Shape-shifting polymer straightens out from body heat

There have been plenty of tries at shape-changing materials, but this one might be the most practical yet. The University of Rochester has created a polymer that returns to its original shape when subjected to body heat — touch a curled mess of the stuff and it straightens out. The solution was to attach polymer strands using molecular links that inhibit crystallization, which prevents the polymer from returning back to its original shape. When you tweak the number and substances of the links, you can customize the temperature where that reversion happens (in this case, just below normal body temperature).

That’s a fun trick in itself, but the kicker is that the material also stores vast amounts of elastic energy. It can lift something a thousand times its weight — a thin wire could pull a big toy car, for instance.

If the polymer is put into use, that force could come in handy. The University envisions clothes that automatically fit themselves, and it could also lead to artificial skin and sutures that tighten up on their own. Any such products would likely be years away, but the days of unintentionally baggy shirts might just be numbered.

Source: University of Rochester

Watch DARPA’s tiny drone do 45 MPH indoors, autonomously

It’s been a bit since we last saw DARPA’s bird-of-prey inspired drone system, but the government’s mad science wing hasn’t been sitting idle. The Fast Lightweight Autonomy program recently took one of its drones on an indoor test flight where there little quadrocopter that could zoomed around a cluttered warehouse in a Cape Cod Air Force base at 45 MPH — the target speed and environment the outfit was aiming for back in 2014.

DARPA says that the UAV uses a commercial DJI Flamewheel fitted with a 3DR Pixhawk autopilot for the airframe, among other adornments. Perhaps most impressive is that this unit is able to hit speed even carrying sonar, inertia sensors and an HD camera on such a small frame. Oh, and the demo flight in the video below was entirely autonomous. That’s right, zero pilots were involved in getting the drone around the stacks of boxes and whatnot here.

The next step? Advancing the onboard algorithms further so DARPA can extend the drone’s range as well as “compensate for the vehicle’s mass,” thus enabling super tight turns and other quick maneuvers at equally fast speeds. Program manager Mark Micire says that what makes FLA unique is that it hits the balance between size, speed and capabilities, whereas others are limited to only one of the three simultaneously. It’s what makes the program so challenging for a drone with “limited computing power to perform a complex mission completely autonomously,” Micire says.

DARPA mentions that as advancements are made, the Massachusetts training course will grow more complex. Watch the entire clip embedded below if you’re a fan of expensive toys crashing into countless pieces.

Source: DARPA

Snapchat hopes you’ll subscribe to video channels

Snapchat isn’t content with simply offering videos through Discover and hoping you’ll watch them… it wants to give you a reason to keep coming back. Recode sources understand that Snapchat is planning to let you subscribe to Discover channels. You’d know the moment when CNN or ESPN posts a new video, and the mobile apps would give the Discover icons a “magazine-like” look that shows the video du jour. The company isn’t confirming anything, but Snapchat is reportedly aiming to launch subscriptions as early as May.

Those may not sound like big changes on the surface, but they make sense given how big Snapchat is on video beyond disappearing messages. It needs publishers to stick around if it’s going to make Discover your go-to video source — if they know they’re going to get legions of viewers every day, that’s a strong incentive. Also, as Recode explains, these kinds of tweaks could prevent you from being overwhelmed if there’s ever more than just a handful of publishers.

Source: Recode

The Public Access Weekly: Ooh! A piece of candy…

Just once I’d like to wake up on a Friday morning and not get Rebecca Black’s infamous song stuck in my head — but every Friday it sneaks in there like the overachieving ear worm that it is. (Perhaps I really do gotta to get down on Friday….) So while I spend part of my afternoon googling “Friday songs” in an attempt to find an alternative track to drown it out, pull up a seat and catch up on what’s going down this week in Public Access.
First up as always: A bit of housekeeping. Those of you who have included Twitter handles in your Public Access profiles may have noticed an extra “@” symbol so that Twitter links next to an author’s name looked like this: @@Dameright.

This is because our system was automatically adding the at sign, so if you’re including a Twitter handle in your Public Access profile you only need to enter in the name itself –not the @ sign. This error has been corrected, but if you notice that your profile has added an @ symbol to your Twitter handle you can go here to edit out the symbol (and to update anything else you’d like on your profile!).

Also, some of you savvy Public Access members may have noticed a small change to the back-end: The box that held all the “Assignment” suggestions now says “Topic Ideas.” Like so:

Why the change? Well, while I was looking through the answers to the Public Access member survey (see, I told you those answers mattered), I noticed that more than a few people have been under the impression that these are strict, mandatory assignments or that Public Access members must write to the assignments.

That is absolutely not the case! The list of topics here are simply suggestions on what you can write on, not on what you have to write on. These are not at all mandatory, they are simply prompts to help get you started if they’re a question or topic that speak to you. If none of these ideas are a topic that you’re interested in, simply don’t accept them.

As a Public Access member, you are free to write upon pretty much any technology topic that strikes your fancy from smartphone apps to virtual reality to troubleshooting PC problems to the game that you cannot stop playing to tech advice for parents to useless IoT devices that you hate and more. If it has anything to do with computers, the internet, a tech device, science or general geekery, you have a green light.

And if you have an idea for an amazing topic idea, give us a holler! This is, after all, your community so please feel free to contribute any ideas that you think would be great for Public Access. In the meantime, new topic ideas will go live every Friday a few hours before the Public Access Weekly post gets published so if you do like the suggestions you can catch them then.

Looking for something to read? Check out:

Everyone wants to chime in on the comments to Violet Blue’s new Bad Password column on the “death” of Adblock Plus.

Just in time for VDay, our Love at First Byte series highlights the tech loves and heartbreaks of the Engadget staff, like this ‘dear John’ letter to a Nexus 7.

If you haven’t already heard: Gravitational waves. We’ve detected them. This is a BIG DEAL. Go science!

Looking for something to write about? Mull over:

Another article in the Love at First Byte series is this piece on the dark side of tech love: A toxic relationship with fitness wearables. How’s your relationship with your fitness wearables? Are you still BFF-4-eva or are you looking to part ways with your trackers?

We posted an article on Twitter changes and how they affect harassment policies on the social network. Some commenters thought this was well overdue, while some felt that everyone needed to quit their whining. Is this a smart step to making Twitter a friendlier place? Does Twitter even need to be a friendlier place? What is the responsibility of a social network to its users?

GTA 5 was apparently smokin’ sales in January — Have you played it? Is it really that good? What were your favorite/least favorite parts of the game play? And would you recommend it to friends?