A new technology revealed today demonstrates the ability of an artificial skin that can detect the pressure of a butterfly landing - this opens up incredible possibilities for robot-controlled processes or even artificial limbs. The skin uses a polymer that, when compressed, changes the capacitance of the skin which can then be detected by a transistor. If an array of transistors is used, it can track differences in pressure applied to the skin. The original Nature News article can be found here, and a layman's description on the BBC News site is here.
Art Leo, English teacher and science enthusiast (and regular Coverslip contributor) submitted the following story from a number of news sources: Ever wondered why some people look good on the dancefloor whilst others resemble chimps with a cerebellar deficit? Science has now answered this question by analyzing the dance moves of a variety of men and created avatars to distinguish between the good, the bad and the downright ugly (click here and/or here to read the whole story).
Men who were judged to be good dancers had a varied repertoire and more moves that involved tilting and twisting the torso and neck.But the majority of men displayed highly repetitive moves that used their arms and legs, but not the rest of their bodies.
"It's rare that someone is described as a good dancer if they are flinging their arms about but not much else," said Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria, who led the study.
The scientists believe that being a good dancer is an honest indication of the health of a male, just like in the animal world. in nature, being a good dancer sends signals to observing females that you are a good potential mate, or at least better than the other males with a limited repertoire of moves. The good news for us humans is that we can learn to get better, and there are dance lessons available.....
For one of the most famous example of good dancing technique, check out Ricky Gervais as David Brent in The Office, showing off a stunning variety of whole-body movements. To diagnose your own dance style, there is a guide here
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is run by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London and the winners have just been announced. The photos are available to view online here from categories such as Earth and Space, Deep Space and People and Space. If you are reading this from somewhere in the UK (or are visiting between now and the end of February) you can go to the exhibition at the Royal Observatory.
My personal favourite, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, will be judged and displayed online at the end of Oct, so check back in then for some more incredible photography.
After a summer hiatus involving lots of science for all of us (chemistry courses, trips to the Galapagos and other exciting sciency places, knee surgery amongst a few of our adventures this summer), the Catlin Coverslip is back in action.
Send us any interesting ideas/stories you find and we'll share them here with everyone who is interested.
In June, a group of San Francisco-based designers and engineers launched a balloon into near space, capturing the flight with two cameras that went along for the ride. Two hours into the flight, and at 80,000 feet of altitude, the balloon gives up the ghost and comes crashing back down to Earth. It all happens around the 2:20 mark of the video, and the images are … um … out of this world. Amazingly, all of the equipment onboard survives the fall – cameras and all – thanks to the parachute.
I am impressed. It only takes two hours to reach 80,000 feet of altitude? That's about twice as high as where commercial aircraft fly. Why did the balloon burst? Heat? Cold? How did the rate of acceleration vary during the climb?
Researchers at the University of Arkansas have found evidence of what we all probably thought was inevitable - genes implanted into canola plants have "escaped" and found their way into the wild population. Canola plants growing at the side of a road were found to have pesticide resistant genes present in their DNA, and some even had a combination of resistance genes that is not available commercially. This, rather worryingly, proved that different GM crops were intermixing with each other and both contributing to wild plants. Ironically it seems that we have now entered into a genetic arms race with ourselves, as weeds are becoming resistant to our control methods via genes that we introduced into the environment to help eliminate undesirable plants. In what could be considered something of an understatement, the graduate student who conducted the research said "Things can escape from cultivation, and we need to be careful about what we stick into plants".
