Technology Retinal projector offers clearer vision PARTIALLY blind people can now read using a machine that projects images directly onto their retinal cells. The Retinal Imaging Machine Vision System (RIMVS) can also be used to explore virtual buildings, allowing people to familiarise themselves with new places. The device, developed by Elizabeth Goldring, a poetry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, … News
Health Terminally ill patients are not guinea pigs LAST month, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia made a decision of huge consequence. It ruled that terminally ill cancer patients have a constitutional right to treatments that have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As long as such drugs have completed phase I clinical trials, … Opinion
Life Histories: Fruits of the tomb When Giuseppe Passalacqua went to Egypt in the 1820s his plan was to do a bit of horse-trading. He soon discovered a more lucrative line of work – excavating ancient tombs and selling off their contents. While Passalacqua found many priceless treasures, unlike most tomb-robbers he also made off with the more mundane. If something … Features
The word: Magic mushroom IN JULY 1914, one man's lunch forever changed the way most of us looked at mushrooms. Mr W, as he is known, went mushrooming in Maine, then tucked into his pickings with his niece. After the meal, they started to feel strange. Time seemed to slow down. "We became very hilarious, with an irresistible impulse … Regulars
Feedback Animal emergency teams AFTER the end of the cold war, many American research institutions had to "repurpose" themselves. National laboratories like Oak Ridge that once developed nuclear weapons started exploring energy efficiency. Now 11 September 2001 has changed things round again. Enter the "war on terror", and with it the Department of Homeland Security. Purdue … Regulars