"See all that stuff in there, Homer? That’s why your robot never worked."
      -Marge Simpson

I went to the USA Science and Engineering Festival downtown today, pretty much with the sole purpose of seeing the Microrobotics and Bio-inspired Robotics exhibit by the Harvard University Microrobotics Lab & Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

The exhibit was static (I wasn't actually expecting robotic flies to be hovering around Pennsylvania Avenue) but the explanation of the research was fascinating. Tiny flying robots, with the ultimate purpose of performing search missions in areas inaccessible by humans, animals, or even larger robots, are being developed by the Harvard Lab. Combining entomology research of how insects fly, attempts are being made to mimic wing patterns when not only flying, but turning, adjusting for friction (air patterns), avoiding obstacles (walls, for instance), and ultimately sensing targets (such as trapped people).

The entomology research was the fascination of my own bug-related hobby. Sensors are being placed on flies to sense not only how they move their wings but do respond when heading towards a wall. The mechanics, of course, is remarkable as well, even down to the flexible joints that are being developed to support motion; for example, apparently the same pin joints that hold my front door in place are a little too heavy for the convenience of flying.

It was interesting to learn that there is much about flight patterns of insects that we aren't aware of yet. For example, efforts have been made to mimic dragonflies, but the understanding of their dual wing structure is still much a mystery. Flies are better understood, but perhaps still not in great enough detail to provide the physics of the creation all that is needed.

For more info, The Harvard Microrobotics Lab can be found at this link. I stole the few images in this post from there.

The peanut butter jar ecosystems I keep, along with the microscope, live in the room which by default becomes our library as well as the, "goodness, visitors are arriving...better dump that junk in the spare room" room.

As things go, the ecosystems were a bit out of reach for a few months until I finally made an effort to sort through a few piles of junk recently.

I was very happy to find that some of the systems, resting comfortably near the window, have not only survived, but thrived.

One is just filled with Amphipods...given their abundance in the wild, this isn't the most miraculous act of God, but they were only microscopic nothings when I collected the pond sample a few months ago.

I think these two samples are Pontoporeia, but they could be Hyalella. At least, that is what the Microlife book I am reading tells me. For the record, they are quite safe; I put them back in their home after snapping a few pics of them in a drop of water.

It appears one of our cats got to a poor spider today. They left it proudly on a small seat I made for them to sit beside me when I'm on the computer which, in addition to apparently being a resting place for dead spiders, they actually sit on sometime.

Under the microscope, that is.

At 50x

At 50x

It has been a little while since I visited my peanut butter jar ecosystems sitting in the upstairs window. I suspect the cold of winter has diminished the quantity of life, but the morning sunlight is still keeping some of the population thriving.

I started a new batch of peanut butter jar ecosystems. Here is my first model from the new collection.

A number of weeks ago, I collected a few pond water samples that I have let fester in jars by a window in our rather warm upstairs.

And stuff keeps growing.

I blindly bought what turned out to be a fairly nice book on microorganisms which, I'm hoping, will eventually allow me to say, "look at this picture of {intelligent sounding name} instead of "weird swimming thing."

But for now, it is weird swimming thing. Actually, it got all hung up in a glob of goo and was fighting like mad to get free. In this shot, it just about cut loose.

With a cute kitten in the house, you'd think I'd find nice pictures to post online.

You'd be wrong.

Okay, I'm sure just about everybody in the world has something better to do than look at microscopy images of fur I pulled out of my cat's tail this evening (don't worry, she has a lot to spare).

But, isn't this neat? Look at the structure? Look how part of it is white even though it doesn't look white in normal vision. And if I would have posted a full size shot of the capture, you would just see amazing detail in it.

I know it is fairly obvious when I think about it, but I'm just stunned at how complex things are. Like, for instance, this beetle wing:

Don't worry, it was dead near the window and had wings to spare.

I dunno, it is just neat to me.

I like the one that looks like it belongs in a David Lynch movie.

For those who guessed mosquito larvae to the question posed in the last post, you win a gold star. This site explains it all.

There is some good news to all this. First, examine this picture I took tonight of a mosquito pupae.

Now, consider I pulled this specimen from a glass jar I was incubating in my basement thinking that, instead of mosquitoes, I was harvesting something neat like gold-bearing leprechauns that start life as water-born squirming creepy things. At about 3:00 this afternoon, when I learned that my jar of happiness was teaming with soon-to-be mosquitoes, all I could really think to do was get home and get that jar outside as quickly as possible. Of course, I knew the larvae wasn't going to transform into mosquitoes in one day, but I suspected there were a number of pupae in that jar that could have.

I've done a lot of stupid things in this house over the years. I'm glad I can go at least one more day of my life saying that infecting it with a swarm of mosquitoes is not one of them.

Here's the deal; I have always really enjoyed science. I am fascinated by animals, rocks, astronomical events, physics, mechanics, mathematics, whatever. There are probably hundreds of books in our house that cover topics from evolution after the ice ages to mathematical theory to electronic engineering.

And the funny thing is, I have a brain that accepts none of it. I always did horribly in science classes in school, and even now I probably only capture 25% of what I read. It isn't frustrating because I enjoy the challenge; mostly, it is just kinda sad.

That said, I have recently made the attempt to combine my photography skills into a scientific hobby by purchasing a microscope adapter for my camera. Using a 40+ year-old microscope that was discarded from a high school (no, I didn't steal it), I have captured the following shots of some weird creatures I found living in a puddle in our backyard.

Now my question is: what is this thing?

They are very tiny, squiggly worm-like creatures that manically swim in no matter how little water they are surrounded by. The pictures, which admittedly aren't very great but enjoyable as a first attempt using the adapter, are 100x so the actual creature is only about 1/8 inch long. It appears that they like water, mud, dark places, and grime. I think the resemblance to the Eraserhead baby is a coincidence. After some research, I'm leaning towards thinking they are a type of Arthropod, but I really just don't know enough to be sure that is true.