News Animals

New ‘Poké Ball’ robot catches deep-sea critters without harming them

This device could help unlock the secrets of fragile, soft-bodied sea creatures

robot catching a cephalopod

GOTCHA A new machine, shaped sort of like a five-fingered arcade claw, gently encloses soft-bodied sea creatures (like this cephalopod) to study before releasing them, unharmed, back into the ocean.

Z.E. Teoh et al/Science Robotics 2018

By Maria Temming

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Animals

  1. Hainan gibbon on a rope bridge
    Animals

    A rope bridge restored a highway through the trees for endangered gibbons

    By Carolyn Wilke
  2. tardigrade glowing blue
    Animals

    Glowing blue helps shield this tardigrade from harmful ultraviolet light

    By Jonathan Lambert
  3. Torquigener albomaculosus
    Animals

    Pufferfish may be carving mysterious ‘crop circles’ near Australia

    By Jake Buehler
  4. Rose-breasted grosbreak male on one side and female on other
    Animals

    This rare bird is male on one side and female on the other

    By Aayushi Pratap
  5. dog looking at human
    Neuroscience

    Your dog’s brain doesn’t care about your face

    By Laura Sanders
  6. Megalodon shark illustration
    Paleontology

    Cannibalism in the womb may have helped megalodon sharks become giants

    By Carolyn Gramling
  7. small-banded kukri snake tearing open toad stomach
    Animals

    This snake rips a hole in living toads’ stomachs to feast on their organs

    By Erin Garcia de Jesus
  8. Asian giant hornet
    Life

    A new map shows where Asian giant hornets could thrive in the U.S.

    By Curtis Segarra

From the Nature Index

Paid Content