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[jasonng]

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/01/03/27-science-fictions-that-became-science-facts-in-2012/

Mock if old.

Some choice selections:

3. GENETICALLY MODIFIED SILK IS STRONGER THAN STEEL

At the University of Wyoming, scientists modified a group of silkworms to produce silk that is, weight for weight, stronger than steel. Different groups hope to benefit from the super-strength silk, including stronger sutures for the medical community, a biodegradable alternative to plastics, and even lightweight armor for military purposes.

4. DNA WAS PHOTOGRAPHED FOR THE FIRST TIME

Using an electron microscope, Enzo di Fabrizio and his team at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa snapped the first photos of the famous double helix.

9. 3-D PRINTER CREATES FULL-SIZE HOUSES IN ONE SESSION

The D-Shape printer, created by Enrico Dini, is capable of printing a two-story building, complete with rooms, stairs, pipes, and partitions. Using nothing but sand and an inorganic binding compound, the resulting material has the same durability as reinforced concrete with the look of marble. The building process takes approximately a fourth of the time as traditional buildings, as long as it sticks to rounded structures, and can be built without specialist knowledge or skill sets.

15. ARTIFICIAL LEAVES GENERATE ELECTRICITY

Using relatively inexpensive materials, Daniel G. Nocera created the world’s first practical artificial leaf. The self-contained units mimic the process of photosynthesis, but the end result is hydrogen instead of oxygen. The hydrogen can then be captured into fuel cells and used for electricity, even in the most remote locations on Earth.

19. DIAMOND PLANET DISCOVERED

An exoplanet made entirely of diamonds was discovered this year by an international research team. Approximately five times the size of Earth, the small planet had mass similar to that of Jupiter. Scientists believe the short distance from its star coupled with the exoplanet’s mass means the planet, remnants of another star, is mostly crystalline carbon.

25. HUMAN BRAIN IS HACKED

Usenix Security had a team of researchers use off-the-shelf technology to show how vulnerable the human brain really is. With an EEG (electroencephalograph) headset attached to the scalp and software to figure out what the neurons firing are trying to do, it watches for spikes in brain activity when the user recognizes something like one’s ATM PIN number or a child’s face.

Click the link. The whole list is mind blowing.

 

[Tyydal]

That house one is absolutely amazing.

 

[Admiral Bone to Pick]

8. STEM CELLS COULD EXTEND HUMAN LIFE BY OVER 100 YEARS

When fast-aging elderly mice with a usual lifespan of 21 days were injected with stem cells from younger mice at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh, the results were staggering. Given the injection approximately four days before they were expected to die, not only did the elderly mice live — they lived threefold their normal lifespan, sticking around for 71 days. In human terms, that would be the equivalent of an 80-year-old living to be 200.

Sounds promising.

 

[Oblivion]

An exoplanet made entirely of diamonds was discovered this year by an international research team. Approximately five times the size of Earth, the small planet had mass similar to that of Jupiter.

Buh? Isn't Jupiter like waaaay bigger than that?

 

[Naked Snake]

Damn.

When fast-aging elderly mice with a usual lifespan of 21 days were injected with stem cells from younger mice at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh, the results were staggering. Given the injection approximately four days before they were expected to die, not only did the elderly mice live — they lived threefold their normal lifespan, sticking around for 71 days. In human terms, that would be the equivalent of an 80-year-old living to be 200.

Inject it into my veins.

Buh? Isn't Jupiter like waaaay bigger than that?

Size != Mass?

 

[Unicorn]

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/01/03/27-science-fictions-that-became-science-facts-in-2012/

non stumbleupon link

 

[Vanillalite]

Buh? Isn't Jupiter like waaaay bigger than that?

Mass ≠Size

 

[chuckddd]

Buh? Isn't Jupiter like waaaay bigger than that?

Define bigger. Bigger in diameter, yes. Bigger in mass, no.

 

[jasonng]

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/01/03/27-science-fictions-that-became-science-facts-in-2012/

non stumbleupon link

Thanks! Fixed in the op.

 

[RoboPlato]

I had heard about a lot of these but not the invisibility cloak. So awesome.

 

[Vanillalite]

Damn.



Inject it into my veins.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

We really are living in the future. Get that stem cell thing working before I get old please.

 

[Oblivion]

Size != Mass?

Mass ≠Size

Define bigger. Bigger in diameter, yes. Bigger in mass, no.

you all can go to hell

 

[User 73706]

Buh? Isn't Jupiter like waaaay bigger than that?

Jupiter's a gas giant. Pure uncut diamond will be more dense than gas.

I hear uncut diamond gets more pleasure out of fucking, too.

 

[Naked Snake]

you all can go to hell

Huh? We answered your question.

 

[maquiladora]

Wow, this is fantastic. All are amazing, apart from the last one, lol.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

Jupiter's a gas giant. Pure uncut diamond will be more dense than gas.

I hear uncut diamond gets more pleasure out of fucking, too.

does it tip?

 

[Oblivion]

Huh? We answered your question.

I know.

Spoiler

I should have known that.

 

[Red Liquorice]

That diamond planet sounds amazing. Can't wait till we have the technology to see these planets not just detect them.

 

[3phemeral]

Damn.



Inject it into my veins.



Size != Mass?

It's apparently a mock photo. There's no actual media of it due to security concerns.

Here's their explanation of it:

With the real material - you would only see about 5% of the shadow on her and the ground as we've determined a 95% reduction of shadow in testing.

 

[Bananakin]

Sadly, the invisibility cloak pic is just a mockup

 

[Bombadil]

Sounds promising.

No. Any human being who lives long enough will develop cancer because of the accumulation of environmental background radiation.

In order to get a human being to live to 200, they'd have to first advance the detection and treatment of cancer.

 

[Sibylus]

3. GENETICALLY MODIFIED SILK IS STRONGER THAN STEEL

At the University of Wyoming, scientists modified a group of silkworms to produce silk that is, weight for weight, stronger than steel. Different groups hope to benefit from the super-strength silk, including stronger sutures for the medical community, a biodegradable alternative to plastics, and even lightweight armor for military purposes.

Genetically modified silk bullets.

Spoiler

Sorry.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Hey where can I get some stem cells?

 

[Jarmel]

I want that stem cell so bad. 200? Sign me right the fuck up.

 

[Ghost23]

Kinect 2? :lol

 

[matt360]

We really are living in the future. Get that stem cell thing working before I get old please.

Yes please. How long will it be until we can print artificial stem cells with 3D printers that will essentially make us immortal?

 

[Oppo]

Yes please. How long will it be until we can print artificial stem cells with 3D printers that will essentially make us immortal?

Organs might be printed but stem cells won't. And it won't be immortality. But a serious life extension is not such a distant possibility, now.

 

[lamaroo]

Somebody printed a house!?

 

[Max Armstrong]

Man, 3D printers will change the world in the near future.

 

[Naked Snake]

Somebody printed a house!?

I lol'ed

 

[SneakyStephan]

There is a comma too many in 9.3 and it really bothers me.

 

[- J - D -]

It's all great and amazing, it's just frustrating the agonizing wait until the bulk of this stuff finds its way into consumer technology.

 

[Timedog]

I wonder what kind of slammer technology was invented in the world of pogs.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Could you 3d print a 3d printer?

 

[moolhy]

FUCK THIS SHIT. I'm out.

 

[Max Armstrong]

Could you 3d print a 3d printer?

I'm pretty sure that you can :lol

 

[Anticitizen One]

suck it skeptists

 

[McNei1y]

How the hell does a 3D printer work

 

[Kunan]

I had no idea they were even researching spray on skin. That is seriously impressive. As is the entirety of that list.

 

[Naked Snake]

How the hell does a 3D printer work

Exactly like a normal printer, but in 3D

 

[someday]

FUCK THIS SHIT. I'm out.

I loved this youtube comment from the Darpa robot video:

looks like we are in for the terminator, but will never get hoverboards nor flying deloreans.

On topic, that list is absolutely incredible. I really didn't know about a few of them (the 3D printer making homes, increased life span, or the eye implants.

 

[waypoetic]

Thats not what the holo deck looked/looks like Microsoft..

 

[Jackpot]

Number 25 has been done since the 80s and can only work under a very specific set of conditions.

 

[Poltergust]

Exactly like a normal printer, but in 3D

So everything printed out is made of ink and paper?

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Diamond planet is fucking badass.

 

[R2D4]

How the hell does a 3D printer work

Where have you been?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE

 

[Naked Snake]

So everything printed out is made of ink and paper?

I wasn't serious.

But really 3D printers have been all over the media for the past couple of years or so, I'm surprised someone here doesn't know the basic concept of how they work.

On printing houses/buildings, here's a good video about it: Contour Crafting: Automated Construction: Behrokh Khoshnevis at TEDxOjai

 

[Miletius]

20. EYE IMPLANTS GIVE SIGHT TO THE BLIND: Two blind men in the U.K. were fitted with eye implants during an eight-hour surgery with promising results. After years of blindness, both had regained “useful” vision within weeks, picking up the outlines of objects and dreaming in color. Doctors expect continued improvement as their brains rewire themselves for sight.

I wonder how "useful" the vision will turn out to be. Cochlear implants has allowed similar leaps to be made in hearing technology but the hearing people regain is far from perfect. I know of one guy that basically has good hearing in a quiet environment when standing in front of you but most adult patients only ever get to a sound recognition level, never able to understand audible speech.

The younger you can get these in people the less time the brain has to rewire and the less learning you have to do when it gets inside of you. The guy I know had one implanted at a very young age.

 

[agrajag]

that DARPA robot has jerky movements like the stop-motion robots in Robocop 2.