That’s right… Forget the lines, hooks, bait, nets, all that crap. Just call them, and when they show up, scoop them up into a big net and eat ‘em. Supposedly, it’s nothing more than classic Pavlovian conditioning: the researchers feed a group of fish in a tank right after playing a tone underwater. After repeating the 20 second tone 3 times a day for 2 weeks straight, “you have remote-control fish,” says Simon Miner, a research assistant on the project. “You hit that button [to play the sound], and they go into that [feeding] area, and they wait patiently.” The big question is whether or not the fish will remember. Preliminary results suggest that the fish will retain the the behavior for 5-10 days, but nobody is really sure what’ll happen when they try the same thing with 5,000 fish out in the ocean this spring. Even if they can only train half the fish to return until they’re large enough for market, it’ll still be more profitable than current fish farming methods. And, I’m sure, way tastier.
Raising a fish is hard work. Comfish understands that “most people feel that the precise care of tropical fish is time consuming, requires expertise and is expensive and thus most of us shy away from owning their own aquarium.” The solution? The Comfish aquarium, which is controlled almost entirely from your computer. A USB cable supplies power to the tank’s LED lights, the water heater, and the oxygen pump (bubbles!), and you can control all this stuff with a program that looks just like the fish tank itself. A little camera in the tank displays what’s going on inside the virtual fish tank on your computer, so you never even have to look at the real fish… Besides having to feed them and clean the tank and stuff, of course. It’s also a room humidifier and a night light, and will cost you about $50, in Korea.
This giant wall-mounted fish tank “allows your dearest pet to travel the polluted ocean from the comfort of his own home.” As you can see, the fish wheel contains little miniature models of power plants and factories and stuff, so that your fish can experience a continually changing landscape of toxicity. Indeed, it has no choice, since only the bottom part of the wheel actually contains any water. I think it’s supposed to be more of a Statement than actually fun for the fish, which is fine, but it’s a shame that the concept is being put to such a negative use. Wouldn’t it be cool if it instead contained little miniature models of fish amusement parks? Like, Disneywater. And LandWorld. And Six Buoys. And Lakes of Adventure. And… Uh… Knott’s Underwater Berry Farm. Yeah, got nothin’.
This is an oldie (from late 2002), but a goodie. These fish tanks are robotic, and their movement is controlled entirely by the Siamese Fighting Fish that live inside. The fighting fish were chosen due to their eyesight, which is supposed to be good enough to let them see for some distance outside of the water, as well as the fact that they’re violently social. Infrared sensors on four sides of the tank trigger the robot to move in the direction that the fish approaches, and video cameras under the bowls record a fish-eye view (heh) of the scene for the benefit of human spectators. The robots are programmed to let the fishbots get within 1/4 inch of each other, which is close enough to exchange insults but not actually cause damage. According to the designer, the fish tend to move towards humans (presumably due to an association with food) and he has wisely chosen not to equip the tanks with fish activated weaponry. One more pic, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been using Gmail since the beta first started back in 2004 and I’ve never really turned back. I think that in the entire four years that I’ve used it, I’ve only had maybe a dozen pieces of spam make it to my inbox, and not a single legit email in my spam box. I’ve even set up another account which I’ll route mail from other places so it can essentially scrub out the spam. Naturally I’ve thought that if Gmail is so good at scrubbing my inbox clean, why not use it to scrub my body clean?
Okay, so I haven’t really thought that in the past, but it’s apparently something that’s possible. This strange bar of soap was apparently discovered in Russia. I can’t read Russian, but it translates to “the purest soap.” Somehow I doubt that this is a real product, probably something crafted by someone with a sense of humor. Either way, I wouldn’t mind having a bar of this sitting in my bathroom.
If you’ve ever wanted to destroy an ichthyophobia convention, now is your big chance. This is the Aqua Bomb, a six and a half foot tall self contained fish tank manufactured using components from an actual Mark 84 “Hammer” 2,000 pound bomb. The MK-84 is capable of making a crater 50 foot wide 40 foot deep in the surface of your choice, after penetrating 11 feet of concrete. No word on how much the fish will improve the effectiveness of this weapon, but is probably depends on the payload, which in this case (according to the resident OhGizmo marine biologist) consists of a Clown Triggerfish and a juvenile Blue Tang that are most likely fake. The pump, filter, and lighting are all built in, and the Aqua Bomb is available in “seven beautiful powder-coated colors” for just shy of $4,000.
We’re not really a big pop sci-fi / fantasy blog here at OhGizmo, but I thought that you guys might (might) be interested in some of the stuff that went on at WonderCon here in San Francisco over the weekend. I sat in on a Q&A session with Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek in the new Battlestar Galactica), went to panels about Wall-E and the new X-Files movie, and wandered around the exhibit hall for a while. Even if you’re not into the genre, at least click through for an adorable picture of a zombie chewing on a teddy bear at the end of the article. Read the rest of this entry »
Oops. It’s kinda Saturday, isn’t it? Forgive me, fanatical fans of Fishtank Friday, for foregoing your frequent fishy fun. I blame GDC. Let’s all just pretend that today is still Friday, or if you prefer, this can be the first (but almost certainly not the last) Fishtank Saturday. On with it!
Ever wanted to feel like a fish? Yeah, you can always go swimming or diving or something, but you’re still in a foreign environment. How can you be underwater without being underwater? Simple: just be under (space) water. This people tank can be found at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. The water is held up by a giant sheet of plexiglass, and you can walk around underneath, under the water. The ladder provides a nice touch, too. A picture from the top of the pool, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Once again, I find myself jealous of fish. Who ever thought that Fishtank Fridays would turn out to be so depressing for us humans and our silly little square houses? These fish live amidst beautiful natural landscapes created from real aquatic flora. Not only do the fish get to pretend they’re flying, they get to pretend that they’re flying above the ground. And they’re fish. It boggles the mind.
As you might expect, one of these setups isn’t especially easy to maintain. To keep the plants healthy, you need to add CO2 to the tank, along with fertilizer. You’ll also need grow lights and a serious filtration system. For more information on how it all works, click here. Two more spectacular pictures after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
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By Evan Ackerman
