Science Microblog

jtotheizzoe:

A “RoboBee” and a synthetic insect eye reported in the same week? Sounds like a full-fledged man-made insect is just around the corner!

University of Illinois-UC researchers built a synthetic compound eye that, instead of focusing on the central field of view like our eyes, can discern depth and shape along its full scope. The resolution is only about that of a rather small ant, but there’s hope it could one day include as many facets as a bee or dragonfly eye. That research is reported in Nature. 

And in this week’s Science, Harvard roboticists report the first controlled flight of a coin-size miniature aerial vehicle (MAV) based on the flight physics of insect wings. The construction is based on that used to make pop-up books, an odd advance in micro-building techniques that gave them the precision needed to get it off the ground. The wings aren’t as flexible or functional as real insect wings, but it’s the smallest piloted vehicle ever made. That research is reported in this week’s Science. 

Now we just need to extend that compound eye camera’s sensitivity into the UV range, attach it to the RoboBee, and we’ll finally be able to see flowers like we imagined in this YouTube episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart  (and maybe synthetically pollinate them!!)

I, for one, welcome our tiny, buzzing underlings.

wha tthe hell

(via thescienceofreality)

laughingsquid:

Jack White’s Third Man Record Booth Allows Fans to Record Themselves Live Onto Vinyl

i need to go!

laboratoryequipment:

Pesticides Cause More Damage than Believed

Soil organisms, aquatic life and farmland birds may all be harmed by neonicotinoid insecticides, according to a new study by Univ. of Sussex biologist Prof. Dave Goulson.

Neonicotinoid insecticides have been in the news because of growing concern that they are linked to serious declines in bee species – resulting in a two-year EU ban in April 2013 of three neonicotinoids commonly used in Europe. But Goulson’s study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, draws together data from diverse sources including the agrochemical industry’s own research and reveals that harm to bees may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/06/pesticides-cause-more-damage-believed

laughingsquid:

Czech Company Creates Operational Flying Bicycle

Natalie
Torreón, Coahuila.

laboratoryequipment:

Method Turns Ocean Water into Hydrogen Fuel

Univ. of Wollongong scientists have developed a novel way to turn sea water into hydrogen, for a sustainable and clean fuel source.

Using this method, as little as five liters of sea water per day would produce enough hydrogen to power an average-sized home and an electric car for one day.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/06/method-turns-ocean-water-hydrogen-fuel

tastefullyoffensive:

New Facebook privacy options. [via

simon, putos,

(via kenobi-wan-obi)

infinity-imagined:

Patterns on Mars

(via likeaphysicist)

pleatedjeans:

smbc comics

(via physicistsneedlovetoo)

Jupiter From Beneath

Jupiter’s southern hemisphere is rendered into a mass of concentric cloud patterns in this unusual view, constructed from data gathered with the Cassini spaceprobe during its December 2000 fly-by of the giant planet. The image stitches together data from 36 separate exposures taken over the course of nine hours as the spaceprobe passed by some 10 million kilometres (6.2 million miles) away. Despite an equatorial diameter 11 times larger than Earth’s, Jupiter rotates in less than ten hours, wrapping high- and low-pressure weather systems into parallel bands around the equator.

(Source: christinetheastrophysicist, via sagansense)

questionall:

http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/05/monsanto-loses-in-europe.html

(via science-and-logic)

vicemag:

theheritagefoundation:

We had to do it.

these guys get it

(Source: aquaticwonder)