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Categories: Engineering: Robotics Research, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published Stronger tape engineered through the art of cutting
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What if you could make adhesives both strong and easily removable? This seemingly paradoxical combination of properties could dramatically change applications in robotic grasping, wearables for health monitoring, and manufacturing for assembly and recycling. A team has adapted kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of cutting paper, into a method for increasing the adhesive bond of ordinary tape by 60 times. Developing such adhesives may not by that far off through the latest research conducted by the team of Michael Bartlett, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, and published in Nature Materials on June 22.
Published DNA can fold into complex shapes to execute new functions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source DNA can mimic protein functions by folding into elaborate, three-dimensional structures, according to a new study.
Published Worms use electricity to jump
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In nature, smaller animals often attach themselves to larger ones to 'hitch a ride' and save energy migrating large distances. Researchers show how microscopic Caenorhabditis elegans worms can use electric fields to 'jump' across Petri plates or onto insects, allowing them to glide through the air and attach themselves, for example, onto naturally charged bumblebee chauffeurs.
Published These long-necked reptiles were decapitated by their predators, fossil evidence confirms
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In the age of dinosaurs, many marine reptiles had extremely long necks compared to reptiles today. While it was clearly a successful evolutionary strategy, paleontologists have long suspected that their long-necked bodies made them vulnerable to predators. Now, after almost 200 years of continued research, direct fossil evidence confirms this scenario for the first time in the most graphic way imaginable.
Published New dinosaur discovered: Ankylosaurs may have been far more diverse than originally thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source First armoured dinosaur to be described from the Isle of Wight in 142 years, shows Ankylosaurs may have been far more diverse than originally thought
Published Ants have a specialized communication processing center that has not been found in other social insects
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Have you ever noticed an ant in your home, only to find that a week later the whole colony has moved in? The traps you set up catch only a few of these ants, but soon, the rest of the colony has mysteriously disappeared. Now, a study explores how certain danger-signaling pheromones -- the scent markers ants emit to communicate with each other -- activate a specific part of the ants' brains and can change the behavior of an entire nest.
Published Metamaterials with built-in frustration have mechanical memory
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered how to design materials that necessarily have a point or line where the material doesn't deform under stress, and that even remember how they have been poked or squeezed in the past. These results could be used in robotics and mechanical computers, while similar design principles could be used in quantum computers.
Published The life below our feet: Team discovers microbes thriving in groundwater and producing oxygen in the dark
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A survey of groundwater samples drawn from aquifers beneath more than 80,000 square miles of Canadian prairie reveals ancient groundwaters harbor not only diverse and active microbial communities, but also unexpectedly large numbers of microbial cells. Strikingly, some of these microbes seem to produce 'dark oxygen' (in the absence of sunlight) in such abundance that the oxygen may nourish not only those microbes, but may leak into the environment and support other oxygen-reliant microbes that can't produce it themselves.
Published Hybrid AI-powered computer vision combines physics and big data
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have laid out a new approach to enhance artificial intelligence-powered computer vision technologies by adding physics-based awareness to data-driven techniques. The study offered an overview of a hybrid methodology designed to improve how AI-based machinery sense, interact and respond to its environment in real time -- as in how autonomous vehicles move and maneuver, or how robots use the improved technology to carry out precision actions.
Published First side-necked turtle ever discovered in UK
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The first side-necked turtle ever to be found in the UK has been discovered by an amateur fossil collector and palaeontologists.
Published Skipping evolution: Some kangaroos didn't hop
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Extinct kangaroos used alternative methods to their famous hop according to comprehensive analysis.
Published Four-legged robot traverses tricky terrains thanks to improved 3D vision
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a new model that trains four-legged robots to see more clearly in 3D. The advance enabled a robot to autonomously cross challenging terrain with ease -- including stairs, rocky ground and gap-filled paths -- while clearing obstacles in its way.
Published Mori3: A polygon shape-shifting robot for space travel
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By combining inspiration from the digital world of polygon meshing and the biological world of swarm behavior, the Mori3 robot can morph from 2D triangles into almost any 3D object. The research shows the promise of modular robotics for space travel.
Published Octopuses rewire their brains to adapt to seasonal temperature shifts
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Octopuses don't thermoregulate, so their powerful brains are exposed to -- and potentially threatened by -- changes in temperature. Researchers report that two-spot octopuses adapt to seasonal temperature shifts by producing different neural proteins under warm versus cool conditions. The octopuses achieve this by editing their RNA, the messenger molecule between DNA and proteins. This rewiring likely protects their brains, and the researchers suspect that this unusual strategy is used widely amongst octopuses and squid.
Published Chatgpt designs a robot
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Poems, essays and even books -- is there anything the OpenAI platform ChatGPT can't handle? These new AI developments have inspired researchers to dig a little deeper: For instance, can ChatGPT also design a robot? And is this a good thing for the design process, or are there risks?
Published New dino, 'Iani,' was face of a changing planet
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A newly discovered plant-eating dinosaur may have been a species' 'last gasp' during a period when Earth's warming climate forced massive changes to global dinosaur populations.
Published Water molecules define the materials around us
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new paper argues that materials like wood, bacteria, and fungi belong to a newly identified class of matter, 'hydration solids.' The new findings emerged from ongoing research into the strange behavior of spores, dormant bacterial cells.
Published To groom or not to groom: 'Triage' in the ant kingdom
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Social ants are masters of cooperative disease defense. They collectively take care of each other to prevent the spread of infections within a colony. But how does an individual ant know whom it should groom? A multidisciplinary team of researchers combined experimental and theoretical approaches to get a detailed look into ants' sanitary decision-making.
Published Sponge makes robotic device a soft touch
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A simple sponge has improved how robots grasp, scientists have found.
Published When pigeons dream
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Dreams have been considered a hallmark of human sleep for a long time. Latest findings, however, suggest that when pigeons sleep, they might experience visions of flight. Researchers studied brain activation patterns in sleeping pigeons, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The study revealed that similar to mammals, most of the brain is highly active during REM sleep. However, this wake-like state might come at a cost of reduced waste removal from the brain.