Dexterous Robotic Hand

The Shadow Robot Company is now publicly offering the world’s most advanced Dexterous Hand. The Hand is equipped with 186 force sensors and joints controlled by pairs of Air Muscles that are matched in opposing directions like the human hand. This is ground breaking technology which will surely find it's place in something I like to call 'human modifications'. I've always had this idea that one day, people will be able to change themselves or shall I say upgrade themselves to something that suits them for what they do. Not your ordinary plastic surgery or prosthetic arms and legs. Instead, being able to change fully functional body parts that will be designed to make you more efficient, maybe even make you live longer? We are in a very pre-mature stage of this type of thing. People able to change skin tones, liposuction, breast implants... etc... we are probably just touching the surface. I guess we will see what happens. In the meantime, our imaginations can run wild.

I found something very interesting the other night while surfing the web... I came across a site called
What will they come up with next?! Victor Li, at the University of Michigan has invented a new fiber-reinforced bendable concrete. It is said that this new type of concrete are superior to other similar types of concretes because the ingredients to the concrete itself was specifically designed to provide more flexibility. The Engineered Cement Composites (ECC) is 40% lighter, 500 times more resistant to cracking, 37% less expensive, consumes 40% less energy, and produces 39% less carbon dioxide than regular concrete! The stats alone seems greener, and more efficient. I wonder how far this technology will go. I would imagine this to affect the construction industry in a global scale. I would also be interested to see how this technology is being applied.