How Real is Paranormal Activity?

Posted on October 6, 2018 by | 2 comments

Ghosts and paranormal activity – how can they be explained? For hundreds of years, people have reported ghost sightings and have experienced spine-chilling noises.

Science, on the other hand, yet again seems to debunk these claims.

Infrasound
Infrasound refers to low frequency sound, between 0.1 and 20 Hz, just below the range of human hearing.

A study done by Vic Tandy in 1998 called “The Ghost in the Machine” became popular due to its relatability to ostensible haunting. Tandy decided to pursue this experiment due to his lab evoking an anxiety-inducing environment. One day, Tandy was hearing vibrational noises from a nearby fan. As one would, Tandy measured the vibrational frequency of this fan, and found that it was emitting a frequency of 19 Hz, a frequency below the threshold of human hearing. When the fan was turned off, the anxiety-inducing feeling in the room disappeared because the emitted energy from the 19Hz stopped., which was likely causing the eerie feelings.

Most of the time, when we sense a paranormal phenomenon, it is the recognition center of the temporal lobe that interprets changing sounds and processes them back to us through eerie and unsteady feelings.

Electromagnetic Radiation

Image result for electromagnetic radiation

Image represents the electromagnetic spectrum, and the wavelength associated with each type of radiation. From  Electromagnetic Radiation Principles, Published by Chastity Bailey, showing the electromagnetic spectrum.

 

Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is used to describe the waves present in the electromagnetic field that carry electromagnetic energy. Electromagnetic energy is changing around us, through our electronic devices, power lines and signals emitted through the aforementioned. Changing electromagnetic energy creates disturbances that behave like waves and has an effect on human behaviour and perception.

To learn more specifics about electromagnetic radiation, listen to this podcast: 

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Source: Astronomy Cast

 

Could Our Brains be Playing Tricks on Us? 
A study done by Joseph M. Barnby and Vaughan Bell attempted to validate the sense of a paranormal presence through psychological factors. The ‘sensed presence’ refers to our subjective experiences of an external entity around us. It was found that the feeling of ‘sensed presence’ was due to feelings of fear and anxiety, and so the unsettling feeling of experiencing an abnormal entity was a stress response generated by the brain.
Barnby and Bell concluded that the feelings felt from ‘sensed presences’ were primarily due to religious beliefs and psychiatric and neurological conditions.

This Ted Talk presents another view on our perceptions:

Video discusses the ways in which people perceive experiences and explains potential differing factors.
Source: Ted.com

 

We all have differing opinions about this topic, and whether you believe the science or spiritual side of the discussion, one aspect still remains the same for everyone: experiencing paranormal activity can definitely be terrifying.

 

by: Sofia Savkovic

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CRISPR/Cas9 as treatment for cocaine addictions

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | Leave a comment

According to recent experiments CRISPR/Cas9 technologies are proven to protect mice from cocaine -seeking behavior and cocaine overdose by releasing an enzyme called butyrylcholinestase (hBChE) which breaks down cocaine in the body. This successful use of the CRISPR technology is a huge advance for gene editing and opens up the possibility of gene editing technologies in treating drug addictions. However, does the success of this enzyme in mice mean it is ready to be implemented into humans?

 

What is CRISPR:

Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) (Source: YouTube) are segments of DNA which contain repeating segments of base sequences (the building blocks of DNA: ACTG). The protein associated with this technology, Cas9, is an enzyme that acts similarly to a pair of scissors, cutting specific strands of DNA. When implemented into a cell, CRISPR is able to target a particular gene with incredible accuracy, while Cas9 cuts the DNA, therefor changing the message and function of the DNA.

Although genome editing has been done before, CRISPR/Cas9 is more efficient, cheaper and faster. The best part? CRISPR was not made up in a laboratory, it actually comes from bacteria! (Source: YouTube). Bacteria use CRISPR/Cas9 in their immune system.

Figure 1. A walkthrough of how CRISPR/Cas9 work together to target and cut strands of DNA.

Source: Nature Biomedical Engineering

 

How does it work?

In a recent study CRISPR was used in order to edit skin epidermal stem cells (essentially the outside layer of a skin cell) of mice by adding the hBChE enzyme into the DNA, then transplanting the newly edited skin cells back into the mice. To compare the result of the edited genes and test lethal levels of cocaine, mice with and without the CRISPR edit were then exposed to different levels of cocaine. Below are the results of the mice five minutes after they were exposed to the drug, showing how the ones not exposed to the genes have a lower level of overdose.

Does this mean the technique would work if implemented in to humans as well? In order to test that, researches cultured human skin cells in a lab and then edited them with the CRISPR technology. The results were incredible! Not only did the altered gene express an increased amount of the hCBhE enzyme that helps break down cocaine, it also did not do any damage to the skin or show any detrimental side effects. This can address multiple concerns of drug abuse, by reducing development of cocaine-seeking behavior, preventing relapse of addiction and protecting from overdose.

Figure 2. Results of the enzyme implemented into mice skin cells showing success of enzyme on lowering levels of overdose                                                   Source: Nature Biomedical Engineering

What does this mean for the future? Will gene editing be the new “drug-rehab” for those with addictions or will it be too expensive for those struggling too afford? Hopefully it will not be too long until gene therapy with this enzyme will be the safe cost-effective option for drug addictions.

 

Li, Y.; Kong, Q.; Yue, J.; Gou, X.; Xu, M.; Wu, X. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2018.

To read the entire study click here

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How do we adapt to high altitude?

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | 1 comment

When I first moved to Canada, my family decided to settle in Calgary. After a couple of weeks, I constantly felt tired and out of breath. I went to a doctor and she said this was symptoms of hypoxia, a high-altitude sickness; the recovery time should be fast since Calgary don’t have an extreme altitude. After a few weeks, the symptoms of hypoxia were gone, but it took a lot longer until I could feel comfortable to join any strenuous exercise.

City of Calgary

A question arose from my experience, why it took me that long to adapt to the high altitude while the symptoms of hypoxia were gone within a few weeks.

The simplest answer is considering this scenario the same as if you catch the flu. The sense of illness could be gone within days; however, full recovery might take up to weeks.

A detailed explanation of high-altitude adaptation involves separating it into third processes and also taken into the consideration of how much above sea level are we talking about.

When we divide the adaptation process into three sections (figure 1), the first part happens right after entering a high-altitude environment. During this period, an individual will experience symptoms of hypoxia and there will be a significant decrease in fitness level. This is a result of low blood oxygen level, which is caused by decreasing air pressure at higher altitude. Since there is less oxygen in the blood, breath rate and heart rate will increase dramatically even during the resting time in order to maintain body basic functions, this will cause overstress on cardiac muscles.

figure 1: The initial response to high altitude exposure. Image retrieve from https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/adapt/adapt_3.htm

In the second part (figure 2), an acclimatization process would happen, which means the body will make adjustments to stop the decrease in fitness level. To lower the increased cardiac output, our body would produce more red blood cell in capillaries to carry more oxygen, so that the cardiac muscles were less stressed. Failing of acclimatization with low blood oxygen level would cause tissue hypoxia, decreased cardiac output and decreased red-blood-cell concentration. In this case, this individual couldn’t adapt at this altitude and the doctor would suggest moving back to a lower altitude.

figure 2: Acclimatization process. Image retrieve from https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/adapt/adapt_3.htm

For the third section (figure 3), the result will vary depending on the altitude. With an altitude below 10000ft, physiological adjustment takes time and eventual fitness level will return back to normal. With even higher altitude (above 12000ft), successful acclimatization rarely happens; even if an individual is able to live on the plateau, strenuous exercise and memorization task still remain difficult.

figure 3: Successful acclimatization. image retrieve from https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/adapt/adapt_3.htm

The failure to adapt to extremely high altitude is not caused by physiological limitation. A study shown for those populations that living on extreme high altitude, shared sections of unique genetic sequence that reduce hypoxia. One of these genes is EPAS1, which is activated by low blood oxygen level and is responsible for lowing hemoglobin concentration in blood for sufficient delivery of oxygen around the body.

The Tibetan Plateau

In addition, physiological adaptation at high altitude increase cardiovascular strength and this characteristic is used to advantage by some endurance athletes.  (figure 4) Altitude training is a several weeks training at intermediate altitude (preferably over 8,000 ft). At intermediate altitude, there is still approximately 20% oxygen, but the partial pressure of oxygen is reduced. The reduction in oxygen partial pressure forces athletes’ body to acclimate to the lack of oxygen, thus producing more hemoglobin and altering muscle metabolism. The increase in hemoglobin concentration and muscle metabolism will give athletes a competitive advantage that lasts up to 10 ~14 days.

figure 4: Increase in fitness after acclimatization. Image retrieve from https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/adapt/adapt_3.htm

In conclusion, our body is able to make some physiological adaption to the environment until it reaches some limitation. When traveling to higher altitude area, it is important to check your health condition in order to avoid unnecessary damage to your body. Also, a short-term introduction of intermediate altitude is a common training method for the athlete to increase their body condition and gain competitive advantages.

Information attribute from:
Altitude training. (2018, October 14). Retrieved October 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitude_training
Duffin, J. (2014). Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Altitude adaptation in Tibetans caused by introgression of Denisovan-like DNA. F1000 – Post-publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature. doi:10.3410/f.718477234.793496726
O’Neil, D. (n.d.). Human Biological Adaptability: Adapting to High Altitude. Retrieved from
https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/adapt/adapt_3.htm

 

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Yes, it’s true…you can be allergic to exercise!

“I’m allergic to exercise!!!”

I bet you’ve heard that phrase before or perhaps you even used it to get out of gym class in elementary school!

For the longest time, I thought it was just a figure of speech until last year when my friend was rushed to the hospital after running on the treadmill. In short, I learned that being allergic to exercise is a real condition known as exercise-induced anaphylaxis.

What is exercise-induced anaphylaxis?

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis is rare, affecting only 2% of the population; however, it can be potentially life-threatening. Although, this type of allergic reaction can occur either before or after physical activity, most cases occur after intense exercise, such as running. Nevertheless, don’t count light physical activity out. In fact, exercise-induced anaphylaxis can even occur after gardening!

What are the symptoms?

Although, the severity of exercise-induced anaphylaxis differs among individuals, the most common symptoms include: flushing of the skin, hives, swelling of the lips, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. A combination of several other symptoms, such as swollen tongue, difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing, feeling weak, and falling unconscious can also occur in more severe cases. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re allergic to exercise just because your face is beet red and you’re out of breath after a ten-minute run!

Image of hives. Image: Blausen Medical 

How does exercise trigger an allergic reaction?

The process is simple. Imagine the allergen (i.e. exercise) as a foreign invader. Once the invader enters your body, your immune system will produce immunoglobulin E antibodies to protect itself. The foreign invader will then bind to the antibodies causing mast cells to break open and release histamines. Histamines maneuver through your body to fight off the foreign invader and symptoms vary depending on where in the body histamines are released.  For example, mast cells reacting in your nose will cause a runny nose.

Animation of anaphylaxis (0:00-2:32). Video: offworld | design + motion

Do people out grow it?

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis only recently became recognized as a ‘real’ condition. As a result, not many people know about it and more cases still need be studied to determine if it is a long-term condition or not.

If you ever experience a combination of those symptoms listed above, your doctor may recommend an allergy test. Moreover, if you’ve been diagnosed with exercise-induced anaphylaxis but you enjoy exercising, try lowering the intensity of your workout to decrease the chances of having an allergic reaction. Finally, always carry an EpiPen with you and remember “Blue to the sky and orange to the thigh!”

 

 

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Posted on October 1, 2018 by in Biological Sciences

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Pareto’s Distribution – A Real Problem

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | Leave a comment

If you have ever been in a statistics class, you might have heard of the “Normal Distribution”. This distribution tells us that most things fall within the middle  and the extremes exist in small quantities. You can think of IQ following this pattern. The average person has an IQ of 100, less people have an IQ of 130 and even fewer people have Albert Einstein’s IQ of 160 – don’t we all wish we did. There are many variations of this and the distribution looks like a mountain, looking something like this:

Image result for normal distribution

photo credit: Wikipedia

This distribution describes many types of observations such a student’s grades, people’s heights, people’s blood pressure, shoe size and much more. It is a natural occurrence we observe in society and more importantly in the characteristics of people, such as people’s heights. This is important for society because it helps to understand what people need.  Imagine if the average height of Canadians were 2.3m tall, we would definitely have much higher doors!

DOES the Normal Distribution RELATE TO OUR LIVES?

Seemingly, the word “normal” in normal distribution supposes that all occurrences in nature and society would display this pattern. However, this might not be the case. In fact, many cases in physics, biology, earth and planetary sciences, economics, computer science, demography and social sciences follow a different distribution – the Pareto distribution. The Pareto distribution is quite the opposite of the normal distribution and tells us that most of the data exist in the extremes. It is therefore more commonly known as the “80-20” law which means 80% of what is measured exists in 20% of the population. Examples of the Pareto distribution is the sizes of cities, earthquakes, and forest fires.

To look at this more closely, let’s look at the sizes of cities and towns in the United States of America. There are around 20,000 cities in the country. If the population of these cities followed the normal distribution then we would expect most of the cities to have an equal population size and only a few extreme cities to have a high amount of people and a low amount of people. However, we see that most people live in big cities such as Las Vegas and New York and the overwhelming majority of people live in a small number of cities. The following graph shows the percentages of cities in USA and the population of those cities.  

Image result for pareto distribution population

photo credit: Newman, MEJ

The graph to the right displays a simpler display of the population of the US cities by doing some math. We can think of it as there being ten small suburbs surrounding a big city and ten of those cities surrounding a metropolitan city. We can also see it in Canada where metropolitan cities such as Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are few in number but hold the majority of the population, while there are many more smaller cities spread across Canada with a small population.

Some other things that are interesting that follow this distribution is the numbers of citations to scientific papers, the numbers of copies of bestselling books sold, the diameter of craters on the moon, the length of relationships between couples, the frequency of family names, and people’s incomes.

Why should we care?

The Pareto distribution is particularly interesting because it shows that the natural state of things in a society can differ immensely. Even with books, although there are many authors that write books, only a handful make it on to the top-seller list. And in relationships, couples who are great with relationships last for decades, while couples who are poor with relationships can never break past one year. There is another topic that is widely debated about in society that follows the Pareto distribution which is wealth distribution. When we hear politicians blame the rich for poverty and income inequality – a big problem in society – one should wonder what a scientist’s perspective to the problem would be. We know in a more capitalistic society like America, 85% of the income is owned by the top 15% of the population.

YouTube Preview Image

Interestingly enough, this is the reality of how wealth distributes itself in a free society. You might have heard the term “the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.” Through out history, societies have tried to rectify this phenomena and failed. But politics aside, a reality that we must face is the purple elephant in the room named Pareto.

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5 ways to eat eggs bad for your health

Posted on September 30, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Why people need to eat eggs

Eggs are one of the healthiest and the most commonly consumed food in the world. 

They have a high nutritional value because they contain various trace elements and kinds of essential vitamins needed by the human body, such as protein, vitamin D, B vitamins, minerals, and so on. 

 

Recent news about eating eggs

With the improvement of living conditions, people’s requirements on diet have been gradually improved. In today’s society, people are more and more about their health. As part of a balanced diet, people like to eat eggs to supplement nutrition. However, recent news on newspapers shows eats eggs can cause heart disease because of the high protein. Therefore, whether eating eggs bad or good to human health has caused concern.

High protein in eggs

The protein required for people is 0.8g per kilogram of body weight.

According to the dietary reference intake for protein, we can find:

  1. 56g protein required by the average sedentary man per day
  2. 46g protein required by the average sedentary woman per day

One large egg can provide about 6g protein, which makes up over 10% of the average sedentary man required per day and 12.5% of the average sedentary woman required per day.

To prevent side effects of eating eggs, people should pay attention to the following ways of eating eggs.

1. Eating raw eggs

Some people think that if food is cooked, it would lose its nutritional value. Therefore, many people like to eat raw vegetables and seafood, and they think that raw eggs have a higher nutritional value than cooked eggs.

However, eating raw eggs are more likely to carry bacteria, such as coli into the stomach, which can cause gastrointestinal discomfort and Diarrhea. In addition, the raw egg white contains Avidin, which only can be destroyed by high temperature. The Avidin can affect the absorption of the biotin in food, and cause many unpleasant symptoms, such as inappetence, muscle ache, skin inflammation, eyebrow fell off, and so on.

2. Cooking eggs for a long time

Some people think that more time used to cook eggs, it is better for human health. However, it is also wrong because if the egg is cooked for a long time, the ferrous ions in the yolk would combine with the sulfur ions in the egg white to form the insoluble ferrous sulfide, which is difficult to be absorbed. 

Also, fried eggs would be too old and the edges would be scorched when they are cooked for a long time. The polymer-protein in the egg white can form low molecular amino acid, which could form harmful chemicals to human health under high temperature.

3. Eating too many eggs in a day

If people eat too many eggs, the metabolites and the burden on the kidneys would increase, which can cause kidney failure symptoms. 

Here are a few effective tips:

For the elderly people, they can eat 1~2 eggs per day.

For the young and middle-aged people who engage in mental work or light manual labor, they can eat 2 eggs per day.

For people who engage in heavy manual labor, they need to consume more nutrition. So they can eat 2~3 eggs per day.

For young children, they can eat 2~3 eggs per day because of their fast metabolism.

For Pregnant women, lying-in women, breastfeeding women, individuals with weak immune systems and the patient that undertakes postoperative convalescence, they can eat 3 ~ 4 eggs per day because they need to get enough protein.

4. Eating eggs with sugar or soy milk

Many people like to cook eggs with sugar, but eggs can react with sugar under high temperature, and produce a substance called Glycolysis, which can destroy the amino acids in eggs. It is important to note that glycolysis has side effects on blood coagulation, which can harm human health. Therefore, people should leave eggs cool down before adding sugar.

In addition, many people like to have an egg, a bread, and a cup of soy milk for breakfast. In fact, the Trypsin in soy can combine with the egg pine protein in the egg white, which can cause nutrient loss and reduce their nutritional value.

5. Eating excess eggs on an empty stomach

If people consume excessive food with high protein, such as milk, soy milk, eggs and meat, the protein would be conversed forcedly into energy consumption, which cannot provide nutrition to people.

What’s more, when human body accumulates excess protein in a short period, the protein decomposition process can produce a variety of harmful substances that can bad for human health, such as urea, ammonia compounds, and so on.

In brief, if people pay attention to ways to eat eggs, eating eggs can help people meet their demand for protein, and it can bring many advantages to human health.

Information Attribute from:

Denise Hill: https://www.lifehack.org/488728/10-foods-to-eat-and-avoid-on-an-empty-stomach-for-better-digestive-health

Estherjane13: http://www.thewholesomefork.com/2017/02/23/how-many-eggs-is-it-safe-to-eat-per-day/

Haley Hernandez: https://www.click2houston.com/health/is-eating-eggs-good-or-bad-for-you-

Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/eating-raw-eggs#section3

Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/eating-healthy-eggs

GirlsTalkinSmack: http://women.girlstalkinsmack.com/Food/foods-you-should-not-eat-with-eggs.aspx

Jayne Leonard: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323251.php

 

 

Zhou LU

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Posted on September 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

What are Telomeres?

Telomeres are like the plastic tips at the end of the shoelaces; they are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA and they protect our DNA from becoming damaged.

Telomeres were first distinguished in 1933 by Dr. Barbara McClintock. Recent research lead Dr. Carol Greider, and Dr. Jack Szostak to be awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by the enzyme telomerase and telomeres.

Diagram of Chromosome Showing Telomeres in Green Credit: Beauty Black Book

Telomeres Shorten as We Age

Each cell in our bodies replicates DNA and divides. DNA polymerase is the enzyme in charge of DNA replication, but it is incapable of replicating the entire chromosome strand.  Telomeres serve as a “scape goat” of dispensable DNA not needed for vital functions, so when DNA polymerase is ready to fall off the chromosome some of this dispensable DNA is lost.

How Much Telomeres Do We Lose in a Lifetime?

To put it in perspective, we are born with about 11 kb of telomeres, that’s 11,000 base pairs of DNA. By old age, we have approximately 4 kb or 4,000 base pairs.

This significant decrease in telomeres suggests that each cell has a maximum number of cell divisions before it must induce its own cell death. Dr. Leonard Hayflick extensively studied this phenomenon and concluded that each cell can only divide up to 60 times. The maximum number of cell divisions is now known as The Hayflick Limit.

Diagram Showing Decrease of Telomere Length with Age Credit: Defytime

Promising Study on Progeria Cells

Scientist are in hot pursuit to find the fountain of youth. Dr. John Cook and his team conducted an experiment with promising results and with the intentions of helping children with progeria, a rare genetic condition which speeds up aging.

In the study, the participants, aged 1 to 14 years-old, had telomeres lengths of a 69-year-old. Telomeres length was significantly increased in progeria cells as measured by expression of telomerase.

Video on Study on Progeria Cells by Dr. John Cook Credit:  Vimeo

Although this study is very promising, other scientists believe delaying the natural decline of telomere length could be harmful. Dr. Peter Lansdorp from the University of British Columbia explains that telomere shortening is a defense mechanism built within our cells to decrease the chances of developing cancers. Shortening telomere length of cancerous cells causes them to die. Halting this mechanism would allow cancer cells to continue to divide to create tumors.

What Speeds Up and Slows Down Aging?

Studies have shown that following a healthy diet, regular exercise, managing stress, and increase sleep is associated with longer telomeres, whereas higher body mass index, high stress, and smoking are associated with shorter telomeres.

Table of Factors that Affect Telomere Length Credit:  Indian Journal of Medical Research

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/telomere

Podcast on Telomeres as Marker of Aging Credit: US Science Today SOUNDCLOUD

Stress Less Live longer!

Studies suggest that any type of stress will have an effect on your telomeres and will in turn speed-up the aging process. It also shows that taking good care of yourself will  delay the aging process. So next time you feel stressed out, take a second to breath. Your biological clock will thank you.

Video of The Science of Aging Credit: ASAP Science YouTube

Maria-Fernanda Arcila

 

 

 

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The Robotic Tail

Posted on September 24, 2018 by | 1 comment

Have you ever wondered why certain animals have tails? Did you ever think that a robot might need a tail as well?

Many disciplines of Science stress on the importance of observing the nature. Biomimetics, the process of imitating nature, can also be applied to the field of robotics. And so, the idea of a robotic tail was born. In fact, a robotic tail can be used to adjust the inertia of a mobile robot which in turn can enhance the robot’s stability and maneuverability. In reality, a reaction wheel can also be used to adjust the robot’s inertia. But, according to the research article prepared by Briggs et al. , a robotic tail can provide a greater moment of inertia than a reaction wheel within a given amount of space and time. Thus it safe to say that robotic tails are more appropriate for mobile robots.

picture courtesy: Daniel Koditschek

The following video demonstrates how the MIT cheetah robot maintains stability with the help of a tail when hit by a ball. Note that the left frame of the video shows the cheetah with a fixed tail whereas the right frame of the video shows the cheetah with a movable tail.

video credit: Biomimetics MIT

The MIT cheetah used a pendulum like tail. While it does enhance the balancing of the robot, the tail itself is quite rigid. It does not provide the complete movement that a tail would require to maneuver through its surroundings.
We need a tail that is more flexible. And this is where soft robotics, a relatively new subfield of robotics, comes in. With the help of soft robotics, flexible soft structures can be designed that are more identical to their biological counterparts, both by looks and by functionality.

The following video demonstrates an application of soft robotics.  The robotic fish shown in the video uses a flexible tail(also known as a continuum tail). A continuum tail facilitates the necessary bending that the tail requires to help the
fish easily navigate through its surroundings.

video credit: MITCSAIL

It is safe to say that a robotic tail has the capability to increase a mobile robot’s performance by enhancing it’s maneuverability and stability. By observing biological species more closely, scientists have shown advancements in technology through the implementation of more sophisticated  tail mechanisms that also mimic these species more meticulously.  Robotic tails is just one of the many applications of biomimetics. This game of mimicry has the potential to make a major breakthrough in the field of science. In fact, Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, said “The countries, communities, and companies that most closely [and] consciously mirror Mother Nature … are the ones that are going to thrive in what I call the Age of Accelerations. I’m a big believer in biomimicry.”

 

 

 

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