In this video, Sir Harry Kroto talks about why carbon nanotubes will likely lead to stronger, better, safer materials, and potentially transition to “paradigm shifting” applications such as molecular electronics and lossless conduction of electricity.

Who can forget Isabelle Dinoire, the French woman who received the world’s first successful partial face transplant in 2005 after being mauled by her dog? Prior to the transplant, which included a new nose and mouth, she had difficulty eating or speaking – the transplant has enabled her to do both.

Although a handful of similar procedures have been performed throughout the world, today Spanish surgeons revealed details of a face transplant that is said to be the “most complex” such transplant performed to date. The patient had been the victim of a shooting accident that left him unable to “breathe, swallow or talk properly.” Surgeons transplanted facial skin, muscles and bone, including cheekbones, jaw, nose, lips and teeth, and have reinforced the new facial structure with metal plates. Due to the severity of his injuries, reconstructive surgery was not an option:

He was considered for a full face transplant after nine previous operations failed.

A team of 30 experts carried out the operation on 20 March at the hospital in Barcelona.

The man has since seen himself in the mirror and was calm and satisfied, the leader of the medical team, Joan Pere Barret, told a news conference.

Despite the fact that the patient will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life, this surgery gives him a chance at a dramatically higher quality of life than he would have had otherwise. Ten years ago, such a procedure would have been science fiction. Today, it’s medical fact.

(Source: BBC News)

Togolese student Sam Todo has a passion for science, technology, and most of all, robots. He built his latest bipedal robot, “SAM10,” out of parts from old television sets, which is remarkable.

I imagine opportunities for learning mechanical engineering in Togo are slim, especially considering that half the population lives on less than US $1.25 a day.

Inspired? I am.

One of the great things about TED is that, while the conferences are fairly exclusive, they put up video from their presentations online for all of us to benefit. While there are many presentations worth watching out of the 600+ videos that can be found on the TED site, here are my favorite five talks on transhumanist topics:

Aimee Mullins on running (February 1998)

Aimee Mullins garnered attention as a record-setting runner who also happens to be a double amputee. She successfully competed against able-bodied athletes while at Georgetown University on carbon fiber legs that were modeled after those of a cheetah. At TED1998 she spoke about her experiences running in college and at the paralympics, and the challenges she experienced using her then-revolutionary prosthetics.

Rodney Brooks says robots will invade our lives (February 2003)

Roboticist Rodney Brooks, Director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, spoke in 2003 about how robots would be increasingly integrated into our lives. While advancements in robotics have come a long way since Brooks gave this presentation, a lot of this is still very applicable today, especially his demonstration on how we will provide direction to robots on how to perform complex tasks.

Nick Bostrom on our biggest problems (July 2005)

Philosopher Nick Bostrom, founder of the World Transhumanist Association (Now Humanity+) and current director of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, presented on humanity’s three biggest problems, including death, existential risk and that “life isn’t usually as wonderful as it could be.” He talks through how humans would need to change, as well as how we would have to change the world around us, to address these issues.

Ray Kurzweil on how technology will transform us (February 2005)

At TED2005, Ray Kurzweil provided an overview of his Law of Accelerating Returns and how it will affect the development of nanotechnology, the growth of computing, and how we will eventually merge with our technology. This is a great overview of many of Kurzweil’s thoughts that he addresses in his books, particularly The Singularity is Near.

Aubrey de Grey says we can avoid aging (July 2005)

Aubrey de Grey, gerontologist and author of Ending Aging, presented in 2005 on why defeating aging is desirable, why we need to begin serious discussions of radical longevity, feasibility of radical longevity, why humans accept aging, and how we can actually begin to significantly extend lifespans.

EDIT 3/23/10: I clarified some language in the blurb about Aubrey de Grey’s presentation.

If you’re interested in learning more about what goes on behind-the-scenes at the Blue Brain Project, an effort to reverse-engineer the mammalian brain, this short documentary is a good start. It features interviews with project leader Henry Markram explaining more about the project and shows how his team is going about its important work.

This video is only a taste of director Noah Hutton’s “10-year-in-the-making” film, although I’m not sure if that means the finished documentary will be released a decade from now, a time Markram has predicted that he and his team will ultimately be successful in their mission.

(Via BoingBoing)

ABC’s Good Morning America has been running some interesting medical technology stories this week, but this one in particular caught my eye. An Israeli company demonstrated a powered exoskeleton called ReWalk that can be used to help wheelchair-bound individuals walk upright, even up stairs:

ReWalk is a lightweight device comprised of an upper body harness, backpack and full leg supports.

The supports have motorized hips and knees. Advance motion sensors placed in the shoulder and connected to a backpack computer detect subtle changes in gravity, telling the device when a step needs to be taken. Users control the movement of the leg supports with the help of crutches, so wearers must have the use of their upper bodies in order to control the device.

A battery pack provides three hours of continuous movement.

Being able to walk, especially for those who have lost the ability due to an accident or illness, must be an incredibly empowering feeling. Aside from the positive mental and emotional impact technology like this can provide, however, there’s a very practical aspect. Not everywhere is wheelchair friendly. The simple act of walking up a flight of stairs, for example, may restore access to places that are difficult or impossible to access in a chair.

In addition to restoring mobility to those who have lost it, we’ve seen similar technology used to enhance human ability to comfortably carry heavy loads on foot.

The synopsis (via Digital Trends) is as follows:

Directed by Joe Berlinger with producers @radical.media, “Living with Robots” investigates humankind’s keen interest in robots and how robots can challenge the impossible by saving lives while also holding the promise to become more integrated and helpful in daily life. The film highlights Honda’s ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), the world’s most advanced humanoid robot, and the company’s commitment to researching and developing bipedal mobility and how the research improves technologies across the company. “Star Trek” and “Transformers” screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, academics, philosophers and several Honda associates and engineers are featured in the film.

Here’s the 8-minute video, courtesy of Honda.

With his books and essays about the singularity, it’s easy to forget that Ray Kurzweil built his name on his very successful inventions. Therefore, when he unveils a new invention, it’s a big deal. His latest venture is the Blio e-reader software, which will be distributed for free to a variety of platforms including the PC and iPhone. The software looks to have a very slick interface and can read books aloud via a synthesized voice – a clutch feature for visually impaired readers.

Here Kurzweil and (who I assume is) a business partner show off some of Blio’s key features, including the aforementioned text-to-speech, embedded Web browsers contained within the page of a book, 3D page turning, and more.

Blio is set to launch in February and will be made available for free.

I’ve been writing a little bit about the Singularity University Executive Program that started last week, and we’ve seen some excellent reports coming in from Ted Greenwald at Wired. Here’s video of Ray Kurzweil’s keynote that opened the program. Always inspiring and interesting to hear from one of the leading thinkers and evangelists for transhuman technologies and the singularity.

Here’s a fun clip of noted futurist and singularitarian Ray Kurzweil as a 17 year old flexing his piano chops on the game show “I’ve Got a Secret.” He plays a tune that was “written by a computer” and has the opportunity to demonstrate how the machine works. I imagine this must have been pretty mind blowing for a lot of people in 1965, when it originally aired.

(H/T BoingBoing)