Octarms, developed in the OCTOR project (sOft robotiC manipulaTORs), are robotic tentacles that can grasp a variety of differently shaped objects. Octarm development is funded by DARPA, under their BIODYNOTICS (Biologically Inspired Multifunctional Dynamic Robots) program.

Octarms - Robotic Tentacles From Mars!

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is working on a new set of safety guidelines for next-generation robots. This set of rules would constitute a "beta" version of the first of Asimov's science-fictional Laws of Robotics.

Asimov's First Law Of Robotics Real-Life Beta

The development of new materials could see items such as invisibility cloaks, a key weapon in the trickery of Harry Potter and countless science fiction plots, become a reality within five years.

But this has the best lines ever.....

"To be realistic, it's going to be fairly thick. Cloak is a misnomer. 'Shield' might be more appropriate," he said.

and...

Are you serious?

Invisibility cloaks

NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.

There are still many questions that enshroud this discovery. Although other moons in our solar system contain icy crusts, the real discovery here is that liquid water is apparently just below the surface of the moon. Scientists will now beginning exploring the possibility that lifeforms could have existed at one point in this environment...

NASA - NASA's Cassini Discovers Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus

Real human bodies, preserved through an innovative process and then respectfully presented. Experience the human body like never before at The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center.

BODIES...The Exhibition - Opening March 4th, A Limited Engagement

Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new genus and new family for it.

French Journal Says New Crustacean Found

A monstrous discovery suggests that viruses, long regarded as lowly evolutionary latecomers, may have been the precursors of all life on Earth.

Unintelligent Design

Zombie Slave roaches...wow...this kicks total ass. Sometimes biology is so much more sci-fi than fiction

The wasp slips her stinger through the roach's exoskeleton and directly into its brain. She apparently use ssensors along the sides of the stinger to guide it through the brain, a bit like a surgeon snaking his way to an appendix with a laparoscope. She continues to probe the roach's brain until she reaches one particular spot that appears to control the escape reflex. She injects a second venom that influences these neurons in such a way that the escape reflex disappears.

From the outside, the effect is surreal. The wasp does not paralyze the cockroach. In fact, the roach is able to lift up its front legs again and walk. But now it cannot move of its own accord. The wasp takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it--in the words of Israeli scientists who study Ampulex--like a dog on a leash.

Boing Boing: Wasp performs roach-brain-surgery to make zombie slave-roaches

The squeamish should think twice before visiting the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C......

A Gruesome Stroll Through Medical History