Foreseeing a time when a patient's own cells may be harvested, multiplied, and fashioned into a replacement organ, researchers in Boston have successfully transplanted laboratory grown bladders (肾) into six dogs.

For a century, physicians have replaced diseased or damaged bladders by removing sections of a person's intestines (肠子）and shaping them into a substitute bladder. While the procedure offers some relief to patients, complications often develop because nature designs intestinal tissue for a purpose-absorbing nutrients-other than holding waste liquid of the body. “You start absorbing stuff that should be removed," says Anthony Atala of the Children's Hospital in Boston.

Other physicians have turned to human-made materials to create artificial bladders, but those efforts have also run into problems. Consequently, to build a better bladder, Atala and his colleagues decided to employ the organ's own cells.

To turn the cells into an organ, the researchers first form plastic which can break down naturally into bladder-shaped shell. They then coat its outside and inside with layers of cells needed.

To test this strategy, Atala's group obtained bladder tissue from dogs and grew it into organs. After removing the dogs' bladders, the investigators implanted(移植）the artificial ones coming from the dogs' own cells. Within a month, the organs began to perform like normal bladders.

Within three months, the plastic shells had broken down naturally, and the implanted organs were hard to distinguish from natural ones, Blood vessels(血管） quickly grew into them. Moreover, nerves seem to form proper connections with the new organs, allowing the dogs to regain normal control of their bladders. Some dogs have had the artificial bladders for nearly a year without any problems nearly a year without any problems.

While the bladders of dogs closely resemble those of people, Atala warns that more testing of this transplant strategy must occur before artificial bladders are ready for the clinic.

Twenty-four-year-old Ohio boy Ian Burkhart lost all hope of being able to move his limbs(肢）again after a tragic diving accident left him disabled six years ago. But on April 13,doctors from the Ohio State University and Battelle Memorial Institute reported that for the first time in medical history, they had been able to restore movement to the young man’s fingers without the use of external prosthetics (修复学）. This means that Ian can perform tasks like brushing his teeth , pouring water into a glass and even playing Guitar Hero by just thinking about them. They are amazing achievements for someone whose body has been totally lifeless for many years.

Ian was vacationing at the beach when he dived into a shallow wave. The impact of hitting the sandy bottom caused extensive damage to his spine (脊椎），leaving the young boy disabled from the chest (胸部)down. Fortunately for Ian, just 25 minutes away from his hometown of Dublin, some researchers at the Battelle Memorial Institute were developing Neurolife - a technology that enables the disabled to move their limbs with the power of their thoughts.

The experiment was not without danger. Even if the operation was successful, there was no guarantee (保证)that the technology would work given that it had never been tested on a human before. However, these problems did not discourage Ian. He said，“I knew I was going to be taken care of，and something is going to come along to help people like me eventually. “The technology now only works when Ian’s hand is connected to the computers in the lab. Dr. Ali Rezai, a researcher, says, your final goal is to help all people with disabilities become more independent and have control.”

Fairy tales focus on creating a fantasy world to the reader encouraging imagination and teaching problem-solving skills. It is equally important that they provide influential moral lessons, highlighting the dangers of failing to follow the social codes that let human beings coexist in harmony. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes it has found a way to use the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (artificial intelligence) can take to its cold and mechanical heart.

The collected stories of different cultures teach children how to behave in socially acceptable ways with examples of proper and improper behavior in fairy tales, novels and other literature. We believe story comprehension in robots can eliminate the immoral behavior of the the intelligent robots, which was predicted and feared by some of the biggest names in technology including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. This system is called “Quixote” (堂吉诃德). It collects story plots from the Internet and then uses those stories to teach robots how to behave.

The experiment done by the designers involves going to a drugstore to purchase some medicine for a human who needs to get it as soon as possible. The robot has three options. It can wait in line; it can interact with the store keeper politely and purchase the medicine with priority; or it can steal the medicine and escape. Without any further directives (指令), the robot will come to the conclusion that the most efficient means of obtaining the medicine is to steal it. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a punishment for stealing it. In this way, the robot will learn the moral way to behave on that occasion.

Quixote would run best on a robot that has a very limited function. It’s a baby step in the direction of teaching more moral lessons into robots. We believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the values of a particular society, and in doing so, it will strive to avoid unacceptable behavior. Giving robots the ability to read and understand our stories may be the most efficient means.