The graceful robotic penguins in the video above were unveiled by German engineering firm Festo this week.



Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16996-bionic-penguins-take-to-the-water--and-the-skies.html

Smell activates robot

By using genetically modified frog cells, you give a robot a sharper sense of smell - according to Shoji Takeuchi, a bioengineer at the University of Tokyo in Japan.

Existing E-Noses use quartz rods designed to vibrate at a different frequency when they bind to a target substance.Takeuchi and his team have developed a living smell sensor. Immature eggs, or oocytes, from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis are genetically modified to express the proteins known to act as smell receptors. The team then placed the modified cells between electrodes and measured the telltale currents generated when different molecules bound to the receptors.

As a proof of concept, Takeuchi has built a robot that shakes its head when moth pheromones are sensed by the nose.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19351-frog-cells-give-artificial-nose-the-power-of-super-smell.html

Edible crystals for storing hydrogen fuel

Researchers have experimented with storing hydrogen inside molecular "cages", made from chains of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms linked by metal ions. These so-called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) only bond weakly with the hydrogen atoms they enclose, so the gas can be recovered simply by heating the material slightly.

Fraser Stoddart of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and colleagues have found a way to make MOFs using simple, readily available materials. Stoddart's molecular cages are cubical, and each side is made of gamma-cyclodextrin, a ring of glucose molecules. Produced by bacteria, this sugary starch is used as an additive in many foods and pharmaceuticals – making Stoddart's MOFs edible.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19401-edible-crystals-could-store-hydrogen-fuel.html

Mobile chargers for electric cars

Zafer Sahinoglu at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and colleagues, are developing a network of portable charging stations, which can be moved to wherever the demand for recharging is greatest. To determine where the stations are needed, in-car sensors would monitor the level of charge in the battery and periodically report this to a central operations center, which would flag areas where most cars run low on juice.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727765.600-mobile-chargers-could-keep-electric-cars-juiced-up.html