The future of medicine lies in minute devices within the body, but there are understandable concerns about installing electromechanical devices in living things – the necessity for an energy supply, for instance. One solution to this issue is to exploit the properties of other living cells, like making tiny fluid pumps using heart cells as the power cells. No batteries required – just keep the nutrients flowing, and the little suckers will keep on pumping in perpetuity.

Good architectural design will have to play a big part in a viable sustainable future for urban humanity, so it’s nice to see some building design that not only looks good but also takes its inspiration from nature. The ‘Urban Cactus’ concept is the sort of futuristic high-rise building I’d always imagined we’d end up living in eventually – and a nice step away from the weird blob-inspired creations of recent years.

Space advocacy has really picked up again in the last few years, and some of the current claims and ‘road-maps’ are fairly far-fetched. One that sounds a little crazy at first, but then steadily makes more sense the longer you think about it, is Buzz Aldrin’s proposal to set up a system of reusable spacecraft continually cycling round an orbit that closely passes both Earth and Mars. Sort of like city bus services that run a circular route all day; cheap, efficient and (so Buzz believes) ‘politician-proof’.

With all the recent media interest in Second Life, it’s probably no great shakes to hear that there will be a virtual version of NBC’s New York Christmas lights switch-on ceremony. What may make the experience a little more interesting for the horde of n00bs expected to attend is that many of the hastily arranged sites of the virtual ceremony are located right next to areas of SL devoted to festivities of an entirely different nature. Watch for a leap in the Amazon rankings for old Gor titles over the next month or so …

Levitating inert matter using acoustic wave fields is a decades-old science, but a group of Chinese researchers have become the first to acoustically levitate small animals for sustained periods of time. Although confused and alarmed by the experience, most of the insects were unharmed by half an hour floating immobile in mid-air. The fish didn’t fare quite so well, as it was hard to keep them immersed in water …