Gearfuse

Christopher Conte, steampunk and insect aficionado, has created some pretty neat creations throughout the years. We haven’t featured any of his work, until now that is. Because, for real, how can you not share a steampunk arachnid?

Spiders are one of the most feared creatures in the world. Even the non-venomous variety are creepy. Those legs. *shudder* The six-legged Steam II Insect is a 2.5 x 6 x 6 inch robotic steampunk spider thingy. If this is the future of insects, I’m stocking up on ammunition now.

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So the TED conferences and talks are in full effect. Imagine you were there. What’s the shittiest thing you could do to an audience listening patiently to every word you have to say? OK, so whatever you thought of, you’ll need to double it because Bill Gates pissed everyone off the other day. How so? By releasing a jar of about 10 mosquitoes inside the conference hall and letting them go after attendees.

Why do such a thing? Gates was bitching about malaria in third-world countries. Jerk off.

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Seeing this video makes me hope that one day I’ll be flying in a giant robotic butterfly. Researchers in Japan are working on this small ornithopter, a flying device with wings that are modeled after those of a butterfly. The idea is to one day have commercial airplanes with flapping-wing flight just like birds.

Above is a high speed video demonstrating the small scale design of the ornithopter. It turns out that the most efficient forward flying wings are wings with micromolded veins flapping at 10 beats per second. I say we just clone ginormous insects and ride them like horses. If only we could get around that gravity thing.

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Ryan was showing me some video of a hornet killing a cicada whilst we discussed posts about bugs. Then, I suddenly stumbled upon this video of a glowing trilobite beetle. Watch how it lights up in the dark like a raver’s glowstick. The ‘net doesn’t say too much about the creature but I did find this information on Mahalo:

The Trilobite Beetle is a beetle from Borneo that resembles the extinct Trilobite. The short YouTube video of the oddly shaped insect has been viewed more than 200,000 times. Borneo, Southeast Asian island on which the beetle resides, is renowned for its abundant flora and fauna.

I’d like to scoop 20 of these suckers up and throw them in a jar with some grass and air holes. Boom. Instant DIY night light.

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It’s known around the science community that trained bees are known to be able to sniff out such ailments as forms of cancer, the common cold, even pregnancy (an ailment to some.) The Bee’s Project incases the yellow jackets into hand blown glass objects, where the insects can smell and hover over your saliva, telling you of all of the ailments you might have.

Is this covered under my HMO? I think I want another opinion. (more…)

If I wanted a normal Venus Fly Trap, I’d go to my local florist. But normalcy is boring, so I’d pick one up from the Dicovery Store. Sure, it might not be a “real” plant, but can a real plant lure insects into its grasps, sense the fly’s motion, and then chomp down on the little guy, swallowing him (or preferably, her) whole? I thought not. (Actually, I’m pretty sure they can.)

After being swallowed, the fly drifts into a containment jar, where you can keep your fly friend forever and ever, pointing your finger and tormenting him about how he’ll never see his wife and 4 billion larva children ever again. — Andrew Dobrow

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