maths
Vehicles
Did a Meteor Take Down Air France Flight 447?
12:45AM Adam Frucci | Could a meteor strike be the reason behind the crash of Air France flight 447? The math geeks at Discover crunched some numbers and it turns out that it’s not as implausible as you might think. More »
Science
Mathematician Creates Impossible, Rule-Bending Mirrors
2:40AM Mark Wilson | Andrew Hicks is a mathematician. And he uses those math skills, coupled with a little computer algorithm assistance, to create mirrors that accomplish feats like reflecting text without turning the writing backwards. More »
Design
Math Lamp Requires You To Number Crunch For Light
5:30AM Adrian Covert | The arithmetic-challenged should avoid this lamp at all costs, because to turn it on, you’re required to correctly solve a math problem. From the looks of this Mingyu Jeung creation, problems appear to be of the simple add/subtract/multiply/divide variety, so you don’t need to be a math major to safely navigate your home. But if you’re really bad at math, look on the “bright” side—you’ll save a lot on your power bill! [Yanko Design] More »
Gadgets
CO2 Pocket Calculator Does The New Hippie Math
9:30AM Sean Fallon | There are plenty of carbon footprint calculators online, but now treehugging mathematicians can easily calculate how much damage they are doing to mother Earth using this handy pocket-sized CO2 calculator. Electricity use, water, trash and gas can all be managed from this simple, portable device (although, I don’t see a button on there to calculate the impact all of your calculating has on the environment). Obviously, the CO2Calc is only available in Japan, but I’m sure it won’t be long until a similar product makes its way stateside. And yes, it is solar powered if you were wondering—which is too bad. It would be funnier if it wasn’t. [CO2Calc via Kilian Nakamura] More »
Design
Cutting Edge Algorithmic Architecture
5:50AM Sean Fallon | Architecture has always been a mixture of art and engineering, but as we press on through the 21st century, the role of computers in the design process is becoming more and more integral. Algorithmic architecture is on the cutting edge of this movement, and the complex, rhythmic designs can be truly breathtaking. With that in mind, OObject has collected a list of 15 schemes that portray this emerging field at its best. [OObject] More »
Design
Strange Decanters Are Like Your Lungs on Red Wine
2:30AM Gizmodo US Edition | Artist Etienne Meneau has made these amazing sculptural wine decanters, applying some fractal-ness to the design. As a result, they look pretty anatomical when you fill them with red wine: rather like the brachiated patterns of lungs or blood vessels. Bound to be conversation pieces at a party. Hand-made in borosilicate glass and about 60cm tall, they’re in a very limited numbered and signed edition. But vinophile mathematicians or biologists keen to get one might have to save up some cash: each 75cl carafe costs around US$3,400. [Strange Decanter] More »
Science
Science Team Make Gut Bacteria Do Math: Living Computers On Way?
8:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | It may not be quite as sophisticated or cerebral as Starfleet’s bio-neural computing gel packs, but scientists have made a start towards this sort of tech by making bacteria solve a math problem. The team from Davidson College and Missouri Western State University added genes to the harmless Escherichia coli, normally found wiggling its way ’round your gut. The result was a bacterial computer able to solve the classic mathematical puzzle called the Burnt Pancake Problem… kind of fitting for a gut bacterium, no? More »
Computers
Video: Charles Babbage’s Difference Machine No. 2 Fully Operational
7:27AM Adrian Covert | For those who haven’t yet heard, a band of number-crunching nostalgists took the concept design for Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2, and turned it into a real, fully functional machine. Today, it went on display at the Computer History museum in San Jose. Difference Engine No. 2, designed in 1847, was designed to calculate and tabulate values run through polynomial functions up to the seventh order. It, along with the other Babbage Engines, is considered to be the first automatic computing machine. More »
Science
German Schoolboy Corrects NASA’s Math – We’re All Doomed
10:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | NASA has been forced to check its math after a 13-year-old German boy wrote to tell them their calculations for the probability of an asteroid hitting earth were incorrect. Agency bosses had predicted a one-in-45,000 chance of an interstellar object bringing an end to life as we know it; that was until teen Nico Marquardt told them that the figure was closer to one in 450.
Gadgets
