Robot Monkey Arms

As you may recall, scientists at Duke have figured out a way to wire robot arms directly into a monkey’s brain, and that the monkey can then use the arm quite effectively.

There’s an update: the monkeys seem to view the arm as a part of their own body.

That’s wild.

Expect some absolutely amazing body-enhancement devices faster than you’d think but slower than you’d hope.

It made me think for a second: if I could directly wire control of any technological device into my brain what would I choose?

Assuming I was limited to one, I guess I’d pick a multipurpose wireless I/O device. Like a bluetooth controller but with way better security.

That would rock.

What My Students Probably Do When I’m Not Looking

I stumbled across this guide to steam tunneling at Stanford.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, steam tunneling is an old college pastime wherein students crawl around in the tunnels that run under campus.

I had two thoughts:
1) How cool.
2) I bet a large percentage of my male students have done this.

I am very confident of number two because I know have students who have nefariously rappelled down the side of buildings on campus. And that’s way less a part of the college tradition than exploring tunnels.

Surprise Birthday Party

When I returned from church today I was genuinely shocked to find a house full of students waiting to wish me a happy birthday.

I was touched.

Also, I got one of the coolest gifts I’ve gotten in a long time. One of my students took a picture of me playing with Dana, developed it herself, and framed it. It’s the kind of photo I’ll probably wind up keeping on my desk until I don’t have a desk anymore.

Thanks to everyone for the Apples To Apples game, to Jin for baking the cakes, to Desirae for shopping, and to Karen for the photo. Thanks to Paula for organizing the whole deceptive shindig and to whoever did the decorating. I’m sure other people did things I don’t know about, and I’m grateful to them as well.

It was just great.