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Moth eyes inspire solar cells that work indoors
As a rule, most solar cells need to catch direct sunlight. Even those that work indoors can only do so much to generate power from artificial light sources. However, British researchers have found a clever (and decidedly) unusual way to harvest energy while inside: by imitating moths. They've created a graphene-based material that traps electromagnetic waves much like a moth's eye, making it one of the most energy-absorbent substances to date. With the right antennas, it could produce energy from not just sunlight, but any device that emits microwave or radio waves -- your smartphone could help power your smartwatch.
Manipulating moths in the name of search, rescue and science
In case you needed any more proof that we live in the future, just know that we're slowly inching toward the advent of remote-controlled, sensor-laden moths. (Moths, for the record, are constantly being tinkered with.) As it turns out, the rationale for creating a widespread network of connected, flying insects is more nuanced than just "Because we can." North Carolina State University's Dr. Alper Bozkurt says his team wants to know if they can steer moths through the air to help with search and rescue and post-disaster operations, and the first step toward getting there is sticking electrodes into moth pupae before they fully metamorphose. Alas, the team's still a ways off from achieving their dream - at this point, those electrodes are used to wireless collect information about how moths uses their muscles to flutter through the air. Still, Bozkurt is hopeful that by gaining a better understand of how moths fly, the team will eventually be able to learn how to manipulate those muscles and convert a moth into a tiny living drone.
Scientists let a moth drive a robot, study its tracking behavior (video)
Insect-inspired robots are nothing new, but an insect driving a robot is decidedly novel. Graduate student Garnet Hertz managed to get a cockroach to control a mobile robot back in 2006, but scientists over at the University of Tokyo changed it up a bit by having a silk moth drive a small two-wheeled bot in pursuit of a female sex pheromone. As with the cockroach, the male moth steered the bot by walking around on a rotating ball, no training required. This isn't just for fun and games of course; the eventual goal of the study is to apply the moth's tracking behavior to autonomous robots, which will be helpful for situations like hunting down environmental spills and leaks. Until then, we're crossing our fingers for a moth-driven Monster Truck rally. Check out both cockroach and moth-driving videos after the break. Update: The university has just released their journal article about the study, which we've linked to in the source.
Researchers create robo-moth, dream of a cyborg cricket-filled future
Researchers have long turned to insects for a little inspiration when creating robots, but things have entered a terrifying new dimension this week, with two separate groups each finding new ways to meld bug and machine. The further along of the pair is a group of scientists from Tokyo University's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, who have not only used a live silkmoth to control a toy car, but severed the head of a moth and wired it into the vehicle pictured above (look closely). By directing stimuli to the moth's still-functioning antennae, the researchers were able to record the motor commands issued by the brain's nerve cells and, in turn, control the vehicle -- which, in addition to totally freaking people out, allows them to study and record data on how neurons respond to stimulus. Slightly less far along on the road to bug armageddon is Pentagon contractor OpCoast, which is working on some full on "cyborg crickets" that behave like the real thing but have the added benefit of being able to form a mobile communications network in an emergency situation. That network, the company says, could eventually consist of hundreds or thousands of the crickets which, like real crickets, would communicate with each other through wing beats, and even be able to vary their "call tone" when they detect the presence of chemical or biological agents, or potentially even the scent of a person trapped in rubble.Read - AFP, "Japanese scientists aim to create robot-insects"Read - PhysOrg, "Cyborg Crickets Could Form Mobile Communications Network, Save Human Lives"[Via reddit]
Getting a moth pet as a low-level Hordie
As you'll know if you read my post about Petopia being updated, I'm extremely excited about being able to tame moths now. However, my hunter is Horde-side and merely level 18 (well, the one I'm playing recently anyway), and the only trainable moths pre-Outland are on Azuremyst Isle. Combine that with the fact that the boat crews are back in the game, and it becomes very tricky to get such a pet at a low level. But not impossible - here's how I did it. Get yourself to Auberdine (Darkshore). If you're like me, this means running from Orgrimmar, but at least I got to pick up some flight paths along the way. Swim out to the very end of Auberdine's dock, where the boat to Azuremyst docks. Position yourself right under the tip of the dock, and then drown (as close to the surface as you can). Run your ghost out on the dock, stand at the end of it, and wait for the boat to show up. Do not resurrect yet. When the boat arrives, run onto it (still in ghost form), quickly climb the back stairs, and carefully walk out onto the rope that stretches towards the front of the ship (see screenshot above). Now resurrect. You will be in combat, but nobody will run up to the rope to attack you. Now just don't move until the boat gets to Azuremyst. When you get to Azuremyst you should be able to jump straight into the water, thereby avoiding combat. Now would be a good time to turn on your Track Humanoids if you're interested in finding a Blood Elf Bandit for the coveted mask. Make your way east towards Ammen Vale, where new Draenei start, being careful to avoid Azure Watch. Unfortunately, you're going to have to die some more. There are high-level guards in the pass into Ammen Vale; I couldn't think of any way to get through besides corpse-running. But it only took two deaths, so I wasn't too bothered. Just past the guards, you should find what you came for: Vale Moths. They're level 1, so you should have absolutely no trouble training one, and then you can simply hearth out. Enjoy your awesome new pet! Three deaths in all (probably more if you're on a PvP server); not too bad, considering. The family skill for moths is Serenity Dust. I was initially worried about putting it on auto-cast, but it looks like the pet AI is smart enough to not use it until the moth is down by enough health that the HoT is actually useful. With Dust once a minute, I may never cast Mend Pet again in the course of normal questing.
Scattered Shots: Pet talent trees in the Wrath Beta
Welcome to another edition of Scattered Shots, the other WoW Insider weekly Hunter column. Daniel Whitcomb is your guest host again this week. So, we theorized about talented pets a bit quite a few installments of Scattered Shots ago, but now we have the actual trees live and testable on the Wrath Beta, and they seem to be firming up nicely. There's a few promised changes yet to come, such as the removal or lowering of focus costs on many major abilities and talents, and it's still very possible that Blizzard may make changes here and there before live, but I think they're solid enough at this point that we can look at each tree and make some solid predictions about how people will use them and how various talent builds might look.
BigRedKitty: Moths
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Ferocity Pets! These are the face-rippers, the squishie-killers, the pets that make us proud to be a Beastmaster hunter! Cats, Devilsaurs, Raptors, Wolves! Yeeha!Moths? That's what we're being told, yes.So we tamed a level 69 Moth from Netherstorm, took it to Shadowmoon Valley, and let the fun begin.You know how devilsaurs are supposedly filled with helium? Well we think moths are made of a carbon-fiber and Kevlar composite. Holy smokes, foshizzle!You are invited to download the YouTube version (41MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (248MB) here.Note: We say in the movie that Moths are "exotic". They are not; our mistake. They are new in the Wrath of the Lich King, but any talent-spec hunter can tame one.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
Robo-moth can't flap, still likes flames
We're no strangers to the use and abuse of insects in the name of science, but we've gotta say that this robo-moth mech is the best example yet. Built by a few mad scientists over at the University of Arizona, robo-moth intercepts signals sent by the moth's eyes to its teensy brain and turns them into movement. The bot can detect where the moth is looking, and turns in that direction. Since moths have quite the fancy pair of preceptors and built-in reflexes, it's going to allow for some pretty complicated actions once scientists figure out how to control more motion than left and right. Researchers are looking down the road to where a moth could act as a disposable bomb-sniffing robot, or where paralyzed humans could more accurately control wheelchairs with their thoughts, but that's all still a ways out.
Ho Ha Dodge Turn Parry Block Spin
Daffy and his buck and a quarter quarter staff may be able to parry and block, but should mobs in WoW be able to block without shields or parry without weapons? According to Blizzard, yes. CM Drysc spins it this way:Consistency of base mitigation abilities for mobs allows for a consistency of combat, while still allowing interesting and engaging offensive abilities, differentiating defensive abilities, and various mob characteristic design. It's a bread and butter ground work that keeps mobs consistent in their ability to mitigate damage from all players. It can definitely create some weird situations where a grub really shouldn't be able to parry, but it can.Drysc goes on to suggest imagining that the grub quickly spins a silk sword to parry your attack. Similarly he suggests that moths parry with their "Fel Proboscis". So, it seems we should expect all mobs to be able to parry and block us while we fight them and to daze us while we run away, regardless of their species or appendages. It's a suspension of disbelief thing. We are supposed to rationalize or ignore how these creatures are doing these things and concentrate on the fun aspects of the game. Immersion into Azeroth suffers from balancing the gameplay experience.I would like to see more customization of the enemies we fight -- less consistency of the mobs and more classic RPG battle rules, like skeletons being susceptible to blunt weapons and bleeding attacks not working on creatures without blood. On the other hand, I've had more fun playing WoW for a longer time than any other MMO. Perhaps it is just the classic geek conflict: purist vs. fanboy (or fangirl in my case).Does the fact that grubs can parry bother you? Would you prefer less consistency and more believability? Do you think Daffy is better as Robin Hood or Friar Duck?
Sniffer algorithm leads robots to faint, faraway scents
Although having the boys in blue tracking you down based on your unique aroma fingerprints might seem frightening, just envision the terror that would ensue if an ultra-keen robot was onto your trail from miles away. Massimo Vergassola and and colleagues at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, have created an algorithm that can actually instruct a robot "how to move in order to gather as much olfactory information as possible." The mathematical formula allows a machine to home in on "even the faintest of scents" by analyzing which direction the smell is getting weaker or stronger in, the frequency of the whiffs, and eventually, it could even take into account disturbances such as wind gusts. After trialing the algorithm on computer-based robotic models searching for a scent, he found that the theoretical guinea pigs moved in "S-like patterns" to sniff things out, which is quite similar to the method used by moths (renowned for their sense of smell) when trying to discover the source of an odor. Researchers state that implementing the technique into an actual robot would be fairly "straightforward," and could also be used for other tasks that involve "searching with limited information" -- or alternatively, on bots who are already trained to chase down foes.
