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Bug-out bags/survival kits are a controversial topic. Everybody has a different philosophy about what makes a good one. This is Brent’s. While bigger and heavier than a lot of the bags you’ll see online, you can keep it in the closet by your front door or the trunk of your car, and you’ll be prepared for an emergency that could last many days. Brent’s kit doubles as a slick backpacking setup, so you’ll get to know your gear extremely well, and you get to have fun with it, too.

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Roboticists frequently turn to nature for inspiration for their inventions, reverse engineering the traits that evolution has developed over millennia. Others are taking a shortcut by simply integrating modern technology with living animals.

The idea may seem crazy, but animals and machines are not so different. Just as a network of wires carry electrical signals between a robot’s sensors, processing units and motors, the flow of action potentials around our nervous system connects our sensory organs, brain and muscles.

But while there are similarities, the natural world has come up with some intricate solutions to problems that engineers are nowhere near replicating in silicon. That has prompted some scientists to try and piggyback on evolution’s innovations by building part-animal, part-machine cyborgs. Here’s a rundown of some of the most eye-catching examples.

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