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Record response to call for new astronauts
CORVALLIS, Ore., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Cockroaches are providing inspiration in the quest to build a robot capable of running effortlessly over rough terrain, scientists in Oregon said.
"Cockroaches are incredible. They can run fast, turn on a dime ... and react to perturbations faster than a nerve impulse can travel," Oregon State University researcher John Schmitt said.
Robots can walk, but none of them can run as well as insects, and even just walking they absorb too much energy and computing power to be very useful, Schmitt wrote in a recent issue of the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
A cockroach only slows down 20 percent when going over blocks that are three times higher than its hips, Schmitt's studies showed.
"That's just remarkable, and an indication that their stability has to do with how they are built, rather than how they react," Schmitt said.
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) --
Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a stern warning last week against the international community, which imposed sanctions last month targeting the regime's vital oil exports and central bank.
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MESA, Calif., Feb. 10 (UPI) --
Jesse Farrelly, the 20-year-old son of filmmaker Bobby Farrelly, has died in Costa Mesa, Calif., after a long battle with drug addiction, his family said.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Feb. 10 (UPI) --
A water sample from Lake Vostok, hidden under Antarctic ice for millions of years, has been presented to Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, scientists say.
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UPI horoscopes for Friday, Feb. 10, 2012.
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