Gizmorama - January 26, 2015

Good Morning,

Researchers have begun to make metals hydrophobic by the simply subjecting them to repeated laser blasts. It sounds like science fiction, but it's actually science fact!

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- This robot has the mind of a worm --*
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Scientists working on the ragtag research operation known as Open Worm are blazing the path toward real artificial intelligence -- artificial worm intelligence, that is. Everyone's got to start somewhere.

Recently, the collaborative project, which involves scientists from all over the world, enjoyed a major breakthrough when their software spurred a robot made of Lego bricks to act entirely on its own. The software is the replication of the mind of a common roundworm (Caenorhabditis elegans), and it included no pre-programmed actions.

The project isn't yet perfected, but it is arguably the first true example of a synthetic biological system, the simulation of animal via computer.

For all the talk of the so-called singularity, whereby artificial intelligence surpasses the capability of the human brain, there's been relatively limited action on the idea, posited by futurists, that the human brain can be replicated in computer form.

But the newest achievement by Open Worm is proof that executable biology isn't just the stuff of science fiction. IBM's Watson can win Jeopardy on any given night, but it's far away from being anything close to a human. Open Worm's worm robot, on the other hand, isn't far off from being a worm dressed as a Lego robot.

"We've been working on it for four years and while we have a lot more to achieve it's been the most surprising project I've been involved in," Stephen Larson, Open Worm's project coordinator, recently told CNN. "It's certainly exceeded my expectations."

Currently, the robot with the mind of a worm only replicates part of the persona of C. elegans -- approaching objects curiously and then backing away, sometimes hunting down nearby food. But researchers working on the project say it may not be long before the worm robot is evading predators and seeking out mates.

"We know we have the correct number of neurons, we have them connected together in roughly the same way that the animal has, and they're organized in the same way in that there are some neurons that give out information and other neurons that receive information," explained Larson.

"We feel we've gone a long way down the road, but we still know that there's a lot that's been left out and there are a lot of assumptions -- at the moment it represents one point in a line of iterative improvements."

Whether or not Larson and company successfully continue down that road -- a road to self-sustaining artificial life -- could go a long way in determining whether talk of a Kurzweilian cyborg future is taken more seriously by mainstream science.

"It's really a difficult thing to say whether it's possible," Steven Cook told The Atlantic in 2013. Cook is a graduate student at Yale who has been contributing to the project. "I'm optimistic that if we're starting with 302 neurons and 10,000 synapses we'll be able to understand its behavior from a modeling perspective."

"If we can't model a worm, I don't know how we can model a human, monkey, or cat brain."


* Researchers make metal waterproof with laser *
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (UPI) - Researchers at the University of Rochester have figured out a way to make metals hydrophobic after they've been treated with lasers.

Scientists found the metals subjected to repeated laser blasts developed surface patterns that more effectively repel water. A closer look showed that metals treated with lasers featured micro- and nanoscale structures, which caused water to bead more effectively and not become stuck.

"The material is so strongly water-repellent, the water actually gets bounced off. Then it lands on the surface again, gets bounced off again, and then it will just roll off from the surface," Chunlei Guo, a professor of optics at Rochester, explained in a recent news release.

As well as being hydrophobic, the laser-treated surfaces are also highly heat and light absorbent -- a combination researchers say could be useful in the creation of rust-free solar panels that capture the sun's energy and don't have to be cleaned as often.

The ability to avoid rust is the most obvious benefit of water-repellent metals, but they could also be useful for applications where ice is a no-no.

"Some potential applications for anti-icing surfaces include protection of aerofoils, power transmission lines, pipes of air conditioners and refrigerators, and radar or telecommunication antennas," the researchers wrote about their findings.

Guo and his colleagues have previously created surface materials that are hydrophilic -- able to absorb water extremely quickly and efficiently.

The new hydrophobic research was detailed this week in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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