A robotic fish has sailed across an aquatic uncanny valley by tricking real fish into following it upstream.

The feat could lead to better understanding of fish behavior and perhaps some means to divert them from environmental disaster scenes.

“Although some previous works have successfully investigated the interactions between live animals and robots or animal-like replicas, none of these studies have considered robots that are designed to simulate animal locomotion,” wrote the authors of a new study about the robot.
via Wired

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[Cesar] recently got a PSP display up and running with his FPGA development board. That’s a nice project, but what we really like is that he set aside a lot of time to show how it’s done every step of the way. This isn’t just a tutorial on that particular screen, but an overview of the skill set needed to get any piece of hardware working.

The screen itself is a Sharp LQ043T3DX02; a 480×272 TFT display with 16 million colors. Not bad for your project but when you start looking into the control scheme this isn’t going to be like using a Nokia screen with an Arduino. It takes twenty pins to control it; Red, green, and blue take sixteen pins, four pins are used for control, the rest are CK, DISP, Hsync, Vsync.
via Hackaday

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Sometimes it seems the world is so screwed up we should just build a new one from scratch--and now we finally know how much such a project would cost.

In gloriously geeky fashion, economics students at Lehigh University tried to estimate how long it would take and how much it would cost to build the Empire's ginormous man-made planetship if we were to get started today.

The students started by assuming the Death Star could be made from steel, and that the ship would be about as steel-dense as a modern warship, in particular the HMS Illustrious. Applying that steel density to the Death Star's size--the moon-size weapon was reportedly 140 km in diameter--they determined that just over a quadrillion tons of steel (quadrillion comes after trillion) would be required for construction.
via cnet

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Step by step this massive snow drawing was trampled into freshly fallen snow by artist Sonja Hinrichsen with the help of 5 volunteers last month at Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado. I love that a piece so expansive and yet so temporary can be created with a few pairs of well choreographed snow boots.
via Colossal

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Remember the days when you'd actually have to push on your Hot Wheels to get them to move? It appears those days are gone, thanks to Hot Wheels RC Nitro Speeders ($20-$35). Powered by dual 30,000 RPM motors, these tiny RC cars come with a controller that doubles as both a charger and carrying case, and can reach scale speeds of up to 600 mph. 
via Uncrate

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A remote drug delivery system has successfully been tested in a human trial. A microchip was implanted in 8 women and delivered a drug to treat osteoporosis once a day for 20 days. There were no adverse affects and, compared to a control group of women who injected the drug, the microchip-delivered treatment was just as effective.

The miniature chip, 5 cm long and 3 cm wide, was implanted under local anesthesia in just 30 minutes. It contained 20 tiny reservoirs, each of which holds 600-nanoliters of drug solution, over which a thin layer of platinum or titanium contained the drug. Upon dosing, a current is applied which melted the metal coverings and allowed for drug release. The chip’s actions can be programmed for drug release at specific intervals or on demand with the use of wireless communication link. The bidirectional communication also tells researchers whether the chip is working properly or not.
via Singularity Hub

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As a sworn bike lover, I remain fascinated by the evolution of bike culture and the bicycle as a cultural agent, from its design and engineering history to its beauty to its role in the emancipation of women (only after telling them not to cultivate ‘bicycle face’). While digging through the archive of the State Library of New South Wales, I came across these stunning public domain images of early 20th century bike culture in Australia, equal parts sweet (all those tandems!), inspirational (a record-breaking ride from Sydney to Melbourne in 3 days and 7 hours!), and scandalous (NB: Annie is wearing trousers!)
via Brain Pickings

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Complexity scientists have made great strides in understanding the behaviour of single networks. Now they want to know what happens when networks become connected to each other.

In the last decade or so, the study of networks has had a profound effect on the way we understand the spread of everything from fashion and ideas to forest fires and disease. 

But this better understanding of individual networks has revealed a gaping hole in our knowledge of how networks interact with each other. That looks to be hugely important. Many systems, rather than being individual networks, are actually networks of networks: the financial system, the economy, our brain and our genetic control system to name just a few.

What's puzzling about all these systems is that they demonstrate emergent behaviour that single networks alone cannot reproduce. 

So it's no surprise that with the triumphs in understanding single networks under their belts, complexity scientists have set their sights on the more ambitious goal of understanding 'networks of networks'. Consequently, this area is set to become one of the fastest growing in science.  

Today, Anna Saumell-Mendiola, Angeles Serrano and Marian Boguna at the University of Barcelona in Spain reveal their approach to the problem. These guys have studied the way that disease-spreading networks interact when they become linked.
via technology review

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It might the stuff of science fiction dreams, but a Japanese construction company has announced that it will have built a working space elevator by 2050. Where can I join the queue?

According to the The Daily Yomiuri, construction company Obayashi Corp has announced it will have built a space elevator capable of shuttling passengers 36,000 kilometers above the Earth by 2050.
via Geekosystem

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In the world of electronics, the size of a device directly relates to its ability to pull ahead of the competition -- especially when it comes to fitness-tracking gadgets. The latest and greatest in this field has emerged from the most unexpected of places, with Epson, a company known for its printers and projectors, releasing the world's lightest GPS watch. This timepiece, specifically designed for runners, reportedly offers more accurate readings and better battery life (up to 12 hours on one charge) than competing products from Garmin, with acute data on distance, speed and pace, all due to its newly-designed 13mm-thick module.
via Engadget

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