You don’t think about it much, but generally, when stuff falls over, it doesn’t get back up. Off the top of my head, I can think of two exceptions to the rule: Weebles, and turtles. Of course, Weebles (and most other self-righting objects) cheat by having a weight in the bottom. The Gomboc, “invented” last December by Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi, is the first convex, homogeneous object with only one stable orientation, which means that it’ll always turn itself “up” no matter which way you set it down, without any help:
Turtles, though, seem to have had this figured out a while ago… Quite a few of them have shells shaped nearly identically to the Gomboc. As for practical uses for those of us who aren’t turtles, I honestly don’t know what this is good for. How about a cake mold, to make self-righting pineapple upside-down cake? Yeah, okay, got nothin’. It’s definitely cool, though.
If you want to order one, they’re available in a limited edition starting at about 1000 euros. Or you could just go find a turtle somewhere.
We don’t talk about food much here at OhGizmo, and for good reason. I’ve yet to find a piece of food that is considered a gadget (not counting those food-shaped USB drives, they aren’t actually food to begin with). However, I thought that I would bring up the topic somewhat briefly because there has been a recent development in the state of cloned meat.
The FDA has officially announced that cloned beef and dairy are completely safe for human consumption. There are plenty of activists out there that aren’t going to be pleased with this news, but I don’t really see any reason why we shouldn’t do this, so long as it has been deemed safe. I’d eat some cloned beef, what about you guys?
Forget about cellphones and other such gadgets, even the bowls the Japanese use to feed their pets are more advanced than most of the tech we have access to. The iSeePet360, whose name seems to capitalize on some of the more popular consumer electronics on the market provides an easy way for busy pet owners to keep an eye on their furry companions while they’re away from home.
Using a cellphone or PC, they can access a web enabled camera on the iSeePet360 to see what their pet is doing at any time. And if the animal doesn’t happen to be in range of the camera, the owner can trigger an audio announcement that dinner is ready while remotely releasing dry pet food into the bowl. From my own experiences, if that doesn’t bring them running you know they’re probably getting into trouble.
And if you’re thinking to yourself that such ‘luxury’ doesn’t come cheap you’d be right. The iSeePet360 is available for about $444 but come on, you’d do anything for your pet right?
Continuing the argument that there is no such thing as a useless USB accessory, you can now get your own plug ‘n play USB chameleon. It’s like a real live zygodactyl squamate in every way, except for all the ways besides random eye rolling and tongue sticking outing, and appendage bending. That made sense, right? Anyhoo, the USB Chameleon can find a home on your computer for $34.50.
Crows, along with parrots (like Alex, may he rest in peace) are working hard to disprove the whole “bird brain” epithet. Researchers from Oxford University have been studying crows in the wild to see how they make and use tools, and to keep up with them, they’ve fitted the birds with tail-mounted miniature wireless cameras that peek between the birds’ legs. The cameras weigh only 14 grams each, run for 70 minutes at a stretch, and are shed safely when the bird molts. The first clip below shows one of Oxford’s captive New Caledonian crows (her name is Betty) modifying a tool in order to retrieve a piece of food. The second clip is a series of videos taken by one of the Crow Cams, including flying, snail eating, tool use, and picking fruit. Remember as you watch that the camera is positioned underneath the crow, looking forward.
So what’s so special about crows? Well, there are only a small number of animals that use tools (on the order of 20, according to Wikipedia). However, there is a substantial cognitive difference between tool using and tool making. As far as I know (off the top of my head), the only animals that construct or modify tools for use in the wild are primates and crows.
A bit more about my personal experience with crows (or rather, ravens) after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes it takes videos like this to really drive home the fact that the atmosphere is really just a big gas ocean, that displays basically the same physical properties as a liquid ocean. Festo took this concept to heart when they designed the Air_ray, a remote controlled blimp that swims through the air just like a manta ray. The blimp is filled with helium, making it buoyant, and contains servos which flap its wings, propelling it through the air and allowing it to maneuver. It also seems to have a movable tail to control pitch. Overall, it makes for a very organic form of propulsion; click on for a soothing video of the Air-ray flapping around. Read the rest of this entry »
Yöghund is organic frozen yogurt for dogs. Yes, for your dogs. Yöghund is completely organic, and made from a mixture of organic yogurt, banana, peanuts and spring water. Most importantly is that dogs seem to love it, attacking it with ferocious lickings.
Yöghund is available online and at selected retailers. For $5.99 you can net four servings/cups.
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By Ryan Nill