Researchers develop nature-inspired “smart” materials

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BBC: A team at the University of Bristol in the UK has developed artificial muscles that mimic the color-changing ability of certain animals. Cephalopods like squid and octopuses change color by using tiny muscles in their skin to stretch out small sacs of black coloration. Zebrafish pump black pigment from under the skin to the surface. To replicate those abilities, the researchers used soft robotics, a technique that combines aspects of organic chemistry, soft materials science, and robotics. They connected electroactive polymeric materials to an electric circuit: When a voltage was applied, the materials contracted; when the voltage was cut, they returned to their original shape. Such nature-inspired designs could lead to a line of camouflage clothing that can change color and pattern or to “smart” clothing that can cool the wearer when it is hot and warm the wearer when it is cold. The study was published online 1 May in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.

US remote-sensing program in decline

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Science: Because of budget shortfalls and escalating costs, NASA’s Earth-observing satellite program is deteriorating, concluded a panel of the US National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC). Aging satellites are being replaced too slowly, and new missions are getting delayed or cancelled. The satellites are necessary for monitoring changes in Earth’s climate, natural hazards, and land surface. If the situation does not change, the US may be left with only 25% of its current observing capacity by 2020, said the NRC panel’s report. The responsibility for developing an overarching national strategy of Earth observation, however, is “above NASA, and above [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]. It’s at the [White House] Office of Science and Technology Policy level. The course we are on is obvious, and it’s not sustainable,” said Antonio Busalacchi, director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a member of the NRC panel that issued the new report.

Harvard and MIT join forces to offer free online courses

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Chronicle of Higher Education: Harvard University and MIT have each committed $30 million to host a new online learning platform called edX. The goal of the project is to improve learning for the universities’ traditional students and for the public at large, writes Nick DeSantis for the Chronicle of Higher Education. With the new venture, university officials hope to offer students worldwide access to courses and gather data on how students learn and how technology can facilitate teaching. Although participants will not receive university credit, they could earn certificates. It is hoped that over time, other universities will join the edX platform.

US flagship neutrino project forced to downgrade

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Nature: Because of budget constraints, plans for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) at Fermilab are being scaled back. The original proposal for the LBNE involved firing neutrinos from its base near Chicago at a massive underground detector located at the Homestake mine in South Dakota. To keep costs down, however, Fermilab has proposed two less-expensive options: The first is to continue with the new neutrino beam but downsize the detector at Homestake and locate it on the surface rather than underground; the second is to aim an existing beam, called Neutrinos at the Main Injector, over a shorter distance to a surface detector at the Soudan lab in Minnesota. Both options would preclude one of the LBNE’s main goals, to watch for proton decay. More important, the downsizing of LBNE will restrict the US’s ability to remain competitive in particle physics.

SpaceX prepares to send first commercial capsule to space station

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Washington Post: The first launch of a privately designed and built spacecraft to carry supplies to the International Space Station is scheduled for Monday, although it may be delayed to allow for additional testing. Commercial space company SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, has been working with NASA to ready its unmanned Dragon capsule to carry 500 kilograms of food, water, and other cargo to the 16-nation outpost. The original plan was to try a simple flyby of the station, but with the retiring of the space shuttle program last year, SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk asked to try an actual docking. If the flight is successful, it will improve SpaceX’s chance of eventually ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Museum designers and condo developer spar over sunshine

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New York Times: In Dallas, Texas, the designers of two structures are going head-to-head over sun glare. The Nasher Sculpture Center, which opened in 2003, was designed with an arched glass roof to direct natural sunlight onto its famous works of modern art, such as Auguste Rodin’s Age of Bronze. However, once the museum was built, a developer decided to erect a 42-story condominium across the street. Unfortunately, the glass façade of Museum Tower is reflecting so much glare onto the museum that “it is threatening artworks in the galleries, burning the plants in the center’s garden and blinding visitors with its glare,” writes Robin Pogrebin for the New York Times. A facilitator has been appointed to mediate the dispute, with the first meeting set for later this month.

UC Berkeley chosen to host new computing center

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New York Times: The University of California, Berkeley, has been chosen to host a new computer science center. Established by the Simons Foundation, the $60 million facility will host “top computer theorists and researchers from around the globe … to explore the mathematical foundations of computer science and extend them to tackle challenges in fields as diverse as mathematics, health care, climate modeling, astrophysics, genetics, economics, and business,” according to a press release. The new Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing is scheduled to begin operations in July, with its first scientific programs starting in January 2013.

China adds two more satellites to its global positioning system

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BBC: With the launch yesterday of two more navigation satellites, China is another step closer to having its own global positioning system. Since 2000, China has put 13 of the 35 planned satellites into orbit. Once its Beidou system, also known as Compass, is completed in 2020, China will join the US, Russia, and Europe in having its own GPS. With the system now partially operational, China hopes to depend less on the US system, which controls a large share of the GPS market and could be disabled by the US government in the event of a conflict.

Wind turbines modified to produce water in arid lands

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Daily Mail: To provide clean drinking water to isolated communities in arid countries, Eole Water, a French engineering company, has modified traditional wind turbines to distill water from humid air. Functioning much like a room dehumidifier, the turbines suck in air, direct it over a cooling compressor, extract the humidity, and condense it to liquid. Eole Water, which says one turbine can produce up to 1000 liters of water per day, has already placed a prototype in the desert near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Although the initial cost may be prohibitive, the company expects the price to drop as more units are produced. The turbines also require no external power source, are low maintenance, and should have minimal environmental impact.

Bionic eye being developed in Australia

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Daily Mail: Researchers at Monash University in Australia are working on a bionic eye to restore vision to the clinically blind. The device consists of a pair of glasses with a tiny camera that acts as the retina, a pocket processor for converting the video into electrical signals, and a microchip implanted directly on the surface of the patient’s visual cortex. The microchip comprises up to 14 tiny tiles, each containing half a million transistors and 45 hair-thin electrodes. When fully operational, the tiles will receive low-resolution black-and-white images rendered by the camera’s external processing unit. The group began testing a prototype earlier this month and expects to begin testing it on humans in the next year or so.