A Rat Muscle Ray, A Room Full Of Tetris, And Other Amazing Images

Our favorite science images of the week

By Ryan F. Mandelbaum | Published Jul 8, 2016 5:41 PM EDT

Science

Biologists want to make artificial organs. But to do that, they need a deep understanding of how muscle cells—like those in the heart—talk to one another. So scientists at Harvard created the first truly hybrid robot animal. The nickel-size stingray has a gold skeleton covered in a stretchy polymer to which rat muscle cells are attached. Pulsing light makes the ray "swim." It could help us learn how to build a heart that's half-muscle, half-machine. Courtesy of Karaghen Hudson and Michael Rosnach

Hadrosaur, Duck-Billed Dinosaur, with a tumor

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A group of researchers found a benign tumor called an ameloblastoma on a hadrosaur’s face. They think that duck-billed dinosaurs might be more prone to tumors than other dinos. In this drawing, the tumor is on the lower right side of the hadrosaur’s jaw.

A giant computer fills an entire living room

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Software engineer James Newman built a 16-bit Tetris-playing microprocessor the size of a room. It’s thirty feet long and six feet high, weighs a thousand pounds, and cost $50,000 to build. Newman hopes the processor will find a new home where it can be used for educational purposes.

Pac-Man from the Institute of Micro and Nano System Technology

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Researchers in Norway built a Pac-Man maze one millimeter across, introduced some microorganisms and their predators into them, and let the game begin. The team wanted to build a more realistic environment in which to observe the organisms interacting with each other and with the world.

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Marvel Comics introduced Iron Man Tony Stark’s successor, Riri Williams. The character is a black woman who overcame inner city violence to enroll at MIT at 15 years old. Some comic book fans wish Marvel would hire more women and people of color: Riri Williams was created by Brian Michael Bendis, a white man. But Bendis feels the character is a step in the right direction if it helps excluded groups feel included in comic books.

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When Juno arrived at Jupiter this week, it carried an adorable crew of three LEGO figures, representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and Galileo Galilei. The figures are meant to get children excited about science and technology.

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This exoplanet is called HD 131399Ab. It’s part of a triple star system, sits further away from its parent star as Pluto, and is four times larger than Jupiter. Scientists are wondering how it got so far away from its host star without being flung into space by the other two stars.

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YouTuber Grant Thompson filled a six-foot balloon with liquid nitrogen and caught the whole thing on video.

NASA Kepler mission homepage after apparent Twitter hack

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The tweet appeared on NASA’s Kepler mission homepage as well.

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The Chinese Academy of Science finished up its 500-meter radio telescope. It will be open for use in two to three years, and may be used to continue studying gravitational waves… and maybe even find extraterrestrial life. 9,000 people were displaced to build the telescope.

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A Rat Muscle Ray, A Room Full Of Tetris, And Other Amazing Images