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.
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.
An invention that exists for around half a century now, the jetpack, never quite got off the ground as a mass method of transportation. Despite the obvious problem of having fuel strapped to your back, the quantity that you could carry is quite limited. In fact it could only last for around 30-40 seconds.
A California company, called Thunderbolt Systems, based in San Jose, managed to double that flying time.
They managed to get the flying time to 75 second, by mixing into the hydrogen peroxide fuel some kerosene. Obviously, it doesn’t sound like much, but 75 seconds will alow for a 3,500 feet travel for a 160 pound man. That’s just over 1km of travel.
The jetpack they offer is called TP-R2G2 and it will be sold starting from August, at the price of $98,000.
Thunderbolt claims that the jetpack could be used well by firefighters or rescue teams, but I don’t think they would be too inclined to trust their lives to the 75 second limit. Especially since a firefighter with all his gear would get that 75 seconds down quite a bit.
And here’s the video of a jetpack test from Thunderbolt.
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