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In an article published in this week's issue of Science, researchers have discovered that jumping spiders use a completely novel way of focusing and gauging distance for their attacks. Humans (and many animals) focus by adjusting the focal length of our eyes, and can tell the distance to objects through stereoscopic vision. Some animals that aren't as good at adjusting focal length shift their around to create binocular vision, a technique called motion parallax. But jumping spiders?

Created by aerial enthusiast Kellie Sigler and her robotics maker husband, the “eye3” is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be used without any special training. The six arm structure of the eye3 weighs four pounds and is made out of carbon and glass fibers, which offer strength without adding weight to the frame. Each arm is outfitted with a 350W motor capable of up to four pounds of vertical thrust, making a combined capability of 24 pounds of lift, more than enough to get a DSLR and lens into the air.

Nick DeWolf was a MIT engineer who designed more than 300 semiconductor and electronic systems. He was also an avid photographer who, according to his son in law Steve Lundeen, always a camera (or several cameras) with him. DeWolf left behind thousands of pre-digital images, dating back to the 1950s.