C'mon, linking actual brain cells to a silicon chip might sound a bit sensational at first, but considering the work that's already been done on replacement retinas and human brains, Ted Berger's recently-hyped work is pretty much right on time. Essentially, the USC researcher has spent the past decade or so "engineering a brain implant that can re-create thoughts," and moreover, certain implementations could even "remedy everything from Alzheimer's to absent-mindedness." We know, thoughts of instantaneous brilliance are running wild through your mind, and considering that Ted (and his highly-regarded team) have figured out how to link a silicon chip to actual brain cells and elicit responses, the possibilities are indeed nearly endless. Put simply, Berger hopes that brain disorders that are currently battled with intensive drug regimens with less-than-exciting side effects can be solved "by simply implanting a few computerized brain cells." Of course, the team admits that it's "years, maybe decades" away from hospital-approved apparatuses, but if you're interested in reading (a lot) more about "the future of brain science," grab your specs, prepare your paltry short term memory, and hit the read link for all the insight.

[Via MedGadget]

We've seen this modular bot around, but it's really starting to come into its own, with all sorts of twisting and flexing and joining to keep it occupied for hours. NASA's plan for the bot is for a future robotic system that is "modular, multifunctional and self-reconfigurable," and this SuperBot that USC is developing seems to fit the bill. Each module has its own power supply, sensors and communication, and with a few degrees of movement and six connecting faces there are plenty things the bots can do when joined as a team -- a SuperBot, if you will. It's not much use explaining it, you just have to see it for yourself, so peep the read link for action vids galore, then head to the comments and get a bit of "I for one..." out of your system.

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Doheny Eye Institute have snagged the all-important FDA approval need to begin clinical trials of their bionic eye implant, joining a growing number of other groups following in Lee Majors footsteps. Once underway, between 50 and 75 patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration will be outfitted with the implant, which has already seen some degree of success in limited testing. As the image above shows, in its current form at least, the device isn't completely implantable, also consisting of a small camera mounted on a pair of glasses that's wired to a handheld device. It works by processing images from the camera and wirelessly transmitting them to a receiver implanted in the eye, which in turn sends signals to a series of electrodes that stimulate the retina, sending the information to the brain, all of which happens in real time. While it won't restore full sight, the researchers say patients should be able to detect light and distinguish objects from one another. If all goes as planned, they also foresee the device being commercially available shortly after the trials are complete, although it obviously won't come cheap, with an expected price tag of $30,000. Let's just hope a mirror shades version isn't too far behind.

[Via BBC News]

"Your shoes, clothes and car are already made automatically, but your house is built by hand and it doesn't make sense." That's word from Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, whose team at USC is getting ready to debut a $1.5 million robot designed to build homes with zero help from puny humans. The bot should have its first test run in California this April, where it will build the shell of a two-story house in 24 hours. The operation is akin to a 3D inkjet printer, with the robot moving about in three dimensional space, spraying out the home layer by layer. Part of the simplicity of the process comes from the simplicity of the materials: nearly the whole house is built with concrete and gypsum, obviously leaving a bit of work for the decorators, but allowing for complicated shapes and cheap construction -- about a fifth of current costs. A rival robotic house building being developed at Loughborough University takes a week to build a home, but will include fancier designs, including ducts for water, electrical and ventilation. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait around 5 years for that model to hit the market, and by then we'll all be having so much fun driving around in our flying cars we won't even have time to bother with these "home" things.

[Via Slashdot]

Inspired by the DIY Wacom Cintiq tablet that we wrote about a few weeks ago, Florian Maurer, a USC mechanical engineering undergraduate student, recently took apart his Wacom Graphire 6 x 8 inch tablet and combined the internals with a PowerBook Titanium 800MHz machine. The result, two days later, was a a fully functional PowerBook tablet, with a touch-sensitive section. From what we can tell, he also added in a feature so that you can draw words (such as "google") and then use a gesture stroke to load that particular page. Check out the YouTube vid on the next page for the full effect. Watch out Jobs, hackers are always a step ahead.

[Via digg]