Researchers just figured out how to make spiders move even faster

Why it matters to you

The research could lead to faster and more mobile insect-inspired robots, which can be used in search and rescue missions.

A spider-like robot built by researchers from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has demonstrated a faster walking gait than that used by six-legged insects in the wild.

The researchers first suspected there could be a faster gait when experimenting with a computer simulation of a common species of fly called Drosophila melanogaster. Like other six-legged insects, D. melanogaster walks with a tripod gait, keeping three legs on the ground at all times.

“We initially thought it would be easy to optimize walking speed and arrive at the tripod gait since it is such a prominent fast gait among insects,” Ramdya Pavan, an EPFL researchers who co-led the study, told Digital Trends. “We were surprised to find that the bipod gait emerged instead and began to investigate why and under which conditions the tripod gait might otherwise emerge.”

More: Darwin is a robot physical therapy assistant to help kids with cerebral palsy

Along with his colleague Robin Thandiackal, Pavan developed a six-legged robot that looks like a mechanical tarantula. Sure enough, the robot confirmed the findings of the computer simulation, by consistently moving faster with bipod gait than tripod gait.

Why then, the researchers wondered, do insects use tripod gaits?

Through further simulations, they found that tripod gaits increased adhesion and helped insects travel faster vertically. They surmised that adhesion may help explain why tripod gaits are so prevalent.

“Adhesion makes it difficult to have a dynamically stable gait like the bipod gait,” Pavan said. “Imagine trying to run with glue on the soles of your feet. Adhesion turns out not to be a problem for statically stable tripod locomotion. Importantly, statically stable gaits are also critical to ensure that animals don’t fall off the wall or ceiling when they climb with adhesion.”

To test this idea, the researchers put adhesion-suppressing polymer boots on real flies and, after an hour, witnessed the flies begin to adapt a gait that more closely resembled bipod. They’ve published a paper detailing their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

5 songs you need to stream this week: Animal Collective, Hoops, and more

Every week, there are thousands of new songs hitting the airwaves — and it’s just too much for your two ears to handle. With all those options, you can’t be wasting your time on tracks that deserve a thumbs-down click.

But don’t worry, we’re going to save you the hassle. We listen to some of the most-hyped and interesting songs each week, and tell you which are worthy of your precious listening time.

More: Spotify may upgrade its free account to give users more on-demand streaming

Here are our top five songs to stream this week. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our Spotify page for a playlist of our weekly picks, which can also be found at the bottom of this post.

Animal Collective — Jimmy Mak 

A classic Motown hit from Martha & The Vandellas becomes a work of psychedelic wonder in the hands of Animal Collective, propelled in a new direction by a mass of synth tones, flute, and fast-paced drums. You can practically hear lead singer Avey Tare sweat through the microphone on the high-energy cut from their upcoming EP The Painters. It’s a cover that will have you bouncing up and down in your chair — whether you like it or not.

Hoops — Rules

Washed-out vocals and a fast-paced beat make Hoops’ new single Rules the musical equivalent of an iced cup of coffee. It’s a pick-me-up that you’ll still cherish during the last part of winter, but you’ll especially enjoy it during swim suit season. There’s a distinct ’80s influence in the guitar and drum tones from this up-and-coming Indiana band, with a lo-fi quality to the recording that makes them sound like The Police without the budget to book a proper studio.

Thundercat — Friend Zone 

Bass shredding nerd-turned-pop-musician Thundercat’s heavy-stepping new single covers the topic of unrequited love with a distinctly Bootsy Collins influence. “I’m your biggest fan, but I guess that’s just not good enough,” the LA-based musician sings over his funky bass line, “Is it cause I wear my hair in, or because I like to play Diablo?”

sir Was  — Revoke

Swedish songwriter Joel Wästberg’s band sir Was blends the buttery psychedelic stylings of Tame Impala with the round African beats of Vampire Weekend on their new song Revoke, creating a forward-moving musical atmosphere that’s both catchy and innovative. In the video, Wästberg plays a smoking, steady-working chef in a dive bar, a food service job that feels oddly like the role he seems to play in the recording studio.

Little Star — I Just Wanna Lie

I Just Wanna Lie is the latest in a series of intricate compositions from Portland duo Little Star, a break-filled two minutes that is equal parts driving song and coming-of-age movie montage material. Quick and to the point, there’s a mouthwatering efficiency about the song that grabs you. It’s the kind of thing you savor completely during its short run time, but that you’ll want to come back to over and over again.

That’s it for now, but tune in next week for more tunes — and check out the playlist loaded with our recent selections below:

From The Editor’s Desk: Fake news

All the news that’s fit to fake.

You’d have to insert your head fairly deep in the sand these days to avoid the term “fake news.” It’s seemingly everywhere, the notion that some media outlets either distort or invent the truth for their own gain. Recently, this has pertained mainly to politics, but the notion of artifice in our daily news consumption is not a new one — especially if you’re a regular visitor to tech blogs.

To wit, this past week, President Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus, told CBS’s Face the Nation that “the media should stop with this unnamed source stuff, put names on a piece of paper and print it. If people aren’t willing to put their name next to a quote, then the quote shouldn’t be listed.”

A good portion of tech reporting is sourced anonymously, mainly to protect the people from getting in trouble.

A good portion of tech reporting — including a significant amount of content that goes up on this site — is sourced anonymously, mainly because the people with the information would get into trouble if they were found out. And while, compared to the gravity and consequence of political leaks, a photo of an unreleased handset may seem trivial, the reality is that there are actual people putting their jobs on the line to share this information — when it’s real.

The other side of the coin is that, for whatever reason — recognition, intrigue, or just shits and giggles — information is often embellished or entirely made up, and the echo chamber of the tech blogosphere often picks through the pieces to decide what is real, and what isn’t.

At my previous job, I was privy to a fascinating series of events that gave me insight into how this whole leak process works, and the repercussions for all involved. In 2013, a very high-profile phone was on the horizon, and the company had kept most critical leaks to a minimum in the weeks leading up to the announcement. But an employee at the Canadian branch of a big retail chain decided to forgo his NDA and send a bunch of marketing material to my then-boss, who, as one does when running a tech blog, posted it to the site. Several takedown requests and a lawsuit later, the experience reinforced just how seriously companies take leaks when they potentially affect the bottom line.

But all manufacturers know, and anticipate, that most leaks, especially early on in a product’s hype cycle, are either entirely false, or lack the context to paint a proper picture. Sites that post about them regularly tend to build a reputation for being unreliable; others that choose to publish only verifiable leaks miss out on considerable traffic. The vast majority of reputable tech sites (a category in which I hope Android Central is placed by most) will strike a balance, erring on the side of caution while, for better or worse, admitting that some aspects are not assured.

Of course, fake news is only truly so until the facts are revealed.

Our friends at Android Police even recounted, after Google’s Pixel event this past October, which of its leaks were indeed accurate (and came away looking pretty good, in my opinion), a degree of self-reflection perilously missing in this field.

Of course, fake news is only truly so until the facts are revealed, which is a little easier to do when they involve products that will actually be available to the public. In the case of a phone leak, it’s relatively easy to test its efficacy after the fact, but few do, and even fewer are held “accountable” — whatever that means. In the end, it’s just part of the marketing arm, and we’re no less guilty of participating than anyone else.

• Much of the AC team will be leaving for Barcelona, and Mobile World Congress, this week.
• The official show begins on February 27, but the vast majority of the coverage you care about will be in the days leading up to it.
• Look for announcements from BlackBerry on the 25th, followed by LG, Huawei, Samsung, Motorola — even Nokia — and many others.
• Unlimited phone plans are back in the U.S., but they look a lot different than just a few years ago. The good news is that, thanks to competition, the plans — especially for families or groups — are actually pretty compelling.
• I have to say, based on what I’ve seen of the LG G6 — I enjoy a good leak, too! — I’m pretty excited. Provided what I’ve seen is real.
• We broke a promise by not releasing a podcast last week, but we’ll make it up to you!
• I’m loving the questions posted in Ask Daniel, so please keep them coming!

Hope you have a great week, and we’ll talk again very soon.

-Daniel

Event Horizon Telescope will soon take the first black hole photo

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is finally ready to take a picture of Sagittarius A*. From April 5th to 14th this year, the virtual telescope that’s been in the making for the past two decades will peer into the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy. EHT is actually an array of radio telescopes located in different countries around the globe, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile.

By using a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry, the EHT team turns all the participating observatories into one humongous telescope that encompasses the whole planet. We need a telescope that big and powerful, because Sagittarius A* is but a tiny pinprick in the sky for us. While scientists believe it has a mass of around four million suns, it also only measures around 20 million km or so across and is located 26,000 light-years away from our planet. The EHT team says it’s like looking at a grapefruit or a DVD on the moon from Earth.

To prepare the participating observatories, the team equipped them with atomic clocks for the most precise time stamps and hard-drive modules with enormous storage capacities. Since the scientists are expecting to gather a colossal amount of data, they deployed enough modules to match the capacity of 10,000 laptops. Those hard drives will be flown out to the MIT Haystack Observatory, where imaging algorithms will make sense of EHT’s data, once the observation period is done.

The researchers said it could take until the beginning of 2018 before we see humanity’s first photo of a black hole. As for what they’re expecting to see, it’ll be something like what their simulation yielded last year:

Based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, we’re supposed to see a crescent of light surrounding a black blob. That light is emitted by gas and dust before the black hole devours them, while the dark blob is the shadow cast over that mayhem. But what if we see something else altogether? Team leader Sheperd Doeleman from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told BBC:

“As I’ve said before, it’s never a good idea to bet against Einstein, but if we did see something that was very different from what we expect we would have to reassess the theory of gravity.”

[Image credit: NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al., IR: NASA/STScI / Feryel Ozel (event horizon simulation)]

Via: ScienceAlert

Source: BBC

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Review

Introduction

Deleting some important files that you have stored within the computer could be a nightmare. When such a thing happens, you would need to take necessary measures in order to recover that file as soon as possible. That’s where EaseUS data recovery tool would come to your survival. It can be considered as one of the most efficient data recovery tools available for the people. The best thing about EaseUS is that all the services are offered for free.

Features of EaseUS

• The data recovery software free would give you the opportunity to recover deleted files in your hard drive up to 2GB.
• EaseUS is compatible with all the major operating systems and computer platforms including Mac and PC.
• This is an efficient data recovery tool, which has the ability to recover data within a short period of time.
• The application offers two different scanning options for the users as Quick Scan and Deep Scan. You can choose any scanning method out of them based on your preferences.
• You can pause the file restoration process and resume from where you left at any other time.
• It is possible for you to take a look at the condition of the file before recovering it.
• EaseUS is compatible with a variety of file types including documents, videos, photos, audio files, contacts and emails.

As you can see, EaseUS is a versatile data recovery application available out there for you to purchase. You can use it for all types of file recovery needs without thinking twice.

How to use EaseUS free data recovery software

You don’t need to be equipped with any special technical skills in order to use EaseUS. It comes along with a user friendly operation and you will not have to worry about anything. Here is a list of steps that you need to follow when you are using EaseUS to get back the deleted files.

1. First of all, you will need to download EaseUS data recovery software from their official website.
2. Once you complete the download, you would need to install it on the computer.
3. Next you should select the specific data type that you want to be recovered.
4. The fourth step of using EaseUS would be to select the specific location that you need to recover data. It is possible for you to find a local drive or any other removable storage media to recover data.
5. Next you will be provided with a list of files that can be recovered. If the file you want to recover is not there in the list, you can perform a deep scan.
6. As the next step, you can take a look at the condition of the file that you are looking to recover. If it is in recoverable condition, you can initiate the recovery process.

When you go through these steps, you will get the opportunity to get back your deleted file. As mentioned earlier, you can use EaseUS to recover any file up to 2GB.

EaseUS Data Recovery Software Review

When you have deleted something on your computer, you would need to get the help of a professional data recovery tool. If you are looking for data recovery software free, EaseUS would be a good option available to consider about. This is an effective software tool, which has the ability to recover a variety of deleted file types within a short period of time.

Features of EaseUS

• EaseUS is compatible with a variety of file types and formats. They include documents, videos, images, compressed files and many more.
• It can be used to recover inaccessible and formatted data with minimum hassle.
• You can use EaseUS data recovery software free to get back files from a lost partition.
• EaseUS is compatible with a variety of storage devices such as HDD, SDD, RAID and servers.
• You can use this to recover emails from your device as well.
• The scanning results can be exported or imported as per your specific requirements.
• This software offers deep level scanning technology for the users.

EaseUS user interface

EaseUS has been provided with a simple and a clean user interface. Therefore, you will not find it as a difficult task to use it. This guarantees a pleasant user experience as well.

Performance of EaseUS and how to use it

EaseUS data recovery software has properly been optimized in order to deliver a smooth performance on your device. Therefore, you can let it recover files in the background and work with a different application. It doesn’t use a lot of processing power or RAM. With EaseUS, you are provided with the ability to select whether you want to recover a certain file or not. You are provided with a preview and it is up to you to proceed with it as per your preferences.

EaseUS can be downloaded from the internet for free. With the free version of this software, you will be able to recover deleted files up to 2GB. Required facilities have been provided for you to upgrade to a premium plan. If you feel that the file you are trying to recover is over 2GB, you can simply upgrade to a premium plan from the software itself. If you are a Windows user, you will need to make a payment of $70 and if you are on Mac, you will have to pay $89 in order to upgrade to a premium plan.

EaseUS offers two levels of scanning for deleted files. If the file you want is not available with a basic scan, you can proceed to a deep scan. The available features of the application are impressive and you can think about using it for all sorts of file recovery needs. You will not be able to find such an excellent bunch of useful features from any other free data recovery tool available on the internet. It has the ability to keep you away from the hassle associated with accidental file deletions as well.

Apple reportedly buys an AI-based face recognition startup

Those rumors of Apple exploring facial recognition for sign-ins might just have some merit. Calcalist reports that Apple has acquired RealFace, an Israeli startup that developed deep learning-based face authentication technology. The terms of the deal aren’t public, but it’s estimated at “several million dollars.” Cupertino would mainly be interested in the promise of the technology than pure resources, in other words.

We’ve reached out to Apple for comment on the reported deal and will let you know if it has something to add. However, RealFace recently took its website down and left nothing but a skeleton server behind.

Apple is no stranger to buying companies with some form of facial recognition tech. However, a focus on authentication would be both new and logical. If Apple wants to reduce its dependence on fingerprint readers for password-free iPhone logins, it needs a face detection system that will quickly and consistently sign you in across most situations, not just ideal conditions. RealFace’s AI tech is supposed to be highly accurate, so it might not be as finnicky or easily duped as some implementations.

Via: Times of Israel

Source: Calcalist (translated)

Deadly spider’s strange silk may help capture space debris, research says

Why it matters to you

Ultra-strength materials may revolutionize fields from medicine to fashion, and help clean up space junk.

Arachnophobia is ingrained into our collective psyche, and few spiders are feared as much as the brown recluse. Even though their bites are often misdiagnosed, these unassuming arachnids are widely despised.

But recluses have more on offer besides their neurotoxic venom — they also spin the strongest silk of any spider and may help inspire a next generation of tough materials.

Intrigued by the strength of the recluse’s silk, researchers from Oxford University and William & Mary studied the spider and discovered they use a unique ribbon geometry not found in any other arachnid.

More: Engineers create bio-inspired, silk-based materials with programmable traits

“The unique characteristic of the recluse’s silk are periodically placed loops,” Hannes Schneipp, a William & Mary professor who co-led the study, told Digital Trends. “As the silk is stretched, the loops can open, one after the other. In this process, the filament gets periodically stretched and relaxed. This process, [which] we named ‘strain cycling,’ surprisingly can enhance the energy absorption of the material many times.”

Schneipp was joined in the study by Oxford professor Fritz Vollrath and William & Mart PhD student Sean Koebly. They published a paper detailing their findings last week in the journal Materials Horizons.

The researchers think that, by using similar knots and loops, materials can be made more flexible and durable. They’ve demonstrated this technique through computer simulations.

“We have already proven in our new study that the same principle works in other materials,” Schneipp said. “Loops enhance the material’s toughness. Think about looped fibers and ribbons creating materials with giant energy absorption capabilities. Brittle materials can become more ductile and avoid catastrophic failure and fracture.”

Vollrath took this idea one step further, describing how the toughness of looped structures may find applications, even beyond Earth.

“This [toughness] right away suggests possible applications,” he said in a press release. “For example, carbon filaments could be looped to make them less brittle, and thus allow their use in novel impact absorbing structures. One example would be spider-like webs of carbon-filaments floating in outer space, to capture the drifting space debris that endangers astronaut lives and satellite integrity.”

Chromebook touchpad causing trouble? Here’s how to right-click the right way

Did you recently get a Chromebook? If you’re having trouble finding the right way to right-click on the touchpad, you’re not alone. Here’s how it’s done!

More: How to install Android apps on a Chromebook

We have provided several different methods of right-clicking based on what you want to do. Take a look at the options, and dive into the method that you think will be of the most use.

Method 1: Quick right-click

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

This is pretty easy if you’ve used an Apple touchpad or other pads in the past. Instead of tapping with one finger, tap on the pad with two fingers while hovering over the object you want to right-click. The touchpad will interpret your two fingers as a right-click and show the dropdown menu—or whatever else your right-click is supposed to unveil.

The key here is timing and position, because your fingers need to tap down and rise back at the same time, or things can go a little screwy. If you’ve never tried to right-click like this before, it may take a little practice to get down (always make sure the touchpad is clean and dry, that makes a lot of difference).

How to delete and recover photos from your iPhone

If you were to choose the top three features a phone must have, one of them would certainly be a good camera. Most of us utilize our smartphone cameras nearly every day, but as they gain more features and better image quality, the file size of the resulting photos also increases. Storing an abundance of photos and videos is the fastest way to eat through your phone’s storage, so you need to know how to delete photos from your iPhone.

More: Handy new iOS 10 tips and tricks to try out

There are also times, however, when an overeager tap in your Camera Roll deletes a photo or video that you later decide you wanted to keep. Accidentally deleting the wrong photo is a horrible feeling, but there’s no need to panic. You just need to know how to retrieve a deleted photo on your iPhone. Luckily, there are ways to safely delete — and recover — iPhone photos. Let’s take a look at each of them.

How to delete photos on your iPhone using a Mac

You can plug in your iPhone to your Mac, and view your photos using Image Capture. To delete photos from your iPhone, follow these steps:

Select your iPhone from the leftmost sidebar in the Image Capture app.
Click on a photo to select it, or press Command + A to select all your photos.
Click the delete button () in Image Capture.
When asked if you want to delete your photos, select Delete.

Bill Gates wants a robot tax to compensate for job losses

How would you deal with the likelihood that robots and automation will likely lead to many people losing their jobs? For Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the answer is straightforward: tax the robots. In an interview with Quartz, Gates argues that taxing worker robots would offset job losses by funding training for positions where humans are still needed, such as child and senior care. It could even slow automation to a more manageable rate, if necessary.

Gates is well aware of potential pitfalls — he knows that taxation could ultimately slow innovation by making worker robots prohibitively expensive. However, he’s convinced that governments should be “figuring [policy] out” so that they’re ready when there’s a sudden glut of unemployed workers.

He can’t expect much sympathy from Europe for his ideas, though. The European Parliament has rejected a proposed robot tax, and is instead interested in crafting regulation that guides the ethics behind creating and deploying robots, including liability when something goes wrong. Officials don’t want to leave these guidelines to “third countries,” according to a statement. Robot makers will undoubtedly be happy (they were concerned a tax would hamper growth), but the move won’t please those who want a safety net in place when the machines arrive in force.

Source: Quartz