We've heard researchers tout the many benefits of graphene before, and it doesn't look like they're showing any signs of letting up, with a group from the University of Manchester now boasting that they've made even more progress with the material that was created only a few years ago. Specifically, they've apparently found a way to develop graphene-based films (an alternative to the current indium-based options) more cheaply by simply "dissolving" chunks of graphite into graphene and then "spraying the suspension onto a glass surface." What's more, the researchers say that there are only a "few small, incremental steps" remaining before the graphene film is ready for the mass production stage, after which they say we could be seeing graphene-based LCD products within "a few years." As you may recall, this all follows some similar developments from researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, although their method apparently "involved several extra steps," and they weren't making any promises about actual products turning up anytime soon.

Researchers at the University of Manchester are turning to virtual reality once again, not to have another go 'round at proving whether telepathy is real or not, but to help individuals with amputated limbs recover from so-called "phantom limb pain," a sensation wherein amputees appear to feel pain in their lost limb. The treatment involves patients donning the requisite headgear and data gloves, allowing them to explore a virtual world with their missing limb restored. Patients then perform various tasks that trick the brain into thinking it can control the missing limb, something earlier studies suggested would help alleviate the often unbearable pain. While the study is definitely on the small side -- just five patients -- the researchers seem to be quite enthused with their findings, reporting that four of the subjects achieved significant reductions in pain, in one case after just a single session. Cause for further study, no doubt; let's just hope our British friends don't completely give up on their more esoteric endeavors.

Those mad scientists at the University of Manchester are at it again, first repairing broken bones with inkjet printers, then simulating velociraptor attacks, and now trying to determine once and for all if telepathy is real -- using virtual reality, of course. About a hundred individuals are expected to take part in the experiment, which'll also test if telepathic abilities are stronger between people that already know each other. In the tests, two subjects will be placed far apart from each other, on different floors of the building (to avoid cheating), each donning VR helmets and gloves that plop then into a virtual environment. One of the individuals is then presented with an image that they're supposed to concentrate on and interact with, while the other is shown four items, from which they must pick the other person's object. We give this about an 80% chance of being inconclusive, a 10% chance of it proving that telepathy is real, and a 10% chance that things go completely haywire, giving everyone involved super telepathic abilities.