I'm still trying to let my schedule settle back to a more regular pace so I can post my regular insightful articles. Unfotunately today is not that day. But I've got a few links I've been saving.

AP News -- 'Robots take on social tasks', an article about the current hopeful market for robotics; Moving from the Roomba to more advanced household and hospital helpers.

By using a powdered extract from a pig bladder, it may be possible to regrow parts of fingers. This could help people who have lost fingers in fires, explosions, or doing not very bright things. While it has not been scientifically verified that the pig bladder extract is solely responsible for the regeneration, the compound has been approved by the FDA for use in humans. Currently the compound is used to help horses regenerate ligaments.

The basic function is well written in the AP article, "The powder is mostly collagen and a variety of substances, without any pig cells, said Badylak, who's a scientific adviser to ACell. It forms microscopic scaffolding for incoming human cells to occupy, and it emits chemical signals to encourage those cells to regenerate tissue, he said."