Flocking Drones UAV: Nature inspires future developments - Video

Biologically-inspired flapping-wing robots are shown. 

Image courtesy Pakpong Chirarattananon.

Researchers have been taking tips from nature to build the next generation of flying robots.

Based on the mechanisms adopted by birds, bats, insects and snakes, 14 distinguished research teams have developed solutions to some of the common problems that drones could be faced with when navigating through an urban environment and performing novel tasks for the benefit of society.

Whether this is avoiding obstacles, picking up and delivering items or improving the take-off and landing on tricky surfaces, it is hoped the solutions can lead to the deployment of drones in complex urban environments in a number of different ways, from military surveillance and search and rescue efforts to flying camera phones and reliable courier services. For this, drones need exquisite flight control.

The research teams have presented their work, 23 May, in a special issue of IOP Publishing's journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, devoted to bio-inspired flight control.

The first small drones have already been used in search and rescue operations to investigate difficult-to-reach and hazardous areas, such as in Fukushima, Japan.

A video by the COLLMOT Robotic Research Project showing a group of drones flying autonomously across a field.

A research team from Hungary believe these efforts could be improved if robots are able to work in tandem, and have developed an algorithm that allows a number of drones to fly together like a flock of birds.

The effectiveness of the algorithm was demonstrated by using it to direct the movements of a flock of nine individual quadcopters whilst they followed a moving car.

While this collective movement may be helpful when searching vast expanses of land, a group of researchers from Harvard University have developed a millimetre-sized drone with a view to using it to explore extremely cramped and tight spaces.

The microrobot they designed, which was the size of a one cent coin, could take off and land and hover in the air for sustained periods of time.

In their new paper, the researchers have demonstrated the first simple, fly-like manoeuvres. In the future, millimetre-sized drones could also be used in assisted agriculture pollination and reconnaissance, and could aid future studies of insect flight.

Once deployed into the real world, drones will be faced with the extremely tricky task of dealing with the elements, which could be extreme heat, the freezing cold, torrential rain or thunderstorms.

The most challenging problem for airborne robots will be strong winds and whirlwinds, which a research team, from the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill, University of California and The Johns Hopkins University, have begun to tackle by studying the hawk moth.

In their study, the researchers flew hawk moths through a number of different whirlwind conditions in a vortex chamber, carefully examining the mechanisms that the hawk moths used to successfully regain flight control.

The whole collection of related papers can be downloaded for free from http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-3190/9/2

Energetic Space Tornadoes hold the key to Solar Mystery

A team of European scientists has discovered super-hot and super-fast tornados on the Sun, which may help answer a number of outstanding questions in the realm of physics.

Writing in the journal Nature, they report that these `magnetic tornadoes reach speeds of up to 10,000 kilometres per hour, completely dwarfing anything found on Earth.

For images and videos visit www.solartornado.info 

In fact the fastest recorded tornado on Earth only reached speeds of approximately 486 km per hour, and was by no means an example of a common occurrence.

These magnetic tornadoes on the Sun, created by rotating magnetic field structures which force plasma to move in spirals, are not only common but may hold the answer to a long-standing physics conundrum: why the surface of the Sun is cooler than its outermost atmospheric layer.

Think of any fire and it is common knowledge (and sense) that the closer one gets to the fire, the hotter it gets.

The Sun however doesn't quite follow this logic. Its central core is an amazing 15,000,000 degrees Celsius and its surface cools to 5,500 degrees Celsius - following the logic that the further away, the cooler it gets.

The Sun cools to a mere 4,300 degrees Celsius to where a layer of the Sun's atmosphere, the photosphere, meets the chromosphere. In the chromosphere, however, things become topsy-turvy.

When the chromosphere begins to merge with the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the corona, the temperature rises to 100,000 degrees Celsius and continues to increase to a scorching 2,000,000 degrees Celsius in the part of the corona that is farthest from the Sun.

This, almost accordion-like sequence of heat, has puzzled many scientists. A puzzle which this recent discovery of magnetic tornadoes may have solved.

Professor Robertus Erdélyi, head of the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC) of the University of Sheffield's School of Mathematics and Statistics explains: 'One of the major problems in modern astrophysics is why the atmosphere of a star, like our own Sun, is considerably hotter than its surface?

Imagine, that you climb a mountain, e.g. a munro in the Scottish highlands, and it becomes hotter as you go higher and higher.

'It is understood that the energy originates from below the Sun's surface, but how this massive amount of energy travels up to the solar atmosphere surrounding it is a mystery.'

'We believe we have found evidence in the form of rotating magnetic structures - solar tornadoes - that channel the necessary energy in the form of magnetic waves to heat the magnetised solar plasma.'

'We report here the discovery of ubiquitous magnetic solar tornadoes and their signature in the hottest areas of the Sun's atmosphere where the temperature is a few millions of degree kelvin, about thousands of kilometres from the Sun's surface. This is a major step in the field.'

It is estimated that there are as many as 11,000 of these magnetic tornadoes above the Sun's surface at any time, and each one more than 1,600 km wide. Despite their number and size, they have never been seen until now.

Read the full article at EU CORDIS

Read more info on Space Tornadoes here at Institute of Theoretical Physics, University Oslo

Researchers take 10 years to measure distance to starburst galaxy HDF 850.1

Back in 1998, researchers studying submillimeter light emissions in the Hubble Deep Field (long exposures of a portion of the sky taken by Hubble in 1995) discovered something really bright, a galaxy that appeared to be producing stars at an unprecedented rate. 

Unfortunately, scientists weren’t able to figure out how far away it was, which led a few years later to various attempts to measure it, all to no avail. 

Now, nearly ten years after the effort began, a research team is reporting in their paper published in the journal Nature that they have finally met with success and have found that starburst galaxy HDF 850.1 is 12.6 billion light years away from us.
 

The reason the galaxy wasn’t detected by Hubble is because the famous orbiting telescope records ordinary light, which in this case couldn’t reveal the galaxy because it is shrouded in clouds of gas and dust.

But because submillimeter light has longer wavelengths, it can be seen just fine here on Earth when the right technology is used.

When it was first spotted, researchers were surprised by how bright it was, which past experience has shown implies that it must be spawning new stars at an incredible rate.

Subsequent research revealed that the starburst galaxy was producing stars at a rate of 850 per year, a thousand times as many as are formed in our own Milky Way galaxy.

But its distance from us remained a mystery until this new team tried a technique based on the light given off by molecular gases when new stars are formed.

Faraway galaxy distances can be measured using the Dopler shift, the change in the frequency of light waves as an object moves farther away from us, which is what’s happening in space due to the expansion of the universe.

To measure HDF 850.1’s distance, the researchers calculated its “redshift” at 5.2, which allowed them to calculate its distance from us and because it’s over twelve and a half billion miles away, that means the light we see today coming from HDF850.1 was emitted just 1.1 billion years after the moment when the Big Bang is believed to have occurred.

Still a mystery is why the galaxy is forming so many stars, the current theory is that it’s due to two galaxies colliding, thus new research will focus on trying to find out if that is the case with HDF 850.1.

More information: The intense starburst HDF 850.1 in a galaxy overdensity at z ≈ 5.2 in the Hubble Deep Field, Nature 486, 233–236 (14 June 2012) doi:10.1038/nature11073

Antispila oinophylla: New moth species invades Italy's Chardonnay vineyards

Antispila oinophylla: A moth with a taste for Chardonnay leaves, which has infested vineyards across northern Italy, is a new species of leafminer, scientists say. 

The pest was first discovered by Italian scientists in 2006, but they were unable to identify it.

Now, by examining a snippet of the moth's genetic code, researchers have confirmed that it is a previously unnamed species.

The team published their findings in the journal ZooKeys.

The Italian team enlisted the help of insect expert Erik van Nieukerken from the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity in Leiden.

"We first turned to the [scientific] literature to find out what was already known, which was appallingly little for this group [of moths]," Dr van Nieukerken said.

He and his colleagues used a method known as DNA barcoding to examine a section of the insect's genetic code.

New Species
The new species, which now bears the name Antispila oinophylla, had previously been confused with a North American species (Antispila ampelopsifoliella), which feeds on Virginia creeper.

Only the genetic studies revealed it to be a different species with a taste for grapevines. Its native range is across eastern North America, where it feeds on several species of wild grapes.

So far, the species has been found in vineyards in Italy's Trento and Veneto regions, spreading and increasing in population since it was first recorded.


Read More here : New moth species invades Italy's vineyards

Scottish Zoological Team (SZSS) Photograph Rare giant armadillo

A rare giant armadillo has been caught on camera by researchers in the wetlands of central Brazil.

Little is known about the mysterious mammals, which can reach 1.5m in length and weigh up to 50kg.

In the past, the species' nocturnal, solitary lifestyles have posed a considerable challenge for scientists wishing to study them.

Conservationists now hope to learn more about the vulnerable animals using automatic camera traps.

At up to twice the size of more familiar species, giant armadillos (Priodontes maximus) are known to live in undisturbed forest near to water sources in South America.

But the species have a patchy distribution and spend their days in underground burrows making confirmed sightings rare.

Researchers from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) spent 10 weeks intensively searching for the elusive mammals in a region of the Pantanal, one of the world's largest wetlands spanning Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Using cameras provided by Chester Zoo, the team were able to capture rare photographs of the animals.

"The cameras will offer critical pieces of information for the assessment of the status of giant armadillo populations in Brazil," said Dr Arnaud Desbiez, a conservation biologist from RZSS who runs the Giant Armadillo Project.

ARMADILLO FACTS

• Little is known about giant armadillos but scientists have identified that their long claws are suitable for digging up termite mounds for food
• Unlike their smaller relatives, these large animals are unable to fully roll into a protective ball and so burrow to escape predators
• Their armour-like shell is made of 11 to 13 hinged bands of bony plates covered in scales

Scientists develop compound that effectively halts progression of multiple sclerosis in animals

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have developed the first of a new class of highly selective compounds that effectively suppresses the severity of multiple sclerosis in animal models.

The new compound could provide new and potentially more effective therapeutic approaches to multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases that affect patients worldwide.

The study appeared April 17, 2011, in an advance online edition of the journal Nature.

Current treatments for autoimmunity suppress the patient’s entire immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to a range of adverse side effects. Because the new compound, known as SR1001, only blocks the actions of a specific cell type playing a significant role in autoimmunity, it appears to avoid many of the widespread side effects of current therapies.

“This is a novel drug that works effectively in animal models with few side effects,” said Tom Burris, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Molecular Therapeutics at Scripps Florida who led the study, which was a multidisciplinary collaboration with scientists including Patrick Griffin, William Roush, and Ted Kamenecka of Scripps Research, and Paul Drew of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “We have been involved in several discussions with both pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms who are very interested in developing it further.”

A lengthy process of drug development and review is required to ensure a new drug’s safety and efficacy before it can be brought to market.

“This impressive multidisciplinary team has used a combined structural and functional approach to describe a class of molecules that could lead to new medicines for treating autoimmune diseases,” said Charles
Edmonds, Ph.D. who oversees structural biology grants at the National Institutes of Health. “Breakthroughs such as this highlight the value of scientists with diverse expertise joining forces to solve important biological problems that have the potential to benefit human health.”

Read more of the article here: Scientists develop compound that effectively halts progression of multiple sclerosis | Science Blog

Read the paper in Nature here:

Cerebellum provides clues to the nature of human intelligence

Research suggests that intelligence in humans is controlled by the part of the brain known as the 'cortex', and most theories of age-related cognitive decline focus on cortical dysfunction. However, a new study of Scottish older adults, reported in the April 2011 issue of Elsevier's Cortex, suggests that grey matter volume in the 'cerebellum' at the back of the brain predicts cognitive ability, and keeping those cerebellar networks active may be the key to keeping cognitive decline at bay.

The study looked at 228 older adults living independently in the Aberdeen area, who had been part of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947. This survey had tested Scottish children born in 1936 and at school on 4th June 1947 using the Moray House intelligence test.

The cognitive abilities of the participants were tested again, now at age 63-65 years, and their brains were also scanned, using a neuro-imaging technique called voxel-based morphometry (VBM), to determine the volumes of grey and white matter in frontal areas and the cerebellum.

The most interesting finding from this study is that grey matter volume in the cerebellum predicts general intelligence. However, results differ for men and women, with men showing a stronger relationship between brain volume in the cerebellum and general intelligence.

It has long been recognised that the cerebellum is involved in sensory-motor functions, including balance and timing of movements, but it is now believed that the cerebellum also plays an important role in higher-level cognitive abilities.

"General intelligence is correlated with many basic aspects of information processing efficiency which I believe depend upon the functioning of the cerebellum, including the speed and consistency of our perceptions and decisions, and the speed with which we learn new skills," notes Dr. Michael Hogan, first author of the study.

"This is exciting research, as it suggests that there may be a backdoor route into maintaining higher cortical functions in old age, that is, through the sustained activation of cerebellar networks via novel sensory-motor and cognitive activities, all of which I believe the cerebellum seeks to regulate and automate, working in concert with the cortex."

Personality Types - Longevity and the nature of the beast

A team led by Vincent Careau, a PhD student at University of Sherbrooke, gathered data on many aspects of dog biology published in disparate fields of study such as psychology, longevity, and veterinary research.

The information was well known in the respective research domains, yet they were never collated or put together. By doing so, the authors show that obedient breeds - on average - live longer than disobedient breeds. They also show that aggressive breeds have higher energy expenditure.

The late Don Thomas said, "It is hard to imagine how an aggressive personality could be adaptive if it lacked the energetic and metabolic machinery to back up the threats. Simply put, 100 pound weaklings don't kick sand in weight-lifters' faces and survive in nature."

This study contributes to the growing body of research revealing that personality is related to many crucial aspects of an animal's life - such as its energy needs, growth rate, age of first reproduction, and lifespan - and takes us a step closer to understanding the evolutionary causes and consequences of different personality types.

This study hints at the existence of underlying genetic linkages between personality, metabolism, and longevity -- meaning that selection for personality traits also invokes unintentional results on energetic and life history traits.

Link: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu