Scientists at the University of Miami working with Darpa have developed a robotic arm (pictured) that can allow patient's to'feel' by sending tiny electrical signals to an implant in their brain. It has allowed a 28-year-old man called Nathan to feel researchers touching his fingers in a natural way. The technology mirrors the prosthetic arm given to Luke Skywalker after he gets his hand cut off in the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back (bottom right).
Dutch scientists create £20m tsunami generator to boost low-lying country's defences.
The upper part of the skeleton was trapped in a tree's root system in Sligo and was raised in the air, while the legs remained in the grave (inset).
Folding robo-legs let helicopters touch down ANYWHERE: Joints could help pilots land on rocky mountains and moving boats
Engineers at Darpa and Georgia Tech have designed Robotic Landing Gear, which comprises four articulated legs that can bend and fold beneath the fuselage so it can land on uneven surfaces (screenshot). It's hoped the prototype system may one day enable helicopters to land in remote and rocky locations to rescue people stranded on mountains, in disaster zones and on large boats (illustrated inset) for example.
The world's biggest wave machine that could save Holland from floods: Dutch scientists create £20m tsunami generator to boost low-lying country's defences
Dutch scientists have created the world's biggest man-made wave as part of a multi-million pound project aimed at helping to save the low-lying country from devastating floods. The highest artificial wave generated so far is just over 5 metres but engineers are hoping to produce even larger ones at the newly-completed 26million euro facility. Holding 9 million litres of water, pumped in from a reservoir at 1,000 litres a second, the Delta Flume produces waves by pushing water back and forth against a 10m-high steel wall, with scientists able to create a range of conditions from choppy waters, to rough seas and even a single tsunami wave.
- Medieval skeleton 'bursts from the earth': Remains are snapped in two as storm rips tree roots containing the bones into the air
- Do aliens think humans are SEXIST? Experts debate whether pictures sent into space on Pioneer 10 spacecraft make women look 'submissive'
- Defendant in 1310 English court case given nickname 'Roger Fuckebythenavele' in what historians say is first recorded use of the insult
- Watch the raw power of a TASER in slow motion: Video reveals rippling skin as volunteer spasms and howls in pain
- Luke Skywalker's prosthetic arm is REAL: Robotic limb allows patients to feel what it touches through a microchip in his brain
- Some folk have all the luck! Tall people are genetically more likely to be slim
- Apple reveals record setting preorders for iPhone 6s and says it expects to sell more than 10 MILLION in one weekend
- Busy? Rent a PA to do your chores for you! 'Taskers' can assemble furniture, clean your oven and even queue for an iPhone 6s
- Take a look inside a see-through BRAIN: Scientists peer beneath the skin at complex organs by turning human tissue transparent
- Poor phone signal? Open a window! Simple tricks to boost mobile connection revealed
- Peering into a star's 'amniotic sac': Astronomers capture the early stages of a distant solar system being formed
- Folding robo-legs let helicopters touch down ANYWHERE: Joints could help pilots land on rocky mountains and moving boats
- Apple's iPhone 6S has a SMALLER battery than older models: Video reveals cell won't hold as much energy as the current range
- Apple Pay goes live for Lloyds and Halifax customers: Service rolls out to more account holders but Barclays is still missing
- The airbag for a BULLET: Ping pong ball-style cushion can be attached to any gun to slow down shots and prevent fatal injuries
- London, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai among the cities housing one BILLION people that will be 'submerged underwater should we burn all the planet's fossil fuels'
- Roll on summer 2016: Next year is set to be the hottest on record as El Niño gears up to cause heatwaves across the globe
- Medieval skeleton 'bursts from the earth': Remains are snapped in two as storm rips tree roots containing the bones into the air
- Apple's iPhone 6S has a SMALLER battery than older models: Video reveals cell won't hold as much energy as the current range
- Poor phone signal? Open a window! Simple tricks to boost mobile connection revealed
- World’s biggest man-made wave is created by Dutch scientists hoping to help save the low-lying country from devastating floods
- Neanderthals are almost TWICE as old as first thought: DNA suggests extinct human species emerged 700,000 years ago
- Apple reveals record setting preorders for iPhone 6s and says it expects to sell more than 10 MILLION in one weekend
- Are dolphins psychic? Their complex social intelligence suggests the animals may share a 'collective consciousness'
- The key to a happy family? Having FOUR or more children: Parents of larger broods are happier and more satisfied with their lives
- El Niño gets upgraded: Forecasters say there is a 95% chance of 'strong' weather system - but warn it WON'T relieve California's drought
- Folding robo-legs let helicopters touch down ANYWHERE: Joints could help pilots land on rocky mountains and moving boats
- Peering into a star's 'amniotic sac': Astronomers capture the early stages of a distant solar system being formed
- Some folk have all the luck! Tall people are genetically more likely to be slim
- Will Apple's new Live Photos gobble up your phone's memory? New iPhone 6s feature will DOUBLE the size of snaps
- Google gets set to mass produce self driving cars: Firm hires ex-Hyundai CEO to head up autonomous vehicle project
- Busy? Rent a PA to do your chores for you! 'Taskers' can assemble furniture, clean your oven and even queue for an iPhone 6s
- Why women love a man who smiles... but those who have a neutral expression are far more trustworthy
- MOST READ IN DETAIL
GADGET REVIEWS
THIS WEEK'S TOP SCIENCE VIDEOS
-
SKIN DAMAGE FROM UV LIGHT CAN OCCUR...
A team of Yale-led researchers have discovered that skin damage from UV light...play video
-
WHITE BLOOD CELL SEEN DYING FOR FIRST...
White blood cell dying and sending out long beaded strings of material that are...play video
-
OCULUS RIFT TEASES GAMES AVAILABLE TO...
Check out a few of the great VR games that you'll be able to play on the Rift at...play video
-
NEW 'STAR WARS' GAMES REVEALED AT E3:...
The ominous thud of an AT-AT stomping down. Rebel forces firing blasters....play video
-
FIAT REVEALS 650MPH SUPERCAR POWERED BY...
Fiat have teamed up with video game designers to create SRT Tomahawk Vision Gran...play video
-
YOUTUBERS BUILD 'DEATH RAY' IN ATTEMPT...
Kevin Moore and Grant Reynolds attempt to create a focused beam of light hot...play video
-
WATCH THE WORLD'S 'SWARMING' FLIGHT...
Watch the world's 'swarming' flight paths in action: Beautiful multicoloured...play video
-
SCIENTISTS REVEAL NEW INSIGHT INTO...
A team of scientists and art conservators from Northwestern University and the...play video
-
NEO: THE 'SMART JAR' THAT HELPS YOU EAT...
Neo, the world's first 'smart jar' is built with Bluetooth connectivity and...play video
-
HERE'S NEPTUNE DUO: A ANDROID SMARTPHONE...
The Neptune Hub is a standalone smartwatch with 64 GB of onboard storage, LTE...play video
-
SKIN DAMAGE FROM UV LIGHT CAN OCCUR...
A team of Yale-led researchers have discovered that skin damage from UV light...play video
-
WHITE BLOOD CELL SEEN DYING FOR FIRST...
White blood cell dying and sending out long beaded strings of material that are...play video
Neanderthals are almost TWICE as old as first thought: DNA suggests extinct human species emerged 700,000 years ago
Geneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany have obtained the oldest genetic information from an early species of human to ever be sequenced. Analysis of the DNA has confirmed the fossils (pictured), which were found in a cave in the Atapuerca Mountains in Burgos, Spain (shown on the map inset), belonged to early Neanderthals. Scientists had previously believed the species first appeared 400,000 years ago, but the new results suggest they could be up to 765,000 years ago, according to the scientists.
Is a comet about to destroy Earth? Best-selling author GRAHAM HANCOCK argues that a cosmic explosion will soon strike Earth - triggering epic floods
Watch the raw power of a TASER in slow motion: Video reveals rippling skin as volunteer spasms and howls in pain
YouTubers the Slo Mo Guys visited Taser International in Scotsdale, Arizona, to film a Taser being fired at a volunteer at a rate of 28,500 frames per second (pictured). The video shows the Taser's two probes puncturing the skin and his muscles involuntarily rippling as the device stimulates his sensory and motor nerves, causing him to howl in pain and shock.
How the internet broke the story of 9/11: Readers caught up on bare websites with no Facebook or Twitter while TV was virtually the only source of video
In 2001 broadband was still in its infancy, while social networking and smartphones did not exist, meaning news of the 9/11 attacks broke online in a very different way to how it does today. Sites were bare, with lots of white space, and set out in very narrow columns with small, low-quality pictures to minimize the time it would take them to load. Video was basic, took a long time to buffer, and often froze or skipped while playing. While news stories play out in real time online today, allowing people to keep in touch via phone, tablet, or computer, in 2001 it meant gathering around a TV or radio.
Pluto's secrets revealed: New Horizons sends back incredible new high resolution images that reveal 'bewildering array' of features from ice flows and valleys to dunes
'If an artist had painted this Pluto before our flyby, I probably would have called it over the top,' but that's what is actually there,' said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern on seeing the new images. Main image: synthetic perspective view of Pluto, based on the latest high-resolution images from Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft, shows what you would see if you were approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) above Pluto's equatorial area, looking northeast over the dark, cratered, informally named Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth, expanse of icy plains informally called Sputnik Planum. The entire expanse of terrain seen in this image is 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) across. Insets show the rockey craters seen on the planet.
Heartbreaking moment a dolphin throws itself onto rocks to escape hunters at Japan's notorious mass slaughter port... before slowly drowning in front of onlookers
The video was shot by Ric O'Barry, founder of The Dolphin Project, at Taiji Cove, where every year thousands of dolphins are hunted and slaughtered. The most recent clip shot by the environmentalist shows a family of Risso's dolphins trapped inside the nets at the hunting hot-spot, with some already attempting an escape. One young male is particularly distressed, and can be seen swimming around in the shallows near rocks clearly disoriented.
Is this the first human? Extraordinary find in a South African cave suggests man may be up to 2.8million years old
Named Homo naledi, the species has been assigned to the genus Homo, to which modern humans also belong. The bones (pictured top right) were located in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa's Gauteng province, in a remote chamber that can only be accessed via several steep climbs and fissures. The age of the the skeletons are also yet to be determined. It is not yet clear how more than a dozen H. naledi skeletons - ranging from babies to elderly individuals - ended up in a remote region of a large cave. The researchers have not ruled out the possibility of the bodies having been disposed of in the cave deliberately, or a catastrophic 'death trap' scenario in which the humans entered the cave and all died of an unknown cause.
Watch a SOLAR 'TORNADO' swirl across the surface of the sun: 5 million °F mass of plasma spun for 40 hours
The 'tornado's' rampage lasted 40 hours between September 1 and 3, according to Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (pictured inset), a probe that was built at Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland. The 'tornado' (shown right) is described as 'a small, but complex mass of plasma' that gyrated and spun. Unlike those on Earth, which leave a trail of destruction, the solar 'tornado' was simply assimilated back into the sun.
Siberian 'spa' for woolly mammoths hints at beast's demise: Creatures desperately sought minerals from mud baths as the climate abruptly changed
Paleontologist Sergey Leshchinsky (pictured top right) is convinced that osteoporosis was a key cause of the demise of the woolly mammoth (illustrated bottom right), after finding thousands of ancient bones at many sites riddled by the disease (pictured left). By massing at a 'salt lick' near the modern-day village of Novodubrovsky village in Novosibirsk region, the giant mammals were seeking to restore their ailing health.
Bizarre burial of the 'witch' of Tiree: 6,000-year-old deformed skeleton in unusual grave is the earliest case of rickets found in UK
The bones (skeleton pictured left), found in the village of Balevullin on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, were analysed by Professor Ian Armit and his teams at the University of Bradford and University of Durham. Isotopic analysis showed she was local to the area, but she didn't eat sea fish. This seaside location and supply of fish should have provided her with enough vitamin D to avoid rickets. The skeleton's arm bones are pictured right, and her deformed breastbone is pictured inset. Therefore, experts believe she was kept indoors, or wore clothing that prevented adequate absorption of sunlight.
Could BOMBING Mars make it habitable? Nuclear warheads would heat the red planet to make it more Earth-like, claims Elon Musk
Elon Musk (pictured top right), CEO of SpaceX, California, hypothesised Mars (bottom right) could be heated up quickly by dropping nuclear weapons (illustrated with a stock image, left) over its poles and said he would like to visit the red planet one day. He described it as 'a fixer upper of a planet' that could be made by Earth-like if it were warmer.
Apple goes super-size! Tech giant reveals iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with new 3D touch screen, 'monster' 12.9inch iPad Pro and TV box with apps and games
- Apple TV now doubles up as a GAMES CONSOLE: Touch remote can be used to play multiplayer apps on the big screen
- Steve Jobs would NOT approve: Apple unveils 'monster' iPad Pro with a $100 'pencil' the late co-founder famously said nobody wants
Apple has launched its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus alongside a giant 12.9inch iPad called the iPad Pro and an upgraded Apple TV that can run apps at a 'special event' in San Francisco. The new phones have a '3D touch' screen which can recognise how hard users are pressing, and a new improved chip and camera with a new 'selfie mode' that uses the screen as flash.
VIDEO GAME REVIEWS
All around the world... and beyond
British photographers Fiona Rogers and Anup Shah captured apes in Indonesia and Borneo - and highlighted how human our evolutionary cousins are.