Here is a high-end dive watch to consider if you like that Captain Nemo look. It is called the Octopus, and is from avant garde Swiss watch brand Romain Jerome (RJ). Those familiar with the Romain Jerome Titanic DNA collection of watches will recognize the styling of this new Octopus diver.
The number 8 plays throughout the piece. There’s a unique octopus engraving on the back of the case, 888 feet of water resistance, and they’ll sell only 888 pieces in the limited edition. There are even eight special screws. One feature we love is the “suction cup” style inner part of the rubber strap. Decidedly strange looking, Romain Jerome knows that they are designing and producing polarizing products. People with a strong sense that their watch needs to say something about themselves tend to find watches like this appealing. The RJ Octopus will come in a few styles and each contains a Swiss automatic mechanical movement. You can check out my deeper look over here or just save up your pennies to buy this $ 10K piece.
Researchers at Harvard University have developed a squishy octopus-like robot that can have different colored dyes pumped through its skin to change colors, then remain motionless until you walk by and HELLO, FACEHUGGER.
The machine was made from silicon-based polymers, and its movement was driven by air pumping through tiny cylinders in its four “legs”.
The camouflage-bots are covered in a network of tiny channels. As different dyes are pumped in, the robots can quickly change their appearance.
As well as changing colour, hot or cold fluids can be pumped into robots, enabling them to be thermally camouflaged, and fluorescent liquids allow them to glow in the dark.
Currently, the fluid is pulled in from a reservoir, but in the future it could be incorporated into the robot’s body.
Wow, not only color-camouflaged, but thermally camouflaged too? Now even Predators won’t be able to hunt them. You know, it’s times like this that I wish NASA had sent me to Mars instead of that stupid rover.
Hit the jump for a video of the octobot’s color-changing in action.
I’m on a seafood diet. I seafood and I…where’d it go?
This is a video of a black-marble jawfish mimicking a mimic octopus. Just like that classic anti-drug PSA I LEARNED IT BY WATCHING YOU! Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs. Plus some parents who DON’T do drugs will still have kids who do. And some parents who DO use drugs will have kids who DON’T because they’ll be all, “God, mom’s been on the wine since 10AM again and is getting f***in’ sloppy.”
For a good 15 minutes, this black-marble jawfish took the mollusk express, presumably to find food beyond its burrow. As nifty as the fish’s behavior is, the researchers suspect that this isn’t an everyday interaction. From the recent paper in the journal Coral Reefs, “Opportunistic mimicry by a Jawfish”:
Since the Black-Marble Jawfish is distributed from Japan to Australia, whereas the Mimic Octopus is restricted to the Indo-Malay region, we think this is a case of opportunistic rather than obligate mimicry.
Neato. Of course you can’t rule out the possibility that the fish thought those tentacles were other fish to have sex with. Because my dog humps stuffed animals sometimes and they only KIND OF look like him. The giraffe one not at all.
Hit the jump for the video along with a bonus one of two mimic octopi MAKIN’ THE LOVE. Honey, that wasn’t me. But he looked just like you, I swear!
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This is a video of an octopus trying to carry a crab from one tidal pool to another at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, California. He’s not really the best land-walker I’ve ever seen, but he is trying to carry a crab half the time, and it’s not easy struttin’ that ass with crabs between your legs. Trust me. Just turn the volume down or try (and fail) to ignore the people talking the whole damn time (God, do you do this at movies too?!), because they’re pretty f***ing annoying. Calm down, lady — you already made him drop his crab, now he’s probably gonna starve. YOUR BANTER IS DESTROYING ECOSYSTEMS!
Hit the jump for Spongebob’s friend in action.
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The Olympus E-PL2 is due to hit retailers soon, and we’re starting to see pictures of the accessories that will be available. Sure, there’s the standard fisheye, macro, and wide angle lenses; but what other camera has lights on flexible arms?
Olympus is also coming out with some specialized lights intended for macro photography. These lights are powered off the hot shoe (that mount on top of the camera where you put your flash), and mounted on two flexible arms, allowing you to light your subject using just the camera. No word on when the lights will hit stores, or how much they’ll cost. Props to Olympus for coming up with this clever lighting solution.
[via Electronista]
Octopuses, it is generally agreed, are the sneakiest, most awesome animals in existence. They have magical camouflaging abilities and can squeeze through teeny holes. The latest octopus rascality: stealing a scuba diver’s video camera and shooting an undersea home movie. More »
Props to Gizmodo
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