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May 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 31/05/2010 6:15 PM Page 16 16 Mind Controlled Bionic Arm Finally The Truth is Revealed Mind-controlled bionic arm in field test We Are Not Alone! BBC News If you've watched The Men Who Stare at Goats, you'd know it's all about covert efforts by the military to develop mind control. Well, good luck to them. However, it may be a bit premature to write off mind control as so much paranormal X-File-ish diddle dee doo, considering that Europe- based Otto Bock Healthcare has just done the impossible with a mind- controlled robotic arm. The limb in question is attached to 21-year-old Christian Kandlbauer, who lost both his arms four years ago after being electrocuted by a whopping 20,000 volts. The prosthetic, which took an equal number of years to develop, works in tandem with transplanted nerves that prompt electrical impulses from the brain to reach the muscles in the chest. This then gets interpreted by a micro-computer into actual movement. Things are not falling apart They are falling together! The result is nothing short of amazing since this means prosthetic limbs in future will be able to respond in real time to whatever you're thinking, just like the real deal. As proof of its capabilities, Kandlbauer has been field- Find Out How in Brainwashed Are You? testing this by driving around in a car with his mind-controlled left "arm" (his right is fitted with a conventional prosthetic). The feat makes him www.brainwashedareyou.com possibly the world's first person in such a unique situation. The good news is, the technology is more than ready to leave the labs for commercial use. "READ THIS BOOK... IT'S SHOCKING" But the bad news is, such a procedure will cost a pretty penny. Then again, what price independence when it's your limb on the line? UFOs go to school, ET's character gets assassinated CTV News Hostile aliens or legitimate subject of study? That's one of the questions being raised about all manner of unexplained space phenomena, as debate about extraterrestrial life and UFOs has been sighted in more mainstream venues over the last few weeks. On his new television series, renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking said earlier UFOs go to university? make contact with alien life is a good thing. this week that if aliens were to visit Earth, it "The search for life is really central to could very well be for some kind of hostile Not everyone agrees that potential alien what we should be doing next in the exploration takeover. life is a hostile animal best ignored. of the solar system," Cornell University "Such advanced aliens would perhaps Earlier this month, a New York state planetary scientist Steve Squyres told The become nomads, looking to conquer and professor told The Buffalo News newspaper Associated Press. Squyres is chairman of a colonize whatever planets they could reach," that "there's plenty of evidence" of UFOs, and special National Academy of Sciences panel. Hawking said on "Into the Universe with that the subject merits its own college credit As to whether the space agency, or Stephen Hawking." "If so, it makes sense for course. anyone else, should be actively pursuing contact them to exploit each new planet for material to "It's about time we looked into this as a with extraterrestrial life or willfully avoiding it, build more spaceships they could move on. worthy area of study," Philip Haseley said. "It's a senior astrobiology scientist at NASA said Who knows what the limits would be?" important that the whole subject be brought out they're ready for anything. To remind everyone what conquering in the open and investigated." "We're prepared to make discoveries of and colonizing looks like on this planet, Haseley is an anthropology professor at any type of life, of any form," Mary Voytek said Hawking drew a parallel to a key moment in the Niagara County Community College, a state during a NASA teleconference. North American history. university near Niagara Falls. Although NASA broadcast the Beatles' "If aliens ever visit us," he cautioned, "I As well as being a university professor, song "Across the Universe" into the galaxy two think the outcome would be much as when Haseley is also the head of the Western New years ago, most work on the search for Christopher Columbus first landed in America, York Mutual UFO Network. intelligent life in space is privately funded by which didn't turn out very well for the native Broadcasting across the galaxy organizations such as the SETI Institute, Voytek Americans." For scientists working on an advisory said. panel for NASA's future missions, trying to