Using a mouse is everyday second nature for huge numbers of people, but not everyone has the luxury of limbs that can grasp one. Three bright sparks at the UK wing of Hewlett Packard have made an attempt to address this imbalance by patenting a foot-controlled user interface device that can replicate all the functions of a mouse and more. While they invisage a variety of hands-free applications for their invention, this could go a long way towards empowering a group of people somewhat left behind by modern computer interface designs.

Stop squandering your air-miles on cross-country jaunts or upgrades to first class! A British electrician has blown 2 million of them for a ticket on a Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo ticket to orbit – at least, he has if notorious UK tabloid The Sun is to believed, so I’m personally remaining skeptical on the absolute truth of this story. That’s one way of incentivizing brand loyalty, though.

The beleagured space telescope we all know and love has suffered another failure of its main camera, the second such fault this year. The other instruments are working fine, and are shouldering the workload as best they can, but Hubble needs some serious repair work to extend its working life. NASA still won’t commit to doing a maintenance visit, however, which may mean we have to wait for the James Webb telescope to replace it, set to be launched in 2011.

Seems we are seeing the emergence of the exoskeleton from the pages of science fiction into the ‘real’ world. We’ve already had people carrying paraplegics up mountains with the assistance of a robotic power-suit – now we see a system designed to help stroke victims retrain their limbs to perform their proper functions. The suit mimics the motions of a working limb onto the paralysed one, aiding the reacquisition of muscle tone and mobility.

Move over obesity, there’s a new epidemic in town – metabolic syndrome. Actually, obesity is a component of metabolic syndrome, which is a catch-all term created to describe the wave of health problems that are connected to diet and its effect on the human body. But is it really a disease per se, or merely a convenient label that the pahrmacology industry can use to shift product? Wired has an extensive article on this issue that covers both sides of the argument.