Category: Uncategorized

Trolling Self-Driving Cars

XKCD’s Randall nails it beautifully, as usual…

sure you can code around this particular “attack vector”, but there are infinite possibilities… these are things we do have to consider along the way.

Building a Rope Bridge Using Quadcopters

Or, how to do something really useful with these critters…

Quadcopters are regularly in the news, as they’re fairly cheap and lots of people are playing about with them and quite often creating a nuisance or even dangerous situations. I suppose it’s a phase, but I don’t blame people for wondering what positive use quadcopters can have.

At STEM and Management University ETH Zurich (Switzerland), software tools have been developed to calculate the appropriate structure for a rope bridge, after a physical location has been measured up. The resulting structure is also virtually tested before the quadcopters start, autonomously, with the actual build.

The built physical structure can hold humans crossing. Imagine this getting used in disaster areas, to help save people. Just one example… quite fabulous, isn’t it!

The experiments are done in the Flying Machine Arena of ETH Zurich, a 10x10x10 meter space with fast motion capture cameras.

2015 Science in Society Journalism Awards winners announced

2015 Science in Society Journalism Awards logoThe winners of the 2015 Science in Society Journalism Awards have been announced. The awards are sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers (USA), which “fosters the dissemination of accurate information regarding science through all media normally devoted to informing the public”.

We see plenty of mis-information and plain bad science around, so it’s very important to promote and support organisations and awards such as these.

CONFIRMED: The Last Great Prediction Of The Big Bang! | Medium

Seventy years ago, we had taken fascinating steps forward in our conception of the Universe. Rather than living in a Universe governed by absolute space and absolute time, we lived in one where space and time were relative, depending on the observer. We no longer lived in a Newtonian Universe, but rather one governed by general relativity, where matter and energy cause the fabric of spacetime itself to curve.

[…]

[Now] A leftover glow unlike any other — of neutrinos — has finally been seen.

Read the full article.

“Two degrees above absolute zero was never so hot.”

NASA releases 3D-printable models to the public | gizmag.com

http://www.gizmag.com/nasa-3d-printable-models/33116/

As part of its continuing program of education and outreach, NASA has released 22 printable models of NASA and European space probes, asteroids, and planetary landscapes for the hobbyist and space enthusiast.

The 3D models are available from the NASA website for free and are printable on any desktop 3D printer using plastic filaments. It’s the latest in a long tradition of NASA science, technology artwork made available to the public going back to its founding in 1958.

State of Electronics – Getting Started

My friend Jon Oxer (Freetronics) contributed to a short film by Karl Moller (State of Electronics) about how different people (including well knowns such as Dick Smith) first became interested in electronics. Beautifully done, it’s a worthwhile watch.

Jon also writes about his first electronics experience:

When I was in primary school, we all went on a visit to a local community radio station somewhere around Northcote. They let each of us speak on the radio for a moment, which was very exciting for a little kid!

However, the really significant thing was that one of the staff found out I was interested in electronics so he drew the circuit diagram of a crystal receiver on a scrap of paper for me to take home with me. I later scrounged up the various parts required to assemble it, and spent hours listening to stations such as 3RPH.

It blew my mind that something as simple as a crystal set could receive radio signals without even needing a battery, so it would just sit there playing the sound 24/7 and never go flat. It was like having magical powers to cast a spell on an inanimate object and make it do something interesting.