杏吧原创

Trees will grow on first 鈥榲ertical street鈥�

Instead of being the usual lifeless slab, a tower block to be built in Melbourne, Australia, will feature a green 鈥渧ertical street鈥�. Every sixth floor of the 35-storey building will have gardens planted with trees growing up to 10 metres tall. Triangular balconies and a jagged facade will slow the wind to stop rainwater being blown away. Instead it will be collected and used for watering the gardens and flushing toilets. The building, due to be completed by 2014, will need extra structural supports to hold the weight of all the soil. It will house shops, offices and apartments.

Robot wriggles its way through sand

A burrowing robot that 鈥渟wims鈥� through sand was revealed at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Shanghai, China, last week. The seven-segment motorised robot built by Ryan Maladen and colleagues at Georgia Tech in Atlanta was inspired by the sandfish lizard, a native of the Sahara, whose body undulates to propel it through sand. Their robot鈥檚 wedge-shaped head allowed them to precisely control its direction of motion by adjusting the direction the head was pointing. They say their design could be used for search and rescue robots to be deployed after earthquakes or landslides.

Bucking bronco knows you鈥檙e scared

Hop on a bucking bronco ride at the University of Nottingham in the UK and you may be in for a surprise. Riders are hooked up to an adapted medical sensor that monitors their breathing, and the readings are fed back to the bronco鈥檚 controls. As the rider gets scared, and their breathing becomes less regular, the bronco speeds up. The scarier ride leads to even faster breathing, speeding the machine still further 鈥� until the rider falls off. Riders described the experience as 鈥渞eally disquieting鈥�, Steve Benford, a member of the research team says. The team suggests exploiting the technique to design more thrilling amusement park rides.