Scientists make a lifelike robotic fish using multipurpose ‘blood’

There's no question that robots have come a long way since their cold, clunky, cumbersome inception. Nowadays they're smart, agile and responsive -- but they're still missing the tactile, multipurpose elements that make living creatures flexible and...

Synthetic muscle breakthrough could lead to ‘lifelike’ robots

A breakthrough in soft robotics means scientists are now one step closer to creating lifelike machines. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a 3D printed synthetic tissue that can act as active muscle. The material, which can push, pull...

MIT builds low-cost synthetic muscles out of nylon cord

Researchers have been trying to build durable, low-cost synthetic muscles for years but to no avail. The systems developed so far have either been too expensive to produce en mass (like carbon nanotube) or too delicate and power hungry (looking at yo...

ICYMI: Toilet tech, sight-giving headset & lab-grown veins

Today on In Case You Missed It: Biosynthetic veins and arteries have been created by researchers in London that are able to imitate traits of human tissues, including the ability to self-heal. A headset designed for people with serious vision probl...

NYU synthesizes crystals with lifelike behavior under light

NYU synthesizes crystals with lifelike behavior under light video

Scientists have long surmised that inorganic life is possible. New York University hasn't created any at this stage, but it just produced an uncannily close imitation through a recent experiment. When exposing hematite particles (iron and oxygen in a polymer) to specific wavelengths of blue light, researchers got the particles to form crystals that metabolize and move together like a flock. If it weren't for the lack of reproduction, the crystals would technically qualify as life -- and one upcoming test will trade mobility for that self-replication. Accordingly, NYU sees the crystals not just as having possible uses for electronics, but also as illustrating that a finer line might exist between living creatures and synthetic objects. Whether or not the university ever meets all three conditions for life at once, we may have to reset our expectations for what chemicals can do when they get together.

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Via: Wired

Source: New York University