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Cells that breathe oxygen and sulfur at the same time

Take a deep breath. A flow of air has rushed into your lungs, where the oxygen moves into your bloodstream, fueling metabolic fires in cells throughout your body. You, being an aerobic organism, use oxygen as the cellular spark that frees molecular energy from the food you eat. But not all organisms on the planet live or breathe this way. Instead of using oxygen to harvest energy, many single-celled life-forms that live in environments far from oxygen’s reach, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents

The Cells That Breathe Two Ways

Take a deep breath. A flow of air has rushed into your lungs, where the oxygen moves into your bloodstream, fueling metabolic fires in cells throughout your body. You, being an aerobic organism, use oxygen as the cellular spark that frees molecular energy from the food you eat. But not all organisms on the planet live or breathe this way. Instead of using oxygen to harvest energy, many single-celled life-forms that live in environments far from oxygen’s reach, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Robot Tries to Bust Dance Moves, Flames Out in Epic Disaster

Braving the dance floor in broad daylight — or even just when the overhead lights are on — frequently does not end well. Your clumsy moves, weird facial expressions, or catastrophic blunders will likely be captured by someone with their phone out, who will then quickly deliver the footage to potentially millions of eyeballs online. On that note, we now report that a robot has eaten dirt after trying to show off some of some dashing choreography — and seemingly had its soul sucked out of its cor

Watch This Humanoid Robot Swap Its Own Battery

Humanoid robots have crossed a new Rubicon in the latest demo of the Walker S2 robot from Ubtech Robotics. In it, the robot approaches a charging tower filled with multiple batteries (and one empty slot). It removes a battery from its back and replaces it with a fresh one from the charging stack before returning to what is some sort of work site. Watch this: Ubtech's S2 Humanoid Robot Can Swap Its Own Battery for 24/7 Operation 03:00 The Walker S2 appears to have dual battery packs, so at leas

I Thought Robot Lawn Mowers Would be Simple: I Was Wrong

I spent most of spring and a good chunk of summer turning my backyard into a parking lot to test the best robot lawn mowers. In the process of doing that, I learned a lot about their benefits and their shortfalls. One of the biggest lessons was that, like most forms of automation, they can be a real pain to set up initially, but once they're ready to go, they save you a ton of effort and time compared with regular electric lawn mowers. I didn't expect that initial annoyance going into that proj

Robots eating other robots: The benefits of machine metabolism

For decades we’ve been trying to make the robots smarter and more physically capable by mimicking biological intelligence and movement. “But in doing so, we’ve been just replicating the results of biological evolution—I say we need to replicate its methods,” argues Philippe Wyder, a developmental robotics researcher at Columbia University. Wyder led a team that demonstrated a machine with a rudimentary form of what they’re calling a metabolism. He and his colleagues built a robot that could con

This humanoid robot can do cartwheels, handstands and roundhouse kicks at less than $6,000

For less than the price of a fully decked-out MacBook Pro, you can buy Unitree's latest humanoid robot called the R1. You only have to shell out $5,900 for a robot that weighs around 55 lbs, stands about four feet tall, and is built with a Large Multimodal Model to handle complex tasks. If you're wondering what the R1 will be used for, your guess is as good as ours. Unitree said its robot is "fully customizable" and demoed its capabilities in a video showing off cartwheels, handstands, boxing,

Topics: 000 like r1 robot unitree

Detroit's Using Robots to Pick Up Garbage, Mow Grass, Clear Snow, and Much More

Detroit's Using Robots to Pick Up Garbage, Mow Grass, Clear Snow, and Much More Wall-E has some competition. At a city-owned beach in Detroit, a pilotless vehicle can be seen roaming over the sands as it picks up flotsam and jetsam washed up on the shore. The machine is a BeBot litter robot, and it and other mobile bots have become increasingly common signs in Motown, according to Crain's Detroit Business, as they clear beaches of litter and do other important tasks such as removing snow from

Upsides and Downsides

Every startup founder knows about Geoffrey Moore's concept of "crossing the chasm"–that you have to change your marketing and sales approach as you gain marketshare fit a more conservative buyer. But most fail to internalize what crossing the chasm means when it comes to their product. I recently stumbled upon Adam Mastroanni's post on strong-link problems, and realized that it's the perfect framework for thinking about this shift. In essence, Adam says there are two types of problems: strong-

Google Maps crashes keeping you from planning a route home? You’re far from alone

Andy Walker / Android Authority TL;DR Google Maps is crashing for some users when attempting to get transit directions. Other transportation methods do not appear to be affected. Not everyone on the same version of the app is experiencing the problem, though, and we’ve reached out to Google for more information. Modern navigation software is superior to paper maps for more reasons than we can count, and one great example is how well they can integrate with mass transit systems. Instead of dr

Experimental surgery performed by AI-driven surgical robot

Intuitive Surgical, an American biotechnology company, introduced DaVinci surgical robots in the late 1990s, and they became groundbreaking teleoperation equipment. Expert surgeons could operate on patients remotely, manipulating the robotic arms and their surgical tools based on a video feed from DaVinci’s built-in cameras and endoscopes. Now, John Hopkins University researchers put a ChatGPT-like AI in charge of a DaVinci robot and taught it to perform a gallbladder-removal surgery. Kuka sur

You Can Buy This Cartwheeling Humanoid Robot for Less Than Two Apple Vision Pros

“Dance for me, robot,” you scream at your mechanical servant from your gilded throne. “Now flip for me, robot. Fight for me, robot.” That’s the future that China-based robotics maker Unitree is offering with surprisingly dexterous bots like the new R1 model. It is nearly as tall as a human, has decals and a mask that remind me of a scaled-up Power Rangers action figure, and is built with AI voice recognition and the ability to do flips. Even with all that, the real surprise is the cost. The Unit

Tesla Rolling Out Robotaxis With Human Drivers in the Driver's Seat, Defeating the Purpose of a Robotaxi

Tesla is planning to follow up on its extremely limited and technical-issues-plagued robotaxi service in Austin, Texas — with an even more limited rollout in San Francisco. According to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Elon Musk's EV maker is looking to accelerate its timeline by rolling out a robotaxi service across a large swathe of the Bay Area, as soon as this week. But there's a Gigafactory-sized caveat: a human safety operator will be sitting in the robotaxi's driver seat,

Tesla's Optimus Robots Have Reportedly Run Into Severe Trouble

Elon Musk's Tesla is in deep trouble. This week, the company reported a massive 16 percent decline in automotive revenues, the biggest drop in over a decade. With tax incentives and auto regulatory credits being phased out by president Donald Trump, Musk conceded that the company is facing a "few rough quarters" ahead. While Musk didn't manage to reassure investors about rescuing Tesla's car sales business — the company's shares plummeted following Wednesday's earnings call — the billionaire i

Should you buy a robot lawn mower with no boundary wire? My verdict after months of testing

ZDNET's key takeaways The Eufy E15 Robot Mower for yards up to 0.2 acres is normally $2,300, while the Eufy E18 covers up to 0.3 acres and costs $2,600, though both are currently on sale This robot mower uses visual recognition, AI algorithms, and 3D sensors to distinguish the boundaries of a lawn and avoid obstacles in real time While it's good for smaller yards, I'd recommend it for fenced-in, flat yards, as it can get stuck on uneven terrain. $1,499.99 at Amazon The Eufy E15 is currently 3

Topics: e15 eufy mower robot yard

Interstellar Visitor Zipping Through Our Solar System Could Be a Hostile Probe, Alien-Hyping Scientists Warn

There’s a visitor in town, and its name is 3I/ATLAS. The presumed interstellar comet presents a rare opportunity for astronomers to study an object born a long time ago in a star system far, far away. But a new paper uploaded to the preprint arXiv server asks an intriguing question: Is the object actually alien technology? For Harvard astronomer and study co-author Abraham Loeb, this is not his first interstellar rodeo. In 2018, Loeb proposed that the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua might be an a

I Spent Weeks Testing Robot Lawn Mowers. Here Are 6 Things That Surprised Me

I spent the end of my spring and the beginning of my summer turning my backyard into a parking lot to test the best robot lawn mowers. In the process of doing that, I learned a lot about their benefits and their shortfalls. One of the biggest lessons was that, like most forms of automation, they can be a real pain to set up initially, but once they're ready to go, they save you a ton of effort and time compared with regular electric lawn mowers. I didn't expect that initial annoyance going into

Things Are Looking Really, Really Bad for Tesla

Elon Musk's carmaker Tesla is widely expected to disappoint with its Q2 earnings report later today. Demand for the company's EVs has dried up significantly over the past 18 months, driven in large part by its exceptionally divisive CEO's efforts to alienate buyers at the exact moment that the company is facing a flood of high-quality international competition. Deliveries fell a record 13.5 percent this quarter compared to a year earlier — and the accompanying earnings report, which is set to

How TRIC Robotics is reducing pesticide use on strawberries using UV light

Strawberries are the most popular berry in the U.S. for both consumers and farmers alike. They’re also some of the most pesticide-reliant fruits and consistently top the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list of the most contaminated produce. TRIC Robotics, a San Luis Obispo, California-based, think it can help strawberry farmers reduce chemical use with the help of UV light and robots. The startup built a fleet of robots that use UV-C light, a form of ultraviolet light that is large

Wild Video Shows Robot Changing Its Own Battery

What do they even need us for anymore? Self Swap As we continue on our path towards a potential future filled with tireless humanoid robots staffing factory floors, companies are looking to solve a major pain point of the tech: a limited battery life. Chinese company UBTECH recently showed off its bipedal Walker S2 robot contorting its arms to hot swap one of its battery packs — a "world's first," seemingly — which means the 95-pound automaton could technically work 24 hours a day, an integra

I Used This Robot Vacuum With a Mechanical Arm for Three Months but at $2,600 It's a Hard Sell

The Saros Z70 is priced at $2,599, making it one of the most expensive robot vacuums I've seen. You can buy two robot vacuums for this price. The most notable feature is the OmniGrip mechanical arm designed to pick up and sort items. It also has strong vacuuming and mopping capabilities, excellent mapping and the ability to cross thresholds. The mechanical arm has several issues, including difficulties picking up objects, navigation problems and software bugs. There were also connectivity issu

This Robo Vac’s Navigation Capacity Is Unmatched. Now Amazon Is Dropping the Price by $440

Deal alert: The Dreame X50 robot vacuum is available for $1,260. That's a $ 440 discount on a robot vacuum that usually lists for $1,700. If you're looking for top-tier performance, this robot vac is better at climbing obstacles than any robot vacuum we've tested. CNET's key takeaways No robot vacuum has truly solved the challenge of multi-level cleaning without requiring you to physically move it between floors. This robo-vac can do it, for the high-end price of $1,700 (on sale right now for

Narwal Freo Z Ultra deal: Our favorite robot drops to lowest price since Prime Day

Jonathan Feist / Android Authority After testing a wide variety of robots, we’ve placed the Narwal Freo Z Ultra as our top pick in our list of the best robot vacuums. Its $1,499.99 retail price can be a bit much, though. Luckily, today we came across a really nice deal that brings the cost down to a more reasonable $929.99. Get the Narwal Freo Z Ultra for $929.99 ($570 off) This offer is available from Amazon. It is a “limited time offer” that’s available for both color versions: White and Gra

Google DeepMind makes AI history with gold medal win at world’s toughest math competition

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now Google DeepMind announced Monday that an advanced version of its Gemini artificial intelligence model has officially achieved gold medal-level performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad, solving five of six exceptionally difficult problems and earning recognition as the first AI system to receive official gold-level grading from

OpenAI jumps gun on International Math Olympiad gold medal announcement

On Saturday, OpenAI researcher Alexander Wei announced that a new AI language model the company is researching has achieved gold medal-level performance on the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), matching a standard that fewer than 9 percent of human contestants reach each year. The announcement came despite an embargo request from IMO organizers asking AI companies to wait until July 28 to share their results. The experimental model reportedly tackled the contest's six proof-based probl

Alarming Video Shows Experimental Fighting Robot Thrashing Uncontrollably

"I'm so sorry." Breaking Away A video making the rounds on social media shows a humanoid robot flailing its arms and legs, seemingly trying to break free of a harness. The clip shows the robot causing the crane it's hanging from to collapse to the ground as a nearby human watches in shock, putting his hands on his head as he surveys the damage. "Oh my god, what the f*ck was that?" a female voice, presumably belonging to robot combat company REK CTO Amanda Watson, can be heard saying in the b

Too hot to mow? I tested a robot lawn mower with no boundary wire (and now it's on sale)

ZDNET's key takeaways The Eufy E15 Robot Mower for yards up to 0.2 acres is normally $2,300, while the Eufy E18 covers up to 0.3 acres and costs $2,600, though both are currently on sale This robot mower uses visual recognition, AI algorithms, and 3D sensors to distinguish the boundaries of a lawn and avoid obstacles in real time While it's good for smaller yards, I'd recommend it for fenced-in, flat yards, as it can get stuck on uneven terrain. $1,499.99 at Amazon The Eufy E15 is currently 3

Topics: e15 eufy mower robot yard

Solar-plus-storage technology is improving quickly

I chat with Kostantsa Rangelova and Dave Jones, authors of a new Ember report, who find that solar-plus-storage costs have declined so much that it can now provide baseload-level power in sunny cities for less than the cost of new nuclear or even new gas. We discuss why even energy pros are behind the curve on this, how quickly the technology is improving, and why most of the world doesn't see natural gas as a viable option the way the US does. (PDF transcript) (Active transcript) Text transc

Experimental surgery performed by AI-driven surgical robot

Intuitive Surgical, an American biotechnology company, introduced DaVinci surgical robots in the late 1990s, and they became groundbreaking teleoperation equipment. Expert surgeons could operate on patients remotely, manipulating the robotic arms and their surgical tools based on a video feed from DaVinci’s built-in cameras and endoscopes. Now, John Hopkins University researchers put a ChatGPT-like AI in charge of a DaVinci robot and taught it to perform a gallbladder-removal surgery. Kuka sur

Solar+storage is so much farther along than you think

I chat with Kostantsa Rangelova and Dave Jones, authors of a new Ember report, who find that solar-plus-storage costs have declined so much that it can now provide baseload-level power in sunny cities for less than the cost of new nuclear or even new gas. We discuss why even energy pros are behind the curve on this, how quickly the technology is improving, and why most of the world doesn't see natural gas as a viable option the way the US does. (PDF transcript) (Active transcript) Text transc