Researchers in Australia have created flexible material with nanoscale glass structures that
can manipulate light.
A potential precursor to smart contact lenses that display information.
And RetroSense Therapeutics will inject viruses loaded with the DNA of light-sensitive algae
into the eye of a legally blind person in the hopes of restoring their sight, in black
and white.
Vsauce!
Kevin here - this is Mind Blow.
This may be the most human-like robot hand ever made.
Researchers from the University of Washington created the anthropomorphic robot hand by
laser-scanning the bones of a human hand and 3D printing artificial replicas.
And finally connecting them with artificial finger joints.
It’s controlled by 10 servos that act as muscles with cable that replicates the carpal
tunnel.
And the hope is that someday this system could be used as a scaffold for the growth of grafted
cells to regenerate human hands.
Tiny quartz discs could store data for billions of years.
First detailed in 2011, it stores data via laser-etched nanostructures which can be read
by passing light through the crystal and having an automated microscope algorithm translate
the light changes.
The U.K. researchers now have a working prototype and the next step is to speed up the write
time as well as the read time of the discs that can store 360 terabytes, can withstand
temperatures up to 1,000 degrees and have a room temperature lifespan of 13.8 Billion
years.
To free up traffic, Switzerland is considering a special tunnel for automated delivery trucks.
A three-lane tunnel, located 50 (164 feet) meters underground would allow passage for
the electric delivery vehicles.
The idea is to completely eliminate big trucks in urban areas and replace them with much
smaller trucks that do the basic point A to point B delivery.
But first some private financing needs to foot the $3.4 billion dollar bill and if that
does happen - the earliest it would open is 2030.
Here’s an artist’s rendering of the first successfully-analyzed atmosphere of a super-Earth.
A super-Earth is a planet outside of our solar system with a mass higher than Earths but
much lower than gas giants like Neptune.
Researchers from the University College London recently analyzed 55 Cancri e’s atmosphere
and discovered it consists mainly of helium and hydrogen.
And due to orbiting so close to its sun its at least 2,000 degrees (3,632 f) there.
Tectonic Technologies is developing pressure-sensing mats for virtual reality.
They use hundreds of small force plates - with measured data sent to a computer that translates
real-time reactions in the game.
They’ve used it to simulate flying, bending, shifting weight and stepping.
And they hope to start selling these by the end of 2016.
Scientists from the National Institute of Polar Research revived Antarctic tardigrades
frozen for over 30 years.
Taken from frozen moss in 1983 and stored at minus 20 degrees C, the samples were recently
defrosted.
The tardigrades essentially woke up from suspended animation, ate some algae - and went on to
successfully reproduce.
So yeah.
In the spirit of using robots to augment human ability - researchers at Georgia Tech created
a three armed drummer.
The smart arm responds not only to gestures but also the music it hears.
So for example, if the drummer moves to play the high hat - the smart arm adjusts to play
the ride cymbal.
The drummer scenario used as a proof of concept because it's reliant upon precise, timed movements
but this idea could be eventually implemented on doctors, mechanics, or technicians who
could use an extra hand.
The next steps are to link the movements to directly to the user’s brain.
I featured a soft wearable robotic glove in Mind Blow #96 developed at Harvard but this
new Exo-Glove from Seoul National University is more compact and more comfortable.
The flexible, waterproof polymer soft robot is tendon driven using actuators and allows
grasping of various objects for people with hand disabilities.
Finally, HydroMorph is a water-shaping device for display and interaction.
Potential applications include the water purposefully avoiding your hands if the temperature is
too hot, or showing you different shapes to indicate the weather or if the water is safe
to drink.
Honestly, I’m showing you this just because I think it looks cool.
I’m gonna leave you with a full-scale spacecraft drop test - and as always - thanks for watching.
New ways of living and new thinking have laid the foundation for most of what is good in
life today.
With the promise of more tomorrow.
As distant families have become neighbors, and as people have constantly widened their
viewpoints, while multiplying the number of their contacts, more desires have developed,
to be satisfied.