Google leads the charge in making science fiction a reality

Google recently made headlines by unveiling a tech demo for their glasses with augmented reality capability.

Augmented reality is the blending of digital information and the natural world. It can make real life look like a videogame, but more importantly, it allows its users to access real-time information about businesses, weather, or just their email.

Speaking of real-time, Google is also working on developing a live version of Google Earth.

Although Google is expected to be at least ten years off, the company UrtheCast (EarthCast) plans to mount a couple of cameras onto the International Space Station in their own version of a live satellite feed of the Earth’s surface.

UrtheCast’s cameras would theoretically be capable of producing images with clarity of up to one meter per pixel, giving an excellent view of the planet’s surface.

The medical field is another source of major breakthroughs in the science of making people cyborgs. General Motors and NASA recently co-developed the K-Glove as a counterpart to the first humanoid robot astronaut.

The K-Glove increases grip strength by ten pounds and reduces the risk of repetitive stress injury. Powered by a belt-mounted battery pack, the glove could be used to aid those with muscular dystrophy, atrophy, or arthritis, in addition to its original manual labor purpose.

Despite the device’s serious therapeutic and industrial implications, it hasn’t stopped the Internet from turning it into a big dirty joke (the favorite seems to be late salesman Billy Mays pitching the glove as the “Power Fap.”)

On a smaller, but perhaps a far more grand scale, BIND Biosciences has reportedly begun human trials on BIND-014, a nanomedicine that could be used to cure cancer. The nanoparticles would attack malignant cells of solid tumors, while leaving alone the surrounding tissue.

All of this developing technology is exciting news but the question is will it work, and if so, when will it be seen on the market?

With new technology becoming increasingly advanced, one is reminded of novelist Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey), a man who predicted the Internet and iPad 50 years in advance.

Even without the marvels described in this article, how often do we stop and think about just how cool all of our stuff is?

As these appliances, gadgets, and devices move us ever closer to a world of which we have long dreamed, we must ask ourselves, “How awesome is tomorrow going to be?”