Tech universe: Monday, 28 June

A digital optical module for the IceCube telescope is lowered into a freshly drilled hole at the South Pole. Photo / Supplied

A round-up of the latest technology news from around the globe.

COLD SCOPE: A telescope buried under more than 1500 metres of Antarctic ice! Pretty weird. The IceCube telescope is looking for neutrinos though, not stars, so the ice filters out annoying radiation. Cosmic. Refine your icy stare at ee.times.com.

GOT LIGHT?: The Solar Spark Lighter is a small parabolic mirror with a tiny fork at the focal point. Add kindling and hold it in the sun; moments later you have fire. MacGyver would be proud! Spark up at environgadget.com.

SWIM, ROBOT, SWIM: Researchers made a 35-centimetre-long articulated robot undulate through artificial sand. It 'swam' through just like the sandfish lizard that inspired it. The future of synchronised swimming at New Scientist.

AUGMENTED DINOSAURS: Find books a bit flat? Hold the specially created 'Dinosaurs Alive' book to your webcam and see 3D dinosaurs roam across your screen. "Mummy, why are the books you had as a kid broken?"
More at New Scientist.

SMILING ICE-CREAM: SapientNitro's vending machine only dispenses ice-creams if you smile. Facial recognition figures out if you're smiling or grim. Smile, you're on candied camera.