Are Uncanny Valley spread to re-creations of our four-legged friends? We’ll know soon enough if Yasunori Yamada and Tokyo University engineering team manage to get their bot PIGORASS quadruped beyond its first shaky jumps, and a gallop on. Developed as a means to analyze the system of animal musculoskeletal for use in biologically inspired robots, cyborg creature of the team gets its locomotion via a combo of CPU controlled pressure sensors and potentiometers. It can move like a rabbit (for now), but each member was designed to operate independently in an attempt to simulate a simplified system of neurons. Given a little time and tweaking (not to mention a fine, synthetic fur lining), we’re pretty sure this Wee Bitty beastie’ll scamper its way into the homes of tomorrow. Check fella Lil ‘in the video after the break.

Layzej writes Remote Sensing editor, Wolfgang Wagner stepped down earlier today (PDF) on a study of global warming published in his journal was said to cast doubt on models of global warming, but has later found to be distorted. Wagner said the paper probably contained basic methodological errors and false allegations. He also expressed dismay about how authors and climate skeptics have minded much exaggerated conclusions paper in public statements. The article’s author, Dr. Roy Spencer, reacted to the resignation.

With its bid accepted first aglider wrote A number of different scientific publications report a recent announcement by NASA and Hubblesite.org Quoting:. A team of scientists [led by astronomer Patrick Hartigan Rice] collected enough high resolution images of the Hubble Space Telescope during a period of 14 years to assemble time-lapse movies of three powerful jets ejected from young stars. The jets, a by-product of accretion of gas around new star formation, pull off at supersonic speeds in opposite directions through space. The report is also accompanied by a number of photos and, of course, amazing short films. The scientific study complete, which dates back to 20/07/2011 was published in the Astrophysical Journal (subscription required) but is also available on the website of the ESA Space Telescope (PDF).

Intellitech sends this excerpt from a Reuters report: The amount of debris orbiting the Earth has reached a critical point for the collisions, which would in turn generate more debris that threatens the astronauts and satellites, according to a U.S. study published Thursday (PDF). … The amount of orbital debris tracked by the U.S. network of space surveillance increased from 9949 objects cataloged in December 2006 to 16,094 in July 2011, with nearly 20 percent of objects from the destruction of China Fengyun 1-C satellite, the National Research Council said. … the panel made two dozen recommendations for NASA to reduce and improve the environment of orbital debris, including collaboration with the State Department to develop the legal and regulatory framework to remove junk from space. The study, Limiting the risk of collision of spacecraft future: an assessment of NASA’s Meteoroid and programs orbital debris, was sponsored by NASA.

from: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/02/creative-zen-x-fi3-hands-on-video/:

That little thing in our hands above is the latest PMP from Creative. Portability is clearly the thing here – the Zen X-FI3 is extremely small and light. It has a color screen on it just as well, but do not be too excited on that front – unfortunately the player does not sport a touchscreen, so you have to use the controls on the bezel, which aren ‘t particularly sensitive. The interface, with dignity, is also very barebones on this front, offering basic type of scrolling through menus that have defined music players for years.

The highlight of the camera – apart from its extremely small size – is its ability to transfer Bluetooth. The X-FI3 care of the company’s commitment to audio fidelity, with the apt-X codec, which claims to offer an audio quality similar to a wired connection when streaming. On this front, the device also supports FLAC files.

The player will run € 99 and € 140 for the 8GB and 16GB versions, here in Germany. It should be sold in the middle of this month.

from: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/02/growing-up-geek-sean-buckley/:

Welcome to Growing Up Geek , an ongoing feature where we take a look back at our youth and telling stories of growing up to be the nerds we are. Today we have our own associate editor, Sean Buckley .

The most difficult question I’ve never been asked as a kid was what do you do when you grow up? When the boys all cried Fire! And the girls unanimously pledged their lives to marine biology, I came short. Having grown up? I did not plan this.

Peter Pan complex (and collection of books) aside, I had as good as any boy in the 80 / 90 split. I grew up in pre-Internet Stone Age, when the world was still a mystery that could not be Wiki’d away. Playground rumors went without unbolting, and the wild stories ran amok through the school yard – Pixies in England, foreigners in New Mexico, magical robots and cars in Japan. The world has been fantastic place to be. It is still, but I’d be lying if I said that the purpose of reality is no small disappointment with the lies I loved as a child. With the information highway still under construction, I had to find other ways to spend my summers. Of course, countless hours were wasted well spent saving princesses 8-bit (and the world of course), but the best weeks of summer have been had the Scout camp, the County Fair, and runs through the country on family road trips.

Intellitech writes Researchers led by Professor Yaakov Benenson ETH and MIT professor Ron Weiss managed to integrate the information processing of biological diagnosis in human cells. In a study recently published in Science (abstract), they describe a ‘circuit logic multi-synthetic gene whose task is to distinguish between cancer and normal cells, and then target the cancer cells to destroy them. This circuit works by sampling and integration of five intracellular cancer-specific molecular factors and concentration. The circuit provides a positive identification when all factors are present in the cell researchers, resulting in cancer detection precision. hope it can serve as the basis for highly specific cancer treatments.

from: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/02/verizon-launching-droid-bionic-september-8th-giving-some/:

It was a long and winding road for Bionic Droid. Our first taste of its dual-core potential CES , the leakage flux specifications , pictures and release dates of the phone in the months that followed. Well, the wait officially ends on September 8, as Verizon has just confirmed the release date with a new version of the battle robot ad teaser we saw a few weeks ago. Big Red has also launched a website with information about t Droid Droids ASBL arenas and new treasure hunt augmented reality – where counselors can earn a clever Bionic Digital, HDTV, laptop, tablet or quadrocopter. For more information, click the link below the second source and head on past the break to see the vid for yourself. Feel free to enjoy the work of the blade of a raven-haired warrior cyborgs slicing while you’re there.