The global economy hasn’t just opened up new markets for humans, it’s been a catalyst for bringing species to into habitats where they don’t belong. Biologists have recorded the many places where these invasives have thrown foreign ecosystems into disorder. However, there hasn’t been a lot of research that looks at how globalization has changed the way we calculate biodiversity.

A … Read More → "How global shipping could change our understanding of biodiversity"

Early last year, we wrote up some betentacled research from Greece that explored what gaits were most effective at propelling a robotic octopus through water. The researchers commented that they were working on adding another physical feature flaunted by the biological version of the octopus: a web between their tentacles, which they hypothesized might help swimming speed or efficiency. Now the researchers report that the addition of a soft and supple silicone web has nearly doubled … Read More → "Robot octopus takes to the sea"

ETH Zurich’s Flying Machine Arena has spawned all kinds of mind blowingquadrotor tricks over the years, so it’s not at all surprising that it’s also spawned a spin-off performance company to take some of those tricks out into the world for the rest of us to enjoy. Verity Studios is combining ETH Zurich’s experience with precision flying robots with the wild imaginations … Read More → "Flying lampshadeBots come alive in Cirque du Soleil performance"

Ever notice how all the faces are blurred in Google Street View photos? That happens thanks to a privacy-enabling robot. But it’s not a perfect robot. The Google Street View robot not only blurs the faces of humans but also of statues, despite the fact that statues have no notion of privacy. Makes you think, … Read More → "Google street view is blurring the faces of ancient gods and statues"

Jordan Husney and Sasha Wright’s remote controlled venus flytrap, displayed at World Maker Faire in New York.  With the help of an Arduino board, a press of a button can command the flytrap to close!

Visitors to World Maker Faire in New York stop at the Brooklyn Robot Foundry booth to play a robotic theremin violin.  Moving a hand in front of the sensor triggers the robot fingers to press on the strings and operate the bow.

Diagnosing depression can be a difficult task, currently relying on patients reporting symptoms – something those suffering depression don’t always do – and doctors correctly interpreting them – which isn’t easy as the symptoms are non-specific. Now researchers have developed a blood test to diagnose depression in adults, providing the first objective, scientific diagnosis for the condition.

Earlier this year, a team from the University of Vienna revealed that measuring the … Read More → "Blood test provides first objective diagnosis of depression in adults"

According to a study published this month in the American Journal of Political Science, research has shown that people tend to wind up with mates who share their political beliefs, but they’ve been unable to figure out how. Strangely, it doesn’t appear as though it’s caused by deliberately seeking out like-minded individuals, but it may have to … Read More → "Science says you can smell a person’s political views"

Dorothea Lange – Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936)

The photographer Sandro Miller contacted the famous actor John Malkovich to pitch his novel premise for a project: Miller would duplicate iconic photographic portraits using Malkovich as the subject. Malkovich would have to dress up a bit, wear makeup, or even be naked. He would become Andy Warhol, Albert Einstein, John Lennon, and other people captured for posterity by the … Read More → "Artist recreates famous photographs with John Malkovich"

This time last year, I walked into a Toronto store called Moog Audio and walked out with a Teenage Engineering OP-1—a curious little portable digital synthesizer that looks, at first glance, like a child’s toy. It has a row of just four candy-colored knobs as primary input controls, and there are only enough keys for an octave-and-a-half’s worth of range. But damn does it ever sound … Read More → "50 years of Moog, the analog synth that still beats 1s and 0s"