Science

Science

Scientists Work Out Way to Capture 3D Texture Info in a Flash

Posted by Kit Eaton at 12:00 AM on August 28, 2008

Some scientists at University of Manchester in the UK and Dolby Canada in Vancouver have worked out a way to capture 3D info of complex-textured objects really simply with a camera flash. You should care about this because it's likely to make the textures applied to characters and objects in computer games way more realistic: normally texture capturing needs expensive devices like laser scanners. Instead this technique uses something a bit like high dynamic-range photography, with two photos taken of a real-life texture: one with flash, one without. After some nifty image processing later, working out where the light and shade come from on the object for each pixel in both the illuminated and unilluminated shots, and they reproduce 3D depth and colour info for the texture. It covers the whole field of the frame, and since it's 3D it lets you change the angle of illumination and shadowing when the texture is re-rendered in 3D graphics. Though it's still a work in progress, it's pretty impressive, and apparently fooled a test group of viewers who couldn't distinguish images made with the flash technique from laser-scanned imagery. It was demoed at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles recently. [New Scientist]


Science

Homemade Experiments with Aerogel, the World's Lightest Solid

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 10:10 AM on August 27, 2008

Jason Wells got to toy around with a few blocks of Aerogel, the fantastically light (and fantastically expensive) material made famous by its use as insulation in NASA spacecraft like the Mars Rover. Using just everyday materials from his house, he managed to test the futuristic product's strength, optical properties, reaction to different liquids and temperatures, and electrical conductivity. He concludes from the experiments that it should work really well as a fire retardant or insulation, as well as pulling moisture out of pretty much anything (including his finger!). Aerogel weighs only three times as much as air, but is even more effective than your everyday pink insulation. It may only be the world's coolest insulation material, but are you the world's coolest anything? Didn't think so. [Jason Wells via Crunchgear]

Science

Build Your Own Large Hadron Collider in 1.62 x 10^28 Easy Steps

Posted by John Mahoney at 3:15 AM on August 27, 2008

Want to build the most complex machine human kind has ever produced? All you'll need is €6 billion, enough real estate to hold your 17-mile-long ring, a staff of international geniuses, and these plans (free!). The 115MB of documentation just made available by the Journal of Instrumentation has all you need to understand the inner workings of all the major LHC components, from the EMCAL super modules to the ionising gas straw tubes to the calorimeter end-caps. And the schematics within are, just like everything else large-hadron related, beautiful.


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Science

Wind Turbines Murdering Bats By Popping Their Lungs

Posted by John Mahoney at 9:00 AM on August 26, 2008

On the list of ways to go, having your lungs explode is definitely on the gnarlier side. Too bad for bats in treehugging locales, though, because that's what's happening to them, due to a pretty serious error with their awesome echolcation systems crossing with the seemingly benign forces of Bernoulli's principle put into motion by the turbines' huge spinning blades. Ouch all around.


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Science

Spitzer Space Telescope Celebrates 5th Birthday With Portrait of Stellar Nursery

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 10:00 AM on August 24, 2008

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the last of the space agency's Great Observatories satellites to launch, celebrated its fifth birthday recently... giving me the opportunity to post this amazing multigenerational picture of star-forming region in the constellation Cassiopeia, 6,500 light-years from Earth. The photo takes in an area equivalent to four full moons and puts on show how one generation of massive stars can give birth to the next.


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Science

Drawings of Early Microscopes Show Artistry in the Pursuit of Science

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 7:45 AM on August 24, 2008

Ah, where would science be if not for the contributions of the humble microscope? Did you know that the development of the world's first microscope began in 11th century Iraq, when scientist and polymath Ibn al-Haytham recorded all sorts of data about lenses, binocular vision, mirrors and observable properties of light his The Book of Optics? That would make this pioneering technology more than a thousand years old. BibliOdyssey has amassed a great collection of drawings of pre-20th century microscopes and some of them look more like art pieces than instruments of science. Check out my favourites: [Bibliodyssey via MAKE]


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Science

MIT Developing a Battery Half the Size of a Human Cell

Posted by Adrian Covert at 6:15 AM on August 24, 2008

MIT Researchers are working on virus-based microbatteries that are about half the size of a human cell. Using a combination of virus cultivation (which assembles itself) an soft lithography, Paula Hammond and team were able manufacture the battery, which consists of a cathode, anode and electrolyte. They hope the breakthrough will allow for applications like implantable medical sensors and labs that fit on a computer chip. [MIT via Good Clean Tech via PC World]


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Science

Australian Student Invents Cheap Solar Using Nail Polish and a Pizza Oven

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 12:00 AM on August 24, 2008

An Australian PhD student has found a cheap way to make solar cells with nail polish, a pizza oven and an ink jet printer. 23-year-old Nicole Kuepper's invention, named iJET, doesn't require the pricey clean rooms and high-temperature ovens of traditional solar panel manufacturing plants, thus dramatically lowering the cost of solar and paving the road for introducing the technology to third-world countries.


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Science

Scientists Create Smoothest Mirror Surface Ever

Posted by Kit Eaton at 1:15 AM on August 23, 2008

A team at the Autonomous University of Madrid have created what they're calling the smoothest mirror surface ever made. It's flat down to the size scales of individual lead atoms, and was made by depositing lead onto silicon crystal at freakish temperatures of -173 to -133°C. This messes with the quantum properties of electrons in the lead and lets it settle without bunching up as it's warmed up. It's not shiny, or for checking out your hair-do though: the intention is to bend the compound mirror into a convex shape for use in a helium ion microscope. This'll work in similar ways and with similar magnification to an electron microscope, focusing helium ions instead of electrons, which don't damage delicate biological samples. The team's next task is to tackle the bending part. Smooth work, guys. [New Scientist]


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Science

Intel Explains In What Year We'll Be Cyborgs But Terminators Will Kill Us Anyway

Posted by Mark Wilson at 11:45 PM on August 22, 2008

2050. That's the year that you'll plug your brain into a toaster. Intel doesn't know how, precisely, but according to Intel CTO Justin Rattner's recent keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, they're working on it. From Intel's summary of the event:


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Science

Iran Hopes to Send a Man to Space Within 10 Years

Posted by John Mahoney at 12:15 AM on August 22, 2008

After a test satellite launch (Iran: success! USA: failure!) this past weekend carried out with one of their many, many missiles, Iran is rolling with the momentum and announcing plans to put a man in space within 10 years. While the feasibility of such a plan remains up in the air, it of course isn't the first time such an audacious goal has been set.


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Science

Intel Says They've Taken A Huge Leap in Wireless Power Tech

Posted by John Mahoney at 11:30 PM on August 21, 2008

Wireless power for charging gadgets has been among the more vapourous of developments we've been hearing promises of for years. While there are a few working instances of the tech on the market, its large-scale adoption still feels miles away. So the appropriate scepticism should be applied to this NY Times report claiming Intel will announce a major wireless power breakthrough today at the Intel Developers Forum, but the details do seem enticing this time around for one of the holy grails of the CE world soon becoming a bit more feasible. UPDATED: Pics of Intel's IDF demo from today have been added.


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Science

A Look Inside Russia's Star City, Where Cosmonauts Are Made

Posted by John Mahoney at 9:10 AM on August 21, 2008

Wired has a great feature on Richard Garriott, the father of MMORPG OG Ultima and the latest millionaire to get blasted up to the ISS as a paying tourist. More specifically, the gruelling 8 months of training Garriott must first endure at Zvyozdny Gorodok, (Star City), a.k.a. Yuri's house, a.k.a. where space flight was born. All tourists on the ISS must be capable of performing mission-critical duties in the case of an emergency, and Wired followed Garriott through the historic site every step of the way, grabbing fantastic photos of this incredibly historic facility in the process.


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Science

Giant Cold-War Era Russian Proton Rocket Successfully Launches Giant Satellite Into Space

Posted by Brian Lam at 12:07 PM on August 20, 2008

The Inmarsat-4, or I4-F3 broadband satellite to its friends, is a big satellite. Almost as big as a double decker bus and with an unfurled solar wingspan as wide as a football field, it needed an appropriately big ride into space. And so it hitched onto a Proton Rocket, a 58m-high, 700-ton monster used for sat positioning since 1996, but before that, used in the 1960's to visit planets for scientific research and deliver parts of the International Space Station and Mir Space Station. The flight was perfect. [Baikonur Campaigns via BBC via io9]


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Science

M2E Developing Kinetic Mobile Phone Charger That is Up to 700 Percent More Effective

Posted by Sean Fallon at 11:00 AM on August 20, 2008

This isn't the first time we have seen a mobile phone charger that is powered by kinetic energy, but the difference is that M2E is working on a charger that can produce 300 to 700% more juice than current technologies. They hope this will translate into a full-on replacement for mobile phone batteries somewhere down the line. According to earth2tech, M2E's short term goal is to develop a charger that will produce an hour of talk time for around six hours of normal movement. Currently, M2E is in talks with major accessories manufacturers about bringing a device to market as early as 2009. [earth2tech via Inhabitat]

Science

Charge an iPod With Vodka? Sounds Educational, Incapacitating

Posted by Sean Fallon at 10:20 AM on August 20, 2008

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies have launched the the Bio Energy Discovery Kit, a product that they are calling "the fuel cell industry's first direct ethanol product." The kit directly converts alcohol into electricity and can run non-stop for days on end. The purpose of the kit is to introduce fuel cell technology to students, scientists, teachers and engineers using a simple gadget that is easy to understand.


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Science

Kite Surfer Goes Out During Tropical Storm, Learns Valuable Lesson About the Power of Nature

Posted by Adam Frucci at 5:59 AM on August 20, 2008

Kite surfing is a fun sport that involves using a large kite and a surfboard to get a lot of speed up on the water. It's like wakeboarding without a boat. Naturally, you need a decent amount of wind for it to work properly. There's a limit to how much wind you should use, however, as a dimwitted kite surfer discovered when he tried to unleash his kite during a tropical storm in Fort Lauderdale and ended up getting flung across the beach and into the side of a building right in front of local news cameras.


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Science

EpiCard Makes EpiPens Look Fat By Comparison

Posted by Matt Hickey at 10:20 AM on August 19, 2008

Some medical students have come up with a handy replacement for the EpiPen called the EpiCard. It's roughly the size of a credit card and has built-in audio instructions on its use to help the patient self-administer the treatment if needed. Those of us with hardcore life threatening allergies have to keep a treatment like the EpiPen around, but they can be cumbersome. Having something like this that you can take anywhere is just what we need. [EpiCard via MedGadget]


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Science

Physicists Devise Warp Drive Plans for Travelling Faster Than Light

Posted by Adam Frucci at 3:10 AM on August 19, 2008

Warp drives, those vague constants of science fiction movies, might actually become real, allowing for travel faster than the speed of light. According to two physicists from Baylor, they've come up with a concept for a warp drive that would shrink space, allowing for a craft to jump ahead vast distances without breaking any laws of physics.


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Science

Moisture Vaporators Spotted In Buenos Aires

Posted by Jack Loftus at 8:00 AM on August 18, 2008

The Buenos Aires government would have done the late Owen Lars proud with their newly installed US$5 million Intelligent Monitoring Towers. Designed to collect information about the city's air and noise quality, we can easily see these 42 towers being at home collecting moisture on a dusty planet in a certain binary star system far, far away. The towers measure cobalt, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, benzene and humidity (just like on Tatooine!).


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Science

Periodic Table of Videos Makes Chemistry Extremely Watchable

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 7:30 AM on August 17, 2008

Science nerds and fans of British accents rejoice! University of Nottingham scientist/professor Martyn Poliakoff and video journalist Brady Haran have put together what they've dubbed The Periodic Table of Videos, where each square contains a link to a video showing some fascinating facts about its element. Who knew Bismuth was so pretty (quite honestly, who knew what Bismuth was in the first place)? Best of all, the project is continually updated, so even after you're done with the 117 videos currently on the site, you can come back later to check for newer ones. The introductory clip gives you a taste of what you'll find on their site. [ via Neatorama]


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Science

New Tech Converts Heat into Electricity, Saves You Petrol

Posted by Adam Frucci at 5:00 AM on August 16, 2008

Furukawa, a Tokyo-based tech company, has developed a thermoelectric conversion material that's said to be able to boost the fuel efficiency of cars by 2% by converting about 7% of exhaust heat into electricity. Unlike conventional thermoelectric conversion materials, which warm up as a whole when one side is exposed to heat, this new material generates energy via the difference in temperature between its two sides. Apparently, that makes it much more efficient. They're currently working to improve the system, but they hope to have it ready for mass production by 2011, at which point that 2% will solve the petrol crisis single-handedly. Just hang in there for a few more years! [Nikkei via CrunchGear]


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Science

Researchers Invent Nanotech Waterproofing for Planes

Posted by Kit Eaton at 8:37 PM on August 15, 2008

The Air Force's Office of Scientific Research has funded a study that's found a novel waterproofing technique that could prevent ice formation and corrosion from damaging parts of an aircraft, like optical sensors. The transparent coating has a nanoporous surface that is superhydrophobic, which makes water droplets form and roll or bounce-off the aircraft's skin rather than collecting, which is how ice formations happen. Better still it can be crafted to send the droplets in particular pathways across the coating, meaning it may also work as a cheap and simple water-collection system for desert environments: this was inspired by the way the Namib Desert beetle gathers moisture. We wonder though... is it as good as Golden Shellback? [AirForceLink]


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Science

Scientists Demo New Nanoprinting Tech with Microscopic Golden Olympic Logos

Posted by Kit Eaton at 7:44 PM on August 15, 2008

Scientists at Northwestern University have demonstrated a new nano-printing technology by printing the Beijing Olympics emblem 15,000 times, each logo so small the whole print run fits inside one square centimeter. 2,500 of the images, made 20,000 90-nanometer dots, would fit on a grain of rice. The polymer pen lithography uses an array of millions of tiny flexible polymer "pens" that can be used to make marks on various different nano-scales, and in this case deposit "ink" made of 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid onto a gold substrate (what else would do, in Olympic season?) The team thinks that the technique, which can print out tiny dot-matrix imagery, will find uses in computational tools, medical diagnostics and the pharmaceutical industry. The study is published today in Science Express. [Physorg]


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Science

Synthetic Telepathy = In, Note Passing = Out

Posted by Benny Goldman at 9:00 AM on August 15, 2008

With US$4 million from the US Army, scientists at UC Irvine will study synthetic telepathy, otherwise known as sending and receiving messages using your mind. The scientists believe that this amazing new form of communication could benefit stroke victims who can't speak—but also aid soldiers in the battlefield. If it becomes popular enough, it will of course be abused by middle-school gossips and guys hoping to be like Mel Gibson in that crappy movie, too. Here's how the eggheads plan to make it work:


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