Inspired by the water boatman bug, a team at the University of Bristol has created the Row-bot, a robot prototype that is designed to punt itself across the top of the water in dirty ponds or lakes, and “eat” the microbes it scoops up. It then breaks these down in its artificial stomach to create energy to power itself. In this way, it generates enough power to continuously impel itself about to seek out more bacteria to feed upon.

Row-bot with mouth open to take in water – inset shows mouth closed

The Row-bot consists of two main elements – a propulsion mechanism to move the Row-bot around using a paddle operated by a minuscule 0.75 Watt, brushed DC motor, and its “stomach,” where a microbial fuel cell (MFC) supplies the electric current to the motor powering the paddle. Read more

Although most people likely associate Venice with gondoliers quietly poling their boats along the canals, the city is also home to approximately 550 motorized water taxis.

Water taxis in the city of Venice

These watercraft are all equipped with diesel engines that spew exhaust and make a racket, creating both air and noise pollution. With this situation in mind, engineers from University of Southampton spin-off company REAPsystems are developing hybrid engines that could be swapped in. Read more

On summer days, we often tend to buy drinks in plastic bottles, many people prefer colorful soda drinks instead of clean water. As a result, more and more debris appear in the organism and in the environment. Our advices will help you to detox and to change your habits, not making any little effort.

Advertising, bright labels and love of sweets do the trick: in the heat the hands are drawn to cool bottles of coke or other similar drinks. We will not describe in detail why you should not drink too much of them. Even a single fact is enough: a huge amount of sugar and artificial additives will keep you from achieving the result – quenching the thirst. Read more

Is it possible to drive over the bridge to the sky or to ride on the ocean waves on your own car or in an old train? It turns out it is! Browse through our Water-gallery and make sure engineering genius can not only subdue the watery element, but also create stunningly beautiful landscapes with it.

1. Dam Afsluitdijk, Netherlands. Unreadable name is translated simply – closing dam. It extremely accurately reflects its purpose. After all, a large part of this European kingdom is below sea level, and needs to be protected from flooding. The construction, which appeared in 1933, blocked the way to the sea water, turning Zuiderzee bay into a freshwater lake Ijsselmeer. Incidentally, it is not constructed of sand or concrete, but of large boulders extracted at the bottom of the bay. Read more

Looks like it might rain!” – we sometimes jokingly quote the phrase of the famous cartoon character. But you want to know for sure what awaits us – a shower or a cloudless sky, and the testimony of numerous online weather services, often does not coincide. Will home weather stations help us? We’ll try to understand, and to get benefit from the last rain by saving water.

To be a meteorologist yourself

Is it possible to know the forecast, for example, for tomorrow, without looking at a weather report? It is possible, and very easy. No dancing with a tambourine, only science and tech! Glass thermometers and grandfather’s wall barometers were long time ago replaced by modern high-tech gadgets.

Personal weather station is a compact but extremely functional device. It lets you know almost everything about the current weather conditions – temperature and humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction, rainfall, as well as the forecast for all of the above for a period from 12 hours to a day. Some instances even report about the approaching storm and measure the intensity of ultraviolet radiation. Read more