Minecraft Light-Up Redstone Ore available at Thinkgeek
Pole Climbing Snake Robot Can Also Crawl Up Your Arm
via 33rdsquare:
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have added a new climbing model to their array of snake robots, or hyper redundant robots as they call them. In a new video posted online, the newest robot snake climbs up poles automatically and even makes its way up a researcher’s arm.
Artificial jellyfish created from rat heart tissue and silicone
via popsci:
Despite being one of the most alien-looking things on Earth, the mechanism jellyfish use to swim is similar in some ways to the beating human heart. That inspired researchers to build a sort of cyborg jellyfish from the ground up, using heart muscle cells from a rat and silicone polymer. And it’s actually only a little more odd-looking than a regular jelly.
The heart cells harvested from the rat were grown onto the silicone. When an electric current is sent through the water, the jellyfish—named “Medusoid”—contracts in a way that mimics a heart. The technique could eventually lead to scientists creating bio-engineered systems for humans, such as a pacemaker that works without batteries. The jellyfish could also make a good vessel for testing heart drugs before they’re used on humans.
[read more @popsci @gizmag @kurzweilai @coexist] [Harvard University] [paper]
