Thinks

A single honeybee has cloned itself hundreds of millions of times

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 17:13:25 +0100

A single honeybee has cloned itself hundreds of millions of times:

Troubled workers can produce perfect clones and disrupt the nest; the queen can also produce asexually cannot perfect clones.

Sand dunes can 'communicate' with each other

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 10:42:14 +0000

Sand dunes can 'communicate' with each other:

‘Interact’ with each other would be a better term to use but a nice simple example of higher-level emergent behaviour from simple systems.

Loki is a simple simulation of a one-dimensional world populated...

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 15:27:42 +0000

Loki is a simple simulation of a one-dimensional world populated with simple coloured agents that replicate when they have enough energy. Their colour and ability to acquire energy is inherited from their parent. Over time the evolution of different coloured germlines produces continually interesting and varying patterns.

More videos, pictures, details on the simulation, installation, and all the source code at ALifeOnPi.com

Invisibility cloaks are coming; in case you haven’t seen them.

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 09:44:11 +0000

Invisibility cloaks are coming; in case you haven’t seen them.

AI-assisted todo list gamification. Would be good if the human improved and becomes progressively…

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 19:00:28 +0100

“Cognitive Prosthesis” Enhances Productivity

AI-assisted todo list gamification. Would be good if the human improved and becomes progressively less dependent on it.

Invertebrates just got cleverer… paper wasps capable of behavior...

Thu, 09 May 2019 08:55:12 +0100

Invertebrates just got cleverer… paper wasps capable of behavior that resembles logical reasoning.

Transitive inference (”If A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C”) problem solving has been demonstrated in vertebrates (monkeys, birds, fish) but not in honey bees (invertebrates).

Paper wasps can solve a transitive inference problem - something honey bees have not been able to do. Although paper wasps have a similar number of neurons as honey bees, their more complex social behaviour involves dominance hierarchies, so their transitive inference abilities could stem from their need to assess newly encountered social relationships.

(via Paper wasps capable of behavior that resembles logical reasoning – ScienceDaily)

Compliant mechanisms offer advantages in: Part count,...

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 08:18:45 +0000

Compliant mechanisms offer advantages in:
Part count,
Production processes,
Price,
Precise motion,
Performance,
Proportions,
Portability,
Predictably.

First Known Photosynthetic AnimalE. chlorotica sea slugs can...

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 11:05:23 +0000

First Known Photosynthetic Animal
E. chlorotica sea slugs can uptake chloroplasts from the alga Vaucheria litorea via epithelial cells lining the walls of their digestive system which allows them to gain energy from sunlight, like the alga does. To do this they have also needed to incorporate genes from the alga that are required to provide the chloroplasts with essential proteins that they need to function.

(via First Known Photosynthetic Animal)

Cutest robot ever.

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 23:19:40 +0000

Cutest robot ever.

Ant supercolonies can contain thousands of queen ants and cover...

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 09:35:29 +0000

Ant supercolonies can contain thousands of queen ants and cover thousands of square kilometres. Exactly how this has evolved and remains a stable strategy is not known.

(via (1) Empire of the Ants - BBC Documentary HD - YouTube)

Two different-sized ant groups working together build larger and...

Sat, 16 Feb 2019 02:18:33 +0000

Two different-sized ant groups working together build larger and more complex nests than ant groups consisting of single-size ants.

Morphology-changing robots. Interesting early steps…(via...

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 20:17:59 +0000

Morphology-changing robots. Interesting early steps…

(via Robot Melts Its Bones to Change How It Walks - IEEE Spectrum)

(via Robotic Fruit Fly Won’t Eat Your Fruit | Hackaday)

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 21:58:30 +0100

(via Robotic Fruit Fly Won’t Eat Your Fruit | Hackaday)

» PDLab – research into Parkinson’s Disease Bits and Blobs

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 17:33:12 +0100

» PDLab – research into Parkinson’s Disease Bits and Blobs

Wireless, although still ‘tethered’ to a laser beam.(via The...

Tue, 22 May 2018 09:24:16 +0100

Wireless, although still ‘tethered’ to a laser beam.

(via The first wireless flying robotic insect takes off | UW News)

IDEA - nonverbal algorithm assembly instructions

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:53:33 +0100

IDEA - nonverbal algorithm assembly instructions

(via 3D Printed Propellers Take to the Skies | Hackaday)

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 00:00:07 +0000

(via 3D Printed Propellers Take to the Skies | Hackaday)

Soft-body manta ray-inspired bot uses surrounding water as one...

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 10:20:42 +0100

Soft-body manta ray-inspired bot uses surrounding water as one of the electrodes to contract silicone pockets of hydrogel that flap the wings. It’s speedy, strong, temperature robust, wireless and almost invisible. Developed by Tiefeng Li of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Article at ScienceMag and here’s the paper.

(via Watch this flexible electronic fish speed through the water - YouTube)

Computing with spider's webs

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 10:14:41 +0000

Computing with spider's webs:

“It is known that spiders have sensitive mechanoreceptors on their legs that allow them to measure vibrations. Spiders also probe their webs by sending out vibrations and observing how it responds in form of vibration patterns. This suggests that the web is not only a static, passive structure to catch prey, but can rather actively contribute to the pattern recognition task to locate and categorize everything that is happening in the web.”

3D scanned sandpit to 360 VR racetrack. Using AR to drive an RC...

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 17:21:22 +0000

3D scanned sandpit to 360 VR racetrack. Using AR to drive an RC car with onboard 360 camera around the sandpit would also be neat! Get your Cardboard in place to best view this.