Hasta La Gadget!

If, like us, you spend most of your time wondering exactly what’s going on in other people’s heads, then this video is for you. Okay, so it might not reveal the reason why that jerk cut you off at the junction, or why that co-worder didn’t show up to your date exactly, rather, it’s a little more literal than that. This is video footage of proteins moving within a single neuron. The USC researchers were able to capture this video by using bioluminescent proteins from a jellyfish to visually track their movement. Not only is this mind-boggling to the layperson (just think how small these things are) it’s also mind-revealing. By that, we mean it gives scientists an opportunity to observe how these tiny, yet vital, cerebral elements restore themselves. Which, when you’re constantly worried about the amount of grey matter you were blessed with in the first place, can only be a good thing.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Video of protein movement within a neuron shows how our brains renew themselves originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may not be familiar with the word bonobo, but I’d wager most of us know what a chimpanzee is. A bonobo is a member of the chimpanzee family and was previously called the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee. Confusion on the name aside, a genius bonobo named Kanzi has begun making his own stone tools similar to tools early humans made.

Researcher Eviatar Nevo from the University of Haifa in Israel and colleagues have been presenting Kanzi with problems that the animal has solved. Kanzi is a 30-year-old male bonobo chimp, and he has made some sophisticated and interesting solutions to problems presented to him. The researchers gave Kanzi food sealed inside of a log that mimics bone marrow inside of a long bone.

Another male companion chip studied was also presented with the same problem. The second chimp tried to retrieve the faux marrow from inside the log a handful of times and eventually resorted to smashing the log on the ground. Kanzi on the other hand took a longer and more sophisticated approach.

He inserted sticks into the seams on the log to try to split it, threw projectiles that it, and used stone flints, choppers, drills, and scrapers. Kanzi’s sophisticated approach allowed him to get food out of 24 logs while his not as intelligent companion only managed to get food out of two logs. According to the researchers, the most remarkable thing about the tools Kanzi created was their resemblance to the tools created by early hominids. It’s worth noting that researchers have previously taught both chimps to knap flint flakes. However, Kanzi’s companion was unable to put his tool-making prowess to use in retrieving the food from log.

[via New Scientist]

Genius bonobo chimp creates stone tools like early hominids is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When I was a kid, I was a cub scout and the only thing I remember that was cool from the experience was the magazine that came with the membership. The coolest thing about that magazine wasn’t the articles or puzzles. The cool part was the ads in the back for things like x-ray glasses and this awesome DIY hover vehicle powered by a vacuum cleaner motor. Sadly, my mother would never let me take her vacuum apart to build one, but if Aerofex is successful with its hover vehicle, I won’t need a vacuum.

The Aerofex hover vehicle looks similar to the hover bike we talked about last year. The main difference is rather than one geek working on the project, Aerofex is a company that hopes to commercialize the technology. One of the most interesting parts is that Aerofex has solved some of the instability issues plaguing similar earlier designs and says operation of the vehicle is so simple no pilot training is required.

Rather than having wheels like a normal motorcycle, the Aerofex vehicle has a pair of ducted rotors. The company has addressed stability issues in the design using a mechanical system with two control bars located at the rider’s knee level. Those control bars allow the vehicle to respond to the pilots leaning movements and natural sense of balance.

Control of the bike is handled mechanically with no electronics or artificial intelligence flight software required. That should make the bike more robust, cheaper to purchase and operate, and safer. Aerofex has crushed my dreams somewhat because the company doesn’t plan to develop and sell versions design for people to ride to start with. The company envisions the vehicle as a test platform for new unmanned drones.

[via Space.com]

Aerofex hover bike is the coolest vehicle ever is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When they’re not breaking world records, fuel-hating Wave Glider seabots like to indulge in other hobbies, like shark tracking. One of the vessels has just been launched off the coast near San Francisco (vid after the break), adding a mobile worker to the existing local network of buoy-mounted receivers. They monitor the movements of electronically tagged sea life, including the fearsome Great White, picking up signals within a 1,000-foot range while researchers from Stanford University analyze the data from the safety of the shore. Better still, the free Shark Net iOS app gives anyone the chance to track these things, and activity should increase as the monitoring network (hopefully) expands along the west coast and more bots are introduced. You didn’t think the world’s fascination sharks was limited to only a single single week, did you?

Continue reading Autonomous Wave Glider bot launched to track sharks, beam real-time data to your iPhone and iPad

Filed under: Robots, Science, Software

Autonomous Wave Glider bot launched to track sharks, beam real-time data to your iPhone and iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Aug 2012 19:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the last times we saw the concept of a self-recharging battery, it was part of a high-minded Nokia patent whose ideas still haven’t seen the light of day. Researchers at Georgia Tech are more inclined to put theory into practice. Starting from a regular lithium-ion coin battery, the team has replaced the usual divider between electrodes with a polyvinylidene difluoride film whose piezoelectric nature produces a charging action inside that gap through just a little pressure, with no outside voltage required to make the magic happen. The developers have even thumbed their noses at skeptics by very literally walking the walk — slipping the test battery under a shoe sole gives it a proper dose of energy with every footstep. At this stage, the challenge mostly involves ramping up the maximum power through upgrades such as more squeezable piezoelectrics. Georgia Tech hasn’t progressed so far as to have production plans in mind; it’s nonetheless close enough that we could see future forms of wearable computing that rarely need an electrical pick-me-up.

Filed under: Wearables, Science

Georgia Tech develops self-charging battery that marches to the owner’s beat originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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