Researchers show how biohybrid robots based on jellyfish could be used to gather climate science data from deep in the Earth's oceans.
Researchers show how biohybrid robots based on jellyfish could be used to gather climate science data from deep in the Earth's oceans.
"It's well known that the ocean is critical for determining our present and future climate on land, and yet, we still know surprisingly little about the ocean, especially away from the surface," Dabiri says."Our goal is to finally move that needle by taking an unconventional approach inspired by one of the few animals that already successfully explores the entire ocean."
Previously, Dabiri's lab implanted jellyfish with a kind of electronic pacemaker that controls the speed at which they swim. In doing so, they found that if they made jellyfish swim faster than the leisurely pace they normally keep, the animals became even more efficient. A jellyfish swimming three times faster than it normally would uses only twice as much energy.
To test the augmented jellies' swimming abilities, Dabiri's lab undertook the construction of a massive vertical aquarium inside Caltech's Guggenheim Laboratory. Dabiri explains that the three-story tank is tall, rather than wide, because researchers want to gather data on oceanic conditions far below the surface.
"By using the jellyfish's natural capacity to withstand extreme pressures in the deep ocean and their ability to power themselves by feeding, our engineering challenge is a lot more manageable," Dabiri adds."We still need to design the sensor package to withstand the same crushing pressures, but that device is smaller than a softball, making it much easier to design than a full submarine vehicle operating at those depths.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NASA and Google Earth team up with researchers to help save tigersAndrew Paul is Popular Science‘s staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
Read more »
Bus-sized European satellite crashes to Earth over Pacific OceanBrett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more.
Read more »
Researchers taught a robot dog to open a door with its legMack DeGeurin is a tech reporter who’s spent years investigating where technology and politics collide. His work has previously appeared in Gizmodo, Insider, New York Magazine, and Vice.
Read more »
Men Forget About Female Researchers, Says Study On Gender Citation GapA gender bias expert, Kim Elsesser, Ph.D., is the author of Sex and the Office, and she taught classes on gender at UCLA for eight years. She is a senior contributor for Forbes and has published in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
Read more »
Automated method helps researchers quantify uncertainty in their predictionsA new technique can help researchers who use Bayesian inference achieve more accurate results more quickly, without a lot of additional work.
Read more »
Women need less exercise than men for same cardiovascular benefits, researchers findA study published Monday revealed a gender gap in cardiovascular benefits when it comes to exercise.
Read more »