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The Pentagon's already got brain-controlled prosthetics, and they are a major improvement over old-school artificial limbs. The devices are far from perfect, however. They rely on metal implants, which aren't compatible with the body's tissues, and they can only transmit a few signals at a time - turning what should be a simple movement into a Herculean task. More »
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Fans of blond cyborg action rejoice — Universal Soldier is back from the dead! More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5845994&view=rss&microfeed=true Over at FT.com, Tim O'Reilly has a must-read essay about the symbiosis between humans and computers. We're already propagating our knowledge and our culture at a much faster rate than in the past, he argues, and the next step is computers that can learn from "the activity of human teachers" but then notice things the humans wouldn't. He cites the example of Google's autonomous vehicle, which beats other self-driving cars because it can draw on all the experience of "millions of road miles put in by human drivers building the Google Street View database." More »
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In the New York Times the other day, there was a great story by Pagan Kennedy about experiments with brain-computer interfaces, which included the stuff you usually hear about, like people moving cursors with their minds. But it also included some new stuff, like Kennedy herself choosing a picture on her phone using just brainwaves — with no drilling into her skull required. And the novel idea of creating a kind of "brain esperanto," or a universal language for people to speak to computers with their minds. Are we a lot closer than we think to becoming true cyborgs, with our brains connected to computers at a fundamental level? [New York Times] More »
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Have you have ever seen the 1987 movie Mutant Hunt? No? It's only, like, the premier Blade Runner rip-off about cyborgs getting fucked up on narcotics. More »
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Max Barry blew our minds with his dystopian future novel Jennifer Government, and now he's back with Machine Man, a cyborg novel that he premiered in a different form on his website last year. Darren Aronofsky is already attached to direct the movie version. More »
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Here's concept art of a robotic armpit built by London designer Kevin Grennan, who's also constructed a prototype that's a smidge too gross for the front page. We're at the exciting frontier of stinky robots, dear readers.

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Engineers have used human blood to make a 'memristor,' a component that remembers its last use and adapts to it. More »
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It's been a big week for mechanical disembodied eyeballs. First there was the office Eye of Sauron; now there's this squirm-inducing cyber-eye built by Dan Thomson of Visionary Effects. It's looking pretty bloodshot, being disconnected from a skull and whatnot. More »
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It wobbles like a jelly, but could make robots more flexible than ever before. Soft artificial muscles have been used to make a motor with only a few parts, and no gears, bearings or cogs. More »
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We assumed that in the future humans, or other biological entities, would receive mechanical or electronic 'upgrades'. It looks like it could be the other way around. Machines might be getting biological upgrades. More »
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Over a month ago Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he was ready to start acting again. And now Hollywood has come a calling with a remake, reboot or some sort of spin-off of every great action movie he's ever been in. More »
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Chemical plants, landfills, oil refineries… odours so foul that they break the law are everywhere. Now we can keep them in check More »
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The Apple is famous as one of the worst movies of all time — a cult classic about a dystopian future in which disco-fascism rules the world. But the final collaboration from Golan-Globus Pictures also deserves some respect: American Cyborg: Steel Warrior is truly an unforgettable film. More »
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We've sung the praises of German artist Fritz Kahn's retro-cybernetic anatomical art in the past. Now check out this animation by Henning M. Lederer of one of Kahn's most famous diagrams, "Man as Industrial Palace." Indeed, you are filled with little men who hate their jobs. [Spotted on Boing Boing] More »
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Game art designer Thomas "HOON" Hong brings us a glimpse of tomorrow's motorcycle otaku. But she's just one of his many studies in cyborg life. Check out this gallery of human/machine hybrids. More »
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At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, journalist Evan Ackerman became the first person stateside to test Cyberdyne's HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) suit. Watch him take a stroll in this amazing mind-controlled exoskeleton. More »
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If you picked up the second issue of 2000 AD in 1977, you'd be the proud owner of these retro-ridiculous Biotronic stickers. And if you missed it, here's a second chance to print out and tape on that third eye. More »
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BERLIN - Lepht Anonym wants everyone to know the door to transcending normal human capabilities is no farther away than your own kitchen. It's just going to hurt like a sonofabitch. More »
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Robonaut 2, a robot designed to help astronauts with difficult tasks, will leave the earth behind and start his new life on the International Space Station in November. Check out what he can do now — and in the future. More »
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Everybody comes to Phobos trying to make it in the sim biz, so you've got to have something that makes you stand out: a mole, a faint emo smudge under the eyes, knobby knees. Casseopia had his titanium legs. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5669441&view=rss&microfeed=true Over at The Atlantic, Tim Maly has summed up the dreams, anxieties and philosophical musings he collected last month though his 50cyborgs project that celebrated the coining of the term "cyborg" a half-century ago. He begins the article with a series of questions: More »
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Artist Mio I-zawa's writhing umbilical iPhone charger fills us with the kind of dread only a David Cronenberg or a Shinya Tsukamoto film can provide. Check out more of his cyborg doodads, like the bio-mechanical tumor and the walkable heart. More »
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If humans can be cyborgs, why not trees? In this image, we see a future where technobotany has produced organic wind power stations - and many more plant-machine wonders. More »
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The allure of the cyborg is so widely-accepted that it's become a cliche in science fiction, but people rarely ask why. Doesn't it seem a little strange that humans are so powerfully attracted to synthetic versions of themselves? More »
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These illustrations of Robocop are from a Japanese magazine that detailed the inner workings of Detroit's finest cybernetic police officer. They even showcased the schematics of the former Alex Murphy's robotic nemesis ED-209! Ogle the heavy metal. More »
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Celebrated SF author Cordwainer Smith grew up among anti-imperial revolutionaries in China, then became a master of psychological warfare. Over at PLoS blog Neurotribes, Steve Silberman has a terrific article about Smith and his cyborg masterpiece "Scanners Live In Vain." More »
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NASA's Human Research Program is all about risk reduction, finding ways to counter fatigue and mitigate radiation damage, among other potential issues in space travel. But what if a different kind of program had evolved? More »
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Humans are built to thrive on Earth, but even a yearlong round-trip mission to Mars could pose major medical risks. If we want humans to colonize the solar system, we may have to fundamentally alter our biology and become cyborgs. More »
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In addition to selling chintzy malformed plastic curios, supermarket vending machines also purvey a heady futurism — you can buy aliens, robots, and spy kits for a mere 25¢. Greg Rivera has captured the pop weirdness of these phantasmagoria dispensers. More »
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In streets of the Dutch city of Utrecht, cybernetic ravens and seagulls keep their ever-vigilant electronic eyes on citizens. Has Big Brother begun dabbling in fringe science? No, it's just a mutant street art project by the artist duo Helden. More »
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Peter Jackson and Neil Blomkamp's plans for a Halo movie fell apart (but yielded District 9), but that doesn't mean that Microsoft's uninterested in bringing the space marine franchise to the big screen. More »
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It may be just circuits and metal, but this robotic snake from Carnegie Mellon University's Biorobotics Lab will give you flashbacks to the hydrobots from Terminator Salvation. Behold the robot that could someday be used for surgeries and search-and-rescue. More »
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Hiromi Ozaki's Penis Cybernetique is a prosthetic John Thomas that rises and falls with the user's heart rate. It emulates what it's like to sport a penis, albeit one that was rendered on an Atari 2600. NSFW for geometric nudity. More »
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Have you ever wished you had a mechanical hand solely designed for eating potato chips? Never fear — the good folks at Takara Tomy have you covered. It's only ¥699! Buy now! [Spotted on Tokyo Mango] More »
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Plenty of alternate history books focus on World War II, but a new series coming in 2011 goes one better. Because World War II played out differently, the Cold War is very different. Including spy cyborgs and super-enhanced terrorists. More »
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We all dream of upgrading beyond Human 1.0. But meanwhile, our fantasy worlds are full of creatures who've already become superhuman and semi-immortal. Which deathless creatures are closer to our cherished posthuman ideal: vampires? Or zombies? More »
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Though creatures like the Terminator are still scifi dreams, cyborgs already exist in real life. Millions of people use mechanical implants to improve their lives. That opens up urgent questions about cyborg rights, particularly in athletics. More »
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The late Japanese painter Tetsuya Ishida (1973-2005) created self-portraits that depict our modern trappings as both sterile and grotesque. In his art, lobstermen ride the subway, giants are trapped in apartment buildings, and urinals are unlucky cyborgs. Chilling yet gorgeous. More »
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In this 1946 Soviet animation sequence, a miniature robot sailor prances on a piano with a human piano player. Everything's cute and wholesome...until the lil' mechanical Gene Kelly's skin begins to fall off. Then the weirdness begins. More »
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