All posts tagged: tiny

The tiny autonomous region in the Alps with loads of castles and 3 languages | World | News

The tiny autonomous region in the Alps with loads of castles and 3 languages | World | News

Published by Sam

Europe is home to numerous enclaves and autonomous regions, many of which remain largely unknown beyond their borders. These unique areas, often tucked away in remote landscapes, have preserved their distinct identities, cultures, and traditions, making them fascinating remnants of Europe’s rich history. Italy, in particular, is home to five autonomous regions, each granted special statutes that allow them self-governance with benefits in areas such as taxation and trade. One of the most intriguing of these is the Aosta Valley (Valle d’Aosta), a breathtakingly scenic region in the northwesternmost corner of Italy. It is bordered by France to the west, Switzerland to the north, and the Piedmont region of Italy to the south and east, making it a crossroads of cultures and influences. With a population of around 128,000, the Aosta Valley is the smallest, least populous, and least densely populated region of Italy. Despite its size, it boasts a rich and complex history. The area was first inhabited by the Salassi, a Celtic-Ligurian people who settled there in the 4th century BC. Their dominance …

Tiny insect-like robot can flip, loop and hover for up to 15 minutes

Tiny insect-like robot can flip, loop and hover for up to 15 minutes

Published by skeptic

A tiny drone powered by soft muscle-like actuators Kevin Chen An insect-inspired robot that only weighs as much as a raisin can perform acrobatics and fly for much longer than any previous insect-sized drone without falling apart. For tiny flying robots to make nimble manoeuvres, they need to be lightweight and agile but also capable of withstanding large forces. Such forces mean that most tiny robots can only fly for around 20 seconds before breaking, which makes it difficult to collect enough data to properly calibrate and test the robots’ flying abilities. Now, Suhan Kim at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues have developed an insect-like flying robot about the size of a postage stamp that can execute acrobatic manoeuvres, such as double flips or tracing an infinity sign, and also hover in the air for up to 15 minutes without failing. Kim and his team adapted the design from a previous flying robot, but they made the joints more resilient by having them connect across a larger part of the robot than …

How the science of tiny timescales could speed up computers and improve solar cell technology

How the science of tiny timescales could speed up computers and improve solar cell technology

Published by skeptic

Attosecond science, the laser-led study of what happens to matter over very short timescales, could lead to major advances in our understanding of nature’s fastest processes. It could enhance the problem-solving capabilities of computers, develop more efficient solar power cells, and both identify new medical treatments and improve diagnostic processes – all vital areas of research as we look for solutions to climate change and innovative ways to combat illness. An attosecond equates to one-billionth of one-billionth of a second. Attosecond science – the subject of the 2023 Nobel prize in physics – involves using such almost unimaginably short, intense pulses of laser light to transfer lots of energy to a “target” material. This causes the material to emit very fast-moving electron particles along with ultraviolet and X-ray light – allowing the motion of electrons to be observed in real time. Physicists such as myself can then measure or predict how these electrons move, something that can’t normally be done. And by making attosecond pulses even shorter, we can get more information on how the …

Tomato plants are covered in tiny anti-pest booby traps

Tomato plants are covered in tiny anti-pest booby traps

Published by skeptic

The hairs on tomato plants are actually tiny pest traps Jalaal Research Group/University of Amsterdam For hungry insects, walking along a tomato stalk in search of a green meal can be like navigating a minefield. Jared Popowski at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands was trying to measure the mechanical properties of tomato plants in the lab. Then a tiny hair on one of the stalks started oozing liquid – and it happened so quickly that his camera barely caught it. He had inadvertently triggered one of the plant’s pest-protection mechanisms. Source link

Scientists build tiny virtual reality goggles for mice | Science, Climate & Tech News

Scientists build tiny virtual reality goggles for mice | Science, Climate & Tech News

Published by skeptic

Scientists have built tiny VR goggles for mice so they can better study how animals behave in virtual reality. Researchers at Cornell University created the MouseGoggles using low-cost, off-the-shelf components such as smartwatch displays and tiny lenses. They then put the headsets on the mice, seeing how they responded to different stimuli. The miniature goggles could help reveal how the brain deals with spatial navigation and memory, which may help scientists understand diseases like Alzheimer’s and its potential treatments, according to Cornell University. One of the most effective VR tests was tricking mice into believing an expanding dark blotch was approaching them, according to Cornell. “When we tried this kind of a test in the typical VR setup with big screens, the mice did not react at all,” said Matthew Isaacson, one of the study’s lead authors. “But almost every single mouse, the first time they see it with the goggles, they jump. They have a huge startle reaction. They really did seem to think they were getting attacked by a looming predator.” About a …

Kelly Clarkson looks tiny in .5k mini dress that showcases slender legs

Kelly Clarkson looks tiny in $2.5k mini dress that showcases slender legs

Published by skeptic

Kelly Clarkson made another fashionable appearance on her talk show on Wednesday, rocking a gorgeous designer dress that showcased her slender physique. The 42-year-old singer slipped into a $2,500 Balmain black mini dress that boasted a short, flared silhouette, round neckline, structured shoulders, short, cuffed sleeves, and decorative two-tone buttons in gold and black metal on the front.  Recommended videoYou may also likeWATCH: Kelly Clarkson’s gorgeous style evolution Kelly added a pair of sheer black tights and black heels that showcased her toned, long legs and accessorized with a pair of dangly earrings. Kelly is having fun with fashion again after losing a significant amount of weight since relocating to New York City. The American Idol alum has been experimenting more with her looks, working with stylist to the stars, Micaela Erlanger. Micaela has helped Kelly step out of her comfort zone and try out new looks, ranging from pant suits and mini dresses to bold colors and patterns. © Getty ImagesKelly looked gorgeous in her Balmain dress During a previous chat with HELLO!, Micaela …

Kyu’s Tiny Camera Only Captures 9-Second Videos

Kyu’s Tiny Camera Only Captures 9-Second Videos

Published by skeptic

This is hardly the first time a company has pitched simplicity as a way to capture and relive memories. Google debuted an AI-powered camera called Clips in 2018 that could record short videos, and you didn’t even have to press a button. Just turn it on and the AI could figure out the right moments to capture, and these 7-second clips were then accessible in the phone app. Clips was discontinued nearly two years after its launch. The time may be ripe for Kyu to step in as a private, personal social network. BeReal, the social media app that championed authenticity, has been in sharp decline since its explosive growth in 2022. The mass migration from X to Bluesky has left some people wondering where to post. And TikTok may get banned in the US in 2025. Perhaps the intent of carrying around Kyu in your hand, the instant camera-like “limit” on how much you can capture, and the easily stitched-together edits in the app will help create memory bursts that are bite-sized but still …

Under the microscope, this biologist sees a tiny jungle

Under the microscope, this biologist sees a tiny jungle

Published by skeptic

To Sally Warring, protists are an absolutely underrated type of wildlife.   “Protists are very charismatic and interesting,” says Warring, who studies these creatures at the Earlham Institute in Norwich, England. Among this richly diverse group of mostly single-celled eukaryotes (creatures whose DNA is packed in a nucleus), some are hunters and others prey. Some live in colonies, others alone. Some even have mating rituals or build themselves tiny structures to live in.   Here, Sally Warring catches microbes in New York City’s Ridgewood Reservoir using a plankton net. Sabrina Imbler “There’s all this stuff going on that we usually associate with more complex animals,” Warring says. “It’s just not as well-studied because it’s harder to study.”  Warring’s research investigates the genetic blueprints, or genomes, of protists. “From the genomes, we can get information about what these organisms are and how they live — what they need to eat … if they secrete things into the environment, that kind of information,” Warring says. That could help explore more than the largely uncharted biodiversity of protists. It could …

DJI Mic Mini Review: Tiny Wireless Microphones

DJI Mic Mini Review: Tiny Wireless Microphones

Published by skeptic

The Mic 2 supports internal recording, meaning it can save your audio as a backup directly to the transmitter’s internal storage, but this is not supported on the Mic Mini. Also, the Mic 2 is capable of 32-bit float internal recording, which gives you more headroom when you’re editing. Basically, you have more information to work with in case something goes wrong with the audio. This is also not supported on the Mic Mini. The Mic Mini doesn’t support a Lavalier microphone (no wires here!), and there’s no touchscreen display to interface with. (There is a dial just like on the Mic 2 to adjust the gain.) But the Mic Mini does have some tricks up its sleeve. It supports automatic limiting to prevent audio clipping, meaning it will reduce the signal’s volume if you’re approaching those limits. To test this, I intentionally maxed out the gain on the receiver and spoke loudly into both the Mic 2 and Mic Mini. The latter sounded fine, but the Mic 2’s audio was distorted and clipped in …

Eric Oglander’s Tiny Curiosities Summon a Sense of Simplicity and Play

Eric Oglander’s Tiny Curiosities Summon a Sense of Simplicity and Play

Published by skeptic

Eric Oglander makes his sculptures—poetic and odd, searching and guided by a sense of play—in the back of an eccentric antique shop. Hidden behind a wall in Tihngs, a store he stocks with one-of-a-kind finds, and operates on Sunday afternoons in Ridgewood, Queens, is a workshop filled with scraps of wood, piles of button-down shirts, and other cast-off materials that Oglander crafts into curious contraptions, often at minuscule scale. Some are elaborate and mechanical, like the homespun catapults and trebuchets he builds and coats in white paint; others are crafted from the simplest of gestures, like tiny wooden totems bearing curves and curlicues whittled with just a knife and a thumb. All of them could blend in on shelves full of offbeat objects. Related Articles “I was always into stuff,” Oglander said of his upbringing in rural Tennessee, where he obsessively collected things like arrowheads, fossils, and rocks as well as fish and other organisms. “I had 14 snakes at one point,” he said, expressing a persistent interest in pythons. Both of his parents and …