Labs around the world are brimming with groundbreaking research more than ever in history. Starting this Friday, we’ll be highlight five of the most interesting examples we’ve noticed over the past week.
Editing Out Misspelled DNA To Fix Blindness
Illustration Getty Images
A few years ago, scientists figured out a way to edit DNA the same way a writer would fix a misspelled word on a page. Researchers at Columbia University and the University of Iowa announced this week that they used a DNA-editing tool called CRISPR to repair a gene defect that causes blindness in some 1.5 million people worldwide per year. “Our vision is to develop a personalized approach to treating eye disease,” said one of the authors of the study, Columbia’s Stephen Tsang. No pun intended.
Robot Solves Rubik’s Cube In One Second
Jay Flatland, a software developer from Kansas, and his friend Paul Rose built a robot that solved a Rubik’s Cube in just over one second. The robot relies on 3D-printed grippers attached to six stepper motors driven by Arduino processors and four webcams that determine the state of the cube. The cameras feed the images to a PC running Linux and Rubik’s Cube-solving algorithms, which determine the fastest set of moves to solve the cube. You’ll probably read about them in the next edition of Guinness World Records.
These 4D-Printed Objects Change Over Time
Image credit: Wyss Institute
Materials scientists at Harvard’s Wyss Institute found a way to add time to 3D-printing. Their hydrogel composite structures can change shape upon immersion in water. The discovery could lead to programmable materials that can assemble over time.
Illustration Getty Images
Venus flytraps catch insects by counting off the times they’ve been touched. German scientists showed the carnivorous plants don’t spring their traps randomly, but count the number of times an insect runs into their touch-sensitive trigger hairs (see above the red spikes on the inner “palate” of the “jaws”). The hairs send electrical signals to the plant. Two bumps mean that dinner will be served.
These Drones Turn Into A Submarine
Drones are evolving so fast they feel like old news these days. But teams at Rutgers University and Oakland University recently built drones that can fly, operate on the surface of water and then dip underneath like a submarine. Beat that, Captain Nemo.