Seashell provides blueprint for composites

“Seashell Effect” Pretouch for Robot Grasping

The term “Pretouch” refers to sensing modalities that are shorter range than vision but longer range than tactile sensing. The hypothesis that pretouch sensing can be useful for manipulation is being explored actively [1][2][3][4][5]. It is viewed as potentially beneficial for manipulation because it provides reliable geometric information in the last centimeter before contact. The disadvantage...

Space-time on a Seashell

Vortex ring behavior provides the epigenetic blueprint for the human heart

The laws of fluid dynamics govern vortex ring formation and precede cardiac development by billions of years, suggesting that diastolic vortex ring formation is instrumental in defining the shape of the heart. Using novel and validated magnetic resonance imaging measurements, we show that the healthy left ventricle moves in tandem with the expanding vortex ring, indicating that cardiac form and...

Blueprint for Voluntary Action

sultant psychiatrist, questioned the whole concept of psychiatry as a method of dealing with many of the patients currently under psychiatric care. Dr. Ferguson was unhappy about the growing readiness among doctors to diagnose nervous illness. The psychological revolution has gone too far, the time for a dash of reaction is at hand,' he said. A great many cases now being treated might be the re...

Bioengineering-blueprint for progress.

1 Acting Director, Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service, U.S. Veterans Administration, Washington 25, D.C. THE limbs of m a n move in space and t ime, in response to systems of internal and external forces, and in accordance wi th the laws of mechanics. To restore to any satisfactory extent the functions lost through amputa t ion of an ext remi ty therefore requires in t imate knowledge not only...