fish

In middle school, I had to dissect an earthworm, a snail, a frog, and a fetal pig. I did not like doing this. It's not that I was some animal-rights activist, I just found it to be thoroughly disgusting. I decided then in the eighth grade that under no circumstances was I going to be a doctor.

Instead, I became an Internet blogger who writes stories about this new transparent goldfish being developed in Japan. The idea is that taking dead things apart to see how they work is gross. The solution is to mess with nature to the … Read more

Screen savers these days tend to give users a lot of options: adjust the speed of one element, change the quantity or color of something else, add your own music, and so on. Coral Reef screen saver downplays customization in favor of really, really good graphics, and we can't say it's a bad trade-off.

The screen saver doesn't do a whole lot. As the name would suggest, it's an underwater scene, with fish leisurely swimming past a shipwreck. Sunlight streams through the water, creating a ripple effect on the sea creatures in the foreground. Users can … Read more

Unique's 3D Salt Water Fish Tank is an attractive screen saver that transforms your computer into a burbling aquarium. Some aspects could be better, but it's soothing and not a bad simulation overall.

The screen saver's graphics aren't going to fool anyone into thinking that they're seeing real fish, but on the whole, they're pretty high quality, with smooth and realistic movement. We like that you can customize the look of the aquarium to some extent, such as setting the tank lighting for high noon, dusk, or night. You can also adjust the tint … Read more

The Seafood Guide is a free app from the widely respected Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program that can help you make environmentally-friendly seafood choices. Basically, it's an automatically updated, location-sensitive, and more detailed version of their popular pocket guide (30 million distributed to date). The Seafood Guide gives you an A-to-Z list of seafood for your region, which you can browse or search, all with one of three color-coded rankings: Best Choice ("abundant, well-managed, and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways"), Good Alternative ("an option, but there are concerns with how they're … Read more

Michigan State University researchers are spawning robot fish to monitor the quality of lake water and the effect of harmful algae.

The prototype fish resemble other robot fish, such as those being developed at MIT to check for pollutants in water.

An electric charge in the 9-inch MSU prototype causes its polymer fins to bend so the robotic perch can maneuver. Designs call for onboard sensors to record temperature, oxygen, pollutant, and algae data, which would be relayed to a docking station when the fish surfaces. GPS systems and infrared sensors could be developed to aid navigation.

The fish are … Read more

A robot fish developed at the U.K.'s University of Bath features a unique method of propulsion--a single fin rippling along its belly like a wave. Bath engineers say Gymnobot might inspire lighter, more efficient robotic submersibles.

Recent robot fish, such as MIT's low-cost polymer fish, have flexible bodies, but Gymnobot is rigid save for a long undulating fin powered by twin crankshafts inside its body.

The design is a nod to freshwater knifefish, which can move forward and backward, and hover, by rippling an elongated ventral fin. The skin of the fin covers hundreds of fin rays … Read more

On the heels of a scientific report last month saying 63 percent of world fish stocks require rebuilding, scientists at MIT have unveiled a new robot fish that's cheap to make and ripe for mass production.

Actually, MIT engineers Kamal Youcef-Toumi and Pablo Valdivia Y Alvarado aren't aiming to replenish fisheries. They want their robot swimmers to be used for underwater monitoring of pipelines, sunken ships, and pollution. Since the fish are less than a foot long, they can maneuver into spaces that are too tight for most underwater autonomous vehicles (UAVs).

The fish--while not as pretty as these toxin-sniffing robot carp patrolling Spanish waters--are notable for their novel design. They have fewer than 10 parts, making them low-cost, and are housed in a continuous flexible polymer casing that prevents water damage.

Lacking different segments, the fish can swim more naturally, according to MIT (watch the video after the jump). A single motor in the middle initiates a wave that moves along the body and propels it forward. Real fish move in a similar fashion by contracting muscles on either side of their bodies.

Youcef-Toumi noted that the polymers allow for stiffness to be specified in different sections, adding that another application would be robotic prosthetic limbs.

The early versions of the fish, about 5 inches long, swam like bass and trout, with movement concentrated in the tail.… Read more

Dream Aquarium Screensaver offers users an opportunity to turn their computer screen into a fish tank when they are not using it. With a surprising amount of options, you can control virtually every aspect of the program except for one important one.

The program has a somewhat confusing interface that requires the user to right-click on the aquarium as it's running in order to access the Options menu. But the actual fish tank action is impressive. Up to six species of sea creatures (the trial limits the tank to six) move in realistic ways and look lifelike, whether they … Read more