Legged robotic systems are attractive alternatives to tracked/wheeled robots for applications with rough terrain and complex cluttered environments. The freedom to choose contact points with the environment enables them to overcome obstacles comparable to their leg length. With such capabilities,... Continue Reading →
The dark, inner shadow of planet Earth is called the umbra. Shaped like a cone extending into space, it has a circular cross section most easily seen during a lunar eclipse. For example, on January 21 the Full Moon slid across the northern half... Continue Reading →
Effective verbal communication depends on one’s ability to retrieve and select the appropriate words to convey an intended meaning. For many, this process is instinctive, but for someone who has suffered a stroke or another type of brain damage, communicating... Continue Reading →
Craters produced by ancient impacts on the airless Moon have long been a familiar sight. But only since the 1990s have observers began to regularly record and study optical flashes on the lunar surface, likely explosions resulting from impacting meteoroids. Of course, the... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1sw5qLpuSU Every year or two, the Northern Hemisphere gets treated to a bout of intensely cold temperatures thanks to the polar vortex. What you may not realize, though, is that it’s not the polar vortex that causes this cold weather –... Continue Reading →
Amputees often experience the sensation of a “phantom limb"—a feeling that a missing body part is still there. That sensory illusion is closer to becoming a reality thanks to a team of engineers at Johns Hopkins University that has created... Continue Reading →
Meet the water anole, a small lizard native to the tropics of Central America. While studying these anoles, researchers discovered that they could flee underwater and remain submerged for 16 minutes or more at a time. Curious to see how the lizard... Continue Reading →
This image of Jupiter’s turbulent southern hemisphere was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed its most recent close flyby of the gas giant planet on Dec. 21, 2018. This new perspective captures the notable Great Red Spot, as... Continue Reading →
For a cyclic quadrilateral, the sum of the products of the two pairs of opposite sides equals the product of the diagonals. We have three colored segment in this animation. Surprisingly the length of the longest one is always the sum... Continue Reading →
Scents of Science 