The last few decades have seen us discovering objects in the far reaches of the solar system, a region known as the Kuiper Belt – Pluto, Xena and over a thousand other chunks of ice and rock have been catalogued so far. It has long been speculated there may be lots more objects out there, but their comparatively small size makes spotting them with conventional methods very difficult. This may no longer be an issue, thanks to a team of Australian scientists and a cunning deployment of optical fibre technology.

If you believe the manufacturers, RFID is the technology that will make identity theft a thing of the past. Two hackers at the HOPE conference in New York this week have demonstrated that this may not be the case, by successfully cloning a VeriChip tag implanted in human flesh, live on stage in front of an audience. Back to the drawing board, perhaps?

Using traditional radiotherapy to kill lung tumours can be a process that takes up to 30 hospital visits, each involving long sessions of treatment with lots of radioactive overspill. ‘Cyberknife’ is designed to deliver the damage to the cancer faster and more accurately, using X-ray lasers to pinpoint the bad tissue, and taking realtime pictures of the patient to keep track of where it’s working, even as the patient breathes normally.

The next tourist to shack up in the ISS for a week, the Japanese mogul known as ‘Dice-K’, has sent ahead his threads, and officials aren’t impressed. Turns out that the flight suit is a garish speedway-rider’s outfit, with bright flashes of colour all over it – a replica of an outfit from a well-known Manga animation. The NASA killjoys reckon that the suit “could cause colour fatigue and irritation” in the other astronauts. Maybe they’ll make him wear it inside out.

Take one part metallic nanoparticles, and one part horse protein. Mix well, and leave to stand. Then test for magnetic properties…and observe the resultant composite behaving in a manner very similar to human brain tissue. Record results carefully, and perform further research and experiments on the material. Forward all data to your nearest artificial intelligence laboratory, where it may come in extremely useful in the future.