50586857
submission
GameboyRMH writes:
A gear mechanism has been discovered for the first time in nature in the nymph of the Issus, a small plant-hopping insect common in Europe. It uses the gears to synchronize the movement and power of its hind legs, forcing the legs to propel it in a straight line when jumping, which would otherwise be impossible for the insect if it had to control the timing and force of its leg muscles independently. The journal paper is paywalled but you can read a summary at phys.org.
19121146
submission
GameboyRMH writes:
If you were impressed at the remote-controlled ornithopters released in recent years, then this will really knock your socks off: In the 1970s, the CIA developed and tested a remote-controlled ornithopter that was disguised as a dragonfly — and at roughly the size of a dragonfly, as seen in the video. It was intended to be used as a platform for listening devices. This "insectothopter" was laser-guided and powered by a tiny gasoline engine built by a watchmaker. While its performance was impressive, difficulty controlling the tiny craft in crosswinds made it impractical, and the idea was scrapped.
The article also mentions a robo-squid, and has information on a remote-controlled fish (video) that is also very impressive. View the original source for some other interesting spy gadgets on the CIA's Flickr page.
5941921
submission
GameboyRMH writes:
Maximum PC reports that major MMO publishers (Blizzard, Turbine, SOE, NCSoft, and Jagex) are being sued by Paltalk, which holds a patent on "sharing data among many connected computers so that all users see the same digital environment" — a patent that would seem to apply to any multiplayer game played between multiple systems, at the very least. Paltalk has already received an out-of-court settlement from Microsoft earlier this year in relation to a lawsuit over the Halo games.
If Microsoft can't fend off Paltalk's legal attacks, the odds don't look good for their latest group of targets.
