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ICYMI: Salamander bot and allergy cells: Good for something
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A robotic salamander was invented by the EPFL and has a true to life spinal cord. Also researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine found that immune cells that normally create an over-reaction in some people, resulting in allergies or asthma, may also protect people against a certain kind of fatal infection. Finally, University of Buffalo researchers are making their own lava, you know, for science. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Researchers remotely control worms using magnetic nanoparticles, tomorrow: people?
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have announced they've found a way to remotely control worms using magnetic nanoparticles attached to cell membranes, and say they can cause the worms to stop moving simply by exposing the particles to a magnetic field and heating them up. This, they say, could lead to a host of medical benefits -- but if The X-Files has taught us anything, it's that remote-controlled nanotechnology can also fall into the wrong hands, and make people stop moving.
Robotic Surgical Simulator lets doctors sharpen their skills by operating on polygons
These days you wouldn't jump behind the controls of a real plane without logging a few hours on the simulator, and so we're glad to hear that doctors no longer have to grab the controls of a da Vinci surgical robot without performing some virtual surgeries first. The Center for Robotic Surgery at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University of Buffalo School of Engineering have collaborated to create RoSS, the Robotic Surgical Simulator. Unlike our Ross, who works odd hours and covers fuel cell unveils with innate skill, this RoSS allows doctors to slice and dice virtual patients without worrying about any messy cleanups -- or messy lawsuits. We're guessing it'll be awhile before consumer versions hit the market, but just in case we've gone ahead and put our pre-orders in for the prostate expansion to Microsoft Cutting Sim 2014™.
