Weird News Files

The waters of the port of Gijon, Spain are shortly to be invaded – by robots.

Scientists are building a shoal of robot fish to be let loose in the port to check on the quality of the water. Modelled on carp and costing about $29,000 each to make, the fish are to be lifelike in appearance and swimming behavior so they will not alarm their fellow marine inhabitants.

The robots, the first of their kind, are equipped with tiny chemical sensors capable of detecting pollutants in the water. These let the fish hone in on the sources of hazardous pollutants, such as leaks from vessels or undersea pipelines.

The fish were developed by the University of Essex in Britain and UK-based engineering consultancy BMT Group. They are the result of a three-year research project funded by the European Commission.

“Using shoals of robotic fish for pollution detection in harbours might appear like something straight out of science fiction [but] there are very practical reasons for choosing this form,” said Rory Doyle, senior research scientist at BMT Group. “In using robotic fish we are building on a design created by hundreds of millions of years’ worth of evolution which is incredibly energy efficient.

“This efficiency is something we need to ensure that our pollution detection sensors can navigate in the underwater environment for hours on end.”

Each robotic fish is about 5 feet long and can swim at a maximum speed of about 4 feet per second. Whenever they find traces of pollutants, the fish can relay the information to the shore.

The robots are autonomous, rather than remote-controlled, and run on batteries that are recharged every eight hours or so when the fish return automatically to a charging point.

The final touches are still being made to the design of the fish, which are scheduled to be released into the port’s waters next year.

Source: Reuters – filed under Weird Science News

TEN people a week in Britain are hospitalized from playing Wii games.
The growing toll has prompted National Health Service doctors to warn of the dangers.

Wii-itis sufferers usually have excruciating pain in the right shoulder or knee.

A rheumatology consultant said: “Most are admitted after playing the tennis and running games which involve sudden movements and violent tendon stretching.”

Dr Dev Mukerjee, of Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex, said: “There has been a 100 per cent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis.

“I’ve seen many patients aged between eight and 13 — and I’ve seen adults.

“It’s possible that Wii-itus may lead to rheumatism and arthritis in later life. Patients often have inflammation of the shoulder or wrist.”

Others have a ligament injury dubbed Wii-knee which some have blamed on the popular Wii-Fit game.

Dr Mukerjee said: “People who are double-jointed are most likely to suffer from Wii-knee — and in extreme cases the knee cap can be dislocated or can even pop out.”

Treatment includes cortisone injections and anti-inflammatory painkillers. Recovery takes up to three months.

Doctors advise stretching exercises before play.

Source: TheSun link filed under Weird Science News

Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep.

The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs.

Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based solely on their brain activity.

For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white images. But Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, suggests that improving the measurement accuracy will make it possible to reproduce images in color.

“These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity,” says Dr. Cheng. “In as little as 10 years, advances in this field of research may make it possible to read a person’s thoughts with some degree of accuracy.”

The researchers suggest a future version of this technology could be applied in the fields of art and design — particularly if it becomes possible to quickly and accurately access images existing inside an artist’s head. The technology might also lead to new treatments for conditions such as psychiatric disorders involving hallucinations, by providing doctors a direct window into the mind of the patient.

ATR chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani says, “This technology can also be applied to senses other than vision. In the future, it may also become possible to read feelings and complicated emotional states.”

The research results appear in the December 11 issue of US science journal Neuron.

Source: Pink Tentacle Link  filed under Weird Science News

Attention, amorous guys: Killarney’s an Australian cutie, but woo her with care.The feisty gal once swatted at a beau who got a little close, and gave another poor fellow the cold shoulder during their introduction.

Undaunted, Killarney’s friends keep updating her online profile in the hope of finding her Mr. Right. Like many of her contemporaries, the koala might find her dream date waiting somewhere in the files of a computerized matchmaking service, keepers at the Riverbanks Zoo theorize.

Just like the digital dating services that pair up people, so-called studbooks are used to match most animals held in captivity. The databases containing information on sex, age and weight — not so much about favorite comfort foods or long walks on the beach — are used by more than 200 zoos nationally and some internationally. They’re practically taking the place of Mother Nature in the not-so wild world of captive animal breeding.

Now, new software is going to the Web, promising more easily accessible data, faster matches and — in a page out of the most particular of human dating sites — details on an animal’s personality to ease what can be a testy process.

Zoos won’t be required to document the turn-ons and turn-offs of each animal in Zoological Information Management Systems, a collaboration between about 150 zoos and aquariums that’s a year or two away from wide distribution.

At the very least, though, the software will give zookeepers better access to species-level details currently found only in zoo husbandry manuals that now are mostly e-mailed back and forth, said Bob Wiese, director of collections for the Zoological Society of San Diego.

While there’s no candlelight or Marvin Gaye being played in the back rooms of zoos, there are endless tricks used to get the animals in the mood, said Wiese, widely considered the authority on ZIMS. In China, breeding experts have claimed success putting giant pandas in the mood by showing them images of other pandas mating — panda porn, as it’s been called.

“There are some frogs that you have to simulate rain for or they won’t come out and breed,” Wiese said. “Other frogs, they just need to hear the sound of rain and the sound of lightening and thunder. That’s what sets off their hormones.”

Around since the 1980s in paperback form, most of today’s studbooks are in computerized databases. Basic information such as family tree, medical history, age and weight are entered by studbook keepers, then sent to a central location where the data is analyzed and converted into a “master plan” for breeding.

Source: Sci-Tech Today Link  filed under Weird Science News

William Yuan, a 12-year old boy from Beaverton, Oregon, has developed a new 3D solar cell which if it ever gets commercialized could seriously change the face of solar power. Though he was encouraged in his research from his middle school science teacher, this is no mere school science experiment: the Davidson Institute has awarded Yuan a $25,000 scholarship for his research.

Despite his age, 12-year-old William Yuan of Beaverton, Oregon, has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.

In his project “A Highly-Efficient 3-Dimensional Nanotube Solar Cell for Visible and UV Light,” William invented a novel solar panel that enables light absorption from visible to ultraviolet light. He designed carbon nanotubes to overcome the barriers of electron movement, doubling the light-electricity conversion efficiency. William also developed a model for solar towers and a computer program to simulate and optimize the tower parameters. His optimized design provides 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than the cutting-edge, three dimensional solar cell.

Yuan is currently looking for a manufacturer for his new solar cell.

Source: Wired Link Filed under Weird Science News

Have you ever noticed that herds of grazing animals all face the same way?

Images from Google Earth have confirmed that cattle tend to align their bodies in a north-south direction.

Wild deer also display this behaviour – a phenomenon that has apparently gone unnoticed by herdsmen and hunters for thousands of years.

In the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences, scientists say the Earth’s magnetic fields may influence the behaviour of these animals.