Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but whips and chains excite me.

(I suppose fiber would be a pretty kinky whip, at least to AT&T, Time-Warner and the rest of those perverts.)

The limitations of the existing manufacturing technologies really aren't in the realm of designing new parts or putting them together. It's keeping them together after the thing has been spinning for a couple thousand hours. Computerized CNC is a well advanced, constantly improving technology that works pretty well. You just don't slap a new turbine spindle in an engine and blast down the runway - you have to test it for hundreds of hours before you even put it under the wing.

So 3D 'printing' (which isn't really what this technique is) won't get you out of design and test any faster. It probably won't even help you create a one off part for an older engine - if you have drawings detailed enough to print it, you have drawings detailed enough to mill it.

Next thing you know, we're going to be printing jet engines on the Internet.....

If this guy had the technology to repair severed spinal cords, he'd already be a Nobel candidate. It is one of the Holy Grails of neurology / neurosurgery. Think of all the paraplegics and quadriplegics you could rescue using those techniques.

Millions of rats have died trying to get us that information.

Sort of depends. They could make the cut high in the brainstem, above where most of the autonomic functions are located. That would technically be *much* harder than the plain ol spinal cord - which, of course, is the hard part as it is. Just connecting the major blood vessels and bones is pretty easy all things considered.

It's just a scam to keep somebody happily screwing around in the lab, mostly torturing rodents.

And we've already discussed how dangerous that can be.

See that bright green "SUBMIT" on the title bar. It's not a request.

It's a command.

See, progress as promised!

Slashdot programmers would be my vote. That way if they screw it up, nothing of any value would be lost.

Maybe the Slashdot programmers could borrow some of this special protein and get some cortical folding going on.

Either that or just read a book on CSS.

Winsock, TCP / IP and telenet.

If it actually has a USB port, which seems doubtful given the presumptive specs - all you need is a flash drive of the smallest possible sort (160 MB!!).

Check your cereal boxes.

This IS really annoying by Apple, even if you believe nobody (or nothing) actually looks at the data. Spotlight is always wanting to send this or that out and I've spent a lot of time moderating it's bad behavior using Little Snitch.

Apple *really* should mellow out and at least shut down the conduit. Even if you opt out of web searching with Spotlight, it STILL sends stuff back to Apple.

His socks.

And just why is the QOTD 'Maybe Computer Science should be in the College of Theology"?

Maybe the computer knows something, eh?

Although the multi billion dollar price tags often dragged out and pilloried are rather inflated (see 'Hollywood accounting') it is expensive to develop - and test - a new drug. The NIH certainly has the ability to organize the testing, various biochem labs or even start ups can do the development. I'm pretty sure that there are European groups that can help out at various stages.

India, Israel and a bunch on non US companies have shown they can manufacture the pharmaceuticals.

You don't need big Pharma at all. You need the FDA to be able to license foreign drugs, you need the NIH and perhaps some other federal agencies to coordinate activities with other countries. You can cross license patents.

You know, cooperate. It's a big planet.

But most of all the US Federal Government needs some balls. They have to be able to rise above the current kleptocracy and do something right for a change.

Bah, may as well ask for a Pony.

Thought they were going to revolutionize beerkeeping.

Now this I could go for. A big green truck with one giant-assed machine zapping, sparking and beeping in the driveway. Out comes -- a machine gun mount.

That would be cool.