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Futuristic-looking robots like Honda’s sleek humanoid Asimo don’t cut it for designer James Auger, at the Royal College of Art, London. Believing that they need to fit unobtrusively into the home, he has built robotic furniture. And, believing they need to be useful and entertaining, he has given the furniture an appetite for vermin, like mice and flies.
Great white sharks have more in common with serial killers than just their feaGreat white sharks have more in common with serial killers than just their fearsome reputation. It turns out that their hunting strategies are far from random. When deciding where to launch their attacks, they balance prey availability with factors such as finding a good hiding place – just like serial killers do.rsome reputation. It turns out that their hunting strategies are far from random. When deciding where to launch their attacks, they balance prey availability with factors such as finding a good hiding place – just like serial killers do.
The bumpy ridges on the tips of our fingers are an evolutionary mystery.
Scientists have long reasoned that fingerprints help humans grip objects by creating friction, since a few primates and tree-climbing koalas also have fingerprints.
But a new study found that if fingerprints help people grip things, it’s not because they create more friction.
South Korea – South Korean scientists say they have engineered four beagles that glow red using cloning techniques that could help develop cures for human diseases.
The four dogs, all named “Ruppy” — a combination of the words “ruby” and “puppy” — look like typical beagles by daylight.
EMAIL logs can provide advance warning of an organisation reaching crisis point. That’s the tantalising suggestion to emerge from the pattern of messages exchanged by Enron employees. After US energy giant Enron collapsed in December 2001, federal investigators obtained records of emails sent by around 150 senior staff during the company’s final 18 months. The logs, which record 517,000 emails sent to around 15,000 employees, provide a rare insight into how communication within an organisation changes during stressful times.
ush your teeth, the toothbrush may actually become part of your arm – at least as far as your brain is concerned. That’s the conclusion of a study showing perceptions of arm length change after people handle a mechanical tool. The brain maintains a physical map of the body, with different areas in charge of different body parts. Researchers have suggested that when we use tools, our brains incorporate them into this map.
Grey hair may be unwelcome, but the processes that produce it are now better understood and could be protecting us from cancer.
Cells called melanocytes produce the pigments that colour hair and their numbers are kept topped up by stem cells. Hair goes grey when the number of stem cells in hair follicles declines. Now Emi Nishimura of Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan and colleagues have found what causes this decline in mice.
