I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But in all probability, we live in a century too little advanced, and too near the infancy of science, to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection. Benjamin Franklin in 1773 WIRED

NASA Funds Sci-Fi Technology The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) funds long-range,wild ideas, such as a space elevator, shape-shifting space suits, antimatter-powered probes to Alpha Centauri, Robotic armada to destroy incoming asteroids, and a way to move a hurricane with satellite-beamed microwave energy....IBID

Hydrogen Cars The Department of Energy has found that nanotechnology could reduce the high costs of hydrogen cars by developing revolutionary ways of producing and storing hydrogen.

Hydrogen stores energy more effectively than batteries, burns twice as efficiently in a fuel cell as gasoline does in an engine, and produces a single waste product, water. Kurzweil Newsletter

Reef burials. We’ve reported previously on the ingenious ways we Americans treat our deceased. Here’s another! Eternal Reef’s Inc. takes cremated remains, mixes them with cement, and forms them into balls resembling igloos with holes to provide hiding places for fish. In late April, just off Ft. Lauderdale, reef balls containing the ashes of 16 people were lowered 65 feet to the ocean floor. The company, located in Atlanta, Georgia offers a number of models, the most expensive is a 4000 pounder that sells for $4995. (delivered?) FLORIDA TODAY

Does your doctor wear a tie? Researchers at New York Hospital Medical Center sampled ties from doctors, assistants and medical students. Half the ties contained disease carrying bacteria. By contrast, only 1 of 10 tie wearing security guards tested positive. Ibid.