Open Manufacturing is about bringing free and open source software development methodology and philosophy to the design and construction of the physical world. Join discussion...

Science will continue to surprise us with what it discovers and creates; then it will astound us by devising new methods to surprises us. At the core of science's self-modification is technology. New tools enable new structures of knowledge and new ways of discovery. The achievement of science is to know new things; the evolution of science is to know them in new ways. What evolves is less the body of what we know and more the nature of our knowing Join discussion...

Late yesterday, Google released a very cool new mobile application which employs voice recognition technology. The question is not so much what the technology can do today, the question is what will the technology be able to do in the near future—and how might it change education, health care, and a host of other daily activities? Join discussion...

Futurists and science-fiction writers speculate about a time when brain activity will merge with computers. Technology now exists that uses brain signals to control a cursor or prosthetic arm. How much further development of brain-machine interfaces might progress is still an imponderable. It is at least possible to conceive of inputting text and other high-level information into an area of the brain that helps to form new memories. But the technical hurdles to achieving this task probably require fundamental advances in understanding the way the brain functions. Join discussion...

Senior SETI astronomer Seth Shostak’s prediction that ET intelligences will be discovered within “two dozen years” seems to have the proviso “if we get the funding:” Join discussion...

According to Government Technology, engineers at the University of Washington have developed contact lenses with integrated circuitry. Although the lenses have only been tested on animals, researchers are working on having electronic lenses overlay a display over a person’s visual field without impairing sight. Researchers hope that the lenses, once completed, will allow users to zoom in on distant objects and see useful facts. Future applications might allow drivers and pilots to see their direction and speed projected across their view or to surf the Web without a monitor. The circuit components would be powered by integrated solar cells and a wireless radio-frequency receiver. Join discussion...

Scientists have created the first 'humanoid' robot that can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being. 'Jules' - a disembodied androgynous robotic head - can automatically copy the movements, which are picked up by a video camera and mapped on to the tiny electronic motors in his skin. It can grin and grimace, furrow its brow and 'speak' as his software translates real expressions observed through video camera 'eyes'. Join discussion...

The world faces an estimated 70 percent chance of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack in the next decade, according to analysts surveyed in a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee study. During the Cold War, the possibility of a nuclear battle that could kill every American made it imperative to avoid conflict. But today, we are still not safe. A suicide bomber hiding a weapon of mass destruction in a suitcase could murder a million Americans; twice as many as died in both twentieth century World Wars combined. Though some believe the eventual solution to ending today’s terrorist threats lie in improving the welfare of have-nots, former Defense Advanced Research Project Agency manager, Dr. Robert Popp, says we must also get better at intelligence. “We need more Arabic speakers, more experts who understand tribal relations, and more diplomats to capture audiences on Al Jazeera.” Join discussion...

Forward thinkers believe we will experience more discoveries in the next 20 years than we did during the last 200. In The Singularity is Near, author Ray Kurzweil explains how the future will change the way we live, work, and perceive our world. The following describes some advances we can expect in the 2020s: Computers and TVs will merge. The computer, keyboard, and mouse are gone. Information from the net, along with 3D-TV programs, movies, and holograms are all accessed by a system that reads our voice and gestures, and then displays images on walls, cell phones, or directly onto our eyes without using a screen. Join discussion...

The 4th of September could be day we will remember because it is the day a new concept of watching movies is revealed. Filmmaker Scott Hessels together with film and engineering students at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University have invented a new way of watching movies based on the viewer’s location and movement. It is location based cinema and I think… wow, this could be great! Join discussion...