Linkzzz:Neuron Extension Cable,Ethics,Star Child

So... is the next step wireless neurons? just sayin...

A "data cable" made from stretched nerve cells could someday help connect computers to the human nervous system. The modified cells should form better connections with human tissue than the metal electrodes currently used for purposes such as remotely controlling prosthetics (see Brain implant enables mind over matter).

Here's the original article

And here's some more randomness:

As I'm sure those of you who work for the government (or a public university in my case) know - you often have to take these ridiculous ethics training programs. At the University of Illinois you have to go through an online training session and at the end pass a quiz to be deemed ethical. The questions are obviously - well... obvious! and any idiot should be able to pass the test without reading the training material. For example the training will say...do not sell the office supplies - then the question in the exam will be: Are you allowed to sell the office supplies? In any case, most people blow through the training and just take the quiz at the end - little did some of us realize that if you completed the exam in under 10 minutes you were deemed unethical. I got a quite entertaining set of emails and letters accusing me of being a horrible person - I figured I'd have to sit in an actual training session with a teacher or something - but instead they sent me a packet (10 pages?) with the same information that was online and a piece of paper to sign saying I read the packet. No quiz... no training... what makes them think that people who spent less than 10 minutes on the online training will even read the packet?! (and Illinois... if you're reading this - uhh.. yeah I swear I read it...)
The whole system has become the brunt of many jokes around the university - here's a good example - our weekly happy hour email:

Dear Graduate Student,

It has been brought to our attention that you only spent 5 minutes on the state required ethics exam which you successfully passed (congratulations). To remedy this horrible ethical dilemma we feel that is necessary to make you sign a piece of paper saying that you have read 5 pages of gibberish therefore rendering you ethical from this point forward (or actually until next year at which point you become unethical again).

In addition to this, we are requiring that you attend a conference on ethics held at Jupiter's in Champaign starting at 6pm on Friday the 19th of January. At this event you must demonstrate your ethical ability to socialize and drink too much alcohol. You will not be able to continue your graduate studies and may face criminal charges if you do not comply with this request.

Sincerely,
Steve, Eric and Audrey.

And don't forget about the Star Child Skull!

WHAT IS THE "STARCHILD" SKULL? A 900 year old bone skull that many experts contend is unlike anything ever seen before. Its bone is half as thick, half as heavy, and twice as durable as it should be.