My brain is a little frazzled, its been a long day and I'm tired. So I might not be in the best state to use this new tech, but it only exists as a prototype, so there's no danger. However, the company hopes to have a consumer version released in time for xmas. Its a headset from Emotiv , that works as a game control device by reading your brain waves. It uses a clever combination of software and hardware to figure out what you want the object on screen to do. Hopefully they will develop some interesting games for it. For now though I'm relieved I don't have one, I think I would have already crashed the computer several times.

How can this quote not make you wet your pants? I mean really... "If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory." As if that weren't enough, the article then goes on to say "In addition to medical uses, intense laser beams like these could help researchers explore new frontiers in science. At even more extreme intensities, laser beams could potentially "boil the vacuum," which scientists theorize would generate matter by merely focusing light into empty space." Let's hope Microsoft don't invest in this technology, because it would bring Bill one step closer to his Death star...

From infinity to beyond on a paper plane? Research into space flight technology is taking an interesting detour as Japanese scientists test the resistance of specially treated paper to 250 degree heat and wind, so that they can make paper planes able to withstand re-entry into the atmosphere. The theory is that being lighter the paper planes would escape the worst of the friction and heat regular space shuttles endure. Of course they are only considering the technology for short unmanned flights, but you never know... In a few years we might be seeing the launch of Richard Branson's Virgin Origami .

Artificial Intelligence is a complex discipline which takes a unique mind to grasp. I've always thought AI was fascinating, drawing on vast a disparate fields of knowledge, and if I'd stayed studying programming when I first started uni, AI is the field I would have liked to go into. There is a wonderfully in-depth article on Wired about two AI trail-blazers, Chris McKinstry and Push Singh, that left me with chills. It touches on the little reported fact that MIT has quite a high suicide rate, which makes me wonder about the connections between innovate thinking, particularly in abstract field like science, technology and mathematics, and mental imbalance. Thinking about thinking all day cannot be helpful to someone who is bi-polar, but that might also be what makes them good at it. In a strange, sad way its almost as if researchers on the cutting edge of AI are putting their mental well-being on the line in the noble pursuit of science.

Worried about your brain. I know I am. Worried about your brains that is. You'll be pleased to know that researchers over at MIT have conducted a study into the effectiveness of aluminium hats, favoured by paranoid conspiracy theorists, for protecting the brain from radio waves. This excerpt is from the conclusion of the report. "It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC. We hope this report will encourage the paranoid community to develop improved helmet designs to avoid falling prey to these shortcomings." There's a current helmet craze? I totally missed that, but then I guess I'm not in the loop with what's cutting edge like those MIT researchers.

I am somewhat creeped out by this clip. Yes, its all explained in the clip why they did it, but it's still damn freaky! All the reasons they give, while logical, still beg the question... couldn't they have thought of other ways to explore those concepts. Clearly it is just a cover for the development of a cyberoach army that rules the night. I dread their second version, I'm sure it flies...