MODERN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGIES YOU'D SWEAR ARE SCIENCE FICTION

VOICE CONTROL IS NOW A TREND

One of the most fascinating movie villains of modern cinema

was HAL, the voice-controlled computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

With the introduction of software like Siri on the iPhone 4S,

voice control has gone mainstream.

THE CANCER GENE FINGERPRINT

To begin with, not all cancers are equally fatal; for example, prostate

cancer means a longer survival rate than a tumour in your

oesophagus. The good news, however, is that by analysing the

mutated genome of a tumour, doctors can now pinpoint whether

a cancer is sensitive to a certain chemotherapy, or one that

doesn’t respond at all to current treatments. In other words,

knowing the subtype might mean jumping directly to a

clinical trial that could save your life.

ROBOT SNAKE AUTOMATICALLY WRAPS AROUND AN

OBJECT WHEN THROWN

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Bio robotics laboratory

have adapted one of their robotic snakes to cause it to automatically

wrap itself around an object when it is thrown. Upon impact, the

snake immediately wraps its body around the target—in test cases,

a light pole and tree branch, and holds on, supporting itself.

Robot snakes have been developed in recent years to mimic the

actions of their real-life counterparts and scientists believe their

leg- and feet-free mode of locomotion might be ideal for use in

hard to reach places, such as buildings that have been

demolished by an earthquake.

FLYING CARS

It might still sound like a scene from a sci-fi movie to some but

the flying car is here and it’s totally legal. The Terrafugia flying car

gets thirty-five miles to the gallon as a car and consumes five gallons

per hour as a plane. It flies at 115 miles per hour and can cover

490 miles per flight. You can buy one today, starting

with a $10,000 deposit.

FIRST PLANET WITH FOUR SUNS DISCOVERED

An international team of astronomers have announced the

discovery of a planet whose skies are illuminated by four suns

the first known of its type. The planet, located about five thousand

light-years from Earth, has been dubbed PH1 in honour of

Planet Hunters, a program led by Yale University in the United States

that enlists volunteers to look for signs of new planets.

NASA BEGINS USING ROBOTIC EXOSKELETONS

The X1 Robotic Exoskeleton weighs in at fifty-seven pounds and

contains four motorized joints along with six passive ones.

With two settings, it can either hinder movement, such as when

helping astronauts exercise in space, or aid movement,

assisting paraplegics with walking.

DIAMOND PLANET DISCOVERED

Planet 55 Cancri e is what’s known as a super-Earth because

it is likely a rocky world orbiting a sun-like star, but it has a

radius twice as large as that of Earth, and a mass eight times

greater. The hot planet also races around its star at such a close

distance that one year lasts just eighteen hours. The “alien planet,”

as it’s also known, is thought to be made largely of diamond but

new studies have shown that it might be less than glittering inside.

ARTIFICIAL LEAVES GENERATE ELECTRICITY

Using relatively inexpensive materials, Daniel G. Nocera created the

world’s first practical artificial leaf. The self-contained units

mimic the process of photosynthesis, but the end result is

hydrogen instead of oxygen. The hydrogen can then be captured

into fuel cells and used for electricity, even in the most

remote locations on Earth.

VOYAGER I LEAVES THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Launched in 1977, Voyager I travelled past Jupiter and Saturn and by

2013 (when NASA confirmed that it left our solar system) travelled

more than 11.66 billion miles (18.67 billion kilometres) from the sun,

becoming the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space.