Oct 28 2009 Don't Swat Me, Bro!: Ad-Carrying Flies
This is a video of some tradeshow in Germany where a company released flies with advertisements attached to them like those little planes at the beach. It's pretty awesome and really got me thinking about hiring mosquitoes to start promoting Geekologie. And by promoting Geekologie i mean flying a video camera into your sister's bedroom. I am a modern Don Draper!
Thanks to Harald, who still advertises in the newspaper. THE NEWSPAPER! What is this, the 40's? Geekologie is where it's at, son!
Oct 10 2009 They're Good For Something: Dead Fly Art
Dead fly art: it just makes sense. Now I don't really want to go into the kind of person it takes to collect dead flies and glue them to a piece of paper to make "art", but suffice it to say they're our kinda person. Plus, I really dig the final results. Well, except for the moth in the last piece -- didn't see that one coming!
Hit the jump for a whole bunch more.
Continue Reading " They're Good For Something: Dead Fly Art "
Sep 25 2009 THERE IS NOTHING OKAY ABOUT THIS
This is a video of the government's latest flying cyborg beetles in action. That's right, ACTUAL LIVE beetles being remotely controlled via implanted electrodes. Just wait till the government gets its hands on you!
"We demonstrated the remote control of insects in free flight via an implantable radioequipped miniature neural stimulating system," the researchers reported in their new paper for Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. " The pronotum mounted system consisted of neural stimulators, muscular stimulators, a radio transceiver-equipped microcontroller and a microbattery."
The research, supported by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is part of a broader effort, called the HI-MEMS program, which has been looking specifically at different approaches to implanting micro-mechanical systems into insects in order to control their movements.
OH HELLLLLL NO. You show me one person who thinks this is okay and I'll show you a got-damn freedom hating communist. Just sayin', I saw that sickle and hammer tattoo!
Video: Pentagon's Cyborg Beetle Takes Flight [wired]
Thanks to Danny, Mycropht, Bo, Mike, Zach, Jason, Peterman and TobyRaider, who already have government chips implanted in their brains that make them irresistible to women. WHERE WAS I ON THAT, THE MAN?!
Sep 3 2009 Eeeek, Kill Them!: I-SWARM Robotic Army
Bugs don't scare me. But tiny robots? Tiny robots scare the shit out of me. Just look at those evil bastards ganging up on that defenseless screw. It's sickening.
These tiny (4 millimeters on a side) robots are members of the I-SWARM project, which stands for Intelligent Small-World Autonomous Robots for Micro-manipulation. Each robot is simple, with three legs and a little poker to manipulate stuff with. They're designed to work in large, cheap, mass producible, replaceable groups doing things that insects would be good at... Surveillance, obviously, but they could also do things like clean your house by taking care of one bit of dust each.
No, really, this isn't necessary. If I wanted teeny little robots running around everywhere I would have killed myself and gone to hell. Because that's exactly what it's like. Except they're on fire. And they crawl in your holes.
I-SWARM Micro Robots [botjunkie] (the very thought of which makes me sick)
Thanks to Nick, Michael, MDGrein, Ashley and Skynet (screw you!), who are all cool in my book. Except for Skynet. Skynet should implode.
Jul 1 2009 Like I Don't Have Enough To Worry About: Mega Ant Colony Is Taking Over The World
Ant colonies, like rabbits, are cuddly prolific. So prolific, in fact, scientists have just discovered a single interrelated colony of Argentine ants that has populated much of the globe. ATTAAACK!
The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.
While ants are usually highly territorial, those living within each super-colony are tolerant of one another, even if they live tens or hundreds of kilometres apart. Each super-colony, however, was thought to be quite distinct.But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.
So they're all relatives. But way more so than say, you and I are. So....it's cool if I touch your butt, right? I mean it's not like we're ants or anything.
Ant mega-colony takes over world [bbcnews]
Thanks to Alistair and 2MechanicalArms, who may or may not have fire ants in their pants. They do, I put them there.
Jun 29 2009 Carnivorous Robots Eat Meat For Power
That's right folks, robots that consume organic matter to power themselves. Scared yet? You should be. Your pants should be full right now. If not, more fiber. This particular model is a flytrap that digests insects to power a clock.
UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau believe that, if robots are ever to be welcomed into people's homes, they'll need to fit in with the rest of the furniture, and earn their keep. Their prototypes trap and digest pests like flies and mice to gain energy.
Finally, robots that digest meat -- because that's what I want in the house. So let me get this straight: you're a robot AND YOU EAT MEAT. Welcome home!
Hit the jump for another picture of the flytrap and a coffee table that eats mice.
Jun 23 2009 Don't Squash Me, Bro!: Cockroach Heart May Hold Key To Better Artificial Human Hearts
Sure it may look like an electric motor inside a bocce ball inside a bomb with nipple shields glued on, but it's actually a pump inside a bocce ball inside a bomb with nipple shields glued on. And apparently it's the key to building a better heart.
...while human hearts have four chambers, a cockroach heart uses 13 leaving plenty of redundancy. When a chamber fails in a human heart, you basically have a heart attack and most likely die, while a cockroach can have a chamber fail and barely notice it.
This new Biventricular Pump artificial heart developed at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, uses a multi-chamber design just like those pesky roaches, and designer Sujoy K. Guha says that this vastly improves its long term reliability when compared with more traditional pneumatic designs.
Well alright, I'm all for a better built heart. Especially considering how women are so prone to RIPPING THEM OUT AND TEARING THEM APART. No, really, I'm not bitter.
Indian artificial heart design uses cockroach heart technology [dvice]
Thanks to FDSY, who is helping me build an iron heart.
May 13 2009 SICK!: Fly Turns Ants Into Zombie Nurseries
The phorid fly turns fire ants into zombies by laying eggs inside them. When the larvae hatch, they eat their way to the ant's brain, which they also eat, leaving the fiery bastards to wander around like zombies before dying. Sick.
"At some point, the ant gets up and starts wandering," said Rob Plowes, a research associate at UT.
The maggot eventually migrates into the ant's head, but Plowes said he "wouldn't use the word 'control' to describe what is happening. There is no brain left in the ant, and the ant just starts wandering aimlessly. This wandering stage goes on for about two weeks."About a month after the egg is laid, the ant's head falls off and the fly emerges ready to attack any foraging ants away from the mound and lay eggs.
ZOMG -- it's head falls off. That reminds me of the time I was getting it on with a velociraptor when my parents came home early so I tried stuffing him in the closet but accidentally slammed the door closed on his neck and his head fell off. I buried it in the backyard, but I kept the body. What? It's okay if it's a dinosaur!
Hit the jump for a video of the flies in action (first video) as well as another of what jewel wasps do to cockroaches (same concept of zombification, but with a completely different method (read: injecting venom straight into the brain)).
Continue Reading " SICK!: Fly Turns Ants Into Zombie Nurseries "
Apr 30 2009 Dead Bugs + Old Watch Parts = 'Cybugs'
Mike Libby is a Maine-based artist who glues old watch parts on dead bugs to create steampunk looking insects. Which actually seem pretty cool until you realize that this is what robots will really look like in a few years. True story: one time I let a beetle crawl into my ear just to know what it would feel like. Unfortunately, it burrowed into my head (not unlike a Ceti eel) and I had to brain myself with an ice pick to get it out. If you couldn't tell, that was a pickup line. Ladies?
The artist, who holds a degree in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, says his Insect Lab began after he found a dead, intact beetle. He thought the bug looked and operated like a little mechanical device, and decided to combine the two in a statement about the similarities and contradictions between nature and technology.
And speaking of statements about the similarities and contradictions between nature and technology: I just zip-tied a laser pointer to my penis. Now -- who wants to see some REAL art?
Hit the jump for a bunch more, including a ROFLCOPTER.
Apr 20 2009 Largest Model Rocket Ready For Blast Off
I did absolutely zero research to determine if this 36-foot tall, 1,600lb model rocket built by Steve Eves is, in fact, the largest ever, but that's only because I've already won numerous prizes for investigative journalism and figured I'd give somebody else a chance. I jest -- I'm just stoned to bejesus.
The mini-Saturn V is powered by nine rocket motors including 8 13,000ns N-Class motors and a single 77,000ns P-Class motor.
The single stage flight should reach an altitude somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, and at apogee the rocket will separate into three parts and return to Earth via the assistance of various parachutes. In the end Eves estimates he's invested about 1,500 hours into the project with a total budget of around $25,000, though that will actually be covered by various sponsors come the April 25th launch event.
Nice. Reminds me of the time at Space Camp we built model rockets and launched them off with crickets as payload. I remember my cricket (Chirpy McHandicapped) only had one back leg. Well, before liftoff. After liftoff he had one back leg on fire. R.I.P. Chirpy, say hi to Space Bat for me.
Largest Model Rocket In History Is 36 Feet Tall, Weighs Over 1,600 Pounds [ohgizmo]
Thanks to Stephen, who once put a rocket's fin on crooked and the rocket went all crazy like PPSSSSHOOWWOWOWOWWOWWSSSSSSSS *pop*
Apr 8 2009 Scorpion/Ant Robot As Scary As It Sounds
The A-Pod is a scary-ass robot built by some A-Hole because his parents didn't play with him enough as a child, and now he's hellbent on robotic world domination. Of course, I suppose it could have been a woman that built it, in which case, witchcraft. Now, where'd I put my pitchfork? Ha, I've been sitting on it this whole time!
A-Pod is an ant inspired hexapod robot with a 2 DOF abdomen (tail), a 3 DOF head with large mandibles. 6 legs with 3 DOF each. Total 25 servos. This video demonstrates body movement and mandible control. I still have to do some mechanical improvements to the legs (therefore little walking)
The majority of the video consists of the robot dry-humping the floor, but there was a little footage demonstrating how easily the bot's mandibles can hold a Coke can or snip off your change purse. Which, be honest, is probably just full of useless Canadian coins anyways. BOOM -- consider yourself metaphored, son!
Thanks to Jon and Kevin, who tried stomping the bastard but only lost toes.
Feb 4 2009 Bill Gates Releases Swarm Of Mosquitos On Smart People. Surprisingly, I Don't Get Bitten
So apparently Bill Gates released a swarm of mosquitoes on an auditorium filled with smart, rich people (myself excluded) during a TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) conference.
Ending malaria is a particular passion of Gates's, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent millions fighting the disease. But he apparently didn't feel like TED attendees were taking the threat seriously. "Not only poor people should experience this," Gates said as he let the bugs loose on his audience, according to Facebook manager Dave Morin. (eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and Twitter CEO Ev Williams confirm the report.)
Nice Bill, the only difference between your mosquitoes and the poor folks' is that theirs are carrying malaria. So that's kind of different. You want to cure malaria you got to give the rich people malaria. *shooting poison dart* Okay, that may have been herpes.
Bill Gates Unleashes Mosquito Swarm [valleywag]
Thanks to Chrissy, who once released a swarm of kickass on some jerk for throwing a spider on her.
Jan 14 2009 Cool!: Massive Underground Ant Colony
You ever wonder what an underground ant colony looks like but were always too afraid the rascally bastards would escape if you bought an ant farm? Well fear not, little girl, that's what nature shows were made for. In this episode, a bunch of assholes pour 10 tons of cement down an ant hole and then dig in the ground around it to show off its underlying shape and size. It's amazing! If you only have a couple free seconds to watch, skip to about 1:15 to start the good stuff. But if you have a couple free minutes to watch....screw the video, meet me in the supply closet.
Thanks to Dan, who has termites in his pants but thankfully doesn't have a peg-penis. Still -- morning wood, Dan, be careful.
Sep 2 2008 Ants Build Nest In Couple's Home Scanner
Some guy's wife called him to tell him she was having problems with their home printer/scanner. And, even after walking her through how to push the power button, it still didn't work. Finally, the guy comes home and opens the scanner bed. Hello ant colony! You know, I think we can all learn an important lesson from this couple's loss. And that lesson is this: No matter how delicious they may look, you just shouldn't scan sandwiches.
Thanks to Mr Tom, who has ants in his pants and loves the way it feels.
May 12 2008 No, Seriously, I Really Mean It This Time, I Promise: The Robots Are Coming, Run!
Ha, and you thought our robotic overlords would only come in the form of giant blade wielding mothers didn't you? Well think again. How would you like to have that little guy climbing up your leg? You wouldn't would you? I didn't think so -- but too bad. BAE (which undoubtedly stands for Bot Apocalypse Engineering) Systems has released a promo video of the robotic insects they've been developing for the U.S. Army as part of a $38 million contract. There are spider-bots, dragonfly-bots, and other kill-you-in-your-sleep-bots featured, and each one scares the everliving hell out of me.
The robots will slither and crawl around corners, into caves, and through booby-trapped streets, sending images back to screens in a command center or to a screen mounted on a soldiers wrist. The purpose is to "extend the warfighter's senses and reach, providing operational capabilities that would otherwise be costly, impossible, or deadly to achieve," says Joseph Mait, MAST cooperative agreement manager for the Army Research Laboratory.
Well that's wonderful and all, but what happens when I find one of these guys at the foot of my bed in the middle of the night? I'll tell you what happens -- I soil a $1,800 Tempur-Pedic mattress. And then what? And then sob into a pillow and beg my wife to smash the thing with a slipper.
The video (which looks a lot like a crappy video game) after the jump.
Feb 13 2008 Animal Sense Devices Are Awesome
Masters students at the Royal College of Art in London recently displayed their current projects in a show entitled Work In Progress. These Animal Sense Devices come from students Christ Woebken and Kenichi Okada.
Curiosity and exploration is one of the major desires of children. We believe reality is tune-able and we developed a series of sensory enhancements as experiential prototypes. Can you retrain lost senses and instincts? Can you create an experience of feeling like an animal, even as tiny as an ant? How would kids feel if they can transform through to adults on the same eye level?
The Ant was designed to make kids feel 50x smaller, the Bird to retrain the sense for magnetic fields, and the giraffe to allow children to see on the same eye-level as adults. The giraffe is pretty self explanatory, and the ant one has a little microscopic camera in the right mitt (the little black dot) so you see closeups of the grass and feel small as you crawl around. The bird one though, I don't know about that. I think it lets you know which way the north pole is or something. That or it makes you think you can fly. Which, as my cousin who I tossed off the roof can attest to, kids can't.
A closer picture of ant-girl after the jump.
Sep 13 2007 Bees Sniff Bombs, Make Explosive Honey
A company called Inscentinel Ltd. has developed Vapor Detection Instrumentation, which is scientific speak for a couple bees taped to a piece of foam. The bees stick out their tongues when they smell an odor they have been trained to detect. They have been tested on explosives, drugs, counterfeit goods, food quality, and even cancer. I guess it is pretty neat stuff they're doing there, but I can't help but feel sorry for those little bastards taped up in there looking all cute and cuddly. It does say though that "Bees are happy undertaking their sniffing tasks and are comfortable throughout." I'm just curious what metrics were used to determine the level of bee happiness while working. "Hey little guys you happy in there?" "Bzzzzzzzz" "See, totally happy."
UPDATE: For anyone concerned about the poor bees, according to the company "After their working shift the bees are returned to their hive where they happily live out the rest of their lives and are integrated back into the hive." See, sometimes life does have a happy ending, just not in my case.
A couple more pictures after the jump.
