Bio-bots

LiveScience (June 30) -- Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign demonstrated a class of walking “bio-bots” powered by muscle cells and controlled with electrical pulses, giving researchers unprecedented command over their function. “Biological actuation driven by cells is a fundamental need for any kind of biological machine you want to build,” said study leader Rashid Bashir, Abel Bliss Professor and head of bioengineering at Illinois.  “We’re trying to integrate these principles of engineering with biology in a way that can be used to design and develop biological machines and systems for environmental and medical applications. Biology is tremendously powerful, and if we can somehow learn to harness its advantages for useful applications, it could bring about a lot of great things.” Also: Phys.Org (Isle of Man, June 30), ScienceBlog (June 30), NDTV (July 1), Nature World News (July 1), Business Insider Austrailia (July 1), Business Standard (India, July 1), Scientific Computing (July 1), Science 360 (NSF, July 2), Forbes (July 2), TechCrunch (July 2), NBC News (July 1), Science 2.0 (July 1), Daily Mail (UK, July 1), Engadget (July 2), Zee News (Australia, July 2), NDTV (India, July 1), Nature World News (July 1), The Engineer (July 2), ECNmag.com (July 1), RedOrbit.com (July 2), Laboratory Equipment (July 1), Dehli Daily News (India, July 2), Engineering & Technology (July 2), Times of India (July 2), French Tribune (July 2), Gizmag (Melbourne, Australia, July 3), io9 (July 2), The Guardian (July 2), CNET (San Francisco, Calif., July 6), Medical Device Online (July 7), Science Recorder (July 7), Engineering.com (July 2), 3-D Print.com (July 2), Medagadget (July 3), Design & Trend (July 3), Tech Times (July 3), Medical Daily (July 2), Headlines & Global News (July 2), The Inquisitr (July 2), Austrian Tribune (July 3), Uncover California (July 4), Daily Caller (July 2), Zenopa (July 3).