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  • Researchers claim silk could replace microplastics

    Silk can be used in place of microplastics in certain applications. (Image Credit: ivabalk/pixabay) Bees aren’t the only insect that lives a brutal life thanks to human intervention. Silkworms might have it worse. Silk, sourced from silkworm cocoons…

  • Liquid-amplified zipping actuators for micro-air vehicles with transmission-free flapping

    The Liquid-amplified zipping actuator (LAZA) is a direct-drive artificial muscle system for flapping-wing robots. In contrast to the flapping drives of traditional micro flying robots, that use motors, gears, and complex transmission systems to ge...
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  • Sensor that can pick up insect activity

    Hi Everyone, This is my first post so I wasn't to sure where to put this, this looked like the best place. Anyway, I have a project I want to do where I use an Arduino to detect insects, specifically whiteflies. My problem is I'm not sure what type of…

  • Environmental project recruits roaches - cyborg roaches

    It's that old " Animals in Science " story, abuse at its best. Remember the Tweet a Roach project? Here we go again... the poor bugs to face more hardship... Roach power pack concept. (via Techon ) Roaches are one of the most resilient creatures on earth…

  • Backyard Brains looks for funding in creating the world’s first insect cyborg

    RoboRoach "models" (via Backyard Brain ) Sometimes science can be a little gruesome especially when it concerns progress in areas such as the medical field. Other times it can be a bit on the strange side, which is the case when it comes to Backyard Brains…

  • Engineers succeed in designing microbot that can walk and jump on water

    Water Strider robot (via China’s School of Chemical Engineering and Technology) Don’t grab a can of RAID just yet, this ‘water strider’ isn’t biological but rather mechanical — capable of walking and jumping on the surface of water. The microbot was designed…

  • Moth Learns to Drive Robot

    Mothbot testing rig (via iop ) Autonomous robots are being utilized more and more as an advantageous, technological solution to problems that may keep people out of harm’s way - either that or keeping us more productive (some may say lazy) by having robots…

  • Living Fuel-Cell, Cockroach Power

    The cockroach fuel-cell volunteer (via ACS Publications) The living-cell battery from the Matrix movies is real, but not for us humans. Scientist Daniel Scherson and his team from Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, have take to immobilizing insects…

  • Fireflies Inspire Efficient Lighting Design

    The ridges and bumps of the OLED, when mimicking the firefly, enhance its luminescent efficiency (via American Chemical Society, 2016) Who knew that a firefly’s rear end contained the secret to efficient lighting? When aeronautic engineers designed plane…