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omoc writes:

"Inspired by the termites' resilience and collective intelligence, a team of computer scientists and engineers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have created an autonomous robotic construction crew. The system needs no supervisor, no eye in the sky, and no communication: just simple robots—any number of robots—that cooperate by modifying their environment.

The TERMES robots can build towers, castles, and pyramids out of foam bricks, autonomously building themselves staircases to reach the higher levels and adding bricks wherever they are needed. In the future, similar robots could lay sandbags in advance of a flood, or perform simple construction tasks on Mars."

[Ed. Note] Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-02-self-organizing-robot s-robotic-crew-foreman.html

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser

New protein found in strongest spider web material

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and Slovenia has found a previously unknown protein in the strongest known spider web material. In their paper published in the journal Communications Biology, the group describes their study of Darwin's bark spider silk and the glands that produce it.

[...] Darwin's bark spiders are a type of orb spider, which means they make their spider webs in the shape of a spoked wheel. They make the largest known orb webs of any spider, which they spin above the surfaces of streams. Prior research has shown that the spider actually makes seven different kinds of silk for use in different parts of its web. One of those silk types, called dragline, is used to build the spokes that give the wheel its strength. Prior research has shown it to be the strongest spider silk in existence. In this new effort, the researchers took a closer look at the dragline silk and the gland that produces it.

The researchers found two familiar types of spindroins—types of repetitive proteins—called MaSp1 and MaSp2, which are found in many spider silks. But in the dragline from Darwin's bark spiders, they found another spindroin, which they named MaSp4a. Study of this protein revealed that contained high quanitities of an amino acid called proline, which prior research has shown is generally associated with elasticity. The protein also had less of some of the other components found in MaSp1 and MaSp2, which made it quite unique.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Sea sponge skeletons inspire stronger, lighter load-bearing structures:

From next-generation body armor to new treatments for tuberculosis, marine sponges have plenty to offer the world of science, and now we're seeing how they might inspire stronger and lighter skyscrapers and bridges. Engineers at Harvard University have demonstrated a new type of load-bearing structure based on the glassy skeletons of these sea creatures, which they say is more than 20 percent stronger than current solutions.

Diagonal lattice architectures are the backbone of typical covered bridges built from light and cheaper materials, making use of tightly arranged diagonal beams to evenly spread the load. Engineers have used this approach since the early 1800s, with the technique also used to support tall buildings and even the metal storage shelves you could find at your local home improvement store. But the Harvard team believes there is room for improvement.

"It gets the job done, but it's not optimal, leading to wasted or redundant material and a cap on how tall we can build," says first author of the study Matheus Fernandes. "One of the main questions driving this research was, can we make these structures more efficient from a material allocation perspective, ultimately using less material to achieve the same strength?"

Phoenix666 writes:

Algae-inspired polymers light the way for enhanced night vision:

In a study recently published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, researchers from the University of Tsukuba synthesized an infrared-transmitting polymer—based on low-cost, widely available materials—that retains its shape after stretching. The properties of this polymer are highly applicable to the preparation of cheaper night-vision lenses that retain focus while imaging at variable distances.

[...] The researchers' polymer is based on sulfur and compounds derived from algae and plants. The polymer is easy to prepare using a chemical process called inverse vulcanization: simply mix the constituent compounds together and stir while heating. As a first step, the researchers designed a polymer that is elastic—that is, reverts to its original shape—after being repeatedly restretched by 20%.

[...] The fabrication of conventional infrared night-vision lenses, in a way that allows users to easily change focus from one position to another, is typically difficult. Without a variable-focus capability, details that are pertinent to criminal or research investigations, for example, may be lost.

The researchers say the lenses will enable higher resolution night vision equipment.

Journal Reference:
Junpei Kuwabara, Kaho Oi, Makoto M. Watanabe, et al. Algae-Inspired, Sulfur-Based Polymer with Infrared Transmission and Elastic Function, ACS Applied Polymer Materials (DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.0c00924)

Original Submission