Just some quick technology news before I return to my studious activities.

• Scientists in Japan have created a metallic exoskeleton designed to facilitate movement and interface machine-assisted labour. The movie is very cool (Mechwarrior here we come).
• Black hole ripples to the tune of Bb - 54 octaves below the lowest key on a Piano!
• Australian sports scientists (!) have (conclusively?) linked a gene to athletic performance. The gene boosts production of angiotensin-converting enzyme, which can affect the efficiency at which muscles grow and burn oxygen. Needless to say, this gene is recessive in my family.
• NASA has begun conceptualisation of the next-generation of shuttle orbiter spacecraft. The new shuttles will be much more lightweight and replace their aging counterparts.
• Marshall Brain has written an interesting account of the feasibility of a robot worker economy. If you're expecting a Marxist account, you may be disappointed; it's mostly economics, with a few major assumptions.
• An interesting article about the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, from the perspective of a computer nerd. Insightful in places, but cursory at best (and poorly written at worst).
• In a scheme along the lines of Philip K Dick's Minority Report, American criminologists are using massive amounts of data gathered from two jurisdictions to model (and eventually predict) outbreaks of crime. Of course, in order to be at all effective, there would be many millions of variables to consider.
• Lastly, NYTimes (registration required) has a brief overview of the present state of string theory. An excellent introduction for the layperson.

There are clearly many interesting discoveries and advancements being made at the moment; just a few days seems sufficient to start falling behind the cutting edge! Thankyou to everyone who sent in links, but now it is time to return to the joys of revising inhomogeneous differential equations for an exam on Monday. Hopefully I'll have time to perform another roundup afterward.