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Everyday science

Everyday science

Robotic octopus reaches out, peppermint and walnuts enhance solar cells, gravity’s effect on how we think

28 Feb 2020 Hamish Johnston

 

Scientists have long been fascinated by the ability of an octopus to grab objects. Indeed, we have covered several octopus-inspired gripping systems over the years. But according to August Domel and colleagues at Harvard University, these systems have either mimicked an octopus’s suckers or the curling of the creature’s arm – but not both.

But now Domel and colleagues claim to be the first to create a robotic arm that mimics both aspects of the creature’s grip. Check-out the video above, but beware if monster movies give you nightmares. You can read much more about their research here.

Peppermint oil and walnut aroma could be something you use the next time you are baking cookies — so you might be surprised that researchers in Korea have used these two ingredients to boost the performance of perovskite solar cells. Both substances were used to dissolve polymers that both improve the performance of the cells and prevent them from leaking lead as they age – with the walnut aroma performing slightly better than the peppermint oil.

The food additives could replace toxic solvents that are currently used in the production of solar cells, says the team at the Pohang University of Science and Technology.

People have been travelling to space for nearly 60 years and it looks like we are at the early stages of an era of commercial human space travel. In “This is your brain on space: how gravity influences your mental abilities”, the psychologist Elisa Raffaella Ferrè of Royal Holloway University of London explains that the effect of gravity on human cognition has been a neglected field of research. She is trying to change this by doing experiments during parabolic flights that simulate the low-gravity environment of space. While the tests only last about 20 s, Ferrè explains that lots can be learned.

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