CUBED

Log on now and read the new October edition of cubed - www.britishcouncil.org/cubed

If you ever use a gym and run on the treadmill, you might have used the bar which tells you your heart rate. A little red heartbeat pumps away on the monitor, telling you where your numbers sit on a range of fitness levels. This issue of Cubed is all about the human body, attaching new things to it, finding new ways to allow it to send messages to us, or measuring its physical excitement.
Not so long ago those sci-fi movies showing astronauts with sensors and wires linked to machines conveyed the idea that these spacemen were some new breed of human, medicine keeping them in peak condition. Now, with scientists such as Dr Dewar Finlay and Dr Chris Nugent at the University of Ulster working on t-shirts that monitor heart rate and could help save lives, ‘biometrics’ as it’s called, is reaching a new level.

Even more dramatically the team at the University College London Centre for Biomedical Engineering is exploring the possibility of using metal implants enabling more sophisticated artificial limbs, using electrodes to give better control. We also look at an exploration of how the body responds to being thrilled currently taking place at London’s Science Museum.

Here at cubed we keep you up-to-date with the science that’s shaping our society and bringing a new dimension to everyday life. We give you the latest innovations in fashion and music, design and digital, film and life, to bring you the products and ideas that will change our world - prepare to be cubed....