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A team of researchers led by Professor Keisuke Takahashi at the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, have created FLUID (Flowing Liquid Utilizing Interactive Device), an open-source robotic system constructed using a 3D printer and off-the-shelf electronic components.

To demonstrate FLUID’s capabilities, the team used the robot to automate the co-precipitation of cobalt and nickel, creating binary materials with precision and efficiency.

“By adopting open source, utilizing a 3D printer, and taking advantage of commonly-available electronics, it became possible to construct a functional robot that is customized to a particular set of needs at a fraction of the costs typically associated with commercially-available robots,” said Mikael Kuwahara, the lead author of the study.

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The concept of constructing a self-supporting structure made of rods—without the use of nails, ropes, or glue—dates back to Leonardo da Vinci. In the Codex Atlanticus, da Vinci illustrated a design for a self-supporting bridge across a river, which can be easily demonstrated using toothpicks, matches, or chopsticks. However, this design is fragile—pulling one of the rods or pushing the bridge from below can cause it to collapse.

In contrast, —which are also self-supporting structures consisting of rigid sticks and twigs—are remarkably stable despite continuous disturbances such as wind, ground vibrations, and the landing or takeoff of birds. What makes bird nests so sturdy?

This was the question at the center of a recent paper from L. Mahadevan and his team at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Researchers have successfully demonstrated the UK’s first long-distance ultra-secure transfer of data over a quantum communications network, including the UK’s first long-distance quantum-secured video call.

The team, from the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge, created the network, which uses standard fiber-optic infrastructure, but relies on a variety of quantum phenomena to enable ultra-secure data transfer.

The network uses two types of quantum key distribution (QKD) schemes: “unhackable” encryption keys hidden inside particles of light; and distributed entanglement: a phenomenon that causes quantum particles to be intrinsically linked.

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A step forward in the development of diamond CMOS integrated circuits. A research team at NIMS has developed the world’s first n-channel diamond MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor). This breakthrough marks a significant step toward realizing CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-se

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A new theory links gravity to quantum entropy and introduces the G-field, possibly explaining dark matter and cosmic expansion. In a recent study published in Physical Review D, Professor Ginestra Bianconi, a Professor of Applied Mathematics at Queen Mary University of London, presents a groundbr

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Geologists have made certain assumptions about how the crust making up our planet’s earliest surface formed, but a new study has found that Earth’s very first protocrust was surprisingly similar to the shell of solid rock in place today.

It may mean a complete rethink of how Earth’s coat transitioned from a skin of boiling magma to the shifting armor of tectonic plates we now live on, according to the international team of researchers behind the study.

“Scientists have long thought that tectonic plates needed to dive beneath each other to create the chemical fingerprint we see in continents,” says geochemist Simon Turner, from Macquarie University in Australia.

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A recent study published in The Journal of Neuroscience has found evidence for a link between breathing patterns and brain activity during anxious states. Researchers found that rats experiencing anxiety-like behavior in a common behavioral test breathed more rapidly and that this change in breathing influenced brain rhythms in a key frontal brain area. The study highlights how shifts in respiration actively shape how the brain functions during emotional experiences.

Scientists have long known that feelings of anxiety can trigger physical changes in the body, including alterations in breathing. Previous research has shown that breathing influences brain activity, particularly in areas involved in processing smells and in the front part of the brain. This connection between breathing and brain function has been especially well-documented in relation to fear, where slow, steady breathing is often linked to freezing behavior in rodents. However, it remained unclear whether breathing plays a similar role in other negative emotional states like anxiety, which tends to involve faster breathing.

To investigate this, researchers set out to understand how breathing affects brain activity in situations that evoke anxiety. They used a widely accepted method for studying anxiety in rodents called the elevated plus maze. This maze is shaped like a plus sign and has two arms that are enclosed and two that are open and exposed. Because rats naturally prefer the safety of enclosed spaces, spending time in the open arms is considered an indication of anxiety-like behavior.

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