Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

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MythBusters (ep 183)


09 Apr

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Square tires? It’s classic MythBusters, but did they really say a smooth ride was plausible? Because if so, they should check their editing, with the parting shot of Adam and Jamie, saying let’s walk, it’s more comfortable. That statement belies any plausibility of a smooth ride.

I miss the days of one big myth, with the whole team working on it. In the “old days”, the MythBusters would have tested if two cars could get stuck together, and then after failing to make it happen, they would’ve presented the evidence from the crash site experts and moved on to maneuvers.

MythBusters: Fire & Ice (ep 182)


02 Apr

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I fell asleep for the last five minutes of MythBusters and woke up again just as Chain Reaction was starting. The final five minutes, when you see how the big myth of the episode ends, is the suckiest part of the episode to miss. C did tell me that the supped up fire extinguisher did a little bit, but certainly nothing like the viral video clip, which did not surprise me at all.

I was also not surprised that MythBusters found it “busted” that dust clouds could trick drone technology. That would not be a good thing to find plausible.

Who wants a Tricorder?


01 Apr

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For forever, or at least since the series premiered, Star Trek fans have wanted their very own tricorders. And now, that dream can come true, for less than you think.

Peter Jansen, a PhD in Cognitive Science at the university of Arizona recently invented and released the blueprints (free of charge) for a tricorder. That’s right, for the cost of parts, you can build your very own tricorder. It will take spatial readings for location and distance and measure temperature, humidity, even magnetic fields.

Jansen is also interested in working on a medical tricorder for the Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize.

Science Content: Invisibility Cloak (2)


29 Mar

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You read that right- (2). In August I wrote about a different invisibility cloak, one that was bending light rays around objects to make them so they couldn’t be seen. The latest invisibility cloak is not meant to trick your eyes, but to trick sensors, specifically, heat sensors. So yes, it’s more of a heat shield than an invisibility cloak, but the purpose is really the same.

Of course, what it seems like we’ll really use this thermal diffusion ability for is to make our computers run quieter, by getting make them cooler and therefore eliminating the need for fans.

MythBusters: Duct Tape Island (ep 181)


26 Mar

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Duct tape is apparently more than a handyman’s friend, it’s an all-round survival tool, though I think it helped that Adam and Jamie had experience using it for some of these things (like boat building) before.

The shrink wrap was a legitimate tool since it came on the pallet of duct tape. Survivorman would approve.

I appreciated that while they caught the chicken, unlike Survivorman, they did not eat it. Nor did they try to hide the fact that they had cameramen with them (cameramen, or the lack thereof, are the main reason I prefer Surviorman to Man vs Wild.)

Where’s the Driver


23 Feb

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I have a soft spot in my heart forNevada. I lived there for 12 years, and learned many valuable lessons from “don’t gamble” to what a real service economy looks like.

While people may not agree with the morality of what is legal inNevada, the state’s policies have proven to be socially innovative.

Now, Nevadais being innovative again. They approved legislation this month authorizing autonomous vehicles. That’s right, inNevada, you could now pass a car moving on the highway that doesn’t have a driver. The tech may be years away, butNevada is ready and waiting.

Caught on Camera


21 Jan

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It’s happened again! Scientists have found a species believed to be extinct! This time, it’s the Miller’s Grizzled Langur, a monkey living in the jungles ofBorneo. These guys are so rare, and it has been so long since they’ve been seen, that the scientists who “found” them (via camera traps) did not even know what they were looking at. In fact, museum sketches were the best pictorial evidence they had to go on.

The old habitat of the monkeys had been destroyed, and they were honestly believed gone. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of how resilient animals are.

Congratulations, It’s a Submarine


13 Jan

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The H.L. Hunley, the world’s first successful combat submarine, can now be seen completely unobstructed, at the Charleston conservatory in Charleston, SC.

Preservation is not yet completed. Conservators need to remove corrosion from the iron hull and then add chemicals so that the submarine can be shown in open air, but still, you can now view the whole thing.

While the Hunley was a major accomplishment for the Confederacy, it was also a source of tragedy, with three full crews dying inside her hull. Pictures of the final crew are on display next to the tank that holds the sub.

Behold the Sunflower


12 Jan

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I love this quote from MIT mechanical engineer Alexander Mitsos “”It is very scary that we did all the [numerical optimization] work and then we go back to nature,” he noted. “We could have started there.”

What is he talking about? Designing solar power arrays based on the sunflower. It sounds simple when you think about it. We call it the sunflower partly because it follows the sun. Is it any surprise that it’s optimized to catch the sun’s rays?

Regardless of the simplicity of the design, reducing the size of solar power arrays by 20% is huge. Go nature.

Old Dreams


11 Jan

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Way back when, I was a History major who wanted a masters in Museum Studies and my brother was an Archaeology major. I used to have these fantasies of us working at an important archeological site together and finding something amazing, something like the Hallaton Helmet.

Dating from Emperor Claudius’s invasion of Britian around two thousand years ago, the helmet took over 10 years to restore after it was first found (by a guy with a metal detector, along with a number of ancient coins). What a perfect combination of the work of archeologists and the specialists at the museum.

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