iBand Exchanges Data With Handshake But Lacks Hand Jive Recognition
As the makers of the new iBand remark, initial meetings and introductions build relationships, but only if you can remember whom you shook hands with. That's why the iBand gathers and processes information automatically when it registers a handshake (re: Neal Stephenson)

SMART-1's Ion Drive Not Science Fiction
SMART-1 has made it all the way to the Moon using an ion drive. (re: Jack Williamson)

Geo-View ECG-Shirt - So Close To A Heartshirt
Geo-View has created a new shirt for sports enthusiasts (and others) called the ECG-Shirt. It has incorporated high-tech foil containing sensors that measure heart rate, yielding an electrocardiogram. (re: Rudy Rucker)

Interactive Face For Big Brother
Tired of stiff, unmoving, iconic images of Big Brother? Take a look at Jeremiah, a virtual face that interacts with the people around him. (re: L. Frank Baum)

Tumblin' Tumbleweeds Lend Hand In Depleted Uranium Roundup
An early study indicates that the humble tumbleweed (the Russian thistle) may be able to help humans round up depleted uranium from contaminated soil (re: Gregory Benford)

Non-Conductive Tethers - Free Artificial Gravity In Orbit
Tethers connecting satellites or space stations have some interesting effects even if they are not conductive - a non-conductive tether made of a very strong, light material like Kevlar can be used to connect two objects in orbit, one farther away fr (re: David Brin)

Spray: First Underwater Autonomous Vehicle To Cross Gulf Stream
A small self-propelled ocean glider named Spray is the first underwater autonomous vehicle (UAV) to cross the Gulf Stream underwater. (re: Irwin Allen)

Electrodynamic Tethers: Clean Up Debris - Power or Boost Spacecraft
An electrodynamic tether (EDT) is a simple idea, but one with an amazing number of uses. You can power your ship, speed up or slow down. (re: David Brin)

Solar-Powered Interplanetary Shock Tracked To Saturn
In a dramatic proof that solar coronal mass ejection (CME) events affect even the outermost portions of the Solar System, scientists have traced an interplanetary shock from the Sun to Earth to Jupiter to Saturn. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Stealth Now Old Hat - USAF Looks Into Teleportation
Lest you think that our friends at DARPA are the only ones interested in science-fictional possibilities, the USAF recently took delivery on a new study regarding the military potential of teleportation. (re: Frank Herbert)

AlertBox Wireless Device Warns The Neighbors
A wireless device called an AlertBox is going on sale in the United Kingdom this week; it allows neighbors to warn each other about "dodgy characters" on their street. (re: Jack Vance)

Virtual Retinal Displays Get All Geordi With It
Scientists have been hard at work; the Human Interface Technology Laboratory is continuing work on virtual retinal displays - and building in a very Star Trek look while they're at it. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Slow Light Will Speed Communications
Physicists at the NIST believe that a new class of light soliton may help speed up communications networks. (re: L. Sprague de Camp)

Chips In Your Head - Artificial Brain Prosthesis Under Development
In the spirit of works by William Gibson, a silicon chip implant that mimics the hippocampus is under development. (re: William Gibson)

Hey Epsilons! Brave New World Getting Closer
Researchers have found they can make monkeys work their hardest and fastest all the time by manipulating a specific gene so they forgot about rewards. No complaints or slacking off. You have that gene, too. (re: Aldous Huxley)

Rat Neurons In A Dish Now Playing Flight Simulator
In his 1999 sf novel, Peter Watts wrote about cultured neurons that could fly planes. Now, a University of Florida researcher makes it a reality. Almost. (re: Peter Watts)