Rounding The Corner On A Zip Line [video]

New Artificial Heart Is More Like The Real Thing

Engadget reports –

Artificial hearts only kinda-sorta behave like the real thing. They pump blood, sure, but they’re typically solid blocks of machinery that are out of place in a squishy human body. Cornell University thinks it can do better, though: its scientists have developed an artificial foam heart that imitates both the functions and shape of its fleshy counterpart. The key is a new polymer that can be poured into specific shapes, and has pores that let it pump fluids. It’s not only soft and stretchable, but more efficient — you don’t need much energy to get liquids moving.

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Ancient Roman Ball Bearings [video]

Living Creature Found With Mechanical Gears

Issus, a type of planthopper has perfectly formed gears on its legs. The gears are present in the young issus, but disappear when it reaches adulthood.

According to Popular Mechanics –

With two diminutive legs locked into a leap-ready position, the tiny jumper bends its body taut like an archer drawing a bow. At the top of its legs, a minuscule pair of gears engage—their strange, shark-fin teeth interlocking cleanly like a zipper. And then, faster than you can blink, think, or see with the naked eye, the entire thing is gone. In 2 milliseconds it has bulleted skyward, accelerating at nearly 400 g’s—a rate more than 20 times what a human body can withstand. At top speed the jumper breaks 8 mph—quite a feat considering its body is less than one-tenth of an inch long.

continue reading HERE