EcoBot, a robot that can function completely on its own by collecting waste and converting it into electricity, has an "engine room" that is modeled on the human heart.The artificial device incorporates shape memory alloys - smart materials - and has been tested,The results are in Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.

Researchers based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, a joint venture between the University of the West of England and University of Bristol, have created four generations of EcoBots in the past 10 years, each of which is powered by electricity-generating microbial fuel cells that employ live microorganisms to digest waste organic matter and generate low-level power.

Astronomers viewing the asteroid belt with the Hubble Telescope havd found an asteroid with six comet-like tails of dust radiating from it like spokes on a wheel.

P/2013 P5 is different from all other known asteroids. It looks kind of like a rotating lawn sprinkler.

P/2013 P5 has been ejecting dust periodically for at least five months. Astronomers believe it is possible the asteroid's rotation rate increased to the point where its surface started flying apart. They do not believe the tails are the result of an impact with another asteroid because they have not seen a large quantity of dust blasted into space all at once.

Anyone who has watched water exit a toilet bowl has learned something about fluid dynamics. But you can learn a thing or two by watching the pee that goes into it also.

Boring physicists apply the equations of fluid motion to boring thing like a flag in the wind or river currents, the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Pittsburgh will make things a little more practical for home research.

A team of researchers indicate that the peptide fragment
lactoferricin B25 (LFcinB25)
derived from cow's milk exhibited potent anti-cancer capability against human stomach cancer cell cultures.

They determine that LFcinB25 has potential to be a future therapeutic agent for gastric cancer.

Investigators evaluated the effects of three peptide fragments derived from lactoferricin B, a peptide in milk that has antimicrobial properties. Only one of the fragments, LFcinB25 reduced the survival of human AGS (Gastric Adenocarcinoma) cells in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner.

Bisphenol A (BPA) in high quantity can harm people, just like almost anything. BPA has been labeled a concern by some because of its ability to be an endocrine disruptor that hijacks the normal responses of hormones. 

While toxicology studies have shown that only very high doses of this chemical affect exposed animals — doses as high as 50 mg/kg/day - by focusing on numerous endpoints a new review says it can find effects not detected in peer-reviewed toxicology studies. The authors of a new paper conclude that endocrine disruptors need to be studied at much lower doses.

Super-Typhoon Haiyan is bringing the maximum sustained winds of a Category 5 hurricane - 195 MPH, making it among the strongest storms ever recorded. Warnings are in effect for the Philippines and Micronesia as Haiyan moves west.

Brian McNoldy, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Miami, Fla. noted that on the morning (EST) of Nov. 7, "Haiyan has achieved tropical cyclone perfection. It is now estimated at 165kts (190mph), with an 8.0 on the Dvorak scale... the highest possible value."

Warnings in the Philippines have been raise throughout much of the country. In Luzon: