Six for Science

Keeping you in the know, six stories at a time:

1. Bees and satellites track global climate change.

2. The cyborg monkeys are now among us....

3. Chimps like their food cooked as much as we do.

4. Giant vegetables from space!

5. Living computers can do math.

6. Sci-fi on Mars.

Alien Planet

Since I referred to the autonomous blimp-bots from Alien Planet, I thought I should link to the doc.

Here it is.

More Mars Pics!

A view to the North West.

Phoenix lander descending over Heimdall crater.

Panoramic view

The Phoenix is back in contact and ready to unleash the arm. Pretty soon we're going to dig hole, cook dirt and shoot lasers in the sky!

Try and stop us! I mean, try and stop the lander.

No, I'm not fantasizing I'm the Phoenix lander.

Well, maybe a little bit... but mostly I'm a martian airship.

Welcome to the New World of Pterosaur research!

This is a murder of azhdarchids, giraffe sized pterosaurs, hunting the filed fare as they stalk the land in the deep past.

I have gushed about Mark Witton's work in recreating the dynamic past of the pterosaurs.

And now his work is getting a little more notice - it's on Science Daily and New Scientist!

From New Scientist:

The giant pterosaurs may have waded at times, but their small padded feet were better adapted to land, and most fossils come from inland areas. Their huge beaks and towering height would have given them plenty to eat on land.

"If your skull is over two meters in length, then bite-size includes everything up to a [baby] dinosaur the size of a fox," says Witton.

That may have helped them survive and become a common part of inland fauna during the last 10 million years of the Cretaceous period, before they died along with the dinosaurs.

Giant, carnivorous storks stalking across the land before they take wing to find their next meal.

Fantastic.

But how about we hear from Witton on this:

The giant pterosaurs may have waded at times, but their small padded feet were better adapted to land, and most fossils come from inland areas. Their huge beaks and towering height would have given them plenty to eat on land.

"If your skull is over two meters in length, then bite-size includes everything up to a [baby] dinosaur the size of a fox," says Witton.

That may have helped them survive and become a common part of inland fauna during the last 10 million years of the Cretaceous period, before they died along with the dinosaurs.

In our concluding image, then, you’ve got 750 kg of monster azhdarchids, Quetzalcoatlus, marauding around a Cretaceous fern-prairie in search of food. The one on the right has grabbed a baby titanosaur, the parents of whom are known from the same deposits that yield these giant pterosaurs. Personally, I reckon this is much better than my last reconstruction of azhdarchids engulfing a baby dinosaur, and, on reflection, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the iconic ‘Hills are Alive’ scenes in The Sound of Music. You know, with the rolling hills and mountains in the background and all that. Replace Julie Andrews with 5 m tall pterosaurs and it’s like you’re watching the same movie.

The hills are alive with baby-eating pterosaurs.

Mark Witton and Darren Naish are two young scientists I have been watching for a few years now. They have both completely altered my perception of the pterosaurs, and I thank them for it.

Why I started to like the bad guys

When I was a kid living in East Vancouver, circa 1986, there was a jerk in my neighbourhood called Ricky.

Ricky was evil and a bully. Once, when I was about seven, I was looking over the back fence onto the alley, when Ricky rode by and punched me, knocking me over like some sort of jousting post.

He was older than me, mean and very violent towards his sister, who happened to be one of my only friends.

So, I was stuck with him. Whenever I played with his sister, he was around, forcing us to play in his He-Man live-action games.

Maybe you don't remember, but in the mid-80's He-Man was king. Mattel has reported that He-Man was worth over a billion dollars, fueling the rampant growth of action heroes, toy-sets, and saturday morning cartoons.

But we didn't know that as kids, we just wanted to be heroes.
Every boy wanted to be He-Man. Every boy had a He-Man toy, including poor kids like me.
Every boy would pretend to ride into the fray on a giant green Battle Cat, screaming "By the power of Grey Skull!" at the top of their lungs.

He-Man was legion on the streets, playgrounds and back yards of '80's kid-dom.

Every boy thought he was He-Man.

So, of course, I was always Skeletor. Or Beast Man. Or Triklops. Or, when I felt especially inhuman, Trap Jaw.

But I rarely got to choose, because when Ricky/He-Man chose to kill something, he wanted his arch-nemesis, Skeletor.

We would run through the neighbourhood with our wooden swords (read: Ricky would chase me with his big, sharpened wooden sword, while I had a stick. And for extra impetus, Ricky would stab me in the back the whole way.)

Usually we ended up in a garage, or a house that was being built, or someones yard. And always I ended up with a wooden sword at my throat, with Ricky screaming "You lose, loser!"

Ricky had a way with words.

++++++

Ricky had a tough life - his Dad was big, intimidating, and rarely around.
The dad terrified his kids, because whenever I was in their yard, his daughter would shy away from her dad. And Ricky would disappear. I wonder now how bad it got in that household.

But then, I didn't really know anything, just that Ricky's dad was scary, and that Ricky deserved his dad.

+++++++

Ricky wasn't very smart. I could tell, because he never seemed to remember what happened in the cartoons, or the intricate histories between all the characters.

Or that Skeletor had the upper-hand until the end of the adventure. Ricky was always upset when I outwitted him. He would punch me, hit me with his sword, spit on me. Standard bully activity.

And I put up with it, because I was small and scared.

It was only when I realized that He-Man wasn't a hero, but a bully, that I really fought back.

I, mean, it wasn't Beast Man's fault he was a tortured animal, or Trap Jaw's fault he was a cyborg. Can you imagine the agony that someone would have to go through to have an external bionic jaw put in place in a pseudo-medieval battlefield?

I could. So I fought back one morning in the alley, jumping Ricky, breaking his sword and cackling like Skeletor.

Who needs heroes when they beat you to a pulp everyday?

Ricky didn't bother me anymore after that.


Thanks to the great art by Sean Galloway that made me remember why I started to love the villain.

Six for Science

With Martian spirit:

1. Hey, don't forget about Cassini - the robot spot signs of tectonic activity on Titan.

2. You have to get in line if you want to dissect a human body these days. Well, a legally attained human body.

3. The swarming activity of earthquakes.

4. Hot-life just got a whole lot deeper.

5. Jupiter keeps getting new storms - who needs one big storm when you can have three?

6. Ancient human migrations are tricky to understand - new evidence shows that moved out of Island South Asia into mainland. Or at least, in once case. Like I said, it's tricky.

Image courtesy NASA/HUBBLE TELESCOPE

More fabulous pictures - From Above and Below

Two more amazing pics from Mars.

This is the shadow of the instrument and optic mast.












And this is a shot of the Phoenix descending to the surface of Mars,
courtesy of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.


From NASA:

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander can be seen parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the final descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body.

From a distance of about 310 kilometers (193 miles) above the surface of the Red Planet, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its HiRISE obliquely toward Phoenix shortly after it opened its parachute while descending through the Martian atmosphere. The image reveals an apparent 10-meter-wide (30-foot-wide) parachute fully inflated. The bright pixels below the parachute show a dangling Phoenix. The image faintly detects the chords attaching the backshell and parachute. The surroundings look dark, but correspond to the fully illuminated Martian surface, which is much darker than the parachute and backshell.


The first time one spacecraft has photographed another during descent around another planet.

Fantastic.

Photos courtesy of NASA - the future soon doesn't have a robotic space fleet... yet.

First pics on Mars - Phoenix Lander

More images at the Phoenix Gallery.

What do these images tell us? Well, the lander is not recked, it's on a flat surface and the Phoenix is possibly close to the ice-troughs. Neat.

THE PHOENIX HAS LANDED

THE MARS PHOENIX LANDER JUST TOUCHED DOWN!

That was about two minutes ago, waiting for video from the surface of Mars.

This is a great achievement, more than half of all landers die somewhere between orbital insertion and touchdown.

But this didn't happen!

Tune in to see the future.

Nuke the future

I've been saying for a long time that nuclear power is the best way to fight the emission of greenhouse gases.

When this comes up in conversation with people, I'm generally treated as a lunatic, because OH MY GOD WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTE.

Well, I'd say, the harmful effects the toxic waste may have will be irrelevant is global warming spins out of control.

And that usually gets me nowhere, because the type of people who are generally willing to argue about this type of thing seem to honestly believe that everybody will start riding bicycles instead of driving everywhere. And they'll all do it tomorrow. In other words, these people are delusional.

So, you can imagine my surprise and my glee when no less a publication than Wired comes out in support of the argument I've been making all along.

That article makes another nine really good arguments as well, although I'm not sold on the benefits of buying a used car over a hybrid. Hey, Wired, if people support new technology such as hybrid cars, that new technology will only get better.

And, in anticipation of the two major rebuttals I expect to this post, I have the following:

1) No, I'm not against clean energy. Wind farms, solar panels, etc, are great, but there's no way they can match the output of the current dirty energy we're producing. I know nuclear isn't perfect, but it's the best we've got right now.

2) Yes, I know that supporting things like wind farms and solar panels and hydroelectric projects will lead to innovations in those fields. That's the argument I made in defence of hybrid cars. But look at the previous paragraph. They're not ready to fulfill our needs right now, and we need a quick fix.

So sign me up, Mr. Burns. I hear you've got an employee in Sector 7-G who doesn't show up very much anymore. I want to do my part to help save the future.

Deus Ex Machina - the vehicle for the street-ninja

What do you need to chase down those recombinant marsupial lions that will terrorize our Arctic metropolises of the future?

The Deus Ex Machina - the vehicle that makes you feel like some crazy, Battle Angel Alita motorball player, until the vessel actually takes over your central nervous system.

But until then, the basics from Cool Hunting:

Art Center College of Design student Jake Loniak combined motorcycle technology with an exoskeleton form for what is essentially a wearable motorcycle. Named Deus Ex Machina and branded by Yamaha, it's intended to serve as an extension of the body. Loniak found inspiration in Biomechatronics and used 36 pneumatic muscles, seven artificial vertebrae and two linear actuators to mimic human motion. He introduced the design earlier this month at an event on the school's Pasadena, California campus.

The Deus Ex Machina remains in the concept stage, but it's expected to go from zero to 60 in three seconds and achieve a top speed of 75mph. It has an incorporated helmet, but no storage space. The single motor is contained in the central wheel and, fortunate for the environment, runs off of nano-phosphate batteries similar to those in hybrid cars.

Neat.

Where do I get my handmade, flocking mini-Tachikoma's?

Smilodons just got a little scarier

As if the big teeth weren't enough, they're now being described like so:

"If you're built like a brick shithouse, you're much more stable but it's much harder to move around or change direction."

I wouldn't want to come up against anything that draws comparisons to a brick shit house.

From New Scientist.

Canada in Space - what Wired didn't tell you

I know, I know, Canada gets forgotten about all the time, so why is this any different?

Because Canada was once a space big-shot. Well, maybe Canada got to sit at the big-boy table a couple of times. And for Wired to make a graph that has Nigeria, Brazil, Japan as players in the space race is nice, but it completely ignores that Canada was number 3 in space! That's right, shameful, shameful bronze!

We aren't even mentioned in the small print under the graph!

In 1959, Canada cut off the Avro Arrow, sending the best of of our aerospace minds south to the U.S., where we did at least as much as the captured Germans.

On Sept. 29, 1962, Canada became the third nation in space with the launch of the Alouette 1.
In 1972, Anik A1 became the first domestic geostationary communications satellite.

In 1995, Canada became the first nation to have a commercial spaceport - sure we had no business, but still.

And we were instrumental in space telescopes, lunar landers, spaceships, robotics, the Canadarm.

So, Wired, the magazine I aspire to write for and have an annual subscription to, please try not to forget Canada in the future.

Okay, I got that off my chest. I won't even get into the British program.

Six for Science

Science-up!

1. Life on Earth FROM SPACE...maybe.

2. It might be old, but the SOYUZ works, at least better than NASA.

3. Listen to the shadows because they will make you see.

4. Humongous ancient rat turns out to only be really, really big.

5. Who needs hard drives when you have E. coli.

6. The missing link has been found... for frogs!

Smoke on the water

This is a little old, but definitely worth a look.

Indiana Jones non-hype

The rise of Indy 4 is almost upon us, but that doesn't mean there won't be some critical thinking on the Jones Quartet.

This is one of two unfinished editorial pics by David Foldvari, a master of political composition.

I'm not sure what he is trying to say it, but I have some visceral feeling that it is rignt.

If you didn't know what this image was, what would guess?

Is this the death of a trans-dimensional habitat, one with thousands of adventurous librarian explorers transcribing themselves onto dark matter energy-capsules?

Or a transmogrifying teleportal?

Son of Sauron?

A plasma-pet?

Or is this a cd in a microwave?

found via gizomodo

Coming to a stage near you - THE FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE

Yes it is true, ther is a stage adaptation of FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE!

From Yale Daily News:

“The Five Fists of Science,” at the Yale Cabaret, is a playful adaptation by Alex Knox DRA ’09 and Rebecca Phillips DRA ’09 from a graphic novel of the same title. It is about the rivalry between Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla (Knox), the inventor of the alternating current, and Thomas Edison (Christopher Grant DRA ’08), inventor of the direct current. Tesla has invented a weapon so powerful that no one will dare use it. He hopes that this will mean permanent peace for humanity. The bad guys (Edison and J.P. Morgan), however, have different plans, as the bad guys always do, and these plans certainly do not involve world peace.

Adapting a novel to a play is one thing; adapting a graphic novel is entirely different. While a smooth and realistic flow of events may be commendable in a novel adaptation, director Rebecca Phillips DRA ’09 has gone for the opposite effect in retaining the comic book feel. Actions in the play are short, harsh and exaggerated. Transitions from one scene to another are preceded by short pauses where all characters freeze as if to reproduce the drawing of the scene. In some cases, this can mean that all characters stare at a fixed point in the horizon in an unnatural representation of hope and expectation.

ANd the props are mada of cardboard!

The future soon applauds this play, but we wait for an animated version.

Tesla's coming back in a big way, people.

Where the Phoenix is landing on May 25th

Way up in the northern polar lowlands is where our hero meet its destiny.

Make sure you watch live footage when the Phoenix lander, which is very close to the future soon's heart, starts a new era in Martian exploration.

Tune in March 25th, 7:53 p.m. EDT.

Post for Chris - THE CROW VENDING MACHINE

I have been waiting for this video for a long time - Josh Klein's talk about the Crow Vending Machine at TED.

So here you go everybody... but especially Chris. Here's to you and your bristly noggin, brother.



Found via boingboing.... but I have been looking for it for a long time.

Design meets thousands of years of nuclear decay

This is the Habog facility in the Netherlands, and behind the multi-story
equations are hundrds of tonnes of nuclear waste.

From World Nuclear News:

The waste inside Habog is planned to remain there for 100 years, during which time its radioactivity will decrease through decay. This process is symbolised by the colour of the building's exterior, which is to be repainted every 20 years in lighter and lighter shades of orange until reaching white.

The theme of decay is extended to the inside of the facility, where four large pictures hang. They all feature the same local natural scene, but occur in a sequence in which base colours are removed one by one. The final two-tone image is printed on gold leaf, to introduce the idea that the waste has more value after its radioactivity has decayed.

A hundred years before, I guess a new building, or a new technology to use spent nuclear waste. The WNN says that the building houses nuclear fuel, so some elements will expire before the 100 years (like Thorium-232), but other fuel takes 30 000 years. So, maybe just the short-term less radioactive isotope are being stored?

Check out this wiki article on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle.

Still, the building is beautiful, and open to the public. There are even museum exhibits in the lower radiation zones.

I can't wait to go!

As for the design - I think we need more scientific equations on public display. I think a fancy Krebs Cycle, or the orbital dynamics of the Jovian system would be spectacular.

WNN via grinding.be

Six for Science

Poyekhali!

1. Prepping the Phoenix lander for the last seven minutes of terror.

2. The Brits open up their UFO files - any reports of a blue box?
2.5 Vatican says it's not a sin to believe in aliens

3. The Cambrian Explosion didn't start with a bang, but a bite.

4. If you want to see the invisible, learn from the Mantis Shrimp.

5. Flying spaceships in formation through the magic of magnets!

6. Sloths aren't lazy - or at least no more than you or me...

Pleo and the Dolphins

Amazing video I found at BotJunkie. This little Pleo is called Pixie, and it's owners take it to Sea World to interact with the animals.

And that's what Pixie does!

from BotJunkie:

“One of the trainers slapped the window and once a dolphin came over she pointed to Pleo a few times. Once the dolphin indicated it saw it and came down to Pleo’s level, she blew her whistle. They can hear the whistle through the thick glass. And blowing the whistle told the dolphin, “Yes, that is what I wanted you to do! Good job!” From that point on, it was ALL the dolphins. They were not asked or told to stay around, wave their flippers/tail, open their mouths, etc. They stayed around because they wanted to.”

See, the dolphins get how awesome adaptive, home robot's can be - we should to!

on Pleoworld via BotJunkie

LEGO Aliens of the Sol System

And now for a not-so-introspective blog post.

These are the aliens of our solar system, imagined in LEGO by the micro-specialist Soren.

My favorites are the Sirian and the High Jovian - they just look like they are ready to sign some pan-species cooperative media union pact.

But I see that the Outer Kepler Proletariat are not present - all I need is some LEGO and a day locked away in a closet to remedy this.

found via The Brothers Brick

bonus - Mr Choppy

What I do for a living.

I am a radio journalist.

The above video is the 2:30 pm PST newscast from Friday, may 9th. And yes, I am wearing a Yuri Gagarin shirt.

Back to my job - I really enjoy it. I find myself going home at the end of the day angry, but in a good way.

A good way?

Yeah. You see, back when I worked hellish jobs, I went home angry everyday - angry at my boss, the people I worked with, people in general. And mostly at myself. I was angry because I wasn't doing anything constructive, I was just stuck in a never ending professional rut.

"How many ways can I make this one latte for you before you realize I NEVER DO WHAT YOU ASK FOR!?" was a common mantra in my head, except when it wasn't, from my Mermaid days.

But now everything is better - I go home angry because I think I haven't done my job as well as I could have. I didn't write the script for the host as well as I could have, I didn't get the guest i should have, I couldn't fill the time I wanted, I didn't pitch the story I wanted.

I didn't read the news perfectly.

Yeah, that news. It's funny when you read words on the radio for money - all that matters is the time (notice my constant check up with my eyes toward the clock,) and my voice levels (the scan down towards the board.)
And the words I didn't say correctly.

But I love it.

So I go home angry, everyday, but in a good way.

Is that normal? You know, the job satisfaction?

Because I am sometimes a little creeped out.

Russian's prepare for Mars by redesigning the air we breathe

When the Russians split from their NASA counterparts, they really split.

In a new experiment, Russian cosmonauts are breathing a low-O2, high argon atmosphere
during a simulated Martian tour.

But what about nitrogen? Apparently nitrogen is really needed, and argon works better in closed eco-systems. Why? Unlike nitrogen, argon doesn't bond with O2.

Stable, cheap, and maybe ready to go.

Watch the video.



found via Colony Worlds

The brutalist bike of my dreams

The nUCLEUS is a minimalist beast of concept technology. Flat, slate grey, with a little of the adaptive-predation customary of things I like.... I just like it.

Who needs violence when you can order up/print the parts of this bike, then go to the ne0-mennonite smithy at the corner who can bang it out for you.

What, don't you have one of those in your reality?


Check out the video.

Found via Yanko Design.

Volcanic Electricity

This menacingly gorgeous photo of lightning is caused by friction.

Friction, just the rubbing of tiny rock fragments combined with a little static electricity and BOOM!

And to think, we only had to wait 9 000 years for the volcano, and broadcast/photographic technology, to catch this particular wonder.

Although lightning is often associated with volanic eruptions, this photo is one of the best I've seen.

found via National Geographic News

bonus - here is a story about volcanic lightning

Monthly poll - Which "green-tech" will not save us?

Here are your saviours:

1. Bio-fuels
2. Hydrogen Fuel Cells
3. Solar Power

Why did I chose these three, and say not atomic power?
Because I don't want knee-jerk reactions.

So here are your three champions. Knock them down a peg to keep 'em honest.

Six for Science

Here we go:

1. The birds are watching you.
Right now...
Don't look.
I told you not to look.

2. Being smart isn't everything. Sometimes, it's better NOT to know.
Like that bird perched behind you. It's watching.... plotting....

3. UV rays and jumping spider sex.

4. Canada is looking for killer rocks - leave it to us to step-up and take care of the Earth.

5. Neanderthals were there own distinct species - GET OVER IT HUMANS!

6. Rocket powered helicopter packs - I want one.

Voyager - Your Favorite Space-bot

Before the rant/note of affection, I am just going to take a moment and talk about April.

April was a very slow month on the blog. Mainly because I am hard to motivate on days that last longer than 17 hrs, with little of that time under my control.

That is now over, so it will be back to at least a post a day.

Now for the poll - you chose Voyager as your favorite space-bot.

Even though only 11 people voted this time around, I think that Voyager is a fair choice.

Why? The ship that opened up the outer solar system not only was a good piece of tech, but has also become a cultural icon of the last days of the proto-space age.

Not until we get a little further out from Near Earth Orbit will the Martian twins take centre stage.

So what am I saying? Good choice on Voyager, but your kids will be talking about Spirit and Opportunity.

Or at least my kids... when I press them into speaking with their geek-dad.

As for the shut-out of Dextre - don't take it to hard, buddy, you'll get your time in the limelight before the ISS gets decommissioned.

This is the way to travel...

Inside the hanger with the Graf Zeppelin
Boarding Passengers.


found on Zeppelin! via fffound