A team of Swedish researchers has successfully used a printed artificial neuron to control the movement of a Venus flytrap plant, forecasting that it could aid the development of futuristic medical devices and brain-machine interfaces. Existing silicon-based circuits and devices, such as those used in current computers, are difficult to integrate with biological systems due to their complexity, poor biocompatibility and low energy efficiency. By contrast, the artificial neuron is based on organic electrochemical transistors, which more closely resemble electrical signalling systems found in biology. "The human brain is one of the most advanced computers ever made," says Simone Fabiano, an associate professor at Linköping University in Sweden and senior author on the study. "It has a massive amount of memory and is excellent at processing information and making decisions while consuming very little energy. On the contrary, man-made supercomputers are bulky and consume a lot of energy."

Singapore – Remote-controlled Venus flytrap "roboplants" and crops that tell farmers when they are hit by disease could become reality after scientists developed a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation. Researchers in Singapore linked up plants to electrodes capable of monitoring the weak electrical pulses naturally emitted by the greenery. The scientists used the technology to trigger a Venus flytrap to snap its jaws shut at the push of a button on a smartphone app. They then attached one of its jaws to a robotic arm and got the contraption to pick up a piece of wire half a millimeter thick, and catch a small falling object. The technology is in its early stages, but researchers believe it could eventually be used to build advanced "plant-based robots" that can pick up a host of fragile objects which are too delicate for rigid, robotic arms.

A nightmarish robot with Venus flytraps for hands that can trap objects in its jaw-like leaves -- and then pick them up -- has been developed by scientists. Engineers from Singapore used tiny remote-controlled electrodes to stimulate severed leaves of the iconic carnivorous plants into closing on command. While the project may seem straight out of the mad scientists' playbook, integrating soft and flexible plant matter into robots could have sensible practical applications. It would allow robots to pick up and manipulate fragile objects that might otherwise be damaged by traditional, mechanical graspers, the team explained. At the same time, it requires less power and responds more rapidly than traditional soft actuators made from polymer-based materials.

Scientists are continuing to tease out the mechanisms by which the Venus flytrap can tell when it has captured a tasty insect as prey as opposed to an inedible object (or just a false alarm). There is evidence that the carnivorous plant has something akin to a short-term "memory," and a team of Japanese scientists has found evidence that the mechanism for this memory lies in changes in calcium concentrations in its leaves, according to a recent paper published in the journal Nature Plants. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. The Venus flytrap attracts its prey with a pleasing fruity scent. When the pressure becomes strong enough to bend those hairs, the plant will snap its leaves shut and trap the insect inside.

The most impressive jaws in nature belong not to a bear or a shark but an insect called Odontomachus bauri. Popularly known as the trap-jaw ant, its mandibles, which it uses to snatch prey and catapult itself away from danger, accelerate shut at 1 million meters per second squared. The force from each jaw exceeds the insect's body weight more than 300 times over, propelling the ant to heights as lofty--for an bug, anyway--as eight centimeters, and distances of close to 40 centimeters. The insect's secret is a spring-latch system that allows it to store large amounts of energy and release it almost instantaneously. Such systems are common in small organisms, including animals (like the infamously pugilistic mantis shrimp), plants (like the infamously carnivorous Venus flytrap), and even mushrooms, many of which eject their spores with phenomenal fungal power.

The Venus flytrap may be known for its jaws of death, but the carnivorous plant has inspired a gentle device. Engineers have developed a soft, gripping device that can sense and pick up objects up to 100 bigger than itself, mimicking the ferocious plant. And the simple soft object, capable of identifying its targets, could be used to handle delicate items autonomously one day which could transform manufacturing. Venus flytraps recognise their prey using touch-sensitive trigger hairs located on the trap's inner surface. When stimulated, these hairs generate an electric signal that is transmitted to the plant.