PolkaRobot

"We’ve mentioned garage-sized biotech start-ups before, but not everyone’s in it for the money. As the price barrier to genetic engineering falls, some folk are hacking genes in an attempt to make the world a better place – like Meredith Patterson, for example"

"The crawler travels about 2-3 miles/hour. There were five of us working on it, there was a lot of 3D modeling of all the parts in SolidWorks, a CAD package. We tested our assembly in SolidWorks also. It's a really useful software tool, because you can make the parts and assemble them, and then check for interference, do some finite element analysis to see if it can take the stress."

"Scientists from the University of Texas at Dallas have created nanotube-based artificial muscles that are light as air and work even under extreme temperatures. The 'muscles' expand width-wise by about 200 percent when a voltage is applied, but are stronger than steel lengthwise. The nanotubes within the fiber naturally stick together. Applying a voltage makes them obtain a charge and repel one another"

"Sony may be trying to mix things up a little bit in the video game world by introducing a robot that would like to play a game with you. A physical robot, that is… A video game accessory, of sorts. Details are pretty scarce, but the patent (there’s not even a concept yet) does include a camera, a microphone, some kind of object detection, and a display. And in the picture from the patent, it’s got little wheely looking things."

"Wenn ihr heute durch die Fußgängerpassage einer Großstadt laufen solltet oder es euch in einem Bistro gemütlich macht, kann es passieren, dass euch eine ganz besondere Ausgabe der Wochenzeitung “Die Zeit” in die Hände fällt. Die in einer Auflage von 150.000 Stück produzierte Sonderausgabe datiert auf den 1. Mai 2010 und enthält Nachrichten aus einer Welt nach der Weltwirtschaftskrise. “Über Krisenfolgen, die wir uns wünschen”, wie es von den Attac-Initiatoren heißt."

"Hotshots, rock stars, geek heroes – many of us follow a lot of the same people online. But who do they pay the most attention to themselves? The influencers of influencers are of interest for a lot of different reasons, most appropriately because finding them is a good way to dive deeper into niche topics."