MugMouse: drink coffee from your mouse...

In this jet age where everything is revolved around speed and the pace at which thing work its refreshing to see that some people actually want to slow things down and smell the coffee. Take the case of this amusing invention called the MugMouse. It has been deliberately created as “ SLOWEB peripherals that aims to provide an alternative to the fast global flow of information and is concerned with rhythms of consumption.” Well in layman’s terms it’s just a coffee mug that doubles up as a computer mouse. It works on infrared and it connected by USB cable. You click by pushing the whole mug towards the table, as the bottom the mug is a mouse button. Holding 150 ml of your favorite hot drink (and keeping it that way via a heater), this mug could be the next best thing for those who are content with the slow speed of this mouse.

Though still in a conceptual stage the practicality of the MugMouse is rather questionable, for I’m sure sooner or later there will be coffee spill all over the desks!

Gold-coated nanoparticles act as cancer killers

Nanotechnology is definitely here to stay. It's being touted in all kinds of scientific pursuits these days. One of the most revolutionary may just be in the realm of fighting cancer.

Nanoshells, as they are being called, are gold-coated nanoparticles that would be placed within tumors and then remotely exploded with infrared light. The good catch is that the nanoparticles don't die but the cancer cells do. More importantly, unlike chemotherapy and radiation, this kind of treatment doesn't harm other cells because it is engineered to target only the cancer cells.

Scientists also say that the nanoshells could be used as infrared imaging devices, perhaps as a first-step microscopic X-ray of a tumor. The one possible danger is that the infrared light is shone through the patient's skin, perhaps causing some form of reaction. But, scientists say, that reaction will be mild compared to the havoc that radiation and chemo can wreck on the body.

This round of nanoshells (which build on an earlier method) is on the cusp of FDA-approved clinical trials and could be soon on the fast track to approval. Initial tests have already shown 100 percent remissions in animals.