Robot Fish, Drought Resistant Trees, Antimicrobial Hooks, Invasive Species Pie

June 7, 2012 By: Erin Block

  • Robot fish are being tested off the coast of Spain to help monitor pollution in the oceans. One of the possible advantages are chemical sensors which, “fitted to the fish permit real-time, in-situ analysis, rather than the current method of sample collection and dispatch to a shore based laboratory,” says scientist Luke Speller.
  • With a technique used to restore deforested farmlands in the Sahara Desert, the Eagle River Watershed Council is planting juniper and blue spruces with a Waterboxx: a device designed to aid plant growth in drought-ridden areas by producing and capturing water “through condensation and rain, rather than from in-ground irrigation.”
  • A proposal for an antimicrobial hook which “may also contain an anti-inflammatory or a pain reliever to reduce the suffering of the fish or of others accidentally injured by the hook,” has one blogger shaking his head.
  • On her Diamond Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II was presented with a lamprey pie, in hopes that “she’ll take at least one symbolic bite, inspiring a nation to start rethinking the culinary potential of invasive species.”