Friday, October 2, 2009
Video: The Robot That Can Turn Into A Car
From The Daily Mail:
A Japanese inventor has designed a robot that can change from robot to vehicle in seconds - and can even offer 'piggy-backs' on its shoulders.
Looking a bit like Optimus Prime, the lead character of the Transformers films, the robot is even prepared to battle, especially when it takes exception to sharing the stage with a smaller robot.
The three-foot high creation took part in the Robo-One competition, which aims to drive the creation of humanoid-shaped robots.
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How Aviation Can Come Clean
Image: Flying wing: The Boeing X-48B, an unmanned prototype with a 6.4-meter wingspan, has a blended-wing design that could one day replace that of today's commercial planes. Credit: NASA From Technology Review:
Advanced technology won't be enough for the industry to meet its own greenhouse-gas targets.
Last week the global aviation industry called on the United Nations to establish a single, worldwide policy for reducing aviation greenhouse-gas emissions, in an attempt to avoid a costly network of regional regulations. The industry proposed two primary goals--that by 2020 it should stop increasing its greenhouse emissions, and that by 2050 it should cut its emissions by 50 percent compared to 2005 levels.
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Students Build The Solar Homes Of The Future
From Popular Mechanics:
For the Solar Decathlon, 20 teams of college students strive to build the most technologically savvy sun-powered house. For two weeks in October their homes go head to head in a contest to consume the least energy.
On a hot and bright California day, the red steel frame of a half-built house, its footprint a jagged stamp on the landscape, glints in the sunshine beaming down on Santa Clara University. Crawling around the crescent-shaped structure, workers holler measurements, fasten sheathing and snap chalk lines. They’re wearing hard hats and tool belts, and the noise of steel swatting plywood sounds unmistakably like a job site. But this is hardly a construction crew out of central casting.
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With Drone Shortage, Air Force Pilots Train With Cessnas Dressed Up Like Predators
Surrogate Predator: A Cessna 182 wears the sensor ballof a Predator Lon Carlson, L-3 Communications.
From Popular Science:
Converted manned aircraft with mounted sensor balls will imitate Predators and Reapers during military exercises.
A high demand for Predators and Reapers on the front lines has led the U.S. Air Force to take an unusual step: asking human pilots to mimic the drones for training purposes back in the States.
Cessna 182 aircraft have become converted "Surrogate Predators" with the installation of a "Predator ball" that typically serves as the surveillance and tracking eyes for drone operators. Such Predator balls give the manned Cessnas the ability to lock onto targets and track them.
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Uncivilisation: The Dark Mountain Manifesto
From New Statesman:
We have, it seems, led the planet into the age of ecocide. Can civilisation survive the unavoidable environmental catastrophe? To stand a chance we will need cool heads, not fiery dreams.
During the past century empires crashed, new states foundered, utopian projects failed and entire civilisations melted down. Revolutionary change was the norm, as it has been throughout modern times. Yet today many of us assume our present way of life will last for ever, and any suggestion that it may be facing intractable difficulties is dismissed as doom-mongering. The result is that the precariousness of modern civilisation is underestimated and the impression that things can go on indefinitely, much as they do now is touted as hard-headed realism.
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New Ancient Fungus Finding Suggests World's Forests Were Wiped Out In Global Catastrophe
An enlarged image of Reduviasporonites. Scientists believe extinct fungus species capitalised on a world-wide disaster and thrived on early Earth. (Credit: Image courtesy of Imperial College London)From Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (Oct. 2, 2009) — Tiny organisms that covered the planet more than 250 million years ago appear to be a species of ancient fungus that thrived in dead wood, according to new research published October 1 in the journal Geology.
The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London and other universities in the UK, USA and The Netherlands, believe that the organisms were able to thrive during this period because the world's forests had been wiped out. This would explain how the organisms, which are known as Reduviasporonites, were able to proliferate across the planet.
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Exploring The Mysteries Of The Ocean Floor
The submersible Alvin which Emily Beale and her colleagues used to collect sediment from methane seeps in the Eel River Basin in California. Credit: Emily Beal, Penn State UniversityFrom Live Science:
About three years ago, Emily Beal — a graduate student in geosciences at Penn State —eagerly boarded the deep-diving research submersible called Alvin, bound for the bottom of the ocean.
After squeezing into Alvin’s titanium sphere, Beal began her plunge to the ocean floor with more than a tad of claustrophobia. Alvin was just big enough to hold her, the submersible’s pilot, and Penn State colleague Chris House. Fortunately, as Beal peered out of Alvin’s plate-sized portholes during her descent, her claustrophobia quickly gave way to pure, unalloyed exhilaration.
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Health Claim Of Probiotics Not Accepted
From The Independent:£220m-a-year 'dairy shots' industry in disarray following EU scientists' ruling.
Drink this yogurt for a healthier stomach. Thirty million shoppers have swallowed the claims for probiotics as enthusiastically as the sweet fermented milk in the belief that "good bacteria" will defeat "bad bacteria" in epic microscopic battles inside our bodies.
But claims that probiotic ingredients improve health can not be supported, according to an extensive review of scientific research by a team of experts from the European Union.
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Best Of The Ig Nobel Prizes 2009
Surely there is more than one use for a bra?(Image: Jessica Peterson/Getty)
From New Scientist:
Why don't pregnant women topple over? Do cows notice kindness? Does cracking your knuckles bring on arthritis? And is there more than one use for a bra? These questions and more inspired the research rewarded at the Ig Nobels, which were handed out on Thursday at Harvard University in a ceremony organised by the Annals of Improbable Research.
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Word Has It That eReaders Will Open The Next Chapter
From Times Online:
Microsoft and Apple are about to follow the tablet trend.
TRAVELLING between airports has given analyst Jon Peddie lots of time to study tech trends. There was the rise of the mobile, laptops, the iPod, the BlackBerry and the iPhone.
Now Peddie, who runs California-based Jon Peddie Research, sees another change coming: the rise of the eReader.
Laptops are becoming less popular, he reckons, and even netbooks are fading. The new must-have is an eReader.
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Siberian Volcano 'Wiped Out World's Forests' 250m Years Ago
According to scientists a huge Siberian volcano destroyed theworld's forests 250 million years ago Photo: GETTY
From The Telegraph:
A huge Siberian volcano destroyed the world's forests 250 million years ago in what scientists say was the worst extinction event the planet has ever witnessed, new research has disclosed.
It rained fire and acid rain for hundreds of thousands of years and killed 90 percent of all life, including plants and vegetation.
An analysis of ancient fungus that thrives in dead wood has given scientists a window into the event.
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The U.S. Has Decided To Relinquish It's Dominant Control Of The Internet
Customers surf the web at an internet cafe in Beijing. Icann, the body that oversees web addresses, has ended its agreement with the US. Photograph: Greg Baker/APUS Relinquishes Control Of The Internet -- The Guardian
• Icann ends agreement with the US government
• Move will give other countries a prominent internet role
After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system.
Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government.
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With A Wave, Google Aims To Conquer The Network
Among suggested uses for Google Wave are organising trips,laboratory record-keeping and journalism
From The Daily Mail:
Google last night invited 100,000 people to become the first users of its latest internet tool which aims to rival email, Twitter and Facebook.
Google Wave allows a limitless number of internet users anywhere in the world to have instant conversations and share files.
The service combines aspects of email, instant messaging, social networking and web chat and is aimed at friends catching up with one another and business partners sharing documents.
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A Genetic Fountain Of Youth
Aging machines: Mice lacking a functional version of the protein S6 kinase 1, an important regulator of the body's response to nutrient availability, live longer and healthier lives than their normal counterparts. The mouse on the left lacks the protein. Credit: George Thomas, University of Cincinnati From Technology Review:
Researchers have identified a genetic tweak that can slow aging in mice.
By disabling a gene involved in an important biochemical signaling pathway, scientists have discovered a way to mimic the well-known anti-aging benefits of caloric restriction, allowing mice to live longer and healthier lives. This finding, published online today in Science, offers a promising drug target for combating the many health problems associated with aging.
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US Relaxes Grip On The Internet
From The BBC:The US government has relaxed its control over how the internet is run.
It has signed a four-page "affirmation of commitments" with the net regulator Icann, giving the body autonomy for the first time.
Previous agreements gave the US close oversight of Icann - drawing criticism from other countries and groups.
The new agreement comes into effect on 1 October, exactly 40 years since the first two computers were connected on the prototype of the net.
"It's a beautifully historic day," Rod Beckstrom, Icann's head, told BBC News.
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Thursday, October 1, 2009
Elderly Women Sleep Better Than They Think, Men Sleep Worse
From Science Daily:ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2009) — A study in the Oct.1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that elderly women sleep better than elderly men even though women consistently report that their sleep is shorter and poorer.
Women reported less and poorer sleep than men on all of the subjective measures, including a 13.2 minute shorter total sleep time (TST), 10.1 minute longer sleep onset latency (SOL), and a 4.2 percent lower sleep efficiency. When sleep was measured objectively, however, women slept 16 minutes lon¬ger than men, had a 1.2 percent higher sleep efficiency, and had less fragmented sleep.
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Scary Film 'Paranormal Activity' Is Disappointingly Normal
A scene from the low-budget, limited-release film "Paranormal Activity," which aims to scare the pants off moviegoers with scenes that have that documentary feel. Credit: Paramount PicturesFrom Live Science:
“Paranormal Activity,” a horror film now in limited release across the country, tells the story of a young couple who move into a typical suburban house but are soon disturbed by a supernatural entity that delights in scaring them in the middle of the night. The pair (one a skeptic and one a believer, in true “X-Files” fashion) use a video camera aimed at their bed to document the strange forces that disturb them when they are trying to sleep.
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The Desperate Need For New Antibiotics
The number of different antibiotics available to treat infections is dwindling.Najlah Feanny / Corbis
From Time Magazine:
In recent years, efforts to combat drug-resistant bacteria have focused on the immediate goal of reducing rates of hospital-acquired infections. But now global health officials face an approaching crisis: the number of different antibiotics available to treat such infections when they do occur is dwindling because pharmaceutical companies have neglected to invest in the development of new types of drugs.
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Apple’s Tablet Could Be Print Industry’s Lifeboat
From Gadget Lab:
The more you think about it, the more obvious it is that an Apple tablet would specialize in reviving dead-tree media (i.e., newspapers, magazines and books). All the rumors suggest the device would be a larger iPod Touch/iPhone with a 10-inch screen. Previously Wired.com argued that redefining print would would be a logical purpose for a gadget this size, and Gizmodo today has even more details to prove that this is Apple’s goal with the tablet.
Gizmodo’s Brian Lam cites two people related to The New York Times, who claim Apple approached them to talk about repurposing the newspaper onto a “new device.” Lam notes that Jobs has called the Times the “best newspaper in the world” in past keynotes. (I recall him saying that when introducing the iPhone’s web browser at Macworld Expo 2007.)
Disarmingly Cute: 8 Military Robots That Spy, Fly, And Do Yoga
From Discover Magazine:
A new generation of military robots are coming soon to a battlefield near you. These new battle bots are more WALL*E than ED-209—cute, small, and innocent-looking, rather than giant and murderous.
But while they may appear adorable, the latest generation of robotic warriors can do a lot more than box up trash. Here are a few examples of these cute but deadly robots in action—leaping walls, flipping trucks and…doing yoga?
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