I guess any surgical robot is bound to be a little gross, but this picture of the i-Snake wrapped around a human heart is a little too Whitley Streiber for my tastes. The thing was invented at the Imperial College of London, where they decided a long tube filled with motors, sensors and imaging tools would help doctors root around your guts without having to leave too many scars. Even more frightening, it can be used for "Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery." You know what that means. The same team is reportedly working on a new "gray surgical mask" with magnifying almond-shaped black lenses.

Via BBC