New NASA Rovers

As advanced as space technology has become, missions have been plagued by operated land rovers becoming stuck in dirt and dunes. Both of the last two Mars Rovers, the Spirit and Opportunity have gotten stuck for weeks at a time. As part of an effort to avoid this unnecessary dilemma, NASA has worked on dozens of new prototypes that are specifically designed to get out of those very tricky situations.

Resembling the animal it's presumably named after, the LEMUR (Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robots) uses its four arms to make its way through steep slopes. Its small size limits the chance of a fall critically damaging its condition.

The Hopper, the name basically gives away what this new prototype is best at. Equipped with six spring-loaded feet, this rover goes where no rover has gone before by completely leaping past obstacles that would have put others out of working order. Jumping one foot on Earth, translating into 6 feet under lunar gravity, the Hopper is ready to set the standard for rovers to come.

Unfortunately, it will most likely take anywhere from 10 to 20 years before any of these concepts actually are used in a space mission. However, when they finally arrive they will undoubtedly help usher in a new era of knowledge of planets.

Imagine an everyday regular military man that is able to run faster jump higher and all of his physical abilities are expanded well that’s pretty much the case with the new prototype exoskeleton. Basically, an exoskeleton is a wearable machine that gives human enhanced abilities. Imagine a battalion of super soldiers that can lift hundreds of pounds as easily as lifting 10 pounds and can run twice their normal speed. Soldiers will be able to carry more weapons and supplies. By increasing strength, soldiers will also be able to remove large obstacles from their path while marching. It will also enable them to wear heavier body armor and other ballistic protection. An average human walks 4 to 6 mph, but soldiers are often expected to carry up to 150 pounds of supplies in their backpacks. Even the best-conditioned troops cannot go very fast carrying that much weight on their backs. It's not certain how fast DARPA's exoskeleton will be able to move. An independently developed body amplifier, the “SpringWalker”, has been tested at speeds faster than 10 mph (16 km/h). In a couple of years these prototypes will be put into production and they will be made so that all infantry will be able to be much stronger


http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-04/building-real-iron-man

Gene Defect corrected in human stem cell

Correcting Cells:

What do you think life would be like if you could correct all inherited genetic diseases. Science researches have discovered a way to help patients by transforming tissue into stem cells, potentially being able to reverse the conditions. Using the older technology of cell programming scientists believe that they can use cells to create stem cells which can virtually grow into any tissue type. This system is stated in the article to be called "induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) reprogramming, this involves introducing four genes known to be active in the developing embryo, which in turn change the cells' pattern of gene expression to one that resembles an embryonic cell rather than an adult one."

While this has not yet completed full testing on humans researches are very confident it will be successfull, leading to a huge step in fixing inherited diseases which in many cases lead to increased risk of cancer.

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22724/