Lifeboat Foundation

Origami robots are autonomous machines that are constructed by folding two-dimensional materials into complex, functional three-dimensional structures. These robots are highly versatile. They can be designed to perform a wide range of tasks, from manipulating small objects to navigating difficult terrain. Their compact size and flexibility allow them to move in ways that traditional robots cannot, making them ideal for use in environments that are hard to reach.

Another notable feature of origami-based robots is their low cost. Because they are constructed using simple materials and techniques, they can be produced relatively inexpensively. This makes them an attractive option for many researchers and companies looking to develop new robotics applications.

There are many potential applications for origami robots. They could be used in search and rescue missions, where their small size and flexibility would allow them to navigate through rubble and debris. They could also be used in manufacturing settings, where their ability to manipulate small objects could be put to use in assembly lines.

According to reports, the Taiwanese computer hardware company MSI (Micro-Star International) was recently joined to the list of victims of a new ransomware gang that goes by the name “Money Message.” The perpetrators of the cybercrime say that they have taken source code along with other critical material from the company’s network. MSI is a world-renowned leader in the production of computer components, such as motherboards, graphics cards, desktop computers, laptop computers, servers, and other electronic equipment. It brings in more than $6.5 billion in income every year.

Money Message has included MSI on the website that it maintains for the publication of leaked material and has published images of the company’s CTMS and ERP databases in addition to files that include software source code, private keys, and BIOS firmware. If MSI does not comply with the threat actors’ demand for a ransom payment, they will now threaten to release all of the information that was taken.

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A warm-hued material prized by jewelry makers, amber takes more than 40,000 years to form. See pictures of some of the finest specimens.

To take a picture, the best digital cameras on the market open their shutter for around around one four thousandths of a second.

To snapshot atomic activity, you’d need a shutter that clicks a lot faster.

Now scientists have come up with a way of achieving a shutter speed that’s a mere trillionth of a second, or 250 million times faster than those digital cameras. That makes it capable of capturing something very important in materials science: dynamic disorder.

Two atom-thick layers of the same crystalline material can be stacked on top of each other in ways that yield ferroelectricity.

There’s enough trouble on this planet already that we don’t need new problems coming here from the sun. Unfortunately, we can’t yet destroy this pitiless star, so we are at its mercy. But NASA at least may soon be able to let us know when one of its murderous flares is going to send our terrestrial systems into disarray.

Understanding and predicting space weather is a big part of NASA’s job. There’s no air up there, so no one can hear you scream, “Wow, how about this radiation!” Consequently, we rely on a set of satellites to detect and relay this important data to us.

One such measurement is of solar wind, “an unrelenting stream of material from the sun.” Even NASA can’t find anything nice to say about it! Normally this stream is absorbed or dissipated by our magnetosphere, but if there’s a solar storm, it may be intense enough that it overwhelms the local defenses.

This novel technology looks like a sci-fi device. But it’s real.

It seems like something from a science fiction movie: a specialized, electronic headband and using your mind to control a robot.

Oonal/iStock.

Continue reading “Mind control: 3D-patterned sensors allow robots to be controlled by thought” »

A paper in Nature reports the discovery of a superconductor that operates at room temperatures and near-room pressures. The claim has divided the research community.

The behavior of a collection of squeezed elastic beams is determined by geometry, not by complex forces.

When a collection of thin elastic beams—such as toothbrush bristles or grass—is compressed vertically, the individual elements will buckle and bump into one another, forming patterns. Experiments and numerical simulations now show that basic geometry controls how order emerges in these patterns [1]. The results could be useful for designing flexible materials and for understanding interactions among flexible structures in nature, such as DNA strands in cells.

Studies of bending and buckling have often focused on the behavior of a single membrane, such as a thin disc of polystyrene fabric, a sheet of crumpled paper, or even a bell pepper. But few models have tackled the dynamics of a group of many elastic objects.