Can national parks be saved from global warming?
Posted by KC on 6 August, 2009
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This item was filled under [ Environment ]
Archive for August 6th, 2009
Permafrost Could Be Climate’s Ticking Time Bomb
Posted by KC on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Environment ]
How Penguins & Seals Survive Deep Dives
Posted by KC on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Environment ]
Life Underground Critical to Earth’s Ecosystems
Posted by KC on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Environment ]
Syd Mead explains the evolution of the TRON light cycle
Posted by Tom Chick on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
The proof-of-concept footage for TRON Legacy has been online for a while. But it wasn’t until Comic Con that the hi-res version of the videos was put online (check it out here). And, of course, the various YouTube videos of a practical version of the light cycle, proudly displayed at a promotional event at a recreated arcade from the original TRON (here’s one that cuts to the chase). After all this footage, I am officially psyched, and more so about the light cycle than anything else (frisbees haven’t aged as well as supercool virtual motorcycles). So I reinstalled TRON 2.0 and even dug up the notes from an interview I did with Syd Mead, the designer of the light cycle, back in 2003.
Touchable holographic display uses hacked Wiimotes
Posted by AdamFrucci on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Well, this sure seems like the future: a holographic display that responds to touch and can be physically felt. Even cooler? It’s made using two hacked Wiimotes!
The video does a great job explaining it, but here it is in a nutshell: the Wiimotes sense where your hand is, telling the holographic image to adjust based on your location. Then an airborne ultrasound tactile display creates the sensation of touch. I don’t know what the practical applications of this are, but it’s totally awesome.
RTR London via Make
Installing Ringtones From The Desktop (PC)
Posted by KC on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Blackberry ]
10,000mph hypersonic scramjets on the way
Posted by CharlieWhite on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Jet engines that might make it possible for passenger planes to someday travel at 10,000 mph will soon take to the air. Hypersonic scramjets have been in the works for years, but the Boeing X-51A demonstrator will contain the first scramjet that’s actually mounted on board an aircraft. The X-51A is not really a plane but a missile, built to prove that a scramjet can actually work. Its first flight is set for this December.
If this research can make scramjets practical, they could fill a gap between jets and rockets. The fastest fighter jets can barely get to Mach 1.6, while the world’s fastest jet, the now-decommissioned Air Force SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, zipped along at Mach 3.3. Rockets can go Mach 25, but they must carry tons of liquid oxygen to go that fast.
A scramjet can’t go as fast as the space shuttle, but it can beat any jet handily, theoretically accelerating up to Mach 15. Don’t be planning that trip from New York to L.A. in 45 minutes just yet, though, because this hypersonic technology has a long way to go before it’ll find its way into passenger aircraft. Here’s a small pic of the X-51A in the hangar, waiting for its debut:
Chinese MacGyver builds working helicopter out of wood
Posted by Kevin Hall on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
20 year old Chinese farmer Wu Zhongyuan built himself a helicopter using only — according to the man — what he remembers of middle school physics lessons and “relevant knowledge [found while] surfing the Internet via my mobile phone.”
Well, sure looks like things worked out. His single-seater conveyance has blades made from the wood of an Elm tree, a frame reinforced with steel pipes and uses an engine from a motorcycle — all for around $1,600. Wu claims the ‘copter can get him as high as 2,600 feet, though it seems he’s grounded for the time being as the Chinese government has forbid him to fly because of safety reasons.
Wu, whose father pegs him as a gadget lover who would always take things apart, says that he “had this dream from childhood of not needing to climb mountains anymore. I wanted to go to school in my own flying machine.”
Ananova, via Auto Motto
Ramen-making robots cut cooks out of the food equation
Posted by AdamFrucci on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Who needs humans? At a ramen noodle shop in Nagoya, Japan, a pair of robotic arms serve up 80 bowls of noodles a day to their hungry customers. They never get tired and they don’t need tips.
Of course, one could argue that there’s no art in a robot making food. But with some types of food, no art is needed. You think people at McDonalds are putting their own unique spin on burgers? No. Which is why, eventually, robots will be doing all the work at fast food restaurants. Because a robot never spit in a burger.
RTR London via Make
World’s craziest speakers cost $2 million
Posted by CharlieWhite on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
And we thought audiophiles had gone nuts over turntables. Those costly contrivances are chickenfeed compared to what those ambitious audiomaniac Swedes at Transmission Audio just announced: speakers that cost $2 million for two channels. They’re calling them Ne Plus Ultra (no more beyond). Each channel consists of six 7-foot-tall panels, with the smallest one on the outside handling the super high frequencies, two with high-frequency/midrange, one with a bank of twenty-four 8″ woofers, and then two with ten 15″ subwoofers each.
It gets even crazier. To accommodate two channels of this gargantuan system (that means twelve of these 7-foot panels), you’ll need a 37-foot-wide listening room, and altogether they weigh four tons. Driving this madness? The included system of power amplifiers crank out a total of 31,000 Watts. The result of all this overkill is a sound pressure level capability of 146dB. That’s well beyond the threshold of pain.
Wow. I would like to hear this setup. Sure, it can crank out high volume, but imagine what it can do with the delicate sound of a dinging triangle, the sound of a cat’s paws padding across a mahogany floor, or the sound of a tree falling in the forest when no one is there to hear it. Never mind that, I want to hear the way it reproduces the sound of an explosion on a Blu-ray movie. But then, that would cost $4 million for a 5.1 surround setup.
(newsletter) Laser Lighter, Cardboard Furniture, Climbing Gorilla…
Posted by fungus amungus on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Fisticups finally combines coffee mugs with violent weapons
Posted by AdamFrucci on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Are you aggressive in the morning? Do you wake up ready to literally attack the day? Like, with your fists? Well, this Fisticup was designed with you and your penchant for violence in mind.
Essentially, it’s a coffee mug with brass knuckles built in. It’ll make you feel like you’re really powerful while you sip your coffee, and can easily be used to punch someone in the face and do a lot of damage. If that’s what you’re into. Maybe your money would be better spent on anger management therapy? Just a thought.
Buzzfeed via Geekologie
Spectacular waterslide daredevil
Posted by CharlieWhite on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
This is either a fake video, or this is one brave dude. The video looks so real, if it is a fraud, it’s skillfully done at great expense. The daredevil defends himself thus:
“All doubts were unfounded. The 35.2-meter jump distance was the first Softslide practice test with real people (me) under real conditions. I think the last doubters now the words are missing.”
Is this legit? It all looks right, but the audio is a little too good — notice how clear the sound is as he’s sliding down the hill, and then the equally audible sound of the water splashing. But then, he could’ve set up a series of wireless mics.
Megawhoosh, via Today’s Big Thing and Gizmodo
Hanging fireplace takes heat to a new level
Posted by PeterPachal on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Used to be if you wanted a fireplace, you bought a home with one built in. Now, with standalone models like this one from Stephane Perruchon, you can just pick one up and throw it in any room.
Perruchon’s design, called Babylon, has a clever twist, too: The burner hangs in the middle of a frame from a steel cable, and it’s fueled by ethanol to keep it clean and green. The frame comes in many shapes: circle, rectangle, pyramid — most any polygon, really. For anyone with modern décor that doesn’t really go with the conventional fireplace”look,” the Babylon is perfect. Or would be, if it weren’t just a concept design.
Cash for Clunkers likely extended despite controversy
Posted by Martin LaMonica on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill on Thursday to extend the Cash for Clunkers car trade-in program, but experts contend there are more cost-effective ways to get environmental benefits.
The government-funded program, where people can get up to $4,500 for trading in a car for a …
Fuel efficient spy drone for sale
Posted by Candace Lombardi on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
While the U.S. military has several incarnations of airplane drones running on various alternative fuel sources, it’s not something the average person, or even company, can go out and buy.
That might be changing.
BlueBird Aero Systems and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies announced Thursday that they’ve co-developed …
Originally posted at Planetary Gear
San Diego to test mobile electric-car charger
Posted by Martin LaMonica on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Plug-in electric car drivers in San Diego will be able to charge up at a friend’s house without leaving behind a hefty electric bill.
Utility San Diego Gas & Electric said on Wednesday that it plans to use a mobile car-charging device from Juice Technologies as part of a …
Tires to match your cellulosic ethanol?
Posted by Candace Lombardi on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
Doctoral student Web Bai working on a rubber composite for tires in an OSU laboratory.
(Credit: Oregon State University)
I’m sure you’ve heard of a rubber tree plant, but have you also heard about the new rubber tree tire?
Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) have developed a …
Giant Oyster machine waves in electricity
Posted by Candace Lombardi on 6 August, 2009
This item was filled under [ Technology ]
The Oyster in open position.
(Credit: Aquamarine)
A new approach to harnessing the ocean’s power for energy is getting some positive attention.
The Oyster, a giant oscillating device developed by Aquamarine Power that uses hydraulic technology to convert wave power into electricity, won the “Innovator of 2009″ award from …
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