squat24

For years, scientists have wanted to create flying robotic vehicles the size of insects. The tricky bit has been building something that can produce enough thrust while still being light enough to fly, without being tethered to an external power source. Now, a group of researchers have hit on a new design. At half the weight of a paper clip, 'RoboBee X-wing' has achieved untethered flight using ultra-lightweight solar cells, powering piezoelectric actuators, via a stripped down circuit board. This technology is in its infancy, but could pave the way for a new generation of miniature drones. Researchers hope these insect-bots could manoeuvre around much more cramped spaces than conventional, larger drones, potentially helping with environmental and disaster monitoring.

Read the paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...

26th June 2019

How do different cultures value human life? To find out, researchers created a viral online experiment to gather data from millions of participants across the world. Some values generalised across cultures, but others came as a surprise. Find out more in this Nature Video.

Take part in the experiment here: http://moralmachine.mit.edu

Find the original research paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...

*CORRECTION* The spelling of Massachusetts at 00:38 is incorrect. We regret the error.