In light of the recently foiled terrorist plot here in the UK, and the poorly thought-out implementation of precautions in response (they’re worried about liquids being mixed together as a weapon, but they’re pouring them all into big communal vats in the airports?), it’s both a relief and a frustration to find that there is already technology available that could detect the types of explosives alleged to be at the centre of the plot. A relief, because I don’t want to hear of more innocent people dying for the ideologies of others; a frustration, because the technology costs a fortune, takes a lot of time to use effectively, and throws up a lot of false positives.

The Japanese are making great strides in technologies to assist the disabled, and here is another example. The University of Electro-Communications has announced a prototype of an electric wheelchair whose motion can be controlled by the thought patterns of the user ‘with an 80% degree of accuracy’. If they could apply the same technology to shopping trolleys in supermarkets, the research funding would come flooding in.

Improbable though it may seem, there’s a real risk that we will someday discover a huge asteroid on a collision course with our planet. The obvious question here is also the important one, i.e. ‘what the hell could we do about it’? Ridiculous movie plots aside, a fair few ideas have been kicked around before, but there’s a new scientific paper just out that suggests the simplest and most effective way to stop a big lump of rock hitting the Earth would be to place another smaller rock in orbit to absorb the blow. Added bonus – we could mine it for all sorts of goodies useful for further space exploration, too.

We’re getting nearer to the date when astronomers will make what may be the most (un)important decision of the decade – whether or not smaller objects like Pluto get to be classified as planets. The good news for supporters of the underdog is that an international panel is taking a proposal to the voting conference that states Pluto and its icy brethren should stay as planets, albeit in a subclassification due to their size.

3D printing, fabbing, instant prototyping – call it what you will, it’s here and here to stay. How can I be so sure? I’m working on the theory that if MMORPG fanatics can get 3D prints made of their World of Warcraft characters just for the fun of it, then the technology is already viable and cheap enough to spread like a rash once the idea becomes more commonplace.