Hear about jellyfish cyborg It can make one think of a science fiction film, but Hollywood has nothing to do with it. Groups of scientists are carrying out studies on less advanced organisms Like jellyfish to move from cinematographic fiction to reality. So feared by swimmers in the Mediterranean waters, as appreciated by researchers as a model for the creation of hybrids between nature and technology, researchers from all over the world have created the first “robotic jellyfish” to which they were applied electrodes able to change their speed and orientation. The cyber jellyfish In the future they can be used in an extremely efficient way for explore ocean depths or measure environmental parameters, managing to swim for long periods of time. The cinema has conceived and made famous human cyborgs such as Robocop, Darth Vader of Star Wars or Steve Austin of “A six million dollar man”: the result of one combination of biological and artificial capacity which make it particularly efficient in a function by combining different disciplines, from robotics to fluid dynamics.
What are cyborg jellyfish that serve to monitor the oceans
Some cyborg specimens, jellyfish to which particular electrodes are applied, have also been guided experimentally in shallow oceanic waters. According to Dr. Nicole Xu, author of a study published on Science Advances“robotic” jellyfish could be an excellent tool to help us in explorations of the ocean seabedstill unknown to us for the most part. Furthermore, with climate change and growing concern for the health of marine and oceanic ecosystems, they could be used as Water monitoring toolsmeasuring parameters such as pH, temperature, concentration of carbon dioxide.
From a point of view of the well -being of the jellyfish cyborgs, the researchers ensure that they do not seem to show signs of suffering And they survive well in aquariums.
How to obtain “robotic” jellyfish are obtained
Among the most successful studies, three have distinguished themselves Interdisciplinary research groups in China, the United States and Japan. The research teams coordinated different skills and skills, putting together principles of roboticsfluidinamics and biology to study and then “engineer” specimens of Medusa.
To create the “robotic” jellyfish, specimens of Medusa Luna (Aurelia Coerulea) or of Medusa Quadrifoglio (Aurelia Aurita), housed in special aquariums maintained to one temperature of 21-25 ° C and filled with marine water from the ocean. Considering that they are transparent, they have been equipped with special markers of different colors, visible in UV light, used as position indicators for the analysis of the movement. For a time their movement has been observed through a special camera and a mirror system.
The floating movement of the jellyfish in 3D and the relationship between certain nerve impulses and certain types of movement. In precise points of the jellyfish they have been positioned miniaturized electrodes, applying short electric stimuli to the muscles, in order to check the movement button and vary the speed of the swimming.
Because the jellyfish is chosen as a laboratory model
The research focused on jellyfish because they are animals relatively simple From an anatomical point of view, but at the same time they are particularly swimmers efficient for research purposes. They have a very particular movement mechanism and very rapidly turned ability. They are numerous and present everywhere in the seas and oceans.
Constituted for about 95% of water, have a limited number of muscles, a ring of muscle tissue around the margin of the bell, head of the movements of pulsationand a series of radial muscles that extend from the center to the distal ends of the animal. More than swimming, in fact, thanks to these structures the jellyfish cleanses in the water And they do not apply a driving force, but “a sucking” that uses an unusual aspiration mechanism instead of pushing the liquid.
They manage to orient themselves in space and maintain balance thanks to a series of vesicles (stainist) containing a small mineral body of calcium crystals, distributed along the margin of the umbrella. They are perfectly comparable to the otolites, the so -called “Sassolini” present in our internal ear, necessary for our balance. If we remove the statocists, the Medusa loses orientation And it is no longer able to perform certain movements.
