HackingTheUniverse

You are browsing the archives of 2009 April.

In chapter six of his book, “Engines of Creation“, Eric Drexler describes a conceptual spacesuit that utilizes nanotechnology.
Space and Advanced Technology
Imagine that you are aboard a space station, spun to simulate Earth’s normal gravity. After instruction, you have been given a suit to try out: there it hangs on the wall, a gray, rubbery-looking thing [...]

The Media Lab at MIT is working on a project to create a cheap, wearable interface that can augment our physical environment with information and allow us to interact with it easily and by using gestures. The current prototype can be built for a cost of around $350.
Sixth Sense - [mit.edu]
SixthSense is [...]

These two videos from “The Ethical Hacker Network” show Ryan Linn demonstrating basic penetration testing techniques with nmap, nessus, metasploit, ophcrack and some command line actions.
Video: The 15-Minute Network Pen Test Part 1 - [ethicalhacker.net]
The first video takes the viewer through the initial network recon stage of pen testing and then follows up [...]

A rapid prototyper is a machine that can manufacture items according to specifications handled by computer control. A universal constructor is a machine that can make other industrial products, including replicating itself. The RepRap project uses rapid prototyping to create a universal constructor and does it all under the open source umbrella. [...]

1838 is often listed as the year for the invention of the telegraph. This was when Samuel Morse first successfully tested his electrical telegraphy device in the US. Cooke and Wheatstone listed a patent in England for a similar device in 1837 as an alarm system. In 1836, David Alter, a US [...]

Theodore Kaluza was born in Oppeln, Germany in 1885. He was a mathematician and physicist who is most noted for his contribution to “Kaluza-Klein” theory. This theory, named for the work done by both Kaluza and Oscar Klein, deals with field equations that attempted to unify Einstein’s theory of gravition and and Maxell’s [...]

FACETS (Fast Analog Computing with Emergent Transient States) works at reproducing brain-like processing using computer hardware.
FACETS (Fast Analog Computing with Emergent Transient States) - [ uni-heidelberg.de]
The goal of the FACETS project is to create a theoretical and experimental foundation for the realisation of novel computing paradigms which exploit the concepts experimentally observed in biological nervous [...]

Several companies are developing exoskeleton devices that can improve the physical abilities of a human body. This idea, that was once soley in the domain of science fiction and “IronMan” comics, is now coming to life in real products.
ROBOT SUIT HAL - [cyberdyne.jp]
“Robot Suit HAL” is a cyborg-type robot that can expand and improve physical [...]

Automated agriculture is being developed by students at MIT in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Sensors monitor the conditions and needs of the plants and robotic gardeners supply any needed interaction.
Gardening the CSAIL way - [mit.edu]
Precision Agriculture: Sustainable Farming in the Age of Robotics - [mit.edu]
Early in the fall of [...]

Supercapacitors that can be printed on a flexible substrate similar to paper or cloth fabric can be used in place of conventional batteries in a variety of new applications.
A New Way to Create a Super Capacitor - [eepn.com]
Silk screen printing is a familiar process used to print T-shirts, stickers, textiles and circuit boards. But can [...]