“Work has already begun to solve the Achilles heal of the Mars mission - the human factor.” An interesting look at how a 1,000 day trip to Mars and back will affect the crew:
How can bugs leap so far? Here’s the answer:
Bug’s Incredible Leaps Explained
Even so, some bugs can’t leap fast enough:
Yesterday we looked at the Terrafugia Transition - an airplane that converts to a car. It turns out it has competition, in the form of the Milner AirCar:
Like the Terrafugia Transition, it is a four-door, four-seat car. It is about the same size in terms of wingspan and height. But it quite a different from the Terrafugia Transition in other ways. It weighs more than twice as much (1,800 pounds). It has two 160HP engines for two ducted fan propellers, plus a 40 HP engine for the car. Its cruise speed in the air is 170 knots (twice as fast). It also isn’t nearly as far along, and only a non-flying mockup exists at this point.
For more info: Milnermotors.com
[See #55]
If the Celebrity Solstice is the largest cruise ship, what it the largest private yacht? That would be the Maltese Falcon, a $130 million vessel that is a technological tour de force:
The description for the video puts it this way:
Tom Perkins, the venture capitalist behind such companies as Google, Genentech, Amazon, and AOL, doesn’t do things halfway. When he collected vintage cars, for instance, he had the world’s largest collection of Bugatti automobiles. And when he decided to pursue a lifelong dream and build a sailing yacht, he went the whole nine yards: He decided it would be the world’s largest yacht–big enough to fit Noah’s Ark on its deck. He wanted it to sail at a record 26 knots, under unprecedented physical forces. And, he thought, having built this marine wonder, why not use it to try to smash the 155–year–old world sailing record from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn?
The sails are probably the most interesting part. They use the Dynarig system, which is a completely computer-controlled motorized system that handles the sails automatically. No ropes or winches at all.
For more info on this amazing yacht see:
The world’s largest cruise ship headed out to sea today so it can undergo open water trials and get its final fittings:
The world’s biggest cruise ship squeezes out of dock and sets sail
It’s called the Celebrity Solstice. It is 315 meters long, cost $750 million to build and will carry almost 3,000 people per voyage. This cutaway lets you see the ship’s features:
Features include two theaters, an art gallery, lots of restaurants and the usual stuff like pools and spas. But you can see if you visit the web site that this is a far more cerebral space than many modern cruise ships. There are no malls, no water slides, no climbing walls. Instead, the fact that they have an on-board lawn is seen as a very big deal.
More info: Cruisecelebritysolstice.com
Who knows why you would want to do this… Maybe you need a plaster face for a Halloween gag, maybe you want something more than a photograph of your spouse, whatever. Here’s instrcutions for making a DIY plaster face cast:
There is a new ocean forming in Africa’s Afar depression, and this slide show shows you how it is happening:
Birth of an Ocean: How It Works
This video takes you to the Afar depression:
This video shows how a 40-year-old drum beat only 6 seconds long has morphed into a piece of modern culture. It is interesting in that it explains how sampling works and how sampling has changed music, as well as the laws that now control sampling:
If nothing else, the next time you hear this drum beat, you will know where it came from.
“The concept of using web-based programs like Google’s Gmail is “worse than stupidity”, according to a leading advocate of free software”:
Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman
Ultrasound gadget heals combat wounds - “The Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation cuff (DBAC) is a device that can be strapped on to victims of mine attacks or explosions. Ultrasound technology within the cuff automatically detects the location and severity of the bleeding within the limb…”
China reaches for the Moon - “China’s very own space station, and a moon landing, before 2020, are targets of China’s 3 stage space programme…”
Would you have guessed… that oversized rubberbands can make a 60-pound backpack feel 10 pounds lighter? - “An article published in the journal Nature this week describes how bungee cords can decrease the force of a backpack’s load by 86 percent…”
Scientists Create Device to Remove Carbon Directly from the Air - “Scientists from the University of Calgary in Canada have created a method to efficiently capture carbon dioxide directly from the air around us. The device, which is built on near-commercial technology, was built by Uof C climate change scientists David Keith and his team…”
Invisibility cloaks could take sting out of tsunamis - “Invisibility cloaks that are able to steer light around two dimensional objects have become reality in the last few years. But the first real-world application of the theories that made them possible could be in hiding vulnerable coastlines and offshore platforms from destructive tsunamis…”
Micro Turbine Developed at University of Maryland - “for the first time, we have achieved a level of miniaturization for machines like that achieved over the last decades in electronics…”
Hubble Space Telescope Suffers Serious Failure - “A serious equipment failure aboard the Hubble Space Telescope is preventing it from relaying data and images to scientists on Earth and will likely delay a shuttle mission to overhaul the observatory next month, NASA officials said Monday…”
What got killed - “The fate of the most sweeping government rescue since the Great Depression is in doubt after the House voted against it Monday. Here’s what was in the package…”
How Your Laptop Will Just Keep Getting Faster - “Since the invention of the transistor, silicon semiconductors have been king. But now silicon-based transistors are nearing the limit of their potential. Excess heat and manufacturing hurdles are impeding the development of ever-faster and -smaller processors. Advances in materials and chip design to resist extreme heat and move huge amounts of data, quickly, will be crucial. Experts are exploring three technologies to overcome these challenges: spintronics, graphene and memristors. They are what will someday make ultra-energy-efficient supercomputers small enough to fit anywhere—even in the palm of your hand…”
50 tools to speed up your PC - “Is your PC tired and sluggish? Has its get up and go got up and went? If you want a faster system, you could certainly break the bank and buy a new machine. Or you could read this article instead…”
Detecting human activities through barriers - “University of Texas professor Hao Ling and Ph.D. candidate, Shobha Ram, are one step closer to making x-ray vision a reality. They are perfecting radar systems that can detect human activities through barriers and convert the signals to virtual renderings similar to that of a video game…”
The Falcon 1 is a two-stage rocket designed by SpaceX, a private company trying to compete in the “putting stuff in orbit” arena. It had its first successful flight to orbit this weekend. Falcon 1 is therefore the “first privately-launched vehicle to make earth orbit from the ground.” This video shows the launch:
This is the fourth test flight, and the first to successfully reach orbit. It is expected that the next flight will carry a payload to orbit. More info on the flight:
SpaceX Did It — Falcon 1 Made it to Space!
More on Falcon 1:
The 50 most significant moments of Internet history
From the article:
We decided to plough the history of the entire Internet, from the roots of its underlying technology, to the Web properties that helped it explode, the litigation it endured on the way and disasters companies have suffered as a result of the Net’s popularity. We’ve picked 50 of what we think are the most significant moments, in ten categories spanning almost 40 years of Internet history:
If you have a laptop, it is nearly trivial to add a second monitor to your computer. A desktop machine is a little more work. In either case, dual monitors can have a huge positive effect on your productivity, as described here:
Increase your productivity by using 2 monitors
This video shows you how easy it is to add dual monitors to a laptop:
It’s a street-legal car with folding wings that allow it to fly. It’s called the Terrafugia Transition. Empty weight is 850 pounds because it is full carbon fiber. Cruise speed (in the air) is 100 knots, with a 400 knot range using 20 gallons of fuel. Here’s a look at the plane (about half-way through the video there is a demonstration of the wings unfolding):
Should be available early in 2009. Waiting lists push delivery out to 2011.
[See #54]
How much money is $700 billion? Here’s the answer in a nice infographic:
Test driving a new electric scooter:
EVT 4000e - Electric Scooter Review
It can go 70 KPH on level ground (40 KPH uphill) and has maybe a 40 Km range.
This is the Vectrix Maxiscooter, a somewhat more sophisticated ride:
Max speed is 100 KPH, Roughtly 100 km range at 40 KPH. It has regenerative braking and a reverse gear. The problem? It costs as much as a small car:
Every form of social interaction has its own unique etiquette, so why not networks like Facebook? Here are some things to think about:
Top 15 things you should never do on Facebook
See also:
And :
View’s from China’s first spacewalk. With commentary about U.S. science education around 7:30:
What has more than a million pieces and covers 6,500 square feet? It’s the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle:
German jigsaw puzzle is world’s biggest
It’s not quite as exciting as it sounds, because it is not a single large image. It’s a whole bunch of 300-piece puzzles that fits together, as seen in this video:
[See #46]
DO NOT CLICK THE LINK YET! This is a test. I am going to say two words to you, and I want you to think about them and form a mental image. The two words are: “Ferrari Motorcycle”. Just think what a Ferrari Motorcycle might look like. Try to form as clear a picture in your head as you can.
Now click the link and see what it really looks like:
Ferrari V4 Motorcycle: Power, Passion and Prancing Horses!
Does that at all match what you had in your head?
Google has a contest between now and Oct 20 called “Project 10^100″.
Project 10^100 is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
More info: Project10tothe100.com
Here are three submissions so far:
At this point in its history, the DVD was on the move, eating VHS’s lunch and eventually completely replacing it. Why isn’t Blu-ray taking off like that? Here’s the answer:
Here is a 40-core processor that uses only half a watt and can perform 25 billion operations per second:
IntellaSys 40-core Processor Announced; Forth-based Dev Environment
From the article:
With what IntellaSys claims is the smallest core size design (0.13 mm2), the SEAforth processor consumes 28 times less power while running 240 times faster than competing architectures.
When you look at the actual specs for the chip it’s not quite so rosy a picture, but it is still interesting:
- It’s an 18-bit processor
- 64 bytes of ROM and 64 bytes of RAM per core
- super-simple instruction set (only 32 opcodes)
- 700 Mhz clock speed
The idea is to program each core to do a specific task, and to have 40 of these tasks running on the 40 cores. The low power consumption combined with the amount of processing power will make it ideal for certain embedded applications.
Interesting sidenote - this chip is manufactured using a 180 nm process, compared to the 45 nm process used by Intel today.
Nine amazing stunts, two of which are world records:
From a book entitled, “Incredible Stunts.”
[See #45]
There are lots of people who try to prove that the moon landings were a hoax, but have you ever seen a proof that they were real? Here is an interesting one using a pendulum:
The video has a nice description that you can find here: Irrefutable Proof for Moon Landing - SEQ Bay Pendulum
See also this description: Apollo 16 Lunar Rover video clip and MoonFaker - Project Sandbox
It is the latest in a string of ultra-opulent accommodations in Dubai, but the photos are still stunning:
Atlantis The Palm Hotel, Dubai
This time-lapse shows the construction process from beginning to end:
See also: Dubai is kicking our butts again…
NeuroSky Demos Brain-controlled Mobile Phone Applications
NeuroSky Inc, a venture company based in San Jose, Calif, prototyped a system that reads brain waves with a sensor and uses them for mobile phone applications…
Here’s a look at the phone:
Here’s another look at the NeuroSky technology, which only costs about $15 per device:
Chrysler demonstrated 3 new electric/hybrid vehicles this week. One is a pure electric sports car (The Doge EV) and the other two are plug in hybrids (a minivan and a Jeep). All are based on a electric drive standard used across all three cars. One key driver: “The cost of electricity today is equivalent to about 75 cents a gallon”:
