In the 1950’s people were still quivering with anticipation to see what new possibilities will nuclear power open for them. Nuclear powered houses, trains, airplanes and cars, all dreams of a petrol free future, without much thought on the dangers of nuclear power.

Ford Nucleon was one of those dreams, a nuclear powered car that was supposed to travel for 5,000 miles without a recharge. The nuclear car project was announced in 1957 by Ford, and it was a futuristic looking vehicle with an incredibly efficient fuel mileage, thanks to the small atomic fission reactor fitted in the trunk.

The setup of it’s nuclear reactor was similar to that of a nuclear submarine, but miniaturized to fit into an automobile. The idea was to use uranium fission to heat the steam generator, which turned water into steam, which could be used to drive a set of turbines. One of the turbines would propel the car, while the other would power an electrical generator. Steam would be turned back into water through condensation, and reused by the steam generator after that. As long as fissile material remained, the reactor would’ve produced power through this closed system.

And, because the powerplant was interchangeable, the owner could choose between a high mileage with low torque version or a more powerful version if that’s what they needed.

Can you imagine driving with no worries only to have another car smash into the mini nuclear reactor strapped to your back? Did they really think this through?

Luckily, there were no operational models built, but they gave it quite some thought apparently. Why they didn’t make one? Increased public awareness of the dangers of nuclear power, the absence of the light materials that could be used for shielding and the lack of advances in the mini nuclear reactors area. Lucky us!

You can find here a description of the Ford Nucleon from the company. (third model)

Looks like a huge hamster exercise ball, but it’s actually a gaming setup that immerses the player in a 3D virtual reality world, and it’s called VirtuSphere.

The players use a motion-tracking headset that provides them with the visuals of the game, and the ball allows them to run, roll, jump or crawl in the virtual world, without the risk of hitting real world obstacles.

The sphere sits on rollers, which allows it to rotate 360 degrees in any direction. According to the manufacturer, which is based in Washington, it can be used either for gaming or for exercises or simulations.

They create these systems according to what the client needs and so far they sold it to the military, law enforcement and entertainment companies.

What do you think? The first step towards Star Trek’s holodecks?

What you see above is the pic of a flexible contact lens, with microcircuits embedded in it. When the lens is not activated, the wearer will be able to see normally.

There are a number of possible uses for these lenses: telescopic vision for soldiers, aircraft pilots, projecting video games on them. Right now it’s still a technology in its beginnings, but soon it will be tested on a human, once they manage to display a few pixels on it. Definitely not bionic eyesight yet, but in the future we might be able to display information like traffic, weather, latest news, directly on these contact lenses. Remember how The Terminator displayed information about targets? That’s how it should work.

The UW team uses a technique called self-assembly to manufacture the eyewear. Researchers dust a specially designed contact lens with microscale components that automatically bond to predetermined receptor sites. The shape of each component dictates where it attaches.

What you see in the photo above is the LED Incapacitator, a nonlethal weapon that can make people sick. It’s being done by Intelligent Optical Systems, on a contract from Homeland Security.

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Found an interesting article on Blah, Blah! Technology, called How Close Are We To Star Trek Technology?. Being the Sci Fi fan that I am, I was very interested in this article and it’s well worth the read.

Give it a read, it’s nice to see that we’re getting closer to the technology in Star Trek. It talks about matter transporters, warp drive, transparent aluminium, hypospray, universal translator, cloaking device, force fields, phasers and tricorders.