Darwin’s Devices
John Long
Years ago, Long realized there was
something fishy about robots — that is,
robots could be made to be fishlike.
Director of the Interdisciplinary
Robotics Research Laboratory at
Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N. Y.,
Long reflects on his career as a biologist
who uses robots to study fish evolution.
Up front, he tackles the social hazards
that come with his occupation, fielding
questions like, “What do robots have to
do with biology?”
Though it might be true that the best
model for any organism is the organism
itself, Long argues that robotic devices
can offer answers to difficult questions.
For one thing, scientists can construct
replicas of extinct animals. As Long
illustrates with his early experiments
tracking tail stiffness and feeding
behaviors in man-made generations of
robotic fish, these devices can provide
clues to how real animals may have
evolved.
Chasing Venus
Andrea Wulf
Next time you’re having a bad day at
work, consider the travails of Guillaume
Le Gentil, an 18th century French
astronomer. He spent more than a
decade toiling over measuring the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769. By precisely timing the planet’s passage across
the face of the sun, Le Gentil hoped to
contribute to a global scientific effort to
determine the size of the solar system.
Le Gentil made his way to India in
time for the 1761
transit, but the
presence of English
troops forced the
captain to turn back
to sea. Disappointed,
he stuck around the
region until 1769,
when (spoiler alert)
a “fatal cloud” obscured the entire
transit. By the time Le Gentil made it
back to France, his heirs had declared
him dead.
The chapters recount Long’s quest
to build better devices, starting from
the early days of tinkering with a seem-
ingly simple robotic fish called Tadros
to Madeleine, a robot that can walk
on land and swim. (Notably, she also
holds the title for the first robot to be
named after a French pastry.) Along the
way there have been bumps, including
struggles to build a
backbone that mim-
ics that of a real fish
and finding graduate
students who can
withstand hours of
watching video foot-
age of robotic fish
swimming.
Clearly, it’s been a labor of love for
the author and his scientific collaborators. And through Long’s humor and
clever descriptions, readers get a sense
of how the design concepts underlying
these devices — and other robotic animals — have evolved. — Rebecca Cheung
Basic Books, 2012, 273 p., $26.99
Le Gentil is just one of many quirky
astronomers profiled by Wulf in this
overview of the 18th century Venus
transits. Wulf forgoes much of the
background science in favor of the personalities of those sent to observe from
remote corners of the planet. Swedish
astronomers battle boredom in the long
northern nights, and a French expedition battles typhus in Baja California.
Captain James Cook and his Endeavour
expedition make their way to the South
Pacific, where curious natives steal and
dismantle Cook’s quadrant.
Wulf’s stories come together in
a portrait of the first truly global
scientific endeavor. Countries sent
astronomers to observe the transit in
hopes of national glory, but science
also benefited. And on June 5 this year,
astronomers will follow in Le Gentil’s
footsteps, hopefully with a little more
success. That day will see another transit of Venus, the last until the year 2117.
— Alexandra Witze
Tutankhamen
Joyce Tyldesley
An archaeologist
explores myths sur-
rounding the boy king
and updates Tut fans
on what experts have
learned about his life and times.
Basic Books, 2012, 316 p., $29.99
In Pursuit of the
Unknown
Ian Stewart
The author tells the
stories of 17 equa-
tions, from Maxwell’s
equations that led to
modern TV and radio to algorithms
that rattled the stock market.
Basic Books, 2012, 342 p., $26.99
EarthFlight
John Downer
Cameras carried by
hand, by gliders and
by the creatures themselves give
readers a literal bird’s-eye view of
the world.
Firefly Books, 2012, 240 p., $49.95
A World of Insects
Ring T. Cardé and
Vincent H. Resh, eds.
Two entomologists
present insect essays
that explore everything
from insect sex to
crime scene investigation.
Harvard Univ., 2012, 404 p., $19.95
The Practical Einstein
József Illy
Einstein’s papers
reveal a down-to-earth
side. Learn about his
inventions and ideas,
including waterproof
breathable clothes and an explana-
tion for rivers’ meanderings.
Johns Hopkins Univ., 2012, 202 p., $60
How to Order To order these books or others,
visit www.sciencenews.org/bookshelf. A click on
a book’s title will transfer you to Amazon.com.
