Robots that walk on water

Earlier a   robot made of ultralight carbon-fiber can stand or slowly walk on water. The principle it uses is borrowed from insects -- surface tension tends to prevent the water's surface from breaking, and the robot's legs from sinking in.

 Recently  the first bio-inspired microbot is capable of not just walking on water but jumping up and down on the water's surface like the insect, a study shows.

Qinmin Pan and colleagues from Harbin Institute of Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, reported a number of advances toward tiny robots that can walk on water.

However, even the most advanced designs, including one from Pan's team last year - can only walk on water. Pan noted that real water striders actually leap, the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces reported.

Pan's group looked for novel mechanisms and materials to build a true water-striding robot, according to a Harbin Institute statement. The weight of the microrobot is equal to that of about 390 water striders, one might expect that it will sink quickly when placed on the water surface," the report noted. Instead, the mechanical creature stands effortlessly on water surfaces and also walks and turns freely

Making a jumping robot is difficult because the downward force needed to propel it into the air usually pushes the legs through the water's surface.

Using porous, super water-repellant nickel foam to fabricate the three supporting and two jumping legs, the group made a robot that could leap more than 5.5 inches, despite weighing as much as 1,100 water striders.

In experiments, the robot could jump nearly 14 inches forward -- more than twice its own length -- leaving the water at about 3.6 miles per hour.

The study authors report that the ability to leap will make the bio-inspired microrobot more agile and better able to avoid obstacles it encounters on the water's surface

Credit:American chemical society NEWS

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chicken broth

A great way to use up leftover chicken and those vegetables that are sitting around in the

fridge. You can also add noodles when heating up for serving, to make it into a tasty meal.

Serves four.

Ingredients:

200gm pearl barley

1.5 litres chicken stock

4 skinless chicken breasts,chopped

1 onion, sliced
1 turnip, sliced
1 parsnip, sliced
1 leek, sliced
2 carrots, sliced or cubed
2 sticks celery, sliced
Black pepper, to season
Handful parsley, chopped
Method
1) Wash and rinse the pearl barley well in cold water.
2) Place in a pan with the chicken stock and bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer for an hour.
3) Add the chicken, onion, turnip and parsnip. Mix well, cook for 20 minutes. Add the leek, carrots,celery and seasoning and simmer for another 10 minutes.
4) Add more stock if needed, season to taste and then serve topped with chopped parsley.

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lobhiya (black eyed beans)

Ingredients:

• 250 gmsblack eyed beans(lobhiya)
• 3 onions,finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes , finely chopped
• 2 tsp corainder leaves,finely chopped
• 2 tsp each,ginger and garlic paste
• 2 tsp each  ,red chilli, coriander,turmeric and cumin powders
• 6 tsp clarified butter
• salt to taste

wash and soak lobhiya in water overnight.Cook with salt until tender.Heat clarified butter.Add onions,garlic and ginger paste.fry until golden brown.Add tomato , Coriander,chilli,turmeric and cumin powders.Add cooked lobhiya and bring to a boil.stir and simmerfor five minutes.serve hot granished with coriander  leaves.

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Changes in visa processing at kuwait

Changes in visa processing: The Ministry of Interior’s Immigration Department has announced the following changes in visa processing, effective immediately. These changes apply to individuals from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan,Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.

• Commercial visit visas (CVV) are now allowed for these individuals, if they hold professional positions such as manager, engineer, chief accountant, etc.
•  Family visit visas are now allowed for 1st degree family members only, which includes father, mother, wife and children .
• Please note that dependent (residency) visas are still not allowed for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.

For more information or questions, please contact :

Muzaffar Khalil at ext. 2181, in Government

Services

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Two Headed Snake

The two-headed monsters of myth, as a matter of fact, have a basis in reality. Two-headed snakes are very rare odd creatures but not unheard of, and one two headed snake recently found in  zoo in southern Ukrainen .

"Polycephaly is a condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the stems poly- meaning 'many' and kephal- meaning "head", and encompasses bicephaly and dicephaly (both referring to two-headedness). A variation is an animal born with two faces on a single head, a condition known as diprosopus. In medical terms these are all congenital cephalic disorders.” - Wikipedia

A two-headed snake has gone on display at a zoo in southern Ukraine.
The "Skazka" (Fairy tale) zoo in the Crimean city of Yalta on the Black Sea said Wednesday that the albino California Kingsnake has two heads that think, react and eat separately, though one is more passive than the other.
Dmytro Tkachov, a zoo worker taking care of the snake, said he puts a barrier between the heads when feeding the snake lest one eats the other.

The snake will be on display at the zoo until mid-September.

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