Show Notes 3 February 2023
Story 1: Scientists create a small shapeshifting humanoid robot that can liquefy and reform
Source: Sciencealert.com Story by Michelle Starr
Source: Sciencenews.org Story by McKenzie Prillaman
Link: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/robot-shape-shifting-gallium-melt-reform-magnetic-fields
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9zE8JQCG5E
Source for image: https://www.geologyin.com/2018/02/gallium-is-metal-that-melts-in-your.html
- Scientists at the University of Hong Kong have created a small shapeshifting robot that can switch between liquid and solid metal states!
- The researchers call their bot a “magnetoactive solid-liquid phase transitional machine”.
- And believe me, this has the robotics world buzzing!
- Here’s a snapshot on the technology behind this innovation and what it can do:
- The researchers used a non-toxic material called gallium, which is a soft metal that has a melting point so low it can melt in your hand!
- Gallium has a melting point of 85.57 degrees Fahrenheit – just a few degrees below the average human body temperature.
- More about gallium – The element gallium is an unexpected metal—it’s a soft, silvery-white metal that is solid at room temperature (similar to aluminum) but it can literally melt in the palm of your hand. Source: https://www.discovery.com/science/gallium-is-a-metal-that-melts-in-your-hands
- The scientists created a new composite of gallium and magnetic particles, which liquefies in the presence of a changing magnetic field and moves under the guidance of a permanent magnet.
- After successful testing using magnets to control the bot’s transition from solid to liquid and back the University of Hong Kong team made their little robot:
- climb over obstacles,
- leap over small moats,
- escape a cage [and there’s a really freaky video showing this],
- and even split up to perform cooperative tasks moving objects around before recombining and resolidifying.
- Okay, reality check – this technology is at a very early proof-of-concept stage, but the potential real-world applications could be very interesting – Because of this amazing capability the little robot could be used, for example, to navigate around places too small or convoluted for human hands to reach.
- Or, perhaps, to targeted medical drug delivery within the body.
Story 2: Researchers create a new type of yarn that turns movement into electricity
Source: Techxplore.com News release from University of Texas at Dallas
Link: https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-demo-carbon-nanotube-yarn-harvests.html
- Recently Nanotechnology researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas announced the latest generation of their innovative carbon nanotube yarns they call “twistrons” which generate electricity when stretched or twisted.
- This is not the first electricity generating fabric technology.
- But these new carbon nanotube yarns [which look, feel, and act like traditional wool or cotton yarns] convert movement into electricity more effectively than any fabric-based energy generators developed to date.
- In one experiment the team sewed the carbon nanotube yarns into a cotton fabric patch that was then wrapped around a person’s elbow.
- Electrical signals were generated as the person repeatedly bent their elbow, demonstrating the potential use of the fibers for sensing and harvesting human motion.
- And when deployed in a body of moving water, they can harvest energy from the movement of waves or currents.
- In another experiment the carbon nanotube yarns were repeatedly stretched to charge a supercapacitor, which then had enough energy to power five small light-emitting diodes, a digital watch, and a digital humidity/temperature sensor.
- The researchers have applied for a patent based on the technology.
Story 3: New all-in-one system can capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants and convert it into a lucrative product
Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory website
Link: https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/scientists-unveil-least-costly-carbon-capture-system-date
- Globally, carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants are responsible for an estimated 31 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
- To help combat this there are two-step capture and recycling solutions currently being deployed.
- The first step involves equipment to capture CO2 emissions at the plant site.
- The second step involves transporting the captured CO2 to a processing facility where it can be transformed into useful products including:
- ingredients for fuel,
- plastics
- and even food – as well as valuable chemicals such as methanol.
- Today’s two-step solutions represent a positive step forward, but what if you could have a single, onsite system combining capture and conversion to cut out the time and expense of transporting captured CO2 offsite?
- Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington recently achieved this breakthrough by creating an affordable all-in-one carbon capture and conversion system.
- Here’s how it works:
- The system can take, for example, exhaust flu gas from an industrial plant and strip out CO2 using a patented solvent developed by the Lab.
- The solvent then feeds the CO2 to the system’s built-in reactor where it’s converted into methanol – one of the most widely used industrial chemicals on Earth.
- This continuous process approach skips multiple expensive steps to release, compress and purify the CO2.
- I think this is a real gamechanger, as this all-in-one solution is the least expensive option today, and significantly reduces the cost of making renewable methanol from CO2 which plant operators can sell to help cover the cost of the system and its operation.
Story 4: New portable, electronic biosensor can help detect oral cancer
Source: Medgadget.com Story by Conn Hastings
Link: https://www.medgadget.com/2023/01/point-of-care-biosensor-to-detect-oral-cancer.html
- Oral cancer detection typically involves a biopsy, which is invasive, expensive and takes several weeks to obtain results.
- To help speed early detection of oral cancer, researchers at the University of Florida have created a small portable electronic biosensor that can rapidly detect a known biomarker for oral cancer.
- The device uses test strips, like those used in blood glucose tests, to spot a protein biomarker that can reveal the presence of oral cancer.
- The device processes a patient’s liquid sample that is placed on the end of a test strip.
- The test strip then runs into channels within the biosensor device that contain antibody-covered electrodes.
- The antibodies are specific for the protein phosphatase 2A, and antibody binding changes the electrical signal the electrodes produce, providing a readout alert if the protein is present.
- And here’s why this is so important – The new portable system could be useful in rural and remote regions where access to expensive conventional lab testing equipment is not available.
Story 5: Unique MIT suit helps people better understand the aging experience
Source: MIT News
Link: https://news.mit.edu/2023/unique-mit-suit-helps-people-better-understand-aging-experience-0120
- MIT’s AgeLab in the Center for Transportation and Logistics has created an innovative jumpsuit which combines a collection of weights and bungie cords, some unwieldy gloves, and a pair of Crocs with blocks of foam glued to the bottom of them — as well as the red goggles.
- The body suit called AGNES, which stands for the Age Gain Now Empathy System, is an empathy and research tool designed to simulate for the wearer some of what it may feel like to live in one’s early 80s with a few chronic health conditions.
- The weights approximate muscle loss, the bungies the reduction of range of motion and flexibility that can affect the joints with age.
- The foam-platform Crocs simulate the erosion of balance, and the heavy, awkward gloves evoke the loss of tactile sensation.
- Finally, the red goggles simulate a range of impairments to vision, from impaired acuity to diabetic retinopathy.
- The goal is to help designers, engineers, executives, and helping professionals understand a little better the physical and social world of people in their 80s and beyond so that they can design better products and services for older users.
- AGNES has been used globally to inform the design of public transportation systems, retail environments, medical devices, and product packaging.