As a professor at the BioRobotics Institute at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in Pisa, Italy, I lead a team investigating soft robotics. This relatively new field of research has the potential to upend our ideas about what robots are capable of and where they can be useful. I chose to build robots that mimic the form … Read More → "Robot octopus points the way to soft robotics with eight wiggly arms"
From Yosemite National Park to the Taj Mahal, every UNESCO World Heritage Site shares something in common: They all fall under a national jurisdiction. This excludes noteworthy areas in the deep sea and open ocean from being considered for the prestigious honor. Now, a new report from UNESCO entertains the possibility of changing that with the proposal of five underwater sites.
Read More → "UNESCO considers recognizing undersea heritage sites"
Those stylish flash tattoos could do more than just look cool in the future. A team from MIT and Microsoft Research has developed a fabrication process called “DuoSkin,” which can be used to make temporary metallic tattoos that double as on-skin interfaces. MIT Media Lab already demonstrated their capability in three different ways. First, they can be used for input to control mobile devices and computers, transforming your skin into a trackpad, a … Read More → "MIT’s and Microsoft’s flash tattoos can control gadgets"
A bar, club or community space favorite, table soccer – or foosball – is fast and fun for players of all ages. But if you don’t have enough people to get in on the spin action, a development platform at the Swiss École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) may come in handy. The blue shirts are controlled by … Read More → "Robots defeat humans on foosball playing field"
Scientists recently discovered that Greenland sharks could live for as long as 400 years, making them the longest-living vertebrates on record by a huge margin. The previous record holder was the bowhead whale, which can live up to two centuries.
Greenland sharks are world-renowned scavengers that will eat pretty much anything: whale, squid, fish, even a … Read More → "400-year-old shark is the longest-living vertebrate ever"
On February 15, 2015, an Illinois woman named Nancy Carlson scored the deal of a lifetime: the bag that once contained the first-ever sample collected from the Moon was sold to her for the bargain price of $995. Now NASA is saying the transaction was a mistake, and the two parties are caught up in a legal battle surrounding the precious artifact, AP reports.
via Read More → "NASA accidentally auctioned off a piece of space history"
This is the patented Drip Drop edible ice cream cone ring. It was invented by two 14-year olds and looks like a tasteless bagel chip. It slips on any standard waffle cone to prevent melted ice cream from dripping on your fingers
via Geekologie
Read More → "Edible ice cream cone ring prevents drips, sticky fingers"
Shinobu Yoshino recently posted a photo on Twitter that takes a look at how tiny the original Godzilla monster (50m tall) would be attacking moden-day Tokyo.
via Laughing Squid
Read More → "How tiny the original Godzilla (50m tall) would look attacking modern-day Tokyo"
The golden hour occurs about one hour after sunrise or before sunset, and marks the time of day when the sun is casting a sort of soft, warm light that makes everything look spectacular. But it’s not just enough to be armed and ready with a camera when that special time arrives; you also need to know where to be. Luckily, an app called GoldenHour.One can help … Read More → "App helps you find the best time and place for golden hour photography"
NASA releasing high-res photos of the Martian surface is nothing unusual: the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRise camera has been capturing the planet on cam since 2005. This latest image dump, however, is particularly huge: it consists of over a thousand images that can familiarize you with the red planet’s many craters, impact sites, dunes, mountains, ice caps and other features. Alfred McEwen, director of the Planetary Image Research … Read More → "NASA publishes a thousand photos of Mars"
