Robotic corpse
There may be no need to donate your body to your local med school after all. A $95,000 animatronic cadaver is replacing med-school corpses. The Syndaver is a realistic robotic human corpse simulator with replaceable viscera that med students can dissect again and again. Syndavers are mostly water and need to be kept submerged when they're not being sliced and spliced to prevent them drying out. They have fully dilating pupils that respond to light and trauma, breathing lungs, a pumping heart that keeps blood at the correct temperature, and optional features from seizure-simulating limb actuators to realistic tumours. Hospitals and med schools can control the corpse wirelessly so practitioners can rehearse elaborate medical scenarios in which the patient goes into shock and even dies. (Source: Wired)
Fishy weather forecasting
With Hurricane Ophelia hitting the UK, it seems like an appropriate moment to remember the Great Storm of 1987 when TV weatherman Michael Fish opened his forecast with the remark: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't." A few hours later, the worst storm in 300 years hit Britain, killing 18 people. In the UK, whenever anyone makes a really bad prediction, it's still known as a Michael Fish moment.
