Hey folks,

Physics is amazing and it just pulled off something wild.

Scientists in Amsterdam have recently built a robot that can walk, hop and even swim without a brain, battery, remote control or a single line of code. It thinks with its legs. Seriously.

At first, it sounds like science fiction. But it’s real. And the secret behind it? Just a bit of air and some brilliant design.

You see, each leg of this robot is made of a soft, bendy tube. When air flows through it, the leg starts to wobble. On its own, that wobble doesn’t do much and is clumsy. But if you connect a few of these soft air filled tube shaped legs together, something magical happens. The legs fall into rhythm and the robot takes off like it knows where it’s going. All without any instructions, but just clever physics at play.

And there’s a name for this — emergent coordination. It’s the same phenomenon that makes your heart cells beat in rhythm. No one’s in charge. But together, the parts figure it out.

Now this robot thing is fast. How fast, you ask? Well, it can travel 30 times its body length every second. That’s faster than a Ferrari, relatively speaking. (The car hits around 20 body lengths per second)

And if it hits a wall or slips into water? It automatically changes its walk to a swim. Just like that. How? Well, the legs react to their surroundings. If the ground changes or the water pushes back, the robot adjusts not by thinking, but by feeling. And this idea of “intelligence through structure” is not new in nature. Sea stars, for instance, have hundreds of tiny feet and no central brain. But they still move with purpose. The feet simply talk to each other and figure it out.

And that’s what makes this robot so exciting. It flips the whole idea of robotics. We usually imagine robots with sensors, chips and software. But this one proves that sometimes, simple stuff like air, rubber and shape can do things brains can’t.

But what’s the big deal of this invention?

Well, imagine tiny robots that could go inside your body and deliver medicines safely, because there are no electronics involved. Or wearable exosuits that help people walk, without needing wires or programming. Or machines that could work in outer space, where normal electronics fail. And researchers are saying these are all possible future applications.

So yeah, the next time you think intelligence needs a brain, just remember that sometimes, all it takes is a good pair of legs, the right rhythm, and a curious little wiggle.

Here’s a soundtrack to put you in the mood 🎵

Summer Came for Us by Nevin

You can thank our reader, Himani Kumar for this rec!

Ready to roll?

What caught our eye this week 👀

Is it baa-d time for sheep and wool?

Once upon a time in New Zealand, there were more sheep than anyone knew what to do with. In 1982, the country had 70 million of them against just around 3 million human New Zealanders. That’s 22 sheep per person. But as of 2024, that ratio has dropped to just 4.5 sheep per person. New Zealand now has about 23 million sheep and 5 million people. The humans are catching up after all, it seems.

So… what happened to all the sheep?

Well, it’s the economics. Sheep farming just isn’t the money-spinner it used to be.

For close to 150 years, wool and mutton were New Zealand’s pride and profit. But now, global wool prices have crashed. And you can blame the rise of synthetic fabrics for this which are cheaper, trendier and easier to mass produce. So farmers are pivoting. They are turning to dairy exports of creamy milk and cheese or switching to pine plantations to cash in on carbon credit markets.

The government is trying to step in. It’s urging government buildings to use wool carpets and insulation. It’s placing curbs on converting sheep farms into forests. But the flock keeps shrinking.

Now, why are we telling you all this in India? Because India’s got a similar story when it comes to sheep and wool.

We’ve got over 74 million sheep, the second-largest population in the world. But our wool production has plummeted. From 40 million kg in FY19 to 33 million kg in FY23. Worse still, we are the third largest importers of wool which comes majorly from Australia, New Zealand and Syria.

And a major reason for this is that most of our wool goes to waste because we don’t have enough research and a structured supply chain in this space. Plus, climate change, loss of grazing land and vanishing pastures are pushing communities out of pastoralism altogether.

Jammu & Kashmir’s fine wool, once sold at about ₹110/kg, now fetches just around ₹35. In Gujarat, shepherds discard wool or give it away for free. Why? Because coarse Indian wool isn’t seen as “fashionable” or machine-friendly. Even our indigenous breeds like the Vembur sheep in Tamil Nadu are losing their grazing land to industrial projects. 

There are silver linings, though. States are experimenting crossbreeding local sheep with Australian Merinos. The government has launched policies to revive the pastoral economy. And wool does have emerging markets, especially in defence, apparel and industrial use. But for all this to work, wool needs better policies and recognition. A minimum support price. Better shearing tech. Processing and distribution centres. And above all, awareness.

Because whether you’re in New Zealand or India, it’s clear that the wool economy needs a bit of untangling. So the next time you wrap yourself in a woolen shawl or spot a sheep on a hill, just remember they’re not just warm, they’re worth saving.

Infographic 📊

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We’re skipping the This Day in Financial History section this week. Because we’ve got something even better! It’s our latest episode of Finshots Money Playbook, where we break down ‘How to make ₹10 crores through Mutual Fund Investments?’

We all dream of making andha paisa! But finance can get tricky. So we broke it down with simple, actionable insights to grow your wealth the smart way.

You can watch the entire episode by clicking here.

Readers Recommend 🗒️

This week, our reader Gautham Patel recommends reading Stiff by Mary Roach.

“A funny, fascinating look at what happens to our bodies after we die—from crash tests to surgical training. Stiff makes death less scary and strangely inspiring. Dark humor meets sharp science”, he says.

Thanks for the rec, Gautham!

That’s it from us this week. We’ll see you next Sunday!

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