TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE – 1

October 2007

Pictures from The Guardian showing various ways in which tracking devices are used in studying animal movement and migration.

BECKS AND T. REX

September 2007

You may have seen this story, from the fevered brain of our own Bill Sellers. For a few days, Bill was a global media super-star as he explained how his computer simulation showed that T. rex could have outrun a footballer. More details, and video, here.

THE ROBOT SALAMANDER THAT CAN SWIM AND WALK

March 2007

Swiss scientists built a robot that, like a salamander, can both swim and walk, in an attempt to model how animals may have made the transition from aquatic to terrestrial locomotion.

Science article here (subscription necessary), BBC summary here. Watch the salamander walk, compare it with the robot.

FILM OF OCTOPUS WALKING BACKWARDS!

October 2006

This film is taken  from the Supplementary Material of a Journal of Experimental Biology article about various forms of octopus locomotion, which can be found here. Both links are open access.

WE KNOW ELEPHANTS CAN’T JUMP, BUT CAN THEY RUN?

October 2006

Article in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology here, and magazine review of the article here. Both articles are open access/

ARE WE THERE YET?

October 2006

How do bees and ants know how far they have travelled? Fascinating review article here from Current Biology (open access).