ian pearson suggests that breast implants could be functional, for example by containing an embedded mp3 player. the idea is not that bad:adding intelligent circuitry to aesthetic prostheses could help counterweight the stupidity of those who have them.
vie engadget
for the first time ever thought was directly able to manipulate and control the physical world: a paralyzed man with a computer chip (left) in his brain is able to move a computer cursor (right) to draw, write and play.
via nytimes
the first perfume marketed as an antidepressant is being made by ora ito and sold by colette paris. assuming it works on anyone who smells it, it could be considered the first political perfume.
instead of worrying about making robots more intelligent, the machine perception lab is trying to make them more affectionate: by placing two robots in the UCSD daycare center for a few weeks, his team was able to program them to have more realistic affect. their research (paper) reveals that children as young as 10 months understand whether a robot is reacting to them, and can even comprehend its limited focus of attention. it turns out that robots don’t have to be more intelligent to appear human (we’re not), they just need to follow social norms like reacting, smiling for the appropriate time, and making eye contact.
via le monde
while we may think that we choose our political candidate for rational reasons, a study from emory university shows that the parts of the brain involved when watching candidates on television have nothing to do with rational thought, and are instead those that control emotions and reward conflict resolution. while watching their candidates and opponents make self-contradictory speeches, people always sided with their political party – proving that love can indeed make you blind.
via emory
squint at the image above, it’s from Oliva & Schyns
in the museum of the history of science in florence there is an unusual reliquary: the middle finger of galileo galilei, alongside his famous retraction (in english and italian):
I, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzio Galilei of Florence, seventy years of age, arraigned personally for judgment, kneeling before you Most Eminent and Most Reverend Cardinals Inquisitors-General against heretical depravity in all of Christendom, having before my eyes and touching with my hands the Holy Gospels, swear that I have always believed, I believe now, and with God’s help I will believe in the future all that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church holds, preaches, and teaches. However, whereas, after having been judicially instructed with injunction by the Holy Office to abandon completely the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and does not move and the earth is not the center of the world and moves, and not to hold defend, or teach this false doctrine in any way whatever, orally or in writing; and after having been notified that this doctrine is contrary to Holy Scripture; I wrote and published a book in which I treat of this already condemned doctrine and adduce very effective reasons in its favor, without refuting them in any way; therefore, I have been judged vehemently suspected of heresy, namely of having held and believed that the sun is the center of the world and motionless and the earth is not the center and moves.
Therefore, desiring to removed from the minds of Your Eminences and every faithful Christian this vehement suspicion, rightly conceived against me, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith I abjure, curse, and detest the above-mentioned errors and heresies, and in general each and every other error, heresy, and sect contrary to the Holy Church; and I swear that in the future I will never again say or assert, orally or in writing, anything which might cause a similar suspicion about me; on the contrary, if I should come to know any heretic or anyone suspected of heresy, I will denounce him to this Holy Office, or to the Inquisitor or Ordinary of the place where I happen to be.
Furthermore, I swear and promise to comply with and observe completely all the penances which have been or will be imposed upon me by this Holy Office; and should I fail to keep any of these promises and oaths, which God forbid, I submit myself to all the penalties and punishments imposed and promulgated by the sacred canons and other particular and general laws against similar delinquents. So help me God and these Holy Gospels of His, which I touch with my hands.
I, the above-mentioned Galileo Galilei, have abjured, sworn, promised, and obliged myself as above; and in witness of the truth I have signed with my own hand the present document of abjuration and have recited it word for word in Rome, at the convent of the Minerva, this twenty-second day of June 1633.
I, Galileo Galilei, have abjured as above, by my own hand.
gaetano pesce‘s golgotha chair was made by draping cloth that was dipped in resin over two ropes and letting it dry so that no two chairs are alike.
body artists jesse jarrell and steve haworth came up with the idea to implant magnets under the skin to hold innovative piercings without success – until they noticed that the implants generated a sense of magnetic and electric fields through the induced motion as interpreted by the finger’s touch receptors. you can feel power lines, spinning hard drives and other electric/magnetic phenomena. is there any limit to the senses we can gain through implants?
via meiver