Bionic Man: From Science fiction to Science Fact

Science fiction is being transformed into science fact using tiny implants effectively to channel brain-waves to prosthetic limbs.
Children of the 1970s will remember the American TV series The Six Million Dollar Man featuring Steve Austin as a bionic man.
Micro Bridge Services, based at Cardiff University, south Wales, is pioneering work which brings that fiction close to reality.
It is a leader in micro-engineering design and manufacture and possibly the only firm in the world capable of creating the implants.
The implants are the size of a match head which carries 100 sensors made of extremely hard tungsten carbide which conducts electricity.
The sensors are only slightly thicker than a human hair and sit on the brain picking up nerve impulses to relay to prosthetic limbs.
The hope is the technology will be instrumental in allowing amputees to learn to move prosthetic limbs and regain lost mobility.
Micro Bridge Services Ltd was set up by Cardiff University to tap the commercial potential of research being done there.
Researchers at Utah University, in the USA, asked the Cardiff Company to develop micro-needle array sensors which are durable.
The American team had already been successful developing implants capable of manipulating computers and prosthetic appendages.
But the implants had been made of silicon which proved to be brittle and had a useful life of less than a year.
The micro-needle array needed to be hardy but capable of penetrating deep enough into the brain to pick up electrical signals.
As a pioneer in its field its ability to manufacture the tiny micro-needle array precisely using an extremely strong material proved vital.
The implant works by detecting electrical signals from the brain, amplifying them then transmitting them to produce movements in the prosthetic limbs.
A patient fitted with an implant literally has to learn to think the correct mental activity to get the required response from the system.
Weeks of training are necessary but tests on volunteers have already shown promising results.
The outcome, is supposed to be what people call a bionic man.
For the future the hope is that the technology could be used on patients paralyzed in accidents which damage the spine.
The implant would be placed on the spinal column effectively bridging the injury and allowing them to relearn how to move.

--By Richard Alleyne

Oceanarium : The World of Adventure, Fun and Excitement

Did you think the ocean is just about fish and boats?
Come to oceanarium, learn what floats, what lives, and how we need
and use the ocean every day.

The term oceanarium can either mean a marine mammal park or a large-scale aquarium presenting an ocean habitat with marine animals, especially large ocean dwellers (e.g. sharks).

Marineland of Florida, one of the first theme parks in Florida, USA, started in 1938, claims to be "the world's first oceanarium", while Ocean Park in Hong Kong claims to be "the world's largest oceanarium".

The Oceanarium BOURNEMOUTH helps you to explore the secrets of the ocean in an adventure and will take you to some of the world’s most amazing waters.

This is not all what oceanariums provide you, threre are amazing hotels and restaurants too where you can Discover life beneath the waves and come face to face with some of the world’s most amazing marine life. .

The Oceanarium restaurants

One of the best Oceanarium restaurants is located in the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki. The main attraction of this hotel is the 3-floor world-class indoor fish tank. It is 16 meters tall, 10 meters wide, and if you eat next to it, it feels as if you’re eating in the middle of an aquarium

From your table, you have views into the 3-storey 280,000 gallon aquarium, which holds nearly 400 fish, including a spotted eagle ray and a pelagic sting ray. The hotel's divers feed the fish several times a day--which makes for a spectacular show for hotel guests and customers in the restaurant.


Oceanarium India

India's first 'oceanarium', showcasing its marine biodiversity, will be set up at Kerala. The 'oceanarium', spread over a 60-acre area at Puthuvypeen, a marine biology research station would also form part of the 'oceanarium',

These parks would give technical and other assistance to set up ''backyard hatcheries'' in rural households. Women would be especially trained for this.

The Government of Kerala is proposed to develop an Oceanarium in a joint partnership between Public and Private (PPP). The project at New Vypeen, the coastline of the Arabian Sea is complemented by many features. Attractions will include a Marine Park, International Marine Biological Research Centre, Centre for Marine Resources, Ecology Centre, Convention Centre, Amphitheatre and a glass tunnel to showcase an ocean habitat with marine animals. The ambitious Oceanarium project to be launched by 2010.