Researchers from ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) in Taiwan have built a scrabble playing robot. ITRI's robotic developers integrated AI, 3D vision recognition, and eye-hand coordination technologies to build the robot. The robot also learns from experience. ITRI was a CES 2018 Innovation Awards honoree for the intelligent vision system it developed that helps the scrabble bot play. Read more... March 12, 2018

Scientists have discovered that an ancient reptile had a detachable tail. The escape technique is still today in some modern lizard species. The reptile species, named Captorhinus, lived 289 million years ago. The discovery is the oldest known use of the breakaway tail escape behavior. Read more... March 8, 2018

Deep-sea dumbo octopuses are named for their resemblance to Disney's Dumbo character. They have big eyes and round fins that resemble elephant ears. They are rarely seen because they inhabit deep hard-to-access portions of the ocean floor. Scientists on the U.S. research vessel Ronald H. Brown discovered a dumbo octopus egg attached to a coral branch and brought it on board to watch it hatch. Read more... February 20, 2018

Boston Dynamics is making its robotic dogs smarter and increasingly more capable. The company equipped its SpotMini robot with an arm that extends from its head. The arm has a grasping claw attached to it. Read more... February 13, 2018

A new thumb-sized millipede species was recently discovered on the forest floor of Southwest Virginia's Cumberland Mountains. It has more color combinations than any other millipede ever discovered. It is also covered in cyanide. Read more... January 27, 2018

The amazing looking Halitrephes maasi jelly resembles an exploding firework. The jellyfish was found by the ROV Hercules which is operated by the E/V Nautilus, a 64-meter research vessel operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust. The Halitrephes maasi was recorded at 1225 meters deep in the Revillagigedo Archipelago off Baja California, Mexico. Read more... January 18, 2018

Vibrant feathers are not a feature solely associated with modern birds. Scientists found the fossil of a duck-sized species of dinosaur that lived 161 million years ago. It had iridescent feathers like a hummingbird. The rainbow colored feathers were located on its head and neck. Researchers say the colors would have shifted and shimmered in the light. Read more... January 15, 2018

Researchers have discovered the fossil of a giant burrowing bat that inhabited New Zealand millions of years ago. The bat was about three times that size of an average modern bat. Burrowing bats are known for their unique foraging behavior where they crawl along the forest leaf litter on all fours hunting for insects and plans to eat. The researchers say the ancient bat species was large enough and had sharp enough teeth that it may have hunted small invertebrates. Read more... January 11, 2018

WASP-18b has a stratosphere loaded with carbon monoxide. There are no signs of water. The planet is located 325 light-years from Earth. WASP-18b has a mass 10 times that of Jupiter. It orbits its star once every 23 hours. It has been observed using NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. Read more... December 4, 2017

The recently discovered Mariana snailfish has been named the deepest known fish in the ocean. It thrives at depths of around 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) along the Mariana Trench near Guam. It is a small scaleless and translucent fish. Read more... November 29, 2017