It may sound like a self-evident truth (at least to me), but now there’s scientific evidence to back it up – native speakers of Russian, a language with no single word for the colour blue, are better able to distinguish between different shades of blue. While that’s not the most useful statistic when taken on its own, the psychological implications are quite impressive – our vocabulary directly effects our perceptions of the world around us. Doubly interesting, when you consider that human vocal languages may well have evolved directly from the gestural languages of apes, rather than from primitive experiments with sound. I wonder if chimps have a gesture for the colour blue?

OK, so accusing DARPA of copying science fictional ideas is hardly news, but this is well worth a look anyway.The latest idea from the Pentagon’s high-tech think-tank is to build a device analogous to those binoculars that Luke Skywalker has in the opening section of the original Star Wars movie. Only they won’t be a stand-alone unit – they’ll be connected by EEG sensors to the brains of the soldiers who use them for enhanced target recognition capability. I wonder what the troops themselves will think – will they be as underwhelmed as they were with the Land Warrior system?

Exploiting solar energy for heating the home – great idea, but financially impractical, right? Not so – a bit of lateral thinking and ingenuity can work wonders, as demonstrated by a solar furnace built from empty aluminium drinks cans and plexiglass. Chalk another one up for the garage inventors. [Engadget]

By now, you’ve probably heard the story about IBM simulating half a mouse brain using a supercomputer; it’s on New Scientist today, which means most of the MSM will be running it. This is an exciting development, for sure – the ability to accurately mimic the functional architecture of a brain is one of the crucial steps towards the Technological Singularity – but I feel obliged to point back to Jamais Cascio’s blog (where I first saw this story), which he has updated to make the point that the computer didn’t actually simulate a mouse’s mind, but instead ran a neural network that could theoretically support such a simulation. Even so, it’s an impressive feat, and an indicator of how quickly things are developing.

I used to live with a guy who had no sense of smell – true story, but feel free to apply your own punchline. At the time, the cause of this phenomenon (known as anosmia) was unclear, but recent research indicates that my friend may simply have had an overabundance of ‘death factor’ cells in his nasal mucus.

However, mucus has its uses – in unnatural noses as well as the real thing. A group of UK scientists have discovered that furnishing their ‘electronic nose’ with a mix of polymers that replicate the function of human snot vastly improves the device’s ability to discern different scents.