Image via Shutterstock/click ahead to see a video of the actual robot

European scientists from BTH Zurich Bio-Inspired Robotics have created a robot that is capable of fashioning its own tools in order to complete a specific task. It is a fairly staggering achievement, not least because only a select number of creatures on the planet, such as ourselves and chimps, use tools.

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Post tags: advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, BTH Zurich Bio-Inspired Robotics, HMA robot, robot, robot creates tools, robot glue gun

Mike Schropp of TotalGeekdom has combined technology and the natural world with his modified desktop computer that uses its own heat to grow plants! The compact DIY unit allows the plants — in this instance, wheatgrass — to flourish in an office space with limited sunlight, in what could be considered the very definition of green computing.

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Post tags: bio computer, computer plants, computer wheatgrass, green computer plant, green computing, mike schropp, total geekdom

Today, the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) announced the final contenders of their 2012 competition; Future of Fish by Cheryl Dahle and The Living Building Challenge led by Jason McLennan. The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is the only large scale annual global prize that recognizes “bold, visionary, tangible initiatives that take a comprehensive, anticipatory, design science approach to radically advance human well being and the health of our planet’s ecosystems”. All entrants are judged based on the feasibility of their initiative, whether their proposal will hold up to rigorous empirical testing, and if their project has the ability to not only sustain, but enhance the environment.

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Post tags: Buckminster Fuller Challenge‏ Final 2012, Buckminster Fuller Challenge‏ Finalists 2012, buckminster fuller institute, eco fuel africa, Future of Fish, Living Building Challenge, The Buckminster Fuller Challenge, The Water Retention Landscape of Tamera

In the past, we have talked about the effects that light pollution has on the environment, but a new report now states that street lighting can also substantially change the ecology of ground-dwelling invertebrates and insects, in turn impacting local ecosystems.

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Post tags: insect ecology, insects light pollution, Light pollution, light pollution effect insects, local ecosystems light pollution, thomas davies, university of exeter, university of exeter light pollution

We’d like to think that here at Inhabitat, we are rather clued in to the latest in robotics, however a new development has blown our minds. A group of scientists at the University of Hawaii have created a unique non-mechanical micro-robot from one of the most fragile and delicate objects around—a bubble. And not limited to that, but they control it with lasers!

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Post tags: bubble robot, bubble robotics, laser controlled bubble, laser controlled bubble micro robot, laser engines, micro robotics, microbubble, robotics, robots, university of hawaii

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reports that by the end of the century, heat-related deaths in the United States are expected to triple as a result of climate change. As summer approaches, Americans dust off the BBQ, slip on their swimming gear and head to the beach. But sun-worshipers often pay a tragic price, and those who opt to stay indoors sometimes struggle to cool inefficient homes. Each year, there are approximately 1,332 heat-related deaths, and with temperatures rising due to climate change, the NRDC claims that this number could rise to 4,608 by 2100.

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Post tags: Climate Change, Design, global warming, green design, greenhouse gases, Health, heat related deaths, heat wave, Natural Resources Defense Council, news, nrdc, summer, sustainable design, united states

After the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, we’ve been on the look out for new technologies that could help clean up similar disasters. With that in mind, we were intrigued by the news that Rice University and Penn State University researchers have developed a new type of nanosponge blocks that are capable of repeatedly absorbing spilled oil from water.

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Post tags: carbon boron nanosponges, carbon nanosponges oil spill, carbon nanotubes, clean up technologies, daniel hashim, gulf of mexico oil spill, oil spill clean up, oil spill sponge, oil spills

Residents of Japan may be able to breathe a sigh of relief as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently announced that radiation levels in most of the country are “below cancer-causing levels.” It has been 14 months since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The damage caused massive radiation leaks and forced the evacuation of thousands of people. At the time, the disaster was said to be worse than Chernobyl, but now the WHO report suggests that the contamination is not as bad as originally supposed.

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Post tags: cancer, chernobyl, Fukushima, Japan, news, nuclear disaster, nuclear power, radiation, tsunami, WHO, World Health Organization

Despite recent clashes between the US and Chinese solar industries, it seems that the entire solar power sector is prospering. As stated in a new report from GlobalData, with the ever-increasing number of solar power installations, the cost of energy generation is falling. In fact, it is falling so quickly that the report predicts that by 2017 it’ll be cheaper than generating power from traditional fossil fuels.

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Post tags: "solar energy", globaldata solar power parity, NREL solar panel, optical furnace, renewable energy, SILICON WAFERS, Solar cells, solar energy generation costs, solar grid parity, solar panel construction, Solar Power, solar power energy usage

Here in the UK, we do love a good cup of tea – in fact, I’m having one right now while writing this article. We love tea so much, that it is estimated that as a country, 66% of the population drinks tea – which adds up to 165 million cups every day. That is a lot of teabags. Currently, a large percentage of teabags go into landfills, but now manufacturing giant Unilever (who owns PG Tips) has teamed up with two local councils and Wrap, the government’s advisory body on waste, to create a new teabag recycling scheme.

Read the rest of PG Tips Urges Britons to Recycle Teabags in Landmark Composting Plan

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Post tags: keep calm and drink tea, pg tips recycling, recycling compost scheme, teabag compost, teabag recycling, unilever pg tips recycling, unilever pg tips recycling scheme, unilever sustainable plan, used teabags

If you’re about to tuck into an freshly grown, locally-produced organic lunch, then here’s something that may interest you. According to a study conducted at Loyola University in New Orleans, those who eat organic good are more likely to be “smug,” exhibit judgemental attitudes and “be a jerk.” But before heaving your lunch into the compost bin and reaching for a pesticide-covered peach, read on for the nitty-gritty details on this ‘groundbreaking’ study.

Read the rest of Ridiculous Study Alert: Eating Organic Food Can Make You A Judgemental Jerk!

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Post tags: eskine organic food, eskine organic food study, kendall eskine, moral judgement organic consumers, organic consumers, organic farming, organic food, organic food study, wholesome food wholesome morals

The destruction of rainforests has long been a huge cause of concern for environmentalists due to trees’ ability to capture carbon — however a new collaborative study published in the journal of Nature Geoscience has found that seagrass can actually store more carbon per square mile than forests can. The plants, which populate coastal wetlands, could play a major role in combating climate change.

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Post tags: ocean carbon, seagrass carbon storage, seagrass climate change, seagrass environment, seagrass florida international university, seagrass study, seagrass university of virginia, wetlands restoration

Solar panels must be regularly cleaned and maintained in order to keep them operating efficiently and maximize the amount of sunlight they convert into electricity. With this in mind, a group of students from CalTech and UCLA have developed an impressive robot that cleans solar panels. The design won a third of $200,000 in prize money in the DOE’s National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition.

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Post tags: award winning robot, Caltech Greenbotics, design robot solar panels, greenbotics, greenbotics design, greenbotics robot, prize money robot, solar panel cleaning, solar panels, Solar Power

While harbors and ports around the world are crucial to global trade, industrial activities are often responsible for high levels of pollution and water contamination. Fuel leaks, emissions, and general waste all contribute to the problem, but now scientists from the European BMT Group have developed a new weapon in the war against maritime defilement: a pollution-sniffing robotic fish!

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Post tags: aquatic robots, bmt group, bmt group robo fish, robo-fish, robot fish, shoal consortium, water contamination, water pollution, water pollution levels, water robots

Algae fuel and other biofuels have gained popularity in recent years to the point that even the US Military has adopted it as jet fuel. Given its recent rise to prominence, it’s not particularly surprising to learn that Arizona-based algae biofuels company Heliae has decided to harness the growth of algae on a commercial scale so that it can be used as transportation fuel.

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Post tags: algae biofuel, algae fuel, arizona heliae, biofuel, biofuel industry, heliae algae, heliae algae production, heliae commercial algae, oil production

When gardening, we’re sure many of you have used herbicides to kill weeds and other invasive plants. However, the thing about herbicides is that in order to kill weeds, they are often very toxic and affect everything from those using them to potentially the groundwater. To prevent any possible environmental damage with herbicides in the future, a team from the Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany have developed a hi-tech alternative: weed-killing lasers!

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Post tags: eco friendly herbicide, eco friendly laser, herbicide laser, Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH), Leibniz University, Leibniz University weed laser, Leibniz University weeds herbicide, weed killing laser

With China becoming the world’s leader of solar cells and panels, it was hoped that their mass production would help bring down global prices. However, in order to aid domestic manufacturing, the US has hampered such progress by imposing tariffs of as much as 250 percent on Chinese-made solar cells. While the decision was made to protect US solar production against foreign competition, it is expected that it will ultimately raise PV cell prices and hurt the domestic renewable energy industry.

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Post tags: china pv cells, china solar power, chinese solar panels, Solar Power, solar tariffs, solar tariffs china, SolarWorld, us commerce department china, us solar power

Ecologists have found a disturbing side-effect caused by the world’s rapidly shrinking glaciers. As the ice gets thinner, pockets of methane that have been trapped beneath it are being released. Once this occurs, the methane heads into the atmosphere adding to the Greenhouse Effect. A team of scientists are attempting to map these gas pockets and, if it’s viable, ignite them. So far, they’ve found over 150,000.

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Post tags: glacier melting, glaciers, ice methane, katey walter anthony, methane fireball, methane greenhouse gas, methane under ice, shrinking glaciers

Whenever you visit a new place, you are often encumbered with guidebooks, maps and other tourist information that is – let’s face it – bulky and uses a lot of paper. That is all set to change in the small Welsh town of Monmouth, where they have made history by becoming  the world’s first “Wikipedia town.”

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Post tags: monmouth QR codes, monmouth smartphones, monmouth tourist information, monmouth wikipedia, monmouthpedia, QR codes smartphones, wikipedia town, world's first wikipedia town

According to the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, thunderstorms could be contributing to global warming due to their ability to capture and retain heat. If true, environmental scientists may have to drastically adjust their climate models in order to take this in account.

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Post tags: aerosols, anvil clouds pollutions, Atmospheric Science, Climate Change, Environment, Fundamental Science, pacific northwest national laboratory, Pollution, storm clouds pollution, thunderclouds, thunderstorms pollution