Humans and other living creatures use many of their senses to survive, as well as understand the environment around them. However, unlike living creatures, robots mainly use one sense and that is their sense of sight. Some robots, on the other hand, also use touch alongside the sense of sight. But in order to greatly improve a robot’s perception, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found out that adding a sense of hearing to the machine would do the trick.

In what they say is the first large-scale study of the interactions between sound and robotic action, researchers at CMU's Robotics Institute found that sounds could help a robot differentiate between objects, such as a metal screwdriver and a metal wrench. Hearing also could help robots determine what type of action caused a sound and help them use sounds to predict the physical properties of new objects.

"A lot of preliminary work in other fields indicated that sound could be useful, but it wasn't clear how useful it would be in robotics," said Lerrel Pinto, who recently earned his Ph.D. in robotics at CMU and will join the faculty of New York University this fall. He and his colleagues found the performance rate was quite high, with robots that used sound successfully classifying objects 76 percent of the time.

The results were so encouraging, he added, that it might prove useful to equip future robots with instrumented canes, enabling them to tap on objects they want to identify.

More details about this study over at TechXplore.

(Image Credit: Carnegie Mellon University/ TechXplore)

Lauren Blumenthal told a story to her dog Hazel about a squirrel carrying a bone in its mouth. The story contained many words that Hazel was very familiar with, and upon hearing the word “squirrel”, Hazel dropped the ball that was in her mouth.

Who knew dogs could listen to our stories with enthusiasm if they knew the words?

See the video at Laughing Squid.

(Image Credit: lo_hayz/ TikTok)

Fandom Games gives us an overview of Ghost of Tsushima, from its graphics, story, and gameplay mechanics, all while dissing the game itself, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise, and Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, as well as The Last of Us Part 2.

And the fun doesn’t stop there, as the honest trailer also gives us a haiku at the end of the video.

(Video Credit: Fandom Games/ YouTube)

Sushi is a very healthy meal on its own, but Japan isn’t content with that. They want to make it even healthier. This sushi restaurant will make you sushi specially made for you.

Welcome to Sushi Singularity, a sushi restaurant from Japanese company Open Meals. Here, you won't be eating regular sushi. Instead, each piece of sushi you put in your mouth is tailor made to your specific body and health requirements.

But how?

For starters, you can't simply walk into the restaurant and expect to be seated right away. You'll have to send them samples of your DNA, urine, and other bodily fluids first. They call this your 'Health ID'.

These samples will then be analyzed, and the results of the analysis will then be used to process the customized sushi, which will be 3-D printed.

You'll get a good dose of raw vitamins, as well as other ingredients that benefit your specific health requirements.

And that’s not all. The customized sushi is also appealing to the eyes.

More details about this over at Mashable.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Sushi Singularity/ Mashable)

For many people, Starbucks isn’t just a place to stop by to drink coffee and chill — it is a place to drink coffee (or any beverage) and work. Seeing this...

Tokyo’s newest Starbucks is fully aware that customers are as likely to want to use it as an office as a cafe, and so the branch is designed to cater to teleworkers.

On the first floor of Starbucks’ Circles Ginza branch, located in Tokyo’s swanky Ginza neighborhood, things look pretty normal, with a counter to place drink and food orders at. It’s when you climb the stairs to the second floor that the differences become noticeable.

More details about this Starbucks’ branch over at SoraNews24.

(Image Credit: Starbucks/ SoraNews 24)

Batangas, Philippines — A few days ago, a man named Elliot Andal used his smartphone along with a National Geographic 76/700mm telescope and has successfully captured a photo of the gas giant Jupiter.

While the photo of the planet is a bit blurry, the planet’s most identifiable feature, its Great Red Spot, can be seen on the image.

Amazing!

(Image Credit: Elliot Andal/ Rappler on Facebook)

After four long hard years of catching mice, Palmerston, the chief mouser at the U.K Foreign Office, finally decided to retire from the institution.

Palmerston made it official in a letter sent in his name to Simon McDonald, the office’s permanent under-secretary, which explained that he wanted more time “away from the limelight.”

“I have found life away from the front line relaxed, quieter, and easier,” a letter signed with two paw prints said. It was posted on Twitter.

The letter from Palmerston, or @DiploMog’ as he is known on Twitter, said his service showed that “even those with four legs and fur have an important part to play in the U.K.’s global effort.”

He really is deserving of retirement.

Learn more details about his career at the Foreign Office over at AP News.

(Image Credit: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

If you ever go to China, consider looking for this certain store that serves yellowish brown smoothies, which are, for some reason, called PooPoo Smoothies. The said smoothies can come with a white swirl on top, which is more expensive, or the one without the swirl, which comes with diced mangoes.

Engrish user The_YongGrand says that the “Poo” in the “PooPoo” could mean “burst”, “pop”, or “explode.”

It sound[s] like “Pow-Pow” in Cantonese. Or if they are creative with it, they could use “Pop-pop” or “Boom-Boom”. “Pop-pop” sounds much more relevant to the drink since it’s all about bursting the little pearls when you are drinking it.

Would you drink one?

Image via Engrish.com

Dozens of times over the last decade, scientists from NASA have aimed laser beams towards the reflector panel attached to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter near the Moon, which is about 385,000 km from our planet. Out of all these attempts, however, these scientists were not able to receive a signal back. But just recently they succeeded.

[NASA scientists] and French colleagues have announced, in a paper in the journal Earth, Planets and Space, that a returning signal has been received, and this, they say, could help decide whether the last working science experiment from the Apollo era still has something to give.

The reflector is mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been studying the Moon from its orbit since 2009. It was placed there as a target to test the reflecting power of panels left on the lunar surface half a century ago.

The panels have one job, but they’ve done it well. Aim a beam of light at them and measure the amount of time it takes for the light to come back, and you know how far away they are.

For decades, scientists have been doing this experiment (using the reflector panels on the Moon) and have made major discoveries.

One of the biggest [discoveries] is that the Earth and Moon are drifting apart at about the rate that fingernails grow: 3.8 centimetres a year. This is the result of gravitational interactions between the two bodies.

More details about this at Cosmos.

(Image Credit: NASA/ Cosmos)

For decades, scientists have been trying to create functioning human gametes (eggs and sperm) from stem cells, according to Vittorio Sebastiano. In doing so, they would be able to discover the secrets of human development, and be able to help infertile people to have children. Over the years, scientists were able to achieve some progress such as being able to create mouse pups from stem cell-generated gametes. They were also able to create immature human egg cells. But when it comes to creating babies from bone marrows, there is still a long road that awaits our scientists.

When the first baby conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) was born in 1978, it was a major step forward for reproductive science and a precursor to the stem cell research conducted by Sebastiano and others today, he says. But IVF is not an option for every individual or couple trying to have a biological child, including those who are born without gametes or who receive aggressive cancer treatments at a young age. This scientific technique would offer these individuals a new shot at reproduction.

The next major step came in the 2000s, with the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These cells are taken from blood or skin cells and reprogrammed to behave like embryonic cells, which have the ability to develop into any type of cell in the body. Since then, researchers have been trying to figure out how to turn these embryonic-like cells into functional sperm and eggs.

More details about this topic over at Discover Magazine.

(Image Credit: esudroff/ Pixabay)

Short answer: We don’t know. Maybe breakfast is just a persistent illusion.

Bacon, eggs, oatmeal and avocado toast, along with some hot coffee and a newspaper. This is a typical picture of “breakfast.” But what makes this scene a breakfast scene? Is it the bacon? Is it the eggs? Is it the oatmeal or the avocado toast? This problem is referred to as The Hard Problem of Breakfast.

The stubborn fact remains that, no matter how deeply we probe into the nature of bacon, eggs, oatmeal, and avocado toast—to say nothing of shakshuka, grits, bear claws, or dim sum—or the interactions between these fundamental building blocks and, say, orange juice or coffee and the morning paper, we simply have no convincing theory to explain how such disparate, seemingly inert components give rise to the phenomenon we subjectively experience as “breakfast.”

It has long been understood that no breakfast can exist in the absence of its constituent foods and their related supporting structures such as plates and bowls, utensils, and toasters. A breakfast must self-evidently be “of” something to be considered a breakfast at all. Yet despite technological advances that have enabled scientists to probe these components at the most minute levels, we have to date found no trace of the theorized Breakfast Particle or any other plausible mechanism by which breakfast could emerge from the underlying biochemical or nutriophysical activity.

More details about this problem over at Nautilus.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: adoproducciones/ Pixabay)

If you badly wanted to go to Europe but weren’t able to because of the current global situation, then you might consider going to these towns in the United States, which will make you feel like you’re in Europe! Smithsonian Magazine lists ten of these places.

Check them out over at the site.

(Image Credit: BazookaJoe/ Wikimedia Commons)

Found at the north end of New Zealand’s South Island is a narrow and treacherous stretch of water known as the French Pass. Currents here are so strong it can drag ships easily and smash them against the rocks. Thus, sailors always avoided this stretch of water.

The very first European attempt to navigate through these narrows was a near disaster.

French Admiral Jules Dumont d'Urville was mapping the coast of the South Island in 1827 when he instructed his navigator to enter the pass. Situated between Rangitoto ki te Tonga, also known as D'Urville Island (after the Admiral himself), and the mainland coast, the French Pass saves about 15 miles of distance for those wishing to sail between the North and the South Islands. The alternative is to go around D'Urville Island and through heavy cross seas.

As d'Urville’s ship Astrolabe, a formidable warship of the French Navy, approached the narrowest part of the pass, the vessel swung sideward and the rising tide took the ship towards the rocky shore. Even as the ship’s crew struggled to regain control of the vessel, Astrolabe struck rocks twice, and was washed over the reef. After the incident, d'Urville suggested that no one should attempt to navigate French Pass except in extreme.

Over sixty years would pass before the French Pass became a natural route for sailors who travel between Wellington and Nelson. But it wasn’t because ships were more navigable after six decades, nor was it because sailors became more skillful. Rather, it was because of a dolphin called Pelorus Jack, who, for 24 years, guided almost every ship that went through the Pass.

Learn more about this dolphin over at Amusing Planet.

(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Barbora Polivkova captured a cute moment in the rainforest. In his photo, a tiny frog, possibly only a few millimeters in length, can be seen sitting on a purple flower. In another photo, this time captured by Australian photographer named Peter Pullan, a knot can be found to have formed on a eucalyptus tree. Pullan cleverly makes the photo look like something from a drone shot.

These and other photos are the winners of the 2020 Macro Art Photo Awards.

The Macro Art Photo Awards are part of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition, an annual global search for the best in garden, plant, flower and botanical photography. The primary competition is still open for entries but there are several annual smaller sub-contests including Black And White, Still Life, and Macro awards.

See the spectacular photos over at New Atlas.

(Image Credit: Barbora Polivkova/ New Atlas)

Kids are heavily affected by lockdowns across the world. With families encouraged to stay at home and not go somewhere else, unless it is an emergency, kids have nowhere to go, and they normally spend their day just looking at screens.

Television, apps, video games, video calls, social media, virtual playdates, and online classes. These are the methods of entertainment, communication, and education these days. The trend toward technology makes sense: with progress comes more tech, but, for years, pediatricians and mental health providers have warned against too much “screen time.” According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children under two should avoid screens except for video chatting and that children ages two to five should be limited to one hour of “high quality programming” a day. That would be two episodes of “Sesame Street,” or up to six single episodes of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” episodes. Older kids can have up to two hours a day.

With parents having limited options, how should they deal with their kids having more screen time than pediatricians recommend? Pediatricians advise that parents monitor the content that their kids consume, ensuring that the content is meaningful.

More details about this over at JSTOR Daily.

(Image Credit: StockSnap/ Pixabay)