Light-activated skeletal muscles

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 07:10:02 GMT

Scientists at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are taking more than inspiration from nature — they’re taking ingredients.

Meet Robert Horvitz

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:24:37 GMT

MIT's Robert Horvitz has devoted much of his career to studying the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.

An On-Off Switch for Anxiety

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

In this video, a mouse with a fiberoptic cable implanted into his brain explores a four-arm maze. The animal has been genetically engineered to express light-sensitive proteins in a specific part of the amygdala, a brain region linked to fear. Mice are naturally afraid of open spaces, and at the beginning of the video, the mouse spends most of his time in one corner of the maze, occasionally dashing out to explore his environment. Turning on the light (as indicated by blue text) activates a specific neural circuit, which appears to make the mouse much braver, continually exploring all the parts of the maze. The video is shown at ten times normal speed.

Right Up Here: The Topsfield Fair

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:30:46 GMT

Video by: Emily Wanderer
This short film documents the Topsfield Fair, the longest running agricultural fair in the U.S. Following farmers and hobbyists as they show their livestock and compete for prizes, the film explores the changing relationships between people, animals, and agriculture.

Experiment (100x slower)

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:10:40 GMT

The researchers needed to be able to change a cat's lapping speed in order to test their theory. So they developed a robotic version of a cat's tongue -- a mechanical column with a 1-inch glass disk at the tip. This device allowed the researchers to study the liquid column for different lapping speeds using a high-speed digital camera.

Cutta Cutta (67x slower)

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:10:26 GMT

Studying the way cats lap milk

Cutta Cutta (12x slower)

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:09:46 GMT

Cutta Cutta drinking Cat fanciers appreciate the gravity-defying grace and exquisite balance of their feline friends. But do they know that those traits extend even to the way cats lap milk? Researchers analyzed the way domestic and big cats lap and found that felines of all sizes take advantage of a perfect balance between two physical forces.

Balloons in Liquid Nitrogen

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:08:16 GMT

This demonstrates the ideal gas law (PV=nRT) which states that a drop in temperature with fixed mass and external pressure will result in a smaller volume, and vice versa.

Red-necked Phalarope

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:00:28 GMT

A video showing the red-necked phalarope's feeding behavior.

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