Archive
13,000 mph!
DARPA released results last week of the second flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 that flew last summer at 13,000 mph or Mach 20!. There is a nice video of the flight here.
Despite the fact that the 2nd flight was announced as a failure in August of 2011 DARPA engineers feel the flight was a success based on the fact that aerodynamic knowledge gained from the first flight allowed the craft to successfully recover from a roll caused by a shock wave that was 100 times more powerful than design parameters.
Read the DARPA release here.
In other space news, here are some amazing photos of the earth taken by the ISS’s new “Nightpod” camera. Take a close look at the Aurora photo on the left. I swear that looks like a cloaked Klington cruiser in the upper left.
Nano Quadrotors! Fascinating!
Amazingly Tiny QuadRotor: Daedalus CrazyCopter (from FunnyRobotics.com)
The General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Lab (GRASP) of the University of Pennsylvania Engineering Department has develop a series of miniature 4-rotor (quadrotor) helicopters capable of swarming, flight formation, and obstacle avoidance that is absolutely amazing. And a bit unnerving.
Below is a series of videos from Penn.
Towards a Swarm of Nano QuadRotors
Aggressive Maneuvers for Autonomous Quadrotor Flight
Aggressive Quadrotors Part III
Construction with Quadrotor Teams
My Attack of the Drones post of 9/6/2010 referencing the AR quadrotor controlled by an Apple iPad.
Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos Replicated
Wee!!!! This is exciting. Granted, the jury is apt to be out for a while, but a second experiment at CERN has produced even better evidence of FTL Neutrinos. This experiment produced proton pulses 60 times shorter than the previous experiment. The 3 nanosecond (3 billionths of a second) bursts seem to have produced statistically verified results that show the neutrinos arriving 60 nanoseconds before a beam of light would arrive.
If, and that’s still a big if, this experiment holds up, it blows Einstein’s Theory of Relativity out of the water. The basic tenant of Relativity is that nothing, NOTHING can exceed the speed of light (299792458 m/s). Some people are upset by this, yet a basic to scientific investigation is that you can never completely prove a theory. A theory is tested experimentally and you can never run an exhaustive series of tests. And all it takes is one negative proof to require, at least, a change in the theory. What exciting new discoveries might be brought to light? (Pun intended)
Even Sir Isaac Newton’s laws don’t hold up under all conditions. As an engineer that’s O.K. by me. It works for any condition I will probably encounter. I still can predict with, almost absolute accuracy, my terminal (hmm? Another paronomasia?) velocity and kinetic energy that would be released after I jumped out of a 10 story window.
Stay tuned!
SIΧTΨ SγMBΦLS
Ever wonder what those funny squiggles used by scientists meant? Is it all Greek to you? (Yep, pun intended.)
SIΧTΨ SγMBΦLS is a website of over 140 short videos created by University of Nottingham science experts to explain our complex yet extremely exciting world and universe. Some of the symbols are made up (Check out Schrödinger’s Cat) just to tell the story.
Want to know what quantum tunneling has to do with your iPhone? Click on the “More Symbols” link at the top of the page and find the pointing finger.
Enjoy!
Rising Stars 2011 Engineering Camp in Review
This video show the highlights of this year’s Rising Stars Engineering Camps. Enjoy.
I would particularly like to thank Deanna Strauss for all the hard work she put in to make these camps successful.
Also, kudos to Rick Karsmizki and Brian Baldridge for all their efforts the past 11 years in helping all these young scientists and engineers discover new technologies and careers.
MathPiper progamming language
click on image
Check it out!
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MathPiper is a new mathematics-oriented programming language which is simple enough to be learned as a first programming language and yet powerful enough to be useful in any science, mathematics, or engineering related career. MathPiper is also a Computer Algebra System (CAS) which is similar in function to the CAS which is included in the TI 89 and TI 92 calculators.”
“Linotype: The Film” Teaser
I like my Kindle, but I’ve always loved books, printed books of all kinds. There is still no replacement for the convenience of being able to stick a paperback in my back pocket. In grade school, I was a regular customer of the “Bookmobile”, school library, our small town public library, and when my mom would take me, the county library. I read my first science fiction book (from the bookmobile) when I was in third grade. It was called “Raiders from the Rings.”
Enough rambling. The Linotype (pronounced Line-o-type) was invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler (another good German Inventor) at the turn of the 20th century. The Linotype revolutionized printing much the same way the internet is revolutionizing communications today. Before the invention of the linotype, most daily major newspapers were no more than 8 pages long, because it was so time consuming to set type by hand.
The Linotype is an amazingly complex machine. It was invented way before the advent of the digital computer, but mechanically uses binary to sort the 92 characters used by the typist. Linotype: The Film began production in August by Linotype enthusiasts.
Here is the Teaser. (1 minute, 16 seconds)
You may read more about the Linotype here.
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The bartender promptly serves up a beer.
“How much will that be?” asks the neutron.
“For you?” replies the bartender, “no charge”
AirPod Air Powered Car Being Introduced to USA
Zero Polution Motors, ZPM plans to market the AirPod in the USA soon.
This little 3-wheeler, cu
rrently being driven in Europe, runs on compressed air. Air tanks pressurized at 5000 psil allow the AirPod to travel over 100 miles per refill at speeds up to 46 mph. Refills cost a little less than $1.50 which give you the equivalent of approximately 173 mpg! Phew! Suggested retail will be around $18 grand.
First Malicious Computer Worm designed to Cause Physical Damage!
The Stuxnet worm is actually capable of infecting control software specifically developed by Seimens. This software is being used to control processes in industrial, manufacturing and power plants. Think valves and sensors. Think chemical plants and control failure (Bhopal?). Think about your new networked cars and the ability to override anti-lock brakes, air bags, etc. This particular worm had some big financing. Suspicions are that a national government is backing this worm.
Although Aspect Oriented Programming is a paradigm influencing software security in computer science, engineering design paradigms for security say “you can’t hack hardware”. This paradigm emphasizes program development in the hardware and/or firmware (ROMs, EEPROMs, etc), flash memory that can’t be reprogrammed without physically removing/inserting a jumper and so on. The programming code in many microcontrollers cannot be read or altered without reloading the entire package. In any case, IT, computer software, and network security will continue to be a growing industry.
Look what happens when you cross a skateboard with a tank
The DTV Shredder, the powered skateboard that can handle just about any type of terrain.
Technology & Science 