Anybody who's played through the mind-bendingly brilliant, first-person puzzle game Portal came to a final confrontation with the devious AI computer who taunted you throughout your tasks, GlaDOS. If you haven't played, stop whatever you are doing and buy it, steal it or otherwise get your hands on it.
OK, now that that's out of the way: The Japanese (of-freaking-course) have invented a pollen-monitoring robot (pictured left) that bears a striking resemblance to your final enemy in the game. 200 of these ball-headed 'Pollen Robots' will hang outside volunteers' homes in Tokyo, monitoring pollen levels and sending the data back to headquarters of the Weathernews, Inc., where an online pollen map can notify hay fever sufferers of the most affected areas in town. Creepiest of all, a pair of eyes will glow white, blue, green, red or purple to indicate the level of Japanese cedar and cypress pollen in the air.
Today, researchers will start testing an 8-centimeter prototype in a high-speed wind tunnel at the University of Tokyo. Once inside, the origami space shuttle will brave wind speeds of 5,300 m.p.h. and the intense heat that comes with flying at Mach 7 speeds. That's a great start for a paper airplane, but it'll have to do better than that, because the actual space shuttle can reach speeds of Mach 20 upon reentry.
Have you ever been on the subway and wanted to analyze that odd stain on the seat next to you and thought, "Damn! If only I had my microscope!"? Well, worry no longer, because we (and by 'we,' I mean Japan) have a solution!
These Japanese disposable microscope cards come in a pack of 5 and enable you to magnify small amounts of blood, fabric, semen, blood, or semen up to 1000 times normal size, depending on light available and distance from the user's eye.
Everyone has that one super high-class, uppity, early-adopter friend who has the latest cool gadget before you do. He bought the world's fastest yacht before you did. His car runs on his own sense of self-satisfaction. You bought an iPhone? His was personally implanted into his frontal cortex by Steve Jobs and came preloaded with the finest escort services on five continents already on speed dial.
Today's Giftology item ensures that you get him something this year he can't possibly have: His very own robot sommelier! Scientists at Japan's NEC company and Mie University have garnered an entry into the 2008 Guinness Book of World Records by creating the world's first robot sommelier. The cute lil' robot "tastes" wine via an infrared sensor in its hand that can identify different types of wine by irradiating it at different wavelengths. The robot can identify types of wines, grape ingredients, and even the level of sweetness or dryness. It can do the same with fruits and cheese, making it an all-purpose garden-party robot.
Oh, Japan. Oh, dear, sweet Japan. You're making me swoon with your awesomeness. Ferrofluids and giant jellyfish rule my face, sure — but you've really outdone yourself this time by powering a Christmas tree with an electric eel:
Electric eels can generate 1 ampere (500 watts) of current, plenty to keep the lights on your tree blazing and the angel at the top twirling.
For the last few years, the Robo-One competitions have given robot-builders a chance to showcase their creations – and watch them do battle. This year's Grand Championship saw robots that knew how to use their balloons, dancing bots that sang Christmas carols, and shadowy humanoids that engaged in the questionable "three-point defense." After all the robots were introduced, they went head-to-head in the ring to try to knock the circuits out of each other. (Or, at least, knock over an opponent three times.)
The requirements for Robo-One are pretty minimal, but each competing robot has to walk on two legs. About 25 finalists are gathered in Tokyo for the most recent contest.
“You can’t win a battle if you can’t rebuild your robot at least once every half year,” says one of the competitors.
Ya gotta hand it to jellyfish: For basically being a gelatinous conglomeration of nematocysts and ganglia, they sure know how to f*** s*** up. After getting all wicked on an Irish salmon farm earlier this month, wrecking their shizz to the tune of $2 million, they've decided to let Japan know who's ocean it really is. Giant jellyfish, some as large as 450 lbs and six feet in diameter, have invaded the coasts of Japan, clogging fishing nets, stinging fools, and generally treating the land of the rising sun like its bitch. Blame for the jellies rise could include global warming, overfishing, dropping oxygen levels in the ocean or, like everything, the Chinese. The Wall Street Journal's got video of the nastiest east-side gang since the Crips in action. Look out for the Japanese researcher who has to be "very careful" to not get jellyfish goo in his eye. These guys don't stand a chance — jellies on the east siiiiyeeeeed!
Just under 5 feet tall, weighing 245 pounds, and speaking with a feminine coo, Twendy-One the human symbiotic robot can manipulate chop sticks, bring you ketchup from the 'fridge and use her gorilla arms to support the weight a person. In the world of robot technology, she's an accomplishment in balancing dexterity with strength that has been seven years in the making with a several million dollar budget.
Anybody who's played through the mind-bendingly brilliant, first-person puzzle game Portal came to a final confrontation with the devious AI computer who taunted you throughout your tasks, GlaDOS. If you haven't played, stop whatever you are doing and buy it, steal it or otherwise get your hands on it.
Japan, I'm 
Have you ever been on the subway and wanted to analyze that odd stain on the seat next to you and thought, "Damn! If only I had my microscope!"? Well, worry no longer, because we (and by 'we,' I mean Japan) have a solution!
Everyone has that one super high-class, uppity, early-adopter friend who has the latest cool gadget before you do. He bought the world's fastest yacht before you did. His car runs on his own sense of self-satisfaction. You bought an iPhone? His was personally implanted into his frontal cortex by Steve Jobs and came preloaded with the finest escort services on five continents already on speed dial.
