See the insect, be the insect



GE Hadiman - Source: Adifruit Industries



Exoskeletons aren't just for insects anymore. As we humans are so good at, we've modified nature to our own benefit and adapted the concept to assist us in various areas of our lives. And this technology has come a long way from GEs bulky 1960s Hardiman robotic suit.

Exoskeleton technology can be made for the whole body or partial body. They use sensors and controllers to power hydraulic-driven components to overcome the limits of the human body.

Alrighty, so three main fields come to my mind when I think "exoskeleton tech": medical, industrial, and of course military.

Medical Application

It's always nice to start technology posts with areas that benefit humanity as a whole and not just for advancements of new toys to kill the enemy better and faster. Because of this, I'm starting with the medical field.

Ready? Okay, here's my opening statement for this section: Exoskeleton advancements will tremendously improve the quality of life for many patients.

Pretty snazzy statement huh? Awe-inspiring, prolific and all that jazz...

Cyberdyne's HAL suit, which is already rentable in Japan for the elderly, is hailed as a nursing-care suit and designed to detect appendage movement and guide the motion in a natural way. So, if you have weakness in your arms and can't fully extend it, HAL will finish the motion for you. It also helps balance you and stabilize yourself as you walk or climb stairs. (Source: Popular Science)



HAL - Source: Cyberdyne



Although there are pretty cool exoskeleton body-bracing systems out there for paraplegics, I was really drawn to the prototype out of Berkeley California, the Austin, because it's actually affordable for a larger population. (Source: PC World)

Industrial application

Okay, remember the payload exoskeleton from Aliens? (Man, Ripley was one of my favorite female heroines!) Well, think that but less bulky... and less kick ass and you've got the modern payload exoskeleton systems for use in the industrial setting.

Panasonic's Powerloader Light, for example, helps the user carry an extra 88 lbs and shifts weight as needed to counteract the walking motion. (Source: Hightech)

Military Application
Last but most certainly not least, DARPA has been funding the development of this technology for military use since at least 2001. And for those of you who don't know what DARPA is... well, you're just not paranoid enough and beyond my help.

As of 2010, it was down to Raytheon's OXS 2 and Lockheed's HULC super-soldier suits. With these suits, soldiers can walk or run for hours, carry loads up to 200 lbs effortlessly, and lift up to 500 lbs or more without breaking a sweat. (Sources: Popular Science, Hightech-Edge)

As a mom of a son getting ready to join the Marines in mere months, I have to say this interests me greatly. Now if only they could beef up their superman tech to dodge bullets I'd be a happy camper.

Little side trip: this dodging bullets bit might be happening with the breakthrough of nanotechnology. A nanotechnologist at the University of Texas has developed a way to chemically grow nanotubes like tiny muscles. The micro particles contract with voltage and are energized by hydrogen and oxygen. These things are 100 times stronger than human muscle tissue, and when woven into fabric become a second, stronger "skin" for soldiers that can stop bullets. (Source: Spiegel)

How cool is that?

For some reason, this reminds me a tad of Robert Heinlein short story, The Beast, where the animal he's tracking on a remote planet turns out to be an escaped engineered human fighting machine who'd lost his humanity.

So, there is my little geek trip. I haven't had a to use this in one of my stories because I mostly write far future stories where unmanned military technology reigns.

Choice is Made

Last week, after my flight was cancelled, I sat at one of the working tables. There my mind began to wander. Naturally wander into the realm of my writing mind.
So, any-who. As I sat in this deep mind-wander a beautiful pitch-black man appeared out of a mental darkness. Seriously, a true black the color of fresh laid tar. Some mysterious soft light hit him and a midnight blue sheen flickered off his skin. Eyes, tinted by a hardened coating of some sort, began to glow orange. His body was unimaginably flexible, bending in ways not natural to normal humans.

This was Aleron, the agent for the next IIA case, book three. I guess my mind made up which story to do after False Salvation is finished.

I knew the next story would involve a life vessel, where the residents lived permanently on the ship. The case needed an agent acclimated to a zero-g environment, and what better one than someone born and raised in zero-g?

Perfect, right? My thought to. But it poses some challenges. First and foremost is what is needed in a human species that lives in space. (Yes, I've decided to make them a separate species instead of an ethnicity due to their interaction with and distance from other humans colonies/worlds. Within this human species I'm thinking of having 2 to 3 races, depending on how the research pans out.)

Aleron's species was genetically engineered centuries ago for life in no gravity. They're skeletal structure was modified so most of it is a special thick cartilage. What bone is left is super dense with little to no porous state. Their skin is thick and darkened to bounce off space's gamma and UV rays. Instead of eyelids, they have a special coating that protects their eyeballs from damaged, and again fights off the pesky gamma and UV rays. One of the coolest parts -- that I'm still working out -- is their modification of both inner ear and neuro receptors that manage their equilibrium and dexterity.

There's still a bunch to finish figuring out in this character's specie, aside from the storyline itself, but that's what's so exciting... the challenge is ON!

So, what is the most exciting research you've included in a story?

Writerly update

So, Naga People is now complete and with the editor. With that story done, I've moved on to my novella project that'll be included in the Borealis anthology Desert Breeze Publishing puts out.

I'll admit, I'm a little nervous. I've never written within someone elses constraints before...well, I stick (somewhat) within the constraints of known science, but I mean I've never written within another writer's fictional world. Oh, hell, you knew what I meant.

"Quit trying to unnecessarily explain things, AR."

Where was I? Oh, yeah, sticking within another writer's constraints.

Talk about pressure. Right now I think I'm doing okay. We'll see I guess.

Oddly enough, even though I was excited about it, my "muse" fought coming up with ideas. I think it's the perversely defiant side of me that resists any kind of conformity. (Pfft...this coming from the now suburban mom of 4 who works in an office job for "suits".)

Anywho.

I found a title for it, False Salvation. It's a young couple love story, with both the main characters being barely adults and very naive. Another first for me. I'm finding their romance very cute and hopeful.

And yet another first for me is that this is the first story where there's not a motherly figure of some sort. Veda, one of the woman there to help them escape Borealis, is tempting me to evolve her into a motherly role of sorts but since they are strangers and this is a novella, there isn't really time.

The pleasant surprise is how fast this one is going. I'm so used to 80k - 100k stories that this novella is already almost drafted.

After this I'm taking on either a story about one woman's battle in the afterlife or the third book in the Interstellar series. Both sound appealing at this point. In the first I want to manipulate and explore the myths and folklore surrounding post death. It'll allow me to bring in some the horror and more speculative elements I like. In the latter it'll be in a galactic life boat and I'll be able to explore the concepts and theories behind that. Another element I like to write about.

*tips hands back and forth like a balance* Science or speculative. Science or speculative. Choices, choices.

Hopefully I'll know when I get there. So, what have you all been up to?

What doesn't kill you cures you?

I came across an article some time ago... Okay, by the date of my last post we all know it was a very long time ago.

Any-who.

I came across an article about scorpion venom highlighting brain tumors and aiding surgeons in the operating room. Needless to mention, the whole brain and tumor thing holds close to my heart. (Or, close to my head, that it.)

HERE is the full article for your geeky reading pleasure, but the sum of it is that a protein in scorpion venom "sticks" to the tumorous areas of the brain and the compound glows, illuminating the tumor site.

But why can't the docs just see the tumorous areas, you ask?

Well, come on, it's not like the tumor is dressed in a tutu calling out, "Here I am! Here I am!" while doing the Macarena.Those cancerous areas are hard to see and the inside of your brain is a confusing mass of ugliness. It all looks the wrong side of rotten.

During the actual procedure, the docs have nothing but the contrasting MRI images taken beforehand. Well, that and a hope and sheer cockiness that comes with becoming a physician that they can get it all.

So, how does this happen? Try putting scorpion venom under infrared and you'll most likely get... nothing.

...never mind. Don't try collection scorpion venom. I don't want any of you thinking I'm responsible if you are stupid enough to try getting your hands on some.

The synthetic version mates to a molecule. This compound is injected into your body and after the venom binds to the cancerous cells, the molecule starts to glow like a Raver's glow tube adorned body. Your healthy cells are like wallflowers at a middle school dance to these scorpion proteins.

*Heehee...the healthy cells are currently trying to decide if they're insulted or relieved...*

Okay, back to real land.

This is a fantastic find and they think they might be able to expand the technique to other cancer types like prostate or breast, or, well, you name it.

As with my own diagnosis and surgery, the neuro oncologist was very clear in stating that most likely the actual stem cell generating my tumor was not removed. Because of this, there's an 80-90% chance my little brain buddy will return.

No biggie for me, as my tumor type is a low-grade, slow-growing cancer and easily removed again. (I work in a hospital with tons of clinical experts to inquire to, and you know, knowledge is power and all that.)

But wouldn't it be awesome if I got to use one of the tech finds I've posted on this blog someday?

This might actually be possible, since human trials are beginning later this year. Who knows, in a decade or so I could be heading back to UCSF for surgery again and injected with scorpion venom. (Is it just me or does this almost sounds like the start of a Marvel comic.)

Not Paranoid, Really

I promise, I'm not paranoid, really. Okay, maybe a little. But doesn't everyone glance back in the rear view mirror and think you're being tailed by the car that's followed you for 3 blocks? Doesn't everyone take the very next turn and feel foolish when the suspect car continues on?

No? You sure?

*sigh*

Alright. Alright. I'm a little suspicious. I can't help it. What do you expect from a grunge girl at the infancy of the mass World Wide Web who grew up reading Philip K. Dick and George Orwell?

Cameras on every corner and intersection. Companies that tailor their advertisements to your credit or debit purchase history. Government agencies that can know exactly where you are just by your phone. You can't even return something without swiping your driver's license so the proverbial THEY can track your life.

And don't get me started on the whole social network movement. Or the data clouds that hold your life of documents, photos, and whatnot for you.

This trend of submissive, first step-to-oppressive society hit home when I watched a home improvement commercial the other day. They were all excited to share their new "service" to customers, where they can pull up what holiday decorations you purchased the previous year so you "don't have to remember" those small details.

And my coworkers were all excited about how great this would be, and I just sat there in quiet horror. All my SF fears came bubbling up in my imagination. What is a common path to dystopia in fiction, people? Perceived utopia and convenience to the people, that's what.

Maybe it's because all the crazy end of world talk or just that, yes, yes, I'm a conspiracy at every corner kind of gal, but the trend of bar coding society really sets my hair on end. But, what really throws me for a loop is how easily it's happening.

Literally with excitement that another private fold is being pulled open and smoothed out for people to monitor and note. It's a slippery slope, but one I'm not sure society knows how deep and steep the ride can be.

No, I'm not saying an evil warlord is keyed to take over, but as an American I'm always nervous when something brushes against or even remotely close to my rights. Rights that my ancestors worked so hard and sacrificed so much to earn.

I'll admit, I'm caught up in the flood myself. My entire life is on internets, intranets, forums, databases, blogs and every other kind of network and/or electronic system out there. The question is, at what point does not being part or enough of the system single you out and to what end?

The times we live in are starting to feel like the prologue to one of Philip or George's books, to me anyways.

So, how far do you think society will go with this integration of life and technology? How far are you willing to go before it's too much and too intruding into your life?

Nerdy minds (me) want to know.

Climbing out from the Trenches

Maybe not so much a trench as the avalanche aftermath. Except, my pile was not snow. Instead, it was editing, revisions, and writing. This compounded with my day work (otherwise known as my "paying gig"), Thanksgiving, birthdays, and mommy duties have left my poor blog stranded for most of the month.

*pets blog and hugs her to reassure she is loved*

Okay, I'm back but since I'm just now getting back in the game I'm going to take it easy. So, let's talk quantum entanglement...

Heehee, just kidding.

No, today I just wanted to stop by, say hi, and maybe talk about a book I'm reading. Cloud Atlas. No, I'm not doing a review. No, I'm not going to go into the science behind the reincarnation and all that jazz.

No, no, no. I just wanted to get "on the line" with my geeky buddies and applaud the author for his use of setting and place in regards to the characters. In each vignette that carries the story along, the author has committed to the time period, in all its good and bad elements. Scene pacing, language and writing styles, and social/cultural timing all hit the particular eras perfectly.

Very beautifully done.

I can't wait to get to the future settings and see how he imagines that world to be.

Any-who. I'll be posting my SF geeky stuff starting later this week.

Ciao all!

Passionate Cooks Guest Post: Vallory Vance

Vallory Vance joins us today to talk about her passionate recipe and her newest release.

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When I serve the Second Chance Tortillas recipe from the Passionate Cooks cookbook for brunch with friends, I mix up a batch of Bloody Marys to go along with them. The spicy tomato drink is a great accompaniment especially on a cold day. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• 2 teaspoons curry powder

• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups vodka
• Garnish Ideas – celery stalk, spicy pickled string bean, lemon wedge

Directions:
• Combine first 7 ingredients in a large pitcher. Chill overnight.
• Add vodka to pitcher; stir well. Fill glasses. Garnish as you like.

BIO

This new author is a color inside the lines Human Resources professional living in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex by day. After her family consisting of a husband of almost twenty years, three kids and two dogs have filled her evenings with laughter, she sits down to her laptop to write tales of the first moments of falling in love when nothing else seems to matter.

A a fortieth birthday present to herself, she decided to share her stories. Vallory Vance is the pen name she uses to write contemporary romances that range from sweet to spicy. You can find her most days on the Vallory V ~ A Romance Author Blog.

Music for Her Soul Summary

Lena Spencer is a practical woman whose world is carefully ordered by schedules and timelines and she doesn’t like surprises. So when she receives a call from a beautiful model detailing an affair with her boyfriend, her world is thrown into chaos. With the help of her boisterous sister and niece, Lena manages to pick up the pieces and resume her role as a single working mom with the added bonus of a few slinky dresses to show off the figure she’d always hidden. Feeling sexy and confident, she is almost prepared for Ethan’s return from a European tour. Almost.

Musician, Ethan Holden, realized too late that he’d miscalculated the level of Lena’s fury. A ten month tour through Europe and a crazed fan had proven too much for the both of them. Returning to his hometown, he is determined to win her back despite her resistance. But can he give up the music he loves if that’s the only thing she wants?

Available from Amazon.com as a Kindle Edition
Available from Barnes and Noble as a Nook Book
Available from All Romance in Multiple Formats

Online Connections:
• Blog: Vallory V – A Romance Author Blog
• Twitter: @ValloryVance
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vallory-Vance