Millions of people believe that somewhere around two thousand years ago. on a straw bed, in a manger, in the no-horse town of Bethlehem, a child was born to a woman in an immaculate conception. No bodily fluid transfer, no sweat, no grunting - she just "became" pregnant. It was a miracle. It was sweet and pure, and millions will argue that the child was the Son of God.
Fast forward two thousand years. In a small, no-horse town in Spain a scientifically immaculate conception takes place. Thanks to modern science, a woman gestates and gives birth to healthy twins without having sexual intercourse of any kind - and she is 67 years old! Dude, that is just gross. Word is, the baby was covered with dust.
Can you picture what is going through this baby’s mind? "Don’t panic, this can’t be mom. Just keep your eyes shut and suck. Is that really somebody’s face? Will someone call Child Services?"

So where does science take us from here? I can see the headline - Ampline 2010 - Corpse gives birth to triplets.

Most of us have now heard of (or have) Roomba, the first successful housebot. Roomba vacuums, sings, gets tired, goes back to ‘her’ corner, and millions of people just love her. Over two million Roombas are now in homes. You can think of her as the great-grandmother of Rosie, everybodies favorite robot maid on the Jetsons.

What else is out there?

A college student in the Pacific Northwest puts on a Flash Gordon looking helmet covered with electrodes, and looks at a group of objects on a monitor. The objects are in a room thousands of miles away. When the student thinks about one of the objects, a robot walks over and picks it up! This is not sci-fi, this is 2007…and the research is being done by Rajesh Rao, an associate professor of computer science and engineering.

Don Johnson lost his sense of balance and orientation to a drug reaction last year. This year, he is getting a little tongue action at the laboratory of a company called Wicab in Middleton, Johnson has been undergoing 20-minute treatments with Wicab’s BrainPort device. Technicians place a piece of plastic with 144 electrodes on his tongue. His head is capped with a rigged helmet with a measuring device. The helmet measures when his head tilts right or left, forward or backward. Johnson can sense his balance through what he terms "buzzes" on his tongue. After his session, Johnson is able to stand and walk, even over difficult terrain, up hill and down, for up to six hours.