Homely Scientist

Making artificial limbs work like the original has been a lofty goal for years.  Hooks, pulleys, servos, all sorts of gadgets to make fingers and wrists move and respond.  Until now, that’s been the limit, but now inspired by the elephant’s trunk, a breakthrough has been made:
It’s not often you see a piece of tech touted by its developer as being inspired by something “long, gray, and soft,” but that’s exactly how the researchers at Germany’s prolific Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Institute are describing their ISELLA robotic arms. Inspired by the finesse and power of an elephant’s trunk, the team developed a …read more

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How would you like to have a device that generates electricity just from the vibrations that are all around us?  How about if this device were smaller enough to be used in lots of small devices?  Making things like wireless transmitters small, cheap, and self-powered?  It’s a reality now:
The trick with this generator is efficiency: Its vibrating magnets are 10 times better at generating current than other machines of this sort. The obvious use for this is in wireless sensors, that currently use batteries that need to be replaced, and therefore must be located in accessible spots. With a vibration …read more

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What do you think of this?
This creature, apparently a half-squid, half-octopus, was found off Hawaii’s Big Island. Possibly a newly-discovered species, it was accidentally sucked up into a deep-sea water pipeline from a depth of 3,000 feet. Researchers at the Natural Energy Laboratory, where the pipeline leads, found the animal trapped in a filter. From the Honolulu Star Bulletin: Source: Boing Boing: Possible “octosquid” discovered
Unfortunately it turned out that it was just a rare squid short two tentacles
Technorati Tags: octosquid

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When I was studying human origins in college (my first Anthro class, btw) we were just beginning to understand the range and depth of our primate cousins.  This is new research sheds some light onto how we managed not to all be eaten by lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!):
A new study supports the theory that chimps can be altruistic just like people. Children as young as 18 months-old also seem to help adults, even strangers, without any immediate benefit to themselves. According to psychologist Felix Warneken of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, altruism goes back as far …read more

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It’s summer. which in this neck of the woods means wasp and hornet season (they are different, btw).  Well I’m glad these buggers aren’t around here:
A few interesting notes on Vespa mandarinia’s venom and stinger:* The venom contains at least eight distinct chemicals, some of which damage tissue, some of which cause pain, and at least one which has an odor that attracts more hornets to the victim.* The venom contains 5% acetylcholine, a greater concentration than is present in bee or other wasp venoms. Acetylcholine stimulates the pain nerve fibres, intensifying the pain of the sting.* Vespa mandarinia uses …read more

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 This is so simple you’ll be amazed it works.  And the chemistry/physics behind this also keep you from falling on your tush in the winter:

He took 6 hot beers from my garage and he placed them into a steel pot from the kitchen
He tossed in enough ice cubes to completely cover the beer
He then filled the pot with water
Next, and this is the trick, he tossed in (what must have been) 2 cups of table salt.
He took a large wooden spoon and stirred this thing up to be sure the salt dissolved.
He placed the concoction into the freezer and in …read more

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Need a daily dose of ideas to help save energy (and the planet…but that is such a huge concept, too distant for many…stick to stuff closer to home and you)?  Check out LiveEarth’s Twitter feed:
Shading windows. It can lower your home’s temperature and reduce your cooling costs by 30%. Source: Twitter / LiveEarth070707
This tip is especially good right now as the hottest part of the summer is coming our way in the Northern Hemisphere (the Dog Day … which are named such because Sirius the Dog Star become visible this time of year).  Another great one is to put a …read more

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Yawning is an interesting activity.  Just thinking about it has made me yawn twice as I’ve written about it.  Seeing other people, and sometimes other mammals, yawn will trigger it.  So what’s the point?  Turns out it is to wake you up and trigger your brain into action:
Yawning is not something we usually aim to provoke among our readers, but have a yawn now. Does your brain feel cooler? Do you feel more attentive? According to psychologists Andrew Gallup and Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York at Albany, that is why we yawn: to boost blood flow …read more

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About 10,000 years ago humans started domesticating plants and animals–commonly called the Agricultural Revolution.  In doing this people had to stop their nomadic/hunter-gatherer ways and settle down.  Yes, animals were domesticated first in all likelihood–much easier to move your cow/sheep/goat/horse/dog with you as you move than a patch of grains growing.
Settling down and the development of agriculture is generally seen as the first step to modern human society.  People found they had time to do other things and the need to invent things (plows, pumps, more and different tools)–it all started from there.
One of the big questions has always been …read more

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Although this sounds like something out of Star Trek, or a bad horror movie, scientists in Israel have developed a robot small enough to travel through your bloodstream:
Two Israeli scientists may have created the catalyst for a medical revolution with their new project: a tiny, 1-millimeter-diameter robot which is capable of crawling through human veins and arteries. The bot can cling to vessel walls using small, powerful arms which protrude from a hub in its center. Manned control is accomplished by using a magnetic field outside of the body, and the robot is able to swim against the flow …read more

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