Robotics

Self-learning robots go full steam ahead

Researchers from AMOLF's Soft Robotic Matter group have shown that a group of small autonomous, self-learning robots can adapt easily to changing circumstances. They connected these simple robots in a line, after which each ...

Robotics

Can sea star movement inspire better robots?

Have you ever seen a sea star move? To many of us, sea star seem motionless, like a rock on the ocean's floor, but in actuality, they have hundreds of tube feet attached to their underbelly. These feet stretch and contract ...

Robotics

Can a robot operate effectively underwater?

If you've ever watched Planet Earth, you know the ocean is a wild place to live. The water is teeming with different ecosystems and organisms varying in complexity from an erudite octopus to a sea star. Unexpectedly, it is ...

Engineering

Toe-tapping test evaluates fall risk in Parkinson's patients

Out of every 200 people, three live with Parkinson's disease. A progressive disorder that impacts the central nervous system and currently has no cure, Parkinson's disease can cause mobility issues, increasing patients' risk ...

Robotics

Decoding how salamanders walk

Researchers at Tohoku University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, with the support of the Human Frontier Science Program, have decoded the flexible motor control mechanisms underlying salamander ...

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Nervous system

The nervous system is a network of specialized cells that communicate information about an organism's surroundings and itself. It processes this information and causes reactions in other parts of the body. It is composed of neurons and other specialized cells called glial cells,(plural form glia), that aid in the function of the neurons. The nervous system is divided broadly into two categories: the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system. Neurons generate and conduct impulses between and within the two systems. The peripheral nervous system is composed of sensory neurons and the neurons that connect them to the nerve cord, spinal cord and brain, which make up the central nervous system. In response to stimuli, sensory neurons generate and propagate signals to the central nervous system which then processes and conducts signals back to the muscles and glands. The neurons of the nervous systems of animals are interconnected in complex arrangements and use electrochemical signals and neurotransmitters to transmit impulses from one neuron to the next. The interaction of the different neurons form neural circuits regulate an organism's perception of the world and what is going on with its body, thus regulating its behavior. Nervous systems are found in many multicellular animals but differ greatly in complexity between species.

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