Tomatoes, melons, cucumbers grown on thin films

Who needs soil when you can grow crops on film? Japan's Mebiol is growing a Garden of Eden of sorts on its thin hydro-membranes, which are only microns thick.

As the vid below shows, the firm's Integrated Membrane Culture, or IMEC (PDF), is a technology for farming using a substrate that's made from hydrogels. No soil is needed, as the plants absorb water and nutrients from the film.

The greens can grow considerably if liquid nutrients are given to them from above and below, through the film, according to Yuichi Mori of Mebiol and Waseda University.

The film looks like regular plastic wrap but is full of nano-size holes. It prevents bacteria and viruses from harming the plants, so chemicals aren't needed.

An impermeable ground film prevents any soil contaminants from reaching the plants, so it can be used anywhere. Mori and collaborators even grew tomatoes in the desert of Dubai using the films. … Read more

EEG headset makes surfing brain's waves easier

A prototype wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) headset debuts this week at the Medical Device and Manufacturing conference and exhibition in Anaheim, Calif., and European developers IMEC and Holst Centre say it could lead to not just neuro-feedback but improved safety (no more sleeping behind the wheel) and entertainment (real-time video game adjustments based on the user's mood).

Currently, recording the brain's electrical activity involves having subjects sit in a lab or hospital room and perform activities over 20 or so minutes with electrodes placed via gel all over their scalp.

So as strange as this prototype headgear may look, the advantages are numerous: ultralow power electronics, dry electrodes, wireless real-time transmission of high-quality EEG signals to a receiver within 10 meters, and the ability to record activity in real-life scenarios.

Side effects may include, but are not limited to, people staring and asking unsolicited questions, which may or may not interfere with EEG results.… Read more