The Luxembourg Government is creating legislation and providing $220 million dollars in incentives
for companies to begin mining asteroids.
And Snotbot is a drone from DJI that is helping researchers study whales by safely and easily
collecting their snot.
Vsauce! Kevin here. This is Mind Blow.
GauntLev is a levitation glove. Bristol Interaction Group developed the gauntlet that uses acoustic
levitation to allow a user to handle fragile or dangerous materials without touching them.
They’ve also developed other acoustic levitation manipulation tools including the sonic screwdriver
and ultra tongs. Acoustic Levitation was first mentioned in Mind Blow #50 back in September
2012 as a static system. These new tools allow for basic maneuvers and human controlling
of levitating objects - representing a major leap forward for the technology. Also it just
looks awesome.
Keeping busy in Bristol researchers are developing a shape changing handheld device. Cubimorph
uses turntable hinges on cubes that can accommodate six touchscreen each, allowing for a variety
of programmable shapes to provide modular interactivity. The successful proof of concept
could lead to mobile phones transforming into game controllers as the materials and designs
get smaller, cheaper and sturdier.
If you’ve ever wanted to hear the Milky Way then thank an asteroseismologist. Astrophysicists
from the University of Birmingham measure tiny changes in the brightness of stars to
determine their age and mass - they recently detected oscillations in the oldest known
cluster of stars in our galaxy at 13 billion years old. Here’s what they sound like.
Let’s rock.
It turns out snails use just two brain cells to make decisions. For example, One neuron
encodes the presence of food and another one gauges the snail’s motivational state - so
there’s food and I’m hungry leads to let’s eat. The study can lead to building new decision-making
systems based on only two neurons - more specifically robot brains.
Exoskin is a shape-changing material that creates tangible interfaces with tactile feedback.
Developed by the MIT Media Lab the material consists of silicone triangles on flexible
bladders that allow it to change texture. Their first proposed use for this would be
a steering wheel that integrates GPS navigation directions naturally - so you can actually
feel where you need to go. And ultimately their plan is to break the divide of human-computer
interaction allowing people to physically interact with digital systems.
Solar Impulse 2 is a single-seater zero fuel airplane which recently landed safely in New
York City after a trip across the Pacific Ocean and will next cross the Atlantic. It
uses SunPower solar cells to collect energy for charging lithium batteries during morning
flights at altitudes up to 28,000 feet (8,534.4 m). At night, it glides to lower altitudes
and uses the battery power until sunrise. They hope eventually it could someday provide
a clean, renewable method of transportation.
Mind Blow #82 in May 2014 featured Wi-Fi clothes. Along with Wi-Fi, The BB suit concept featured
GPS and Bluetooth to turn your clothes into an mp3 player. Well today there's a company
called Machina that's making wearable technology including a jacket that plays music in the
hood using bluetooth connected to your smart phone and a new virtual reality jacket. The
Out of Body Experience jacket is embedded with sensors that allow the movement of your
body to effect VR. Turning the user into an immersive controller by wearing a normal-looking
jacket instead of some weird suit.
Finally, thanks to a new algorithm, humanoid robot Atlas can now detect partial footholds
and autonomously adjust itself to stay balanced.
I’m gonna leave you with a brain interface for controlling robot swarms and as always
- thanks for watching.
Hello? Hello is this the office? I can't hear much of anything. Sounds like someone crying.
Oh but my dear you mustn't be so critical. Of course it sounds strange at first, the
advertisement says it will.
Well, I don't think much of it. No one will ever use it!
You mark my words, dear. The time will come when we will all use it! Well, we may even
talk with distant cities.
With distant cities. Oh, John, you're such a dreamer!