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Physicists have solved a key problem of robotic locomotion by revising the usual rules of interaction between simple component parts. In cycling through a sequence of shapes, an odd wheel propels itself up steep and bumpy terrain. In a physics lab in Amsterdam, there’s a wheel that can spontaneously roll uphill by wiggling. This “odd wheel” looks simple: just six small motors linked together by plastic arms and rubber bands to form a ring about 6 inches in diameter. When the motors are powered on, it starts writhing, executing complicated squashing and stretching motions and occasionally flinging itself into the...

PARIS (AFP) - Robots of the future may able to climb up and down walls and zigzag across ceilings -- and the cockroach will be the one we should thank. One of the most reviled species in the book of life, the cockroach is also one of the most successful. Its design, honed by 300 million years of evolution, enables it to exploit a huge range of habitat niches, and its locomotion is notoriously fast and versatile. In a study published on Wednesday, University of Cambridge zoologists Walter Federle and Christofer Clemente say they can explain how the roach (Nauphoeta...

This is a fun, fun and well done song parody that I found on a Freeper thread from yesterday. Just the thing to brighten and lighten up a slow Sunday afternoon (tapping foot to "Locomotion"!). Thanks to Freeper lowbridge for the original posting (maybe he can enlighten us as to the original source). Top 5 signs Democrat Senators in New Mexico have lost their grip on reality

Eva Narcissus Boyd was buried in North Carolina earlier this week. The name may not be familiar, but her music certainly is. Under the name "Little Eva," she recorded "The Locomotion." The song was a giant hit in 1962. Forty years is a very long time, even if Baby Boomers recall the era as though it were last week. I thought of Little Eva a few of months ago while driving. Her hit was playing on the radio and I wondered how many times I’d heard it over the decades. Surely hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands. I began conjecturing...