Guess what? Drunk fish aren’t afraid of robot fish
This robotic Indian leaf fish seriously freaked out some zebrafish. Until they got hold of some ethanol.
(Credit: Polytechnic Institute of New York University)
When the robots take over, some of us might get scared. Others might be terrified. But the smart ones will be drunk.
Provided, that is, a new study on fish and robot fish can tell us anything about the human condition. In a piece of research that cries out for an Ig Nobel prize, scientists learned that alcohol can reduce the fear of scary robots in zebrafish.
Yes, beer goggles even work with robotic Indian leaf fish.
In the study published in Plos One, Maurizio Porfiri of Polytechnic Institute of New York University and colleagues designed a droid that looks and swims like the Indian leaf fish, a natural predator of zebrafish.
Related stories
- Ig Nobels celebrate ponytail math, shut up gun
- Look out below: The next ‘wave’ of autonomous robots
- … [Read more]
Related Links:
The AquaFarm is a fish tank and food garden for the countertop
69-year experiment captures pitch-tar drop
Molecular robots latch onto cells, ID them for drugs
Asimo struggles on first day as science museum guide
Kite Patch makes you invisible to mosquitoes