Plasmobot: the slime mould robot

HOUGH not famed for their intellect, single-celled organisms have already demonstrated a surprising degree of intelligence. Now a team at the University of the West of England (UWE) has secured £228,000 in funding to turn these organisms into engineering robots.

In recent years, single-celled organisms have been used to control six-legged robots, but Andrew Adamatzky at UWE wants to go one step further by making a complete "robot" out of a plasmodium slime mould, Physarum polycephalum, a commonly occurring mould that moves towards food sources such as bacteria and fungi, and shies away from light.

Affectionately dubbed Plasmobot, it will be "programmed" using light and electromagnetic stimuli to trigger chemical reactions similar to a complex piece of chemistry called the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, which Adamatzky previously used to build liquid logic gates for a synthetic brain. By understanding and manipulating these reactions, says Adamatzky, it should be possible to program Plasmobot to move in certain ways, to "pick up" objects by engulfing them and even assemble them.

Pandas Extinct Within Three Generations?

A WWF spokesperson says that, unless development around giant panda habitat in China is controlled, the panda could become extinct within two or three generations.

A spokesperson for WWF China says the panda could be extinct in 2 to 3 generations, if increased development around the pandas natural habitat is not controlled.

Fan Zhiyong, Species Program Director for WWF in Beijing voiced concerns that housing and development for humans was encroaching on the natural feeding and breeding grounds of wild Pandas and may at some point lead to their extinction.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Fan Zhiyong, Species Program Director, WWF, Beijing: "We shouldn't say 'don't let development happen'. We are just asking if, in the process of developing these areas should we, can we, stop and think that as a Chinese national treasure and a globally protected species, can we plan with them in mind? Can our development plans include them in the considerations? I think that is quite reasonable."

China has run a successful panda breeding program and many pandas have been born in breeding centers set up by the government.

But outside the centers, the spaces that were adequate for an estimated 1,000 wild Pandas 30 years ago are now not big enough for the current estimated 1,600 pandas living in the wild.

The development has also had an effect on mating.

Roads and water projects are fragmenting the pandas habitat into little patches. This is cutting pandas off from nearby areas where they might find a suitable mate and food.

Pandas need to travel to other areas find mates. This prevents inbreeding and increases genetic diversity. Inbreeding reduces resistance to disease, and lowers reproductive success.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Fan Zhiyong, Species Program Director, WWF, Beijing "If these animals are all raised by people they are no longer a wild species. From a scientific and technical standpoint artificial insemination and the successful use of frozen sperm samples will have a beneficial effect on helping the pandas. But if at some point in the future the only way to see the survival of the panda as a species is to rely on artificial insemination, we will know the extinction of this species is not far off."

Orphaned Gorillas Sent to Isolated Island

Six gorilla orphans of a critically endangered species have been released on an isolated African island. Conservationists hope to move the gorillas into the wider wilderness within three years.

Six orphan gorillas in Gabon were recently set free on a lagoon island near Loango National Park. Its part of a reintroduction program by the Fernan-Vaz Gorilla Project, a non-profit organization that re-habilitates orphaned Western Lowland gorillas.

Veterinarian Nick Bachand and the gorillas caretakers anesthetize the gorillas for their boat ride.

The gorillas are juveniles, aged two to seven years, rescued from illegal trade.

When they reach the island, the gorillas get a full checkup before their release.

By the next morning, the drugs have worn off, and the gorillas begin exploring their new island home.

Western lowland gorillas are threatened by extinction. Habitat destruction and illegal poaching continues to threaten these critically endangered creatures- as does the Ebola virus.

Poachers kill adult gorillas for the bush meat trade-taking their newly orphaned babies to be sold as pets.

These three females and three males have already undergone extensive daily forest rehabilitation accompanied by their keepers, who will continue monitoring them from a base camp on the island.

The Fernan-Vaz Gorilla Project hopes to return these six gorillas from the island to Gabons wild forests within two to three years.

Scientists Hone Technique To Safeguard Water Supplies

The new work demonstrates that the technology that uses algae as sentinels has broader applications than previously reported, according to authors Miguel Rodriguez Jr. and Elias Greenbaum of the Department of Energy's ORNL. For example, under real-world operating conditions, the sensitivity of the algae to toxins has a natural daily cycle that tracks the sun.

"When the sun is overhead and shining brightly, the algae are less sensitive to the toxins," Greenbaum said. "The new work shows that keeping the water sample in darkness for about 30 minutes prior to testing for toxins restores full sensitivity to the test."

The new results also show that the technology can be applied to many different water quality environments such as when the algae are starved for nutrients.

"Our key result is that despite real-world conditions that create challenges, free-living microalgae combined with 'work-around' strategies can be used as broad-spectrum automated biosensor systems for continuous monitoring of source drinking water," Greenbaum said.

The process uses a fluorometer to measure the fluorescence signal of algae that grow naturally in source water such as Tennessee's Clinch River, which was used in this study. Researchers exploit the known characteristics of Photosystems I and II, which convert light energy into chemical energy, to detect any changes in the process of photosynthesis.

"Recent advances in optoelectronics and portability make this a powerful technology for monitoring the in situ physiology of aquatic photosynthetic organisms such as green algae and cyanobacteria," the authors wrote. Even low levels of toxins alter fluorescence patterns within minutes.

Another significant aspect of this work is the reporting of statistically reliable data on the threshold detection levels for broad classes of toxins such as blood and nerve agents and agrochemicals. These levels are at or near Environmental Protection Agency regulatory guidelines, Greenbaum said.

For this study, the researchers looked at five classes of chemical agents in water: Diuron, atrazine, paraquat, methyl parathion and potassium cyanide. All are known to be harmful to human health. In the case of Diuron, used in agriculture for 50 years, Greenbaum and Rodriguez were able to detect 1 part per million. This was indicated by a 17 percent decline in the algae's Photosystem II efficiency.

"We have shown that microalgae in source drinking water can be used as broad-spectrum, robust sentinel sensors to detect relatively low concentrations of toxins," Greenbaum said. "We have also shown that the microalgae do not need to be in an optimized state for this technology to be effective."

This research was funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and BAE Systems. Discussions for commercialization of this technology, to be marketed under the name AquaSentinel, are under way.

UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy.