Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT - A NASA team sent to Chile to aid trapped miners will hold a news conference about their work at the San Jose gold and copper mine near Copiapo at noon CDT, Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT - Students and teachers at the Pinellas County Science Center in St. Petersburg, Fla., will have an out-of-this-world phone conversation with NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT - NASA will commemorate a quarter-century of comet discoveries and discuss upcoming comet encounters during a symposium at 9 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 10, in the Knight Studio of the Newseum.
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT - NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation have selected university teams from Maryland, Oklahoma and Wisconsin as finalists in a competition to design, manufacture, assemble and test an inflatable loft.
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT - NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is accepting scholarship applications for the 2011 academic year. The application deadline is Jan. 17, 2011.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT - The sands of time are running out for the central star of this the Hourglass Nebula. With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a sun-like star's life occurs as its outer layers are ejected and its core becomes a cooling, fading white dwarf. In 1995, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to make a series of images of planetary nebulae, including the one above. Here, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas (nitrogen-red, hydrogen-green, and oxygen-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the 'hourglass.' The unprecedented sharpness of Hubble's images revealed surprising details of the nebula ejection process and may resolve the outstanding mystery of the variety of complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulae. Image Credit: NASA, WFPC2, HST, R. Sahai and J. Trauger (JPL)
Chandra X-ray Observatory Images
The latest images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT - A galactic "super-volcano" in massive galaxy M87 is erupting and blasting gas outwards, as seen by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and NRAO's Very Large Array.
Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT - Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer have pooled resources to view a beautiful collision within the Antennae Galaxies.
Reuters: Science News
Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:08:52 +0100 - LONDON (Reuters) - God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:17:17 +0100 - BEIJING (Reuters) - Efforts to sequence the wheat genome are only at an initial stage of what will be a long-term project requiring more government support, leading Chinese and international scientists said on Tuesday.
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:22:53 +0100 - LONDON (Reuters) - An international scientific team has identified for the first time a genetic risk factor associated with common migraines and say their research could open the way for new treatments to prevent migraine attacks.
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:05:35 +0100 - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. climate panel should make predictions only when it has solid evidence and should avoid policy advocacy, scientists said in a report on Monday that called for thorough reform of the body.
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:14:12 +0100 - LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have cracked and published almost all of the highly complex genetic code of wheat -- a staple food for more than a third of the world's people -- and say breeders can now use their findings to improve yields.
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:48:10 +0100 - GENEVA (Reuters) - A huge particle detector to be mounted on the International Space Station next year could find evidence for the anti-universe often evoked in science fiction, physicists said on Wednesday.
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:20:51 +0100 - MIAMI (Reuters) - Giant barrel sponges that can live for thousands of years have proliferated in the waters around the Florida Keys, the apparent winner in a recent battle for dominance among corals, seaweed and sponges.
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:27:47 +0100 - PASTO, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia's Galeras Volcano erupted on Wednesday, forcing authorities to order the evacuation of thousands, but only a few residents trickled from nearby villages to shelters, officials said.
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:32:49 +0100 - CAIRO (Reuters) - Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 3,500-year-old settlement in one of Egypt's desert oases that predates earlier cities by a millennium, the Ministry of Culture said Wednesday.
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:31:53 +0100 - KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a frog the size of a pea, the smallest found in Asia, Africa or Europe, on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.
Select a Tag for more information.
Yahoo! News: Science News Headlines
The latest Science news headlines from Yahoo! News UK. Find videos, pictures and in-depth Science coverage from the UK and around the world.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:51:00 +0000 - LIMA (Reuters) - Drought has cut Peru's Amazon River to its lowest level in 40 years and it is already below the minimum set in 2005, when a devastating dry spell damaged vast swaths of South American rainforest in the worst drought in decades.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:22:00 +0000 - HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc removed a failed blowout preventer from atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well on Friday afternoon, a company spokesman said.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:39:00 +0000 - WASHINGTON (AFP) - BP Friday removed the blowout preventer valve from atop sunken oil well, a key part blamed for failing and sparking the Gulf of Mexico spill and the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:59:00 +0000 - GENEVA (Reuters) - Almost 50 nations made progress on Friday toward a "Green Fund" to help poor countries fight global warming but hosts Mexico and Switzerland said a full U.N. climate treaty was out of reach for 2010.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:52:00 +0000 - GENEVA (AFP) - Forty-six countries gained a clearer view on Friday of what it may take to secure a deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars in climate aid, an issue that threatens hopes for a treaty on global warming.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:45:00 +0000 - GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States reiterated on Friday that it was committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 even though the Senate has failed to pass legislation.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:38:00 +0000 - GENEVA (AFP) - Six rich economies joined a website unveiled on Friday detailing pledges in short-term aid they made at last December's climate summit, a move aimed at restoring damaged trust with developing countries.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:43:00 +0000 - KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian wildlife trafficker has pleaded guilty to smuggling 95 endangered boa constrictors and could face up to seven years in jail, officials said Friday.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:34:00 +0000 - NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) - BP on Thursday removed a massive cap which had stemmed the flow of oil from its ruptured well deep in the Gulf of Mexico in a key step toward killing the well once and for all, officials said.
MAKE Magazine
MAKE is a quarterly publication from O'Reilly for those who just can't stop tinkering, disassembling, re-creating, and inventing cool new uses for the technology in our lives. It's the first do-it-yourself magazine dedicated to the incorrigible and chronically incurable technology enthusiast in all of us. MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend technology any way you want.
Life-long maker Matt Gryczan conceived of and documented the how-to for the Gyrocar in the current issue of MAKE, Volume 23, and I had the privilege of meeting him and his family at Maker Faire Detroit in July. Matt worked the MAKE booth with us all weekend, and his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge never waned despite the long hours. We recently asked him 10 questions about his inspirations, the Gyrocar design, and the future of Michigan. Here's what he shared with us.
1. Tell us about yourself. How did you get started making things?
When I was in fourth grade, my older brothers at Christmas got the Kenner toy kits for making things: the two that come to mind were the hydrodynamics set and the skyrail set. From then on, I was hooked on technology. Soon after, I followed instructions in an old book from the local library on how to build a battery and solenoid, and I've been making things from scratch ever since.
2. How did you go about coming up with and designing the Gyrocar?
I'd seen a photo of an antique toy of a jockey riding a horse that was kept upright by a string-pull gyroscope, and I thought it would be fun to make a contemporary version that was battery powered. Anyone who has played with a string-pull gyroscope knows how quickly they run down.
Here are a few of our favorite new offerings on Make:Projects. If you haven't registered yet, done a project, or posted one, what are you waiting for? Here's how to get started.
Projects from MAKE magazine and Make: Online:
Playable Pac-Man Costume
Halloween will be sneaking up and scaring the stuffing out of you before you know it. Time to get started on your costume, especially if you want it to be as epic as this playable Pac-Man costume, from the pages of our MAKE Halloween special edition.
Crooked Knife
Tim Anderson, writer of MAKE's "Heirloom Technology" column, shows you how to make your own version of a northern nomad's woodworking tool. From MAKE Volume 22.
All the northern tribes in North America and Asia have their own version of it. My farm relatives use them to trim their horse's hooves. I think that whatever wave of invaders brought horse culture to Europe must have brought this style of knife with them.
Ball-in-Cage Alarm Switch
Sean Ragan fabricates this cool mechanical switch which can be used to control an alarm (or anything else you want to be motion-triggered).
User-Contributed Projects
Origami Spinner
On the heels of our electronic origami project comes another paper-folding project -- building a 6-numbered spinner from a single sheet of paper using only folding.
There are plenty more projects, recipes, tutorials and primers to be had on Make: Projects!
Rob Cockerham--who has previously brought us spring shoes, a sweet Doc Ock costume, and How Much is Inside?, among other delights--wanted to serve a six-pack out of a solid block of ice. The block had to be cast with openings that would hold the bottles tightly but still let them slip loose when somebody wanted one. It took a bit of trial and error, but he eventually got the process figured out. The whole story is here. Rob hasn't tried it yet, but he thinks, as I do, that one of these will probably float in a swimming pool fully loaded. Nice work, Rob! [via Boing Boing]
Alan Argondizza of Ithaca, NY, wrote in to share the super cool skateboards that he builds from scratch using sheets of birch plywood cut with a jigsaw and hand-held router, then decorated by hand with paint pens, spray paint, and sharpies. Interested in making your own? Alan's provides an excellent how-to on his site.
Last December, in 70 cities across four continents, thousands gathered to celebrate Santacon. There are rules... you must wear a Santa suit, or some other holiday attire, a hat is not enough. Santa has to act like Santa, being jolly, handing out gifts, playing reindeer games, etc.
I decided to build a robot Santa suit for New York's Santacon in 2009. A month and a few hundred dollars later, it was done. The finished product stood almost seven feet tall, featured a box mounted on the chest that activated a voice changer, had Christmas lights around the arms, and a fan for the rocket pack on the back (Robot Santa doesn't need reindeer). The whole thing went over really well.
This year, myself and some friends are going to build a better robot Santa costume, film the building process, and then Santacon itself, for a short documentary in HD.
A portion of the funds will go directly to building the robot itself, but a large chunk is devoted to equipment and crew costs. Anybody who is forced to spend a day surrounded by thousands of very loud Santas while holding a heavy camera deserves some compensation. Same with the editor, who will have to use breakneck speed to finish the film before Christmas.
Knifemaker Scott Roush (aka Makers Market seller Big Rock Forge) first put me on to the work of Arizona bladesmith Tai Goo. Forging a knife out of a railroad spike is an old blacksmith trick, and lots of folks will sell you lower quality "tourist grade" RR spike knives as souvenirs, but Tai Goo is widely regarded as the master of the form. Besides his evident skill, Tai Goo is a minimalist. He practices an art called "neo-tribal knifemaking" that involves using as few power tools as possible. [Thanks, Scott!]
This antique Tabriz has been repurposed into a bear rug by reshaping the edge and using the excess fabric to sculpt a 3D head. I find it enchanting, macabre, and adorable all at once.
Photoduino is an open-source driver for cameras based on the Arduino platform. Its main purpose is to serve as technical support for taking photographs of various techniques such as: Timelapse, High Speed Photography, Photography of insects and animals, or storms, HDR, among others.
The circuit containing the electronic control is capable of auto focus and the shutter of a camera and shot up two flashes manuals. It also has a sound sensor, an impact sensor, a laser barrier infrared barrier that can be used to take pictures when you register an event.
Its configuration is done entirely through a small LCD display using only two buttons, so that works independently without the need for a computer connected (except for firmware upgrades).
The system is currently compatible with many cameras but can be adaptable in the future to other models and brands that have remote shutter connector cable.
Both its hardware and firmware are completely free and open and are released under GPLv3 license, just as the Arduino platform on which it is based.
The project site is in Spanish, but Google Translate does a surprisingly good job.
"Tony Orrico performs a graphite drawing of 8 circles. Each circle is drawn by four patterns consisting of 31.25 efforts each, 1,000 efforts total. The roll is measured by the torso and one arm. This event took place in 2009 at PlacMark, a residency and performance space in Hudson, New York."
Researchers at the NanoRobotics Laboratory of the École Polytechnique de Montréal, under Professor Sylvain Martel, produced this remarkable video showing a swarm of about 5,000 flagellated bacteria--of a type which are subject to manipulation by magnetic fields--being directed to assemble six 100 μm epoxy bricks into the shape of a tiny step pyramid. IEEE Spectrum explains:
The bacteria, of a type known as magnetotactic, contain structures called magnetosomes, which function as a compass. In the presence of a magnetic field, the magnetosomes induce a torque on the bacteria, making them swim according to the direction of the field. Place a magnetic field pointing right and the bacteria will move right. Switch the field to point left and the bacteria will follow suit.
The corresponding paper title is surely one of the best I've ever read: "A Robotic Micro-Assembly Process Inspired By the Construction of the Ancient Pyramids and Relying on Several Thousands of Flagellated Bacteria Acting as Workers." [Thanks, Glen!]
Udi Tirosh wrote in to share this camera flash hack:
Like using off-camera flash units for your photography, but tired of having to walk over to them to adjust the flash power? Well, you could certainly throw some money at the problem and get a set of fancy wireless remotes for them. If you are handy with a soldering iron, though, you might want to take a look at Domjan Svilkovic's instructions to control your flash settings with a TV remote control. He took a cheapo flash, and added a PICaxe microcontroller that waits for 'volume up' and 'volume down' signals, then activates a set of transistors on the remote to simulate button presses. Now, where did I put my flash units...
For hackers who missed out on the Chumby craze, Adafruit has a pile of Chumby PCBs for sale.
The Chumby Hacker Board is a cool single board Linux computer that has much of the same hardware as the famous Chumby One. It's great for people who are experienced with Linux and want to have the power of a microcomputer with audio and video output while at the same time getting all the peripherals of a microcontroller such as analog-to-digital conversion, PWM outputs, sensors, bit twiddling, and broken-out GPIOs!
Here's what you get for $89:
• Freescale iMX.233 processor running at 454 MHZ and 64 MB onboard RAM.
• Comes with 512MB uSD card with 100 MB Linux installation all ready to go.
• 3.3V I/O pins can talk to most sensors, motor drivers, etc. No struggling with 1.8V levels.
• Low power, fanless design draws only (200?) mA at 5V.
• Built-in Lithium Ion/Polymer battery charger and 5V boost converter for portable projects.
• Three USB ports!
• 1W mono speaker amplifier (0.1" JST onboard connector.)
• Microphone input (0.05" JST onboard connector.)
• LCD controller with 2mm output port.
• 3.5mm A/V output jack with stereo audio and NTSC/PAL composite video.
• Back of board has GPIO outputs on 0.1" header spacing, plug in an Arduino proto shield!
• 5-way joystick and 3-axis accelerometer on-board.
• 3.3V TTL serial port for easy shell access.
What maker doesn't love zip ties?! They're useful for cable management MacGyvering things, and holding your robots together. We've posted these leafy ties by Lufdesign before, but now they're for sale and not just a concept. [via inspire me now]
MAKE subscriberDug North writes in to share this video tutorial on how to make gears with unusual contours:
Wood clock designer Clayton Boyer has created an excellent short video showing how to make gears with *very* unconventional profiles. Very cool!
The instructions are a bit terse, so you will probably have to do some experimenting to get it to work correctly, however the effect is pretty amusing.
This veeeeery devious concealment, which opens with a detachable magnetic clasp, is one of eight produced by design student Yi-Ting Ching as part of her Master's thesis called Secret Stash 2010. There's also a Flickr set and a slickly-produced video.
Last weekend at Culturefix in NYC, enterprising music makers gathered for another Handmade Music event. If you missed out on the phototheremin soldering workshop or any of the performances, check out Peter Kirn's full report over at Create Digital Music. Photosets from Peter Kirn and Joe Saavedra.
Delightfully clever marketing gimmick from designer Matt Braun, who's made a beer label printed with a scale showing the relationship between the level of liquid in the bottle and the note that it makes when you blow across the top. Apparently Matt actually brewed a small batch of "Tuned Pale Ale," and, thanks to the massively positive response his clever label is getting, has plans to brew some more. You can sign up at his website to be notified when it's available for purchase, or you could try tuning some bottles of your own. Once you've figured out the levels for the notes, why not etch the scale into the glass?
Paper is many things: a carrier of text, illustration, history and emotion.
Jeremy May has captured the beauty of paper via a unique laminating process. Littlefly jewellery is made by laminating hundreds sheets of paper together, then carefully finishing to a high gloss. The paper is selected and carefully removed from a book, and the jewellery re-inserted in the excavated space.
Each piece is impossible to replicate, and is unique to the wearer. The beauty of the jewels extends within the piece: text and images pass all the way though the object, only exposed at the surfaces – giving a tantalising glimpse of the book within.
Peter Rauch used a proportional-integral-differential (PID) controller that modulates electrical power to a heating element to create a home-built electronic meat smoker. A touch-screen display let him manage the controller set point and control-loop parameters. A J-type thermocouple in the top of the smoker provides a voltage signal so the feedback loop can control the smoker's temperature. A second sensor, which reads meat temperature, is used only for monitoring and alarms. A user can enter a desired meat temperature, and receive an alert via a text message when the temperature reaches a preset value. Additionally, when the temperature reaches this setpoint, the controller can 'hold' the meat at a preset temperature to avoid overcooking it until you can remove it.
While in town for the Kansas City Mini Maker Faire, we had the chance to visit the HMS Beagle, which is a gem of a science store located in nearby Parkville. Started by John and Carol Kuhns, they stock an impressive range of geeky equipment, from telescopes to model rockets, rock tumblers, and Arduinos. In addition, they also host science club meetings, star gazing parties, fossil digs, and other fun-sounding activities. If that isn't enough, they are also the home of Make: KC, an enthusiast group for Makers that meets in their shop on Tuesdays.
If you're ever in town, I'd definitely recommend checking the place out, and perhaps even catching a workshop! John took the time to show us around and give us a tour, and here are some of the things I spotted on the shelves:
Chemicals galore, for doing serious science experiments, making fun explosions, and mixing custom fragrances,
lots of good looking glass for chemical experimentation,
fish fossils that the proprietors found and prepared by hand,
Citizen Scientists: Show us your Erlenmeyer flasks, your test tubes, your centrifuges, your stereomicroscopes, your mutant science experiments, yearning to be free. It's Citizen Science month here on MAKE, an opportunity for us to feature a lot of the science content from the magazine and here online, a chance for us to collaborate with people who are leading the charge on citizen science initiatives, and a chance for us to share some great science how-tos on Make: Projects.
If you're a maker doing citizen science ( or have a group doing science), have a science project, or have any desires for what you'd like to see us cover, please let us know. This is an exciting and growing area of making and we're looking forward to spending a month celebrating it.
With the exception of my couch, every piece of furniture in my home is something I built, or heavily modified, myself. This is both a source of personal pride and a bit of a pain, because if I want more furniture for whatever purpose, I'm sort of obliged, at this point, to build instead of buying. My mattress has been on the floor for years, but lately I've been thinking it's time to commit to building a bedframe. Which is why this solid, minimalist, simple-tools design by Instructables user wholman caught my attention. It's an entry in their ongoing Woodworking Contest.
Mark Rehorst has an excellent set of instructions on how to build your own Van de Graaff generator. What's that, you say? Well, a Van de Graaff generator is a device capable of producing high voltages by collecting electrostatic charges on a large metal sphere. Basically, its a fun and relatively safe way of creating high voltages, which can then be used to do things like make peoples hair stand up, or power particle accelerators.
When NYC Resistor's Chris Fenton wanted a Cray, he wasn't talking about a casemodded PC. No, he really wanted his own Cray. His exhaustively-researched machine simulates the functionality of one of the old-school supercomputers, to the point where he's researching old Cray resources looking for programs to run -- apparently you can't exactly download Centipede for the Cray off the Internet, who knew?
No hackerspace is complete without it's own rockin' supercomputer - and when a Gibson isn't available, a Cray-1 will have to do. My 1/10-scale, binary-compatible Cray-1 is finally done! This project took a long time (almost as long as my infamous electromechanical computer, or *gasp* the MegaScroller), but it's done. And it's awesome. NYCR now has its own Cray-1A, complete with wrap-around pleather sitting area. Eat your hearts out fellow hackerspaces!
Brave hackers take note, Chris has made his working files available on his site. [Via NYC Resistor]
Congratulations to Improbablecog whose Kickstarter project has already reached 101% funding with 7 days still left to go. This is a win win win win situation where:
The backers get a little something from Improbablecog, depending on their level of investment from a sticker to a custom designed piece of jewelry.
Noah gets an influx of cash, gets his name out there for an innovative approach to the business of design and is freed up to produce more cool designs.
Three of his most popular designs are set free, for everyone to modify, mash up, resell, print by the one or by the dozen, or insert into their game, movie, or art.
Shapeways can now 3D print three of Improbablecog's designs for the cost of material only....
Adam Richard Cooper built this hand-cranked model of a classic mechanical governor--which, as MachinistBlog succinctly put it "regulates the speed of steam engines by acting as a negative feedback system"--and made the dimensional drawings and build notes freely available for download at his site. I like the idea of a hand-cranked governor model, particularly, because it provides tactile feedback of the device's purpose: You crank it faster, it gets harder to crank.
Opening at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago on Friday:
STREET ANATOMY - a group exhibition focusing on representations of human anatomy in contemporary art and pop culture
On view will be works that incorporate anatomical imagery in a variety of mediums, including painted skateboards, street art, and cast dark chocolate, by artists from across the US and abroad, as well as a photo gallery of anatomical tattoos.
The exhibition will feature nine artists representative of the label-defying figures involved with this movement:
STREET ANATOMY
September 3 – November 19
Opening Reception Friday, September 3, 5-9 pm International Museum of Surgical Science
1524 North Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL
E1 is an inexpensive open source hardware kit in the same theme as the Arduino--for bringing synthetic intelligence to electronics projects. We've made tremendous progress over the past year, but now we need your help to get it manufactured.
A while ago we realized even the most powerful microcontrollers are just too limited for complex machine learning tasks. At the same time, we weren't interested in all the overhead of a processor and OS. We wanted something right in the middle, made for the task, to coordinate between our sensors, locomotion, and the user. E1 is a custom core embedded within an FPGA. It requires no PC to use or train, is thoroughly flexible, and completely open.
Here's how it works. Attach inputs like cameras, microphones, and sensors--and output mechanics, like servos, actuators, or motors. E1 starts out in an untrained state, but can receive reward and punishment with a remote. It can also detect some set of behaviors, like facial expressions. Over time E1 not only learns what you teach it, but learns the conditions that lead to reward and punishment and so when it should reward or punish itself.
Surprisingly complex behaviors are possible with the combination of simple training and the sensory analytics done by the E1. And all of these details are handled out of your way, from signal decoding to feature detection. Tap the outputs via the header pins on the board itself, or let E1 talk to your outputs for you.
See more on the project website. (Note that the Kickstarter funding goal must be met by 9/6... good luck with that!)
If you'd like to get more control over you flash and a regular bounce card doesn't cut it, then try this handy DIY FlashBender by Bob Jordan. [Thanks, Udi!]
Musician and musical robot maker Charlie Williams created this fun art piece with a combination of OpenCV (an open-source computer vision toolkit that provides, among many things, facial recognition) and Processing.
Like modeling your projects using Sketchup, but wish that you could go one step further and see if they work before spending time printing them? Well, you might want to have a look at Sketchyphysics. It's a physics simulator that you can use to put your creations to life, and presumably work out the bugs before committing to a physical version. We mentioned it back in 2007, however it's new to me. [via Lets Make Robots]
Lego custom armorer BrickArms caught the Tron bug with these beautiful glow in the dark Lego-compatible discs!
Inspired by TRON - my all time favorite movie of the 80's, I designed and injected this glowing disc in the style of the identitty discs from TRON Legacy.
It is injected with glow-in-the-dark ABS, and then overprinted it in black with my solvent inkjet.
It is only a PROTOTYPE. Please do not ask when it will be available for sale.
I have a real weakness for modeling magazines. I rarely build models anymore, but I frequently pick up magazines about the hobby, especially military and figure modeling mags, to ogle all of the amazing kits and finished models. I love all of the stuff that's being done in the custom, small-production resin and vinyl models and scratch building.
I'm at the Maker Media offices this week and found a copy of Model Cars Magazine on one of the worktables. I've never been a "car guy," but it was really fun to go through the issue (from January 2010) and see what the car model kit industry and hobby are up to these days. As in other areas of modeling, specialty kits are big, vintage kit comebacks, impressive scratch building, and stunning levels of finishing and detailing of kits, are all in evidence.
In this issue, one of the articles I got the biggest kick out of was on the AMT Ford Levacar kit, a promo kit version of the late 1950s Ford concept car that was straight out of The Jetsons. The Levacar kit even levitated! It had plastic tubes that you blew into to raise the car. The model, packaging, everything is to die for. Here's the page about the Levacar kit from Fantastic Plastic:
Subscriptions to Model Car Magazine are $34.65 for nine issues.
Well, OK, it's actually a prosthesis. And I stole the Terminator joke from Minnesotastan over at Neatorama. This object is one of literally thousands of remarkable items in the online Brought to Life exhibit at the UK's Science Museum, where it is labeled, apparently incorrectly, as a "right" arm. What is it with surgeons confusing left and right appendages?
In response to the Arduino pong post from a few days ago, SynOptx shared their 2-player PONGuino game. Rather than using a television for a display, they opted to go with an LCD display mounted on an s65 shield. Looks like fun!
Super Awesome Sylvia (and her equally super-awesome parents, TechNinja and CraftNinja), quite frankly, gives me hope for humanity. We had the best time working with them on the special Mini Maker Show series they did for us, for our Kids month theme, and we can barely stop smiling after looking at each of her inspiring videos. Sylvia is definitely a maker star on the rise.
In this, the third episode of their regular Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show, Sylvia shows you how to do two simple Arduino projects. Can anyone continue to be intimidated by the idea of messing around with microcontrollers and basic electronics after seeing this video? C;mon... it's child's play! Great job, Sylvia!
The MakerScanner is a completely open source 3D-scanner and the perfect complement to a MakerBot or other 3D printer. Every one of the scanner's plastic parts can be printed on a MakerBot or other 3D printer!
This week, Brad wrote in with an interesting question: Can you program the ATtiny25 on one of our 'tiny2313 target boards? And the answer is yes: you can, with just a trivial modification.
Okay, back up-- a little context here. The ATtiny25 and the ATtiny2313 are examples of AVR microcontrollers, the little brains that power many of our projects.
The target board basically provides a programming header that's hooked up to the right pins of the chip, plus some way to power the chip-- often through the programmer itself.
After hand-wiring up one too many minimalist '2313 boards like that, we also made a printed circuit board version of the
'2313 target board. Normally, it looks something like this, with an ATtiny2313 in a ZIF socket:
But, back to the question. The ATtiny25, ATtiny45, and ATtiny85 are a family of 8-pin AVR microcontrollers that are not pin compatible with the '2313. However, at only 8 pins instead of 20 pins, they'll definitely fit in the socket... somewhere.
Looking at the datasheets and pinouts for the the '45, '2313 (and the '168 that we also have a target board for), we can identify the lines used for programming: MISO, MOSI, SCK, and RESET:
The chips also need power and ground connections to be programmed, of course. Now if you notice, the connections for the '2313 and '45 are very similar-- in fact, almost identical if you line the chip up so that pin 1 goes where pin 1 of the '2313 normally would. The one remaining difference is that there's no ground connection to pin 4 of the '2313.
So, adding a wire from ground-- pin 10 of the '2313 --to pin 4 of the smaller chip (an ATtiny25 in our photo), and lining up pin 1 to pin 1, we're ready to go. And yes, it works like a charm.
If you do use this method, there are a few (possibly obvious) things worth noting:
You need to be careful to line up pin 1 of the chip to pin 1 of the socket.
Be careful if or when you put a '2313 chip back in the socket. It will draw a lot of current if you set pin 4's to a high output level-- it's shorted to ground. (Better: If you want to go back and forth, use a switch, not a wire.)
Keep in mind that the pin labels on the target board are for the '2313, not the '85.
Going one step further, you could also potentially program the '25/'45/'85 from the '168 target board: it only takes a couple more wires. To do so, line up pin 1 of the '25 to pin 9 of the '168. Add two wires this time, from board-reset to chip-reset, and from board-ground to chip-ground. You'll also need to connect AVCC (analog power supply) to VCC. A little more work, yes, but still a good hack.
A few weeks ago we got a batch of LEDs-- a sample order from a new vendor. These are 10 mm diffused white LEDs, much like the ones that we use on the Peggy 2 or in the LED Ghosties.
On the surface, they look okay. But after lighting them up, we noticed something funny in a few of them that led us to discover their deep dark-- or really, shallow and clear --secret.
Here's what we expect from a 10 mm diffused-white LED: The milky white plastic, lit from within, produces a bright and uniform white surface, viewable from a wide angle.
But for this particular set of LEDs, the pattern of illumination is different. Viewed from the front, there is a lot of light emitted over a wide viewing angle, but it's much stronger towards the center. Looking more closely -- and stopping down the exposure to be able to resolve it with the camera -- you can see that there's a central white spot. As you look at the LED from different angles, it becomes obvious that what you're seeing is the LED element with its phosphor.
That central bright spot is what you'd expect with a clear epoxy lens, and the surrounding halo is what you'd expect for a milky white diffused lens, so what's the story? At this point our best guess was that the epoxy used to form the lenses was something like diluted milk: a fair diffuser that you could still see through a little bit. Not so big of a deal, maybe?
Our next clue was this. On some-- just a few --of the LEDs, we noticed a dark band around part or all of the circumference: a place that isn't getting lit up like it would with our normal LEDs. Could this just be an optical effect of the different lens material?
That turns out not to be the case, of course.
Here's one of the LEDs that exhibits the "dark band" defect. With the power off, you can actually see that there's something strange about it. In the middle part of the LED, there appears to be a bubble. A wide, thin, iridescent layer inside the LED-- maybe a microscopic air gap.
A bubble inside could explain the dark bands easily. A bubble is an interface where light incident at certain angles could be subject to total internal reflection-- meaning that light reflects inward and does not make it to the edge of the LED where we could see it. Depending on the uniformity and shape of the bubble inside, the reflected light might hit another interface or be transmitted out on the other side. And that's just what we see.
On the left, an LED with a fairly severe dark band.
On the right is that same LED viewed from the other side (note the battery orientation in the two photos). The secondary bright spot-- near the top of the LED --is from the reflection of the light off the internal surface. In other words, it's the light "missing" from the other side.
This strongly suggests that the problem is in fact some sort of a bubble or other optical interface capable of producing total internal reflection.
Finally, we came to the step that seems obvious only in retrospect. Looking at the LEDs from the bottom ("where the LED don't shine!") it looks like the center part of the LED is a different color. It's almost like-- no it's exactly like -- they took a regular 5 mm clear-lens LED and cast it into a 10 mm diffused outer shell.
Of course, that leads to a couple of new questions:
First: Really? Can we verify that?
Second: If so, why? Is this just reprocessing of more common 5 mm LEDs for convenience or to save money, or is there a reason why you'd want to do it this way? Certainly one might imagine legitimate reasons for planning to build LEDs this way-- for example to get a higher total intensity output from the LED than you get with the full-on diffuser lens, or perhaps to get that forward-brighter intensity distribution.
To get a better look, we cut into two of these LEDs. We cut almost halfway through in two different directions. (This is quick work with a dremel tool-- sanding drum first and then a buffing wheel with plastic polish.)
Looking through the top, it's an open and shut case. The white plastic is only a thin outer shell-- about 2.5 mm thick not 10 mm--around what is otherwise a garden-variety 5 mm clear-lens LED. (Or at least, it would be 2.5 mm thick if the LED were well centered, which it isn't.)
These photos also suggest an answer to the second question. That 5 mm LED is not particularly centered in the 10 mm cross section. It's instantly clear that this is a hack job. If this were planned and made by a factory that normally does this, they would use some sort of a jig to center the LED in the larger mold, much as they do with normal 10 mm LEDs.
In the side cross section, you can see part of the "bubble" around the embedded 5 mm LED.
During the casting process, the diffused epoxy did not fully wet to the already-formed 5 mm LED, and so there became a thin air gap between the two plastics.
The interface is slightly iridescent, showing colors that are a result of the same thin-film interference that causes iridescence in soap bubbles.
Pretty, yes. But let's just say that we won't be ordering these LEDs again. ;)
We are helping to sponsor the 2010 Open Hardware Summit, which is happening next month, Thursday September 23, at the New York Hall of Science. That's two days before, and at the same location as, Maker Faire NY.
The summit agenda has just been posted: it's a full day of talks and discussions about open source hardware, its meaning and its implications. I'll be part of the panel discussing open hardware licenses and norms which will also be taking questions online-- so you can participate even if you can't make it to the event.
Tickets for the event are on sale now and include a 1-day pass to Maker Faire. We'll hope to see you there!
Just launched: the Evil Mad Linkblog. It's a microblog hosted on Tumblr where we post interesting links. Not so different from our monthly linkdump, but with lower latency. We hope that you like it.
Recently we put together this interactive Game of Life display as an educational adjunct for a new exhibit by the San Jose Museum of Art on the works of Leo Villareal. Leo primarily works with light sculptures, and we're very excited to see (and participate in) the exhibit, which opens this Friday.
We put together a video showing off the project, embedded here:
(If you can't see the video here, click here to visit the youtube page.)
Prior to its installation on a wall at the museum, we set the exhibit on some office boxes to try it out.
As you can see, it's pretty big. The interactive surface is 32 x 44 inches, and has LEDs spaced on a 2-inch grid. There's also a "control" section on the lower right corner.
Up close, the display is constructed of medium-size printed circuit boards that are tiled together.
This printed circuit board was designed for the project. It's 4x8 inches and supports eight 10 mm diffused-lens LEDs.
Each LED site is intended to be an independent "cell" for the game of life, and each one has its own sensor. The sensors are active infrared proximity sensors, consisting of an infrared LED (tinted blue) and infrared phototransistor (tinted black). This pair of components detects reflection off of nearby objects, such as your hand when you reach out to touch the display.
An Atmel AVR ATmega164P microcontroller manages the sensors and communicates with neighboring boards. The communications protocol is a low-grade hack: a "bit bang" protocol, not so different from the scheme used on the Dropout Design/Adafruit Game of Life Kit. Communications and power are shared between neighboring boards using edge connectors.
The circuit boards are snapped together with their connectors, and then installed on threaded standoffs inside the wooden frame.
It takes 44 of the circuit boards to fill up the display. While each circuit board is only moderately complex, the set of boards adds up quickly to about about 3000 electronic components and 10,000 solder joints.
Each board draws up to 200 mA of current at 5 V to run the processor, LEDs, and sensors, so the full set of boards draws up to 8.8 A. Because the edge connectors are not rated for currents this high, the display is actually separately powered in three sections, tied together by the common ground of the power supplies.
The individual cells of the display are isolated in a latticework 1.5 inches tall, made of black Depron foam. (Aside: Depron is amazing material. It's a fairly rigid polystyrene, much like the core of standard foamboard. It's remarkably rigid for its weight, relatively inexpensive, and cuts faster than almost anything else either with a hobby knife or laser cutter.) The latticework is necessary not only to define the cells visually, but also to prevent crosstalk of the infrared sensors.
The four control "buttons" on the lower right (Next Step, Run, Pause, Clear) are constructed on two of the circuit boards, constructed identically to the others except for their LED colors:
These colored sections illuminate an engraved acrylic overlay that has the human-readable button text; the overlay is transparent to infrared, and only minor software changes are necessary to configure these sections as control buttons rather than cells.
The downside of having so many independent boards: Each of the 44 boards had to be programmed individually. Fortunately each board has an accessible AVR ISP header, even with the lattice installed.
The top cover is 3/8" thick clear acrylic, 34 x 46 inches. We had it made for us by conventional routing. It's held in place by a few 1/4-20 button socket cap screws that connect to nuts in the wooden frame.
And that about covers it. The Leo Villareal exhibit starts this week at SJMoA. If you haven't seen our video of this yet, please check it out.
If you haven't played with Conway's Game of Life, that's definitely worth some time. You might start with a basic simulator and check out some of the more interesting details when you're ready.
We've just posted a few pictures from last weekend's fantastic Electronics Flea Market at De Anza College in Cupertino.
One interesting thing that we came across: a set of leadframes not so different from those that might be made from that photomask that we wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
Only one two more flea markets left this year, September 11 is the next one; mark your calendars and we'll hope to see you there!
(For a few more, check out photos from another electronics flea market a couple of years ago here.)
Corrected 8/16/10: two more flea markets left for 2010-- Sept. 11 and Oct. 9.
Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:32:00 -0700 -
Woo-hoo! We just got Cooking for Geeks in the mail. You can view it as a cookbook that takes time to delve into the science of the recipes or a food science book with demonstrative recipes. Or maybe an introduction to everything that food geeks know about, but everyone else wishes they did. It also has a series of interviews with geeks, chefs and scientists-- including us, but I'm not sure which of those categories we fit into. Regardless, we enjoyed talking with Jeff about the book and are happy to see it out in print!
The cover design with splatter marks and stains means less worry when it gets spilled on in the process of cooking (not that I've ever worried about that with any of my other cookbooks).
Most pages have ample room for margin notes, which is something I'm fond of for recipe alterations. It flops open on the counter well, too.
We got a nice shoutout from Jeff on NPR's Science Friday last week for the laser cut pie crust from our Apple pie, which is featured in the book along with our electrocuted hot dogs. Thanks, Jeff, and congrats on getting the book out there!
One of our favorite projects of the last year is our Bulbdial Clock, an LED shadow clock based on an idea from Ironic Sans. And, while we have written a fair bit about it, we haven't yet taken the time to describe some of the interesting technical details.
So in what follows here, we discuss some of those details, with an emphasis on a few in particular that we've been asked about. First, the process of designing and prototyping "funny shaped" circuit boards, but also charlieplexing LEDs in a mixed array, and (finally) getting that rear-projection scheme to work.
First up: How do you make circuit boards that aren't rectangular?
If you look at the printed circuit boards above, you'll notice that they're anything but rectangular.
They have complex routed shapes and internal routing as well: a big hole in the middle of each board. The standard low cost ("no touch") prototype services from most PCB fabricators allow only rectangular boards, and no internal routing.
There are, of course, more expensive ("full-service") proto services, but suppose that you have a complex design like this. With three separate circuit board designs, the cost of three separate full-service PCB runs adds up very quickly. So this leads to a separate question from how to design the boards, which is how to *prototype* and them at a reasonable rate.
It turns out that at least one PCB fabricator, Sunstone Circuits-- and their excellent PCBexpress service in particular allows fully routed outlines on prototype PCBs at no extra cost. They do not, however, allow internal routing, so we needed another solution for that part.
Here's what we came up with: a ring of large-diameter drilled holes that *almost* punches through. (A ring of circles that *does* punch through is called a "canned circle"-- explicitly disallowed at sunstone.)
The layout screenshot above is from gEDA PCB, showing the larger main board.
Here is how it looks in gEDA gerbv.
And finally, a few days later, here's how it looks as the board arrives. As you can see, we opted for the PCBexpress E1 -- two layers, no soldermask, no silkscreen, 1 day turnaround --option. It's a great deal. A far cry from the finished product, but perfectly sufficient for testing mechanical layout and electrical design.
Here are the other two boards-- for minutes and hours --done in the same process.
From this point, it's possible-- but not trivial --to use clippers to take out the little bridges holding the center disk in place. And then, to build up the working (but not yet beautiful) prototype:
After prototyping and testing comes the final version. While the external routing is easy in production quantities, it's not immediately obvious how you specify internal routing. External routing of the board outline is typically specified in either the "drill drawing" (sometimes called "fabrication drawing") gerber layer, or can be done in a separate layer that just contains the outline. For internal routing, you put the drawing on the same layer and clearly indicate-- because this will be read by a human --which parts go and stay.
In the screenshots above, from the final layout in PCB and gerbv, you can see an example: the board outline (green) has an inner cutout, labeled by the words "ROUTE AWAY."
And here's how that design comes back in the final version.
A note on charlieplexing.
The Bulbdial clock has a grand total of 72 LEDs: 12 hour (red), 30 minute (green), and 30 second (blue). However, only a few of them are on at any given moment, because our clock only needs to display one LED at a time on each ring, or perhaps two as it fades between them. This setup, with a large number of LEDs and very few operated at a time is the perfect situation for charlieplexing.
In the clock we have 10 lines available to control LEDs. This can potentially drive up to 90 LEDs in the configuration shown. Each line passes through a resistor before connecting to a row and column of the matrix. Because each LED is driven between two lines of the chip, each LED is effectively in series with 2*R (the resistance of each resistor), and the voltage that the chip can supply. This works very well if every LED is the same type and has the same forward voltage and current requirement. But what can you have an array with different types of LEDs?
Here is one way to handle the different LED requirements: to segment the LED grid into different portions that have different series resistance.
This scheme is used on the Bulbdial clock, which has different resistors suitable for the different colors of LEDs used. The blue LEDs are all on lines 1-6, so that each has series resistance 2*R1. The green LEDs are between lines 1-5 and 7-9, such that each has series resistance R1+R2, which can be a different value. The red LEDs are between lines 1-6 and 10, so each red LED is driven through series resistance R1+R3, which can be another different value.
This scheme allows us to pick and choose the correct resistor value, independently for all three colors. It is worth noting that we're only using as many LEDs in this scheme as we need; 72 of 90 possible spots. It's also worth noting that LEDs are usually fairly tolerant of overcurrent pulses of short duration, so getting the resistors "just right" is not necessary in any situation where you can guarantee that they'll be scanned all the time. By contrast, the Bulbdial clock circuit is hackable and reprogrammable, so we want to make sure that the LEDs will be happy even if driven continuously.
Rear projection
This diagram shows a cutaway view of the Bulbdial clock, showing the basic geometry of the LEDs and gnomon (the pointy spike in the middle). The LEDs hang below the three rings, and the red ring (top) makes shorter shadows than the blue ring (bottom).
In the most obvious scheme you view this from the top, looking down towards the spike, and see the shadows on the clock face. However, we had an initial goal of also supporting a "rear projection" mode, where you use a translucent clock face and view it from the bottom. While this is easy in principle, it turns out that finding the right material for that translucent clock face was anything but trivial.
We tried paper, masking tape, sanded clear acrylic, engraved clear acrylic with different patterns, white acrylic of different thicknesses, wood veneers, phosphorescent materials, various translucent plastics like acetal, polypropylene, nylon, multiple layers of these different materials, and a number of others. All with very poor results.
It turns out that two major problems kept occurring, and we often had both in the very same materials. First, many of the materials were simply too opaque. Our LEDs are very bright, but the projected pattern was simply not clear enough in most cases. The second problem is that most of the materials did a very poor job of producing clearly diffused projected spots. Imagine, if you will, using the rear projection scheme when it's 3:45 PM and the clock face is made of polypropylene (mostly clear; about the color of a 95% water, 5% milk solution). The red LED (hour hand) is facing towards the right, and the green LED (minute hand) is facing towards the left. Because the material diffuses the light weakly, you can stand in the middle and not see either hand clearly, but if you lean right you're blinded by red light, and if you lean left you're blinded by green light. That's an extreme case, but the same terrible asymmetry was found in many of the materials that we were sure would work well.
We finally did find one material that works well. It's a 1/16" thick acrylic diffuser panel, designed to go underneath fluorescent lights in dropped ceilings. The material is heavily textured on one side, smooth on the other, and it has a pleasant translucent quality to it. Presumably the pigment in this particular material is optimized for scattering light, because it really works like a charm.
We had the clock faces laser cut for us and screen printed on the smooth side, so that the textured side points towards the lights. In the pictures above you can see how it looks from both sides, complete with the gnomon on the right side.
Here's the clock face installed on the clock-- you can leave the back side open to see the works or shut up to keep it mysterious.
And finally, here's how it looks mounted inside a black case.
(Note: photo is a bit dark because it's normal room lighting; superbright photography flashes light up a translucent faceplate way better than LEDs!)
The Bulbdial Clock Kit is available at our web store here, and the new rear projection faceplate is now available here.
Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:29:02 -0700 -
Maker Faire Detroit was a blast! It was held at The Henry Ford, which is a museum worth visiting in its own right. It is an amazing place we didn't get to see nearly enough of and would love to go back and visit again.
In addition to providing a history of American manufacturing and a showcase of amazing vehicles, they have Mold-A-Rama machines!
As usual, one of the most exciting things about Maker Faire for us was meeting and talking with other makers. We got to talk to the participants in an aluminum casting demonstration, who were using foam that was carved onsite with a CNC router.
We also really enjoyed our neighbors at the faire with the Note Grinder, a machine that read player piano rolls optically and used door lock actuators to press the keys on a synth keyboard. We were impressed with how pleasant it was to listen to (even for two days straight!) especially with the rhythm accompaniment provided by the actuator motors.
The fine folks at Context Furniture were passionate about the renaissance of craftsmanship in Detroit and had great stories of reclaimed buildings.
We were tickled to see several Evil Mad Science kits integrated into Maker Faire projects: a Peggy 2 being used as a readerboard, Wes and Don's 3D POV display with a Peggy 2LE, and Matt Mets' Meggy Jr Sr.
Our Eggbots performed like champs, and we even tried out engraving on glass holiday ornaments during the faire. The engraver scratched away the paint on the surface, and as you can see in the top picture, they were beautiful when lit from within by an LED.
We didn't come close to seeing everything, but we've put pictures of some of what we saw in a set on flickr.
We hope to see you at Maker Faire New York!
Yahoo! News: Space News Headlines | Science
The latest Space news headlines from Yahoo! News UK. Find videos, pictures and in-depth Space coverage from our Science news section.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:10:00 +0000 - OTTAWA (AFP) - Astronaut Chris Hadfield in 2013 will become the first Canadian to command the International Space Station (ISS), the Canadian Space Agency announced Thursday.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:02:00 +0000 - LONDON (AFP) - God no longer has any place in theories on the creation of the Universe due to a series of developments in physics, British scientist Stephen Hawking said in extracts published Thursday from a new book.
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:42:00 +0000 - COPENHAGEN (AFP) - The launch into space of Denmark's first privately-built rocket has been postponed to Thursday due to bad weather conditions, one of its builders said.
Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:06:00 +0000 - MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia aims to begin launching manned rockets from its new Vostochny cosmodrome located in the far east of the country as early as 2018, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday.
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:54:00 +0000 - COPIAPO, Chile/CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Facing one of the most complex rescue operations ever attempted, Chile is looking to space and the ocean depths for survival tips to help 33 miners endure months underground awaiting rescue.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:59:00 GMT - Normally, black holes evaporate over time, a process that probably releases information about their contents – but there may be a way to create black holes that stand the test of time
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:56:00 GMT - Molecular cages for storing hydrogen fuel have been made from cheap, natural ingredients – and they taste like crackers
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:45:00 GMT - The stalled weather pattern behind floods in Pakistan and a heatwave in Russia may have delayed the start of the Atlantic hurricane season
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:59:00 GMT - Young drivers who played car-based computer games in their mid-teens are more likely to say they drive fast and dangerously in the real world
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:54:00 GMT - A 20-fold jump in the number of humans with a smallpox-related virus in Congo has provoked a call to assess its global threat
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:17:00 GMT - Cotton impregnated with silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes could provide a cheap and effective method of purifying water in remote locations
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:04:00 GMT - Theory says the Earth's magnetic field can't flip in just a few years, yet for the second time evidence has been found of it happening in the past
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:21:00 GMT - Less than five months after the largest oil spill in US history, another fire has occurred on an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:04:00 GMT - A panel of physicists recommends keeping Fermilab's Tevatron collider alive for an extra three years, but others worry about collateral damage
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:00 GMT - Cyanobacteria survived strong UV exposure for a billion years – the secret to their success could be key to new sunscreens and "anti-ageing" products
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:15:32 GMT - There is much more to the cosmos than meets the eye. Astrophysicist Michael Rowan-Robinson explores what invisible rays from radio to gamma have shown us
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:09:00 GMT - Future spacecraft could change their orbits simply by unfurling electrically conducting tethers – Japan has now tested one in a suborbital mission
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 GMT - All today's stories on NewScientist.com including: the flaws in criminal profiling, a birds-eye view of hurricane Earl and weird water inside planets
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:00:00 GMT - An astronaut on the International Space Station has captured a serene-looking view of hurricane Earl – but things aren't so calm down below
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:45:00 GMT - By storing power for when it's needed most, speakers that plug into a USB port can produce high-quality sound without the need for mains power
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:36:00 GMT - Stephen Hawking's new book is the biggest science news story of the day. Has he suddenly given up a religious belief, asks Roger Highfield
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:27:00 GMT - Congress could find a way around the shock court ruling that has frozen US government support for work on human embryonic stem cells
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:58 GMT - In his new book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking argues that there is no single theory of reality because there is no single reality
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:51:00 GMT - A form of water deep within Uranus and Neptune may behave like a liquid and a solid simultaneously, explaining the planets' bizarre magnetic fields
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:19:00 GMT - Throughout September New Scientist is running a photo competition – we want your photos on the theme of movement and science
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:34:00 GMT - Fifteen children in Finland were diagnosed with narcolepsy after receiving swine flu vaccine – but it could have occurred by chance
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:59:00 GMT - Normally, black holes evaporate over time, a process that probably releases information about their contents – but there may be a way to create black holes that stand the test of time
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:04:00 GMT - Theory says the Earth's magnetic field can't flip in just a few years, yet for the second time evidence has been found of it happening in the past
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:04:00 GMT - A panel of physicists recommends keeping Fermilab's Tevatron collider alive for an extra three years, but others worry about collateral damage
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:36:00 GMT - Stephen Hawking's new book is the biggest science news story of the day. Has he suddenly given up a religious belief, asks Roger Highfield
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:51:00 GMT - A form of water deep within Uranus and Neptune may behave like a liquid and a solid simultaneously, explaining the planets' bizarre magnetic fields
Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:00:00 GMT - Combining techniques used to produce light-bending metamaterials with those used to make optical fibres might just make see-through threads a reality
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:48:00 GMT - Two of the darkest things in the universe may together be making light – or at least, gamma rays – detectable from Earth
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:46:00 GMT - These dark regions may somehow alter the rate of Earth's spin – an insight that could help steer spacecraft more accurately
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:10:00 GMT - The first multiple planet system found by NASA's Kepler mission shows the telescope can weigh planets that are gravitationally linked with their neighbours
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:48:00 GMT - Did our ancient ancestors build to please the ears as well as the eyes? Trevor Cox pitches into the controversial claims of acoustic archaeologists
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:28:00 GMT - Quantum probabilities have been tied to something concrete, if bizarre – the notorious possibility that multiple versions of you exist
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Our most successful theory of nature is bewilderingly remote from reality. But fixing that may require a weirder theory still
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:58:00 GMT - The latest attempt to prove P ≠ NP may be in trouble, but it has still left its mark with a new way of doing mathematics
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:05:00 GMT - LEDs suffer from an embarrassing drop in performance when the power goes up. Tweaking their "quantum wells" could perk them up
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:00:00 GMT - They lead to water's high boiling point, ice's ability to float and DNA's double helix – now hydrogen bonds have been imaged for the first time
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:37:00 GMT - Four mathematicians have won the Fields medal for work that helps unify the traditionally disparate fields of pure and applied mathematics
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:29:00 GMT - Gold and iron have been made to form an alloy, held together by iron's inherent magnetism. The alloy could one day be put to work as computer memory
Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:37:00 GMT - Robert Richardson worked on the superfluid properties of helium – now he worries that we are squandering our supplies of the gas
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:55:00 GMT - Ghostly particles that, according to quantum mechanics, pop in and out of existence all the time could be captured in large numbers by future lasers
MoreInspiration: 20 most recent innovations in gadgets
Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:33:45 +0000 - Sebring Builders, a privately owned Builder/Developer is hoping to become a “trendsetter”. In 2006, Sebring Builders started planning to build Stone Ridge, a private, gated community in the small central Florida town of Sebring. With single family homes starting just under $200,000, they thought this development had everything to offer, great location, clubhouse with [...]
Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:11:41 +0000 - At the mention of the term natural gas, most of us come to think of it as a gas that, as the name might suggest occurs naturally. Right to an extent, but quite vague in the true sense of it, actually natural gas is a mixture of about eight gases, mainly methane, ethane, butane, [...]
Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:10:05 +0000 - ECOtality has announced a clever new contest aimed at promoting their fresh new blog. It’s been awhile since we’ve published a review anyways, so this is a welcome challenge. Ecotality Life is a beautiful website. I love the how the images add meaningful impact and color to the articles, which are further emphasized by [...]
Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:42:08 +0000 - FeedBurner is a popular online service that gives website owners the ability to enhance and promote their blog and news feeds. Recently the company began introducing their long-anticipated networking service, which gives users the ability to create and manage feed networks based on a topic or theme. These feeds can then be combined and [...]
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:54:55 +0000 - I hope the price of gasoline and oil doubles in the next year. Actually, I hope it increases 1000%. Why? Because super-inflated gas prices may be the only thing that wakes North America up to the need for change. Public awareness about global warming and climate change has been numbed by increasing media saturation of [...]
Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:24:44 +0000 - Leonardo DiCaprio is best known as a gifted Hollywood actor, but he is also a major spokesperson for the growing environmental movement. For some time now he has also been busy inspiring people to take action to prevent global catastrophe in the face of global warming and climate change. His latest effort is the [...]
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 09:17:54 +0000 - This car commercial features a GM EV1 and a hummer. The purpose of this video was to document the car’s existence, as GM has claims they do not have any footage of the car. Those cars were so cool… I’m deeply appalled that they aren’t being produced anymore. Regardless, it was nice to see the [...]
Sat, 11 Aug 2007 06:50:52 +0000 - A beautiful, well-designed and frequently updated website community focusing on sustainable living tips and green energy technologies. The daily green tips section includes valuable eco-fashion designs and how-to resources for green outdoor enthusiasts. The forums provide a convenient place for visitors to discuss everything from pollution and climate change to solutions like volunteering and [...]
Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:30:57 +0000 - Rate your conservation efforts with “I Conserve!” challenge cards - the Conservation Council of Ontario distributes cards through The Beer Store’s 441 retail stores across Ontario. By 2009, the Conservation Council of Ontario wants everyone in Ontario to say “I conserve.” The goal is not to become perfect overnight, just better. To make it [...]
Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:07:28 +0000 - SmartPower Urges President Bush to Sign Energy Bill
SmartPower, in a clarion call to the President today strongly urged President Bush to put aside partisan politics and to sign the recently passed Energy Bill. Both the House and the Senate have passed slightly differing versions of this comprehensive energy bill. A compromise bill is expected [...]
Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:07:14 +0000 - As part of our ongoing commitment to bring you the best renewable energy resources, we’ve now launched the AEoogle search engine. Our newest tool combines the power of GoogleTM’s algorithm with the comprehensive resources you’ll find in the renewable energy directory. This fruitful combination provides a more accurate and relevant search result when you [...]
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:53:59 +0000 - Scientists at Columbia University are proposing a revolutionary new agricultural technology that would bring food supplies closer to the end-user. After studying modern greenhouse techniques they have come up with a new concept to build 30-storey skyscrapers to grow food and raise small livestock, effectively eliminating the shipping and pollution expenses associated with urban living. [...]
Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:38:04 +0000 - Phi Tran submitted this link to me by email. According to Phi, Neo-Aerodynamic introduces a new, history making technology to extract kinetic energy from a flowing fluid, providing “unheard-of” amounts of electricity as the final result; this “rate has not been seen before”. During the development of this technology we have gone from one surprising [...]
Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:15:49 +0000 - This was emailed to me for immediate release. Friends of the Earth Canada has launched a landmark lawsuit today against the Government of Canada for abandoning its international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Filed in Federal Court in Ottawa by Canada’s foremost environmental law organization, Sierra Legal, the lawsuit alleges that the federal government [...]
Sun, 13 May 2007 18:20:10 +0000 - This video raises some serious questions about the perceived advantages of ethanol and the current political hype surrounding its production. Politicians throughout the United States are promoting increased production and subsidies for the so-called ‘green fuel’, but as this video clearly points out, there may actually be zero environmental or economic benefits. Simply put, [...]
Wed, 09 May 2007 07:46:47 +0000 - In this video a Wrightspeed X1 electric car out-performs both a Ferrari and Porche! What is stunning about this race is just how well the electric car performs. It shoots off the starting line and very quickly races ahead of the other two cars in both races. I’m very impressed! It’s just too bad that [...]
Sun, 06 May 2007 16:55:17 +0000 - This solar power tower in Spain acts as a powerful electricity generator and graceful work of landscape art. The 40-story high concrete tower is bathed in powerful rays of bright sunlight and it can be seen for miles. This effect is created by 600 large and intensely powerful mirrors which are used to concentrate the [...]
Wed, 02 May 2007 00:24:52 +0000 - These last few stories blew my mind (thanks to the EcoGeek I have hope). It’s great to see wind energy technologies evolving, and the concepts sure are attractive. Here we have a beautiful new loopwing tip-less blade design, a collaborative design by students of Archinect that can harness the wind energy of highways, and the [...]
Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:57:49 +0000 - According to Dave White of Mobile Magazine there may be a way to convert carbon dioxide emissions into electricity using Solar Power! This amazing new potential technology is being developed by a group of scientists at the University of California in San Diego. Apparently they already have a working prototype of the technology, which would [...]
Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:45:49 +0000 - Being the bicycle enthusiast that I am I can’t help but notice this cool new toy from Segway. It’s great how it can maneuver in tight spaces and stay on two wheels at high speed. The possibilities for this technology seem very promising (as long as it isn’t used for military purposes). I bet [...]
Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:25:33 +0000 - Retired Airplane Product Development Engineer Gary Reysa has compiled the most comprehensive do-it-yourself solar website online. His non-commercial website, Build It Solar, contains plans, photos and links to over 500 DIY solar and renewable energy projects. “While trying to find good solar heating ideas for my house, I noted that there is not much [...]
Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:22:33 +0000 - Artist and Engineer Theo Jansen has been designing and creating these wonderful wind powered vehicles for over 10 years. He uses lightweight plastic yellow tubing to construct the vehicle’s skeleton. I realize these projects do not produce energy, but they are so beautiful that I just had to share them. Also featured in wind power.
Sat, 07 Apr 2007 21:16:45 +0000 - The folks at otherpower.com are extremely busy building new wind energy projects, as is evident by the massive amount of information available on their website. Even the most novice do-it-yourselfer could find enough information there to construct a fully functioning wind energy system for their house. There are do-it-yourself instructions, forums, and they even host [...]
Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:44:14 +0000 - Yet another update: We decided to move the energy forums in order to better integrate them with our main site structure. The old forums are still online but are closed for new registrations and posts. Please feel free to register an account and help us get these conversations going!
Fri, 06 Apr 2007 23:44:25 +0000 - For over a year I’ve been trying to figure out a way to display the latest alternative energy news headlines in a timely fashion. It has been very difficult. We’ve gone from manual daily updates to daily feed updates via a sub blog. This past month I’ve been setting up and testing a new system [...]
Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:54:48 +0000 - EcoPhotos.com is a stock photo agency specialized in nature, environmental protection, and sustainability related topics. Images illustrate what needs to be protected, threats to people and to the environment, and a wide range of more sustainable alternatives.
Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:16:12 +0000 - A user submitted video from the Discovery Channel. A very detailed and informative introduction to processing biodiesel as a fuel source. The host tours a biodiesel processing plant and gets an explanation of how the process works, as well as how to convert a regular diesel engine to run off of biofuels. Also featured in [...]
Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:00:48 +0000 - What an exciting and fun website! Designed with kids in mind, Meet the Greens uses flash media to present information about climate change and environmental issues. There are games and videos for kids (and adults) to play and watch. I found myself spending quite a bit of time on this site, it is quality educational [...]
Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:30:10 +0000 - This excellent eye-opening video compares the energy crisis in North America with the sustainable energy models that have been developed in Europe over the past 50 years.
Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:45:56 +0000 - This video gives a detailed overview of an amazing Spanish tower that generates power by collecting heat at its base and forcing the air up through a small chimney. Electricity is produced using a power generator located at the top of the chimney. Also featured in solar power.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:59:00 GMT - Normally, black holes evaporate over time, a process that probably releases information about their contents – but there may be a way to create black holes that stand the test of time
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:56:00 GMT - Molecular cages for storing hydrogen fuel have been made from cheap, natural ingredients – and they taste like crackers
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:45:00 GMT - The stalled weather pattern behind floods in Pakistan and a heatwave in Russia may have delayed the start of the Atlantic hurricane season
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:59:00 GMT - Young drivers who played car-based computer games in their mid-teens are more likely to say they drive fast and dangerously in the real world
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:54:00 GMT - A 20-fold jump in the number of humans with a smallpox-related virus in Congo has provoked a call to assess its global threat
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:17:00 GMT - Cotton impregnated with silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes could provide a cheap and effective method of purifying water in remote locations
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:04:00 GMT - Theory says the Earth's magnetic field can't flip in just a few years, yet for the second time evidence has been found of it happening in the past
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:21:00 GMT - Less than five months after the largest oil spill in US history, another fire has occurred on an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:04:00 GMT - A panel of physicists recommends keeping Fermilab's Tevatron collider alive for an extra three years, but others worry about collateral damage
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:00 GMT - Cyanobacteria survived strong UV exposure for a billion years – the secret to their success could be key to new sunscreens and "anti-ageing" products
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:15:32 GMT - There is much more to the cosmos than meets the eye. Astrophysicist Michael Rowan-Robinson explores what invisible rays from radio to gamma have shown us
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:09:00 GMT - Future spacecraft could change their orbits simply by unfurling electrically conducting tethers – Japan has now tested one in a suborbital mission
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 GMT - All today's stories on NewScientist.com including: the flaws in criminal profiling, a birds-eye view of hurricane Earl and weird water inside planets
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:00:00 GMT - An astronaut on the International Space Station has captured a serene-looking view of hurricane Earl – but things aren't so calm down below
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:45:00 GMT - By storing power for when it's needed most, speakers that plug into a USB port can produce high-quality sound without the need for mains power
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:36:00 GMT - Stephen Hawking's new book is the biggest science news story of the day. Has he suddenly given up a religious belief, asks Roger Highfield
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:27:00 GMT - Congress could find a way around the shock court ruling that has frozen US government support for work on human embryonic stem cells
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:58 GMT - In his new book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking argues that there is no single theory of reality because there is no single reality
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:51:00 GMT - A form of water deep within Uranus and Neptune may behave like a liquid and a solid simultaneously, explaining the planets' bizarre magnetic fields
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:19:00 GMT - Throughout September New Scientist is running a photo competition – we want your photos on the theme of movement and science
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:34:00 GMT - Fifteen children in Finland were diagnosed with narcolepsy after receiving swine flu vaccine – but it could have occurred by chance
