Robot Suit

From Japanese cartoons to summer blockbusters robot suits have been the stuff of dreams for years yet now these dreams are coming to life. Suit’s are currently being developed to accomplish two things strengthen the elderly and strengthen soldiers. Although, the idea of having the elderly running around stronger than Stonecold Steve Austin but the goal is to have those weakened by age to rejoin the workforce with the augmented strength provided by a robotic suit. The suit halves all the work done by a farmer in half. The other robotic suit being worked on is the Raytheon Exo2 which is lovingly compared to the Ironman suit. This suit at this point is meant for loading and unloading supplies from vehicles. The other application for the suit is to be used to support soldier’s legs as the fight on the field. This will allow them to carry more and be able to move things faster.

Human’s wont change in our life time or even or children’s children’s lifetime. Yet our technology changes greatly generation-to-generation and even during a generation. My own great-grandfather someone I knew went across the planes in a covered wagon. Think about the vast changes that can happen and now that we can actually augment our abilities brings great hope for mankind.

" 'Iron Man' Actor Clark Gregg Spends a Day With the Raytheon Sarcos XOS 2 Exoskeleton ." Youtube. Web. 4 Nov 2010. .

Ridder, Knight. "Robot Suits to Aid Elderly Japanese Farmers with Toiling in the Fields." AARP International 21 Aug 2010: n. pag. Web. 4 Nov 2010. .

This just in: Newly discovered Earth-like planet renders Solar Sail unnecessary!

Scientists have recently discovered a planet orbiting around the red dwarf star Gliese 581 that appears to be within the zone deemed "habitable." Even better is the fact that it is within our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Could this be the "new Earth" we've been looking for or is it just another thing for mankind to dream about?

Researchers from UC Santa Cruz used the Keck Observatory in Hawaii to find the planet, known as Gliese 581g, and published their findings in the Astrophysical Journal (A link to which can be found on this page). The planet has about 3 times the mass that Earth does, and is within a range of the star that it can have water in liquid form and a gravitational field that could sustain an atmosphere. The only downside is the fact that it doesn't rotate. One side is always facing the star and the other is in perpetual darkness. The best bet for sustaining human life would be around the planet on the border between light and dark. This may seem like it isn't enough room for a substantial colony, but the size of the planet makes it less of a problem. So it's perfect and we can fly over there now and start our expedition, right? Wrong.

Did I mention the fact that Gliese 581g is 20 light years away from our current solar system? Because it is, and that's one hell of a flight, even if it were possible to travel close to the speed of light using current technology. This also means that the planet we see is from 20 years ago, meaning the possibility exists that it isn't even there any more.

Professor Steven Vogt talks about the fact that while this may not be a planet we can currently travel to, there must be other planets like it strewn throughout our galaxy: "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common." This is an exciting idea, considering the fact that mankind has been looking for planets with life that are inhabitable since we discovered we aren't the center of the universe.

Overall, I think the exploration of these types planets can be of benefit to mankind, but it's still to early to give up completely and move on to a different planet. People tend to become overly excited when they hear about a possibility of us venturing off into space to live on a new planet where there is intelligent life. Even though that would be cool, I'm still willing to accept the idea that I will never live to see the day we do such a thing. Maybe humanity will never even last that long, but at least we still have our imaginations and egos to make us strive for eternal life. Maybe we should try finding intelligent life on Earth before we go looking for it in other places.

Dillow, Clay. "Freshly Discovered Earth-Like Planet Orbiting Nearby Star Could Be the First Truly Habitable Exoplanet | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

"Professor Steven S. Vogt." University of California Observatories. 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .