{"id":10240,"date":"2014-06-12T15:42:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T20:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2014\/06\/11\/"},"modified":"2014-06-12T15:43:22","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T20:43:22","slug":"geek-month-in-review-may-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=10240","title":{"rendered":"Geek Month in Review: May 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

By J.B. Sanders<\/p>\n

May flowers!<\/p>\n

Robo-snakes<\/a> <\/strong>
\nNothing else to add: robot snakes. With video and explanations. Creep factor 5!<\/p>\n

How to Flood-proof Manhattan<\/a> <\/strong>
\nAnyone else remember when this kind of thing seemed like science fiction? Yeah, me too. This time, especially after Hurricane Sandy, people are seriously talking about it.<\/p>\n

Shipping Container Houses<\/a> <\/strong>
\nNormally, when you hear that phrase, you picture stuff that is one step up from \u201cshack\u201d and many steps away from cool homes. Not so with the ones in this article. They look like something you see in Architectural Digest.<\/p>\n

Concrete-Eating Robot<\/a> <\/strong>
\nI know, it sounds like a bad scifi movie, or the name of a pulp novel from the \u201860s. Nope! It\u2019s a robot, still in the design phase, which will disassemble a concrete building, breaking up the concrete into cement, sand and aggregate. All this is done right on the construction site, and it leaves the rebar naked and ready for re-use (or recycling). Pretty nifty!<\/p>\n

Shell Grotto \u2014 Made by Who?<\/a> <\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s a grotto in Kent, England, that is decorated with millions of seashells, 4.6 million to be precise. It was discovered in 1835 by some explorers, and when I say \u201cdiscovered\u201d, I mean it. No one knows who created the grotto, why the decorated it that way, or really much of anything else. It\u2019s pretty snazzy, though.<\/p>\n

Billion-User MMO Using VR? Yes, please!<\/a> <\/strong>
\nSo VR reviving tech company Oculus was recently purchased by Facebook. What are they going to do with all that money and computing power? Build an MMO that a billion simultaneous users can play, and since it\u2019s Oculus, it\u2019s going to be in VR. Sound like a scifi book you\u2019ve read?<\/p>\n

Self-Healing Plastic<\/a> <\/strong>
\nYup, it’s another step towards androids dreaming of electric sheep. Scientists have developed a polymer that has cappilaries, much like our own tissue, so that healing plastic will flow into and fill cracks.<\/p>\n

Robot Hand and Arm Prosthetic Approved for Use<\/a> <\/strong>
\nCyber-enthusiasts rejoice! The FDA has approved the prosthetic for general use, after it was developed by DARPA. It’s capable of doing very fine manipulation, such as picking up an egg or zipping up a jacket.<\/p>\n

Solar Roads<\/a> <\/strong>
\nSounds like a scifi novel, does\u2019t it? This little company has devised hexagonal tiles that could be used instead of pavement, and the suckers are solar panels, generating power. They also have heating elements, so they can keep roads clear of snow and ice. And they have lights, so they can be used to create lines of light on the road, instead of paint. Going \u201choly crap!\u201d yet? How about the designers estimate that if all 31,000 square miles of currently paved road was instead paved with their tiles, it would produce three times the electricity the entire country uses.<\/p>\n

Better, much better video:<\/p>\n