Greek philospher Aristotle was one of the first humans to ever study and attempt to define dreams. Aristotle believed that we lost all ‘common sense’ of what is real while we dreaming, allowing us to have indescribable visions in our heads. He was one of the first people on record to describe lucid (controllable and seemingly real) dreams, saying that “often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.”

Buddhism’s take on the issue predates Aristotle though, and those who practice this religion have consistently sought enlightenment through lucid dreaming. A main tenet of Buddhism is to follow the eightfold path; and one leg of that path is referred to as Right Mindfulness. Buddhist individuals must contemplate their state of mind, and state of phenomena in order to find reality; but how can I control my dreams without becoming Buddhist?

With gas prices at an all time high, people are scrapping their gas guzzlers for more eco-friendly bicycles. It’s tough to beat the dual benefits of toned legs and a rested wallet. While many consider riding a bike to be a smart move, there aren’t too many smart bicycles out there. A slew of big name companies are working tirelessly to change the way we get from A to B.

With advancements in current technology, we are seeing objects that were once dull and boring take new life and perform tasks our grandparents never could have dreamed of. A couple of the most recognizable brands in the world are at the forefront of a move towards smarter, more efficient surfaces around our homes.

People love their pets. Many people love their pets more than they love other people. Despite this unwavering affection, we’re still unable to communicate with them. What are they thinking? How are they feeling? Where do they want to go? Well we’re reaching a point where all of those questions may soon be answered.

The internet and the airplane have combined to tear down boundaries worldwide and fuel the globalization fire. Standing on two continents in one day was absolutely unfathomable even one hundred years ago. Businesses are now thriving with a global reach, while the Earth is currently at the most peaceful time in it’s history. Communication and collaboration brought upon by technology have been fundamental to this shift.

These two history-changing inventions that accelerated globalization on it’s current path are the new inspiration for taking humanity to the next level. A patented transportation concept that is as lightning quick and connected as the internet is gaining funding, and prototypes are set for the immediate future. Evacuated tube transport will rock your world.

Over the last few decades, we have become unbelievably spoiled with technology. Everything is becoming faster, slimmer, lighter and more efficient. The materials that we produce our gadgets with are becoming more impressive seemingly by the day.

By now you’ve probably heard of graphene, if not you can read more about it’s potential capabilities here. Graphene has been lauded as the perfect future material for our technological needs, but it does have one major flaw: it conducts electricity too well at this point to be used in electronics. Graphene in it’s purest form is unable to control the electricity flowing through it; it would thus be difficult to make future gadgets out of it. Fortunately, there have been a couple of recent major breakthroughs in the supermaterial realm including a genetic modification to graphene and a material cousin. Both hold a lot of promise for the future of sweet gadgets.

When the first sports were conceived, the athletes involved just played the game. In the 21st century, that has all changed. Sports are now a science. Instead of just taking it play by play, we analyze, study, graph and dissect. There are now metrics in every sport that can pinpoint the ultimate weaknesses of any team or individual.

Teams and coaches aren’t the only ones trying to get an edge, performance clothing companies are conducting seemingly ridiculous tests to produce the most efficient clothes, shoes, and accessories possible. Nike, being the number one sporting good company in the world, is at the forefront of future performance research. In this particular case, they’ve taken a page from an unlikely sport to produce the fastest performance running wear in history. The discovery is set to make it’s debut at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London.

While apps and alarm clocks that predict the weather and help you prepare for a trip are convenient, who really likes guessing what that means to the body? Wouldn’t you rather just feel for yourself?

A young prodigy engineer and designer named Robb Godshaw is heading a project that changes the way we see, err feel, weather forecasts. Robb has a history of thinking outside the box, and his latest endeavor is no different. Godshaw has created an aluminum box with a metal haptic (touch) senor on top that is capable of duplicating temperatures in “the most extreme climates on Earth.” He is calling it the Cryoscope, and it can let you feel temperatures ranging from freezing to 108° fahrenheit.

With the recent explosion of electronic music rocking nightclubs worldwide, many mainstream artists have moved to incorporating the same types of themes into their music in order to stay popular.

Rising stars such as Avicii, David Guetta, Skrillex, and many others have even recently began collaborating with pop and hip-hop artists to add catchy verses and hooks to the exciting beats that they produce to capture the largest audience possible. Mainstream mainstays such as Britney Spears, Usher, Lil Wayne, and countless others have been prominently featured on major electronic, dance and dub step tracks that have become global sensations. While these collaborations provide for exciting, larger than life club anthems, impressing audiences with well thought out and meaningful lyrics has become a lost art.

Astounde covered a story in February about how Google, along with Audi, BMW and others are deep into testing of a car that not only parks itself, but drives itself. Advancements in GPS and motion sensing technology have made this dream a reality. News then came in late March that a man lacking 95% of his vision, “drove” a car for the first time in a long time. We now have a glimpse at what the official license plates of these vehicles will look like, and we can soon expect to see them cruising beside us on the interstate.