind and visually impaired by relying on the nerves on the tongue's surface to send light signals to the brain. BrainPort collects visual data through a small digital video camera and converts the signal into electrical pulses sent to the tongue via a 'lollipop' that sits directly on the tongue, where densely packed nerves receive the incoming electrical signals. White pixels yield a strong electrical pulse and the electrodes spatially correlate with the pixels, so that if the camera detects light fixtures in the middle of a dark hallway, electrical stimulations will occur along the center of the tongue. Within 15 minutes of using the device, blind people can begin interpreting spatial information. 'At first, I was amazed at what the device could do,' says research director William Seiple. 'One guy started to cry when he saw his first letter.'' There is some indication that the signals from the tongue are processed by the visual cortex. The company developing the BrainPort will submit it to the FDA for approval later this month, and it could be on sale (for around $10,000) by the end of the year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Also, more here at spectrum. Image via spectrum.

Hitachi has a few new refrigerators that will actually spritz your food with antioxidants and vitamins to keep things exceptionally fresh and clean (clean). The R-Y6000 and R-Y5400 will evidently sense what types of foods are stored in what compartments, after which a specified amount of nutrients will be emitted in order to keep things from spoiling too soon. We aren't too keen on a robotic fridge having the power to douse our grub with whatever chemical it pleases, but so long as it uses FDA-approved vitamins, minerals, HGH and anabolic steroids, we suppose we'll live.

(Via Engadget.)

In three to five years, a baby will be born with two genetic mothers and one father. This could prove to be a boon for polyamorous families of the future who want to have children with more than two parents. A team of British researchers working with embryos have now perfected the three-parent babymaking technique.


The technique is actually designed to prevent certain genetic diseases associated with the mother's mitochondrial DNA (a small amount of DNA that lives outside the cell nucleus). One woman contributes her nuclear DNA, one contributes mitochondrial DNA, and the father contributes the typical chunk of his own nuclear DNA. Presto: a baby with three genetic parents.

No three-parent babies have been born yet, but the researchers say they've done enough testing that they plan to make the procedure available in the next three to five years. Here's how it works:

The process involves in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the subsequent removal of the egg's nucleus. The nucleus is then placed into a donor egg whose DNA has been removed. The resulting fetus inherits nuclear DNA, or genes, from both parents but mitochondrial DNA from a third party.

Via io9

How about a spy satellite of about 20,000 pounds landing in your backyard or providing you with a new skylight? If NASA has anything to do with it, that won't happen, according to reports.

A disabled U.S. spy satellite is likely to break into small pieces when it falls to Earth within weeks, posing little danger to humans, U.S. government officials said Monday.

Most, if any, debris that survives the intense heat of re-entry would likely fall into the oceans, which cover more than 70 percent of the planet, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. But he said the U.S. government was monitoring the satellite’s descent from orbit and examining different options to “mitigate any damage.”

The U.S. military could potentially use a missile to destroy the minivan-sized satellite in space, but one senior U.S. defense official told Reuters that was unlikely for several reasons, including concern about creating space debris, as China did when it shot down one of its satellites last year.

via MSNBC

New DNA research provides some compelling and possibly scary results: "Scientists in Maryland yesterday said they had built from scratch an entire microbial chromosome, a loop of synthetic DNA carrying all the instructions that a simple cell needs to live and reproduce.

The feat marks the first time that anyone has made such a large strand of hereditary material from off-the-shelf chemical ingredients. Previous efforts had yielded DNA strands less than one-twentieth the size, and those pieces lacked many of the key biological programs that tell a cell how to stay alive.

On the basis of earlier experiments, the researchers believe the new, full-length loop would spontaneously 'boot up' inside a cell, just as a downloaded operating system can awaken a computer -- a potentially historic event that would amount to the creation of the first truly artificial life form.

Team members emphasized that they have not done that yet but expressed confidence that they would do so before the end of the year."

Md. Scientists Build Bacterial Chromosome - washingtonpost.com