Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: Science & Technology
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Socks that plug into a battery and keep your feet warm using special conductive wool developed here in NZ. Fly fishermen, skiers, hikers and sports fans, take note: Soon, all you will need to keep your toes toasty warm are special wool socks and a 7-volt battery. See: Wired News: Warm Toes Are Happy Toes
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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany and the University of Calgary in Canada have used a silicon chip to coax a pair of nerve cells to communicate. See: Chip Controls Neural Connection Cdn. researcher: Cells can grow on silicon The brain on a microchip
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A lightweight piece on commercial robots from C-Net. I quite like the idea of the one that comes out each day and vacuums the house. See Invasion of the robots
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Dropped by the Science and Theology News web site today and saw the article on Robot helpers: How close to human should they look? which fits right in with my own research. “Most people doing social robots believe that human faces will turn people off and will disturb them. I think that’s ridiculous,” Hanson said.…
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Interesting article on addiction to television at Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor. For growing numbers of people, the life they lead online may often seem more important, more immediate and more intense than the life they lead face-to-face. Maintaining control over one’s media habits is more of a…
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Jaron Lanier coined the term “virtual reality” in 1986 and was (is) one of the leading inventors of VR technology. Originally a strong proponent of technology and its benefits he now worries about the future of human culture more than the gadgets. Lanier is also a an artist and musician of note and the PDF…
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Henry Jenkins’s writing on the Matrix films talks of transmedia storytelling. The interweaving of cinema, home video/dvd, tv, the internet, video games and books to create narratives that go beyond a single, static portrayal. In fact, stories get added to by the individuals and communities that hear/watch them and then are spurred into creative response.…
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A cyberpunk short story about programmers who hack their own bodies, don’t need exercise and never get sick by Cory Doctorow. A nice fictional example of the posthuman intent that my research is examining. From Salon.com’s web site: “0wnz0red” If you need help decoding some of the geekspeak see Glossary for the Jargon File and…
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An recent article on the blurring of real and virtual actors and stunt people, and the quest to make them more human. And the possible loss of work for the current stunt people. newsobserver.com – A new risk in world of film stunts: computers
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I was looking for information on stem cells today for some lectures on Christian anthropology (including bioethics) and found that Guardian Unlimited had the following special section on this and other things running today. Guardian Unlimited Special report: ethics of genetics Damaris International also has a brief study guide for a house group type discussion…