The Moon, Europa

The Moon, Europa

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

NASA E-Mails Wrench?

When Commander Barry Wilmore (of the ISS) needed a wrench the team at Made In Space delivered, via email. The wrench was designed - in CAD - on the ground, emailed to NASA and transmitted to the International Space Station. Commander Wilmore was then able to build the wrench on site using a 3D printer; it may not be rocket science per se, but it's pretty darn cool.

For the full article at Gizmodo see link below:
NASA E-Mails Wrench - Article

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Light As A Feather?

Gravity exerts a constant force on any mass withing its range. Can a feather fall as fast as a bowling ball? Cyclists know wind resistance is a big factor in pace. Aeronautics and automotive engineers are always looking to lower drag coefficients to increase performance and fuel efficiency. If you have never thought of wind resistance before or experienced the incredible force of the atmosphere, one of the very things ancient scientists thought was non-substantive, you should watch this video. Even if you already know the outcome, this is a fun experiment to watch...

Bowling Ball and Feather Drop

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Forthcoming Film: Chappie...

I am interested to see another iteration of the potential evolution of Artificial Intelligence. I thoroughly enjoyed District 9 (the same creators) and Chappie appears to have potential. We shall see...

Chappie trailer on YouTube

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Gyroscopic Precession

An interesting concept I stumbled across the other day is Gyroscopic Precession. I am familiar with this concept, not by name but by experience with cycling and motorcycling. The faster the wheels on your cycle of choice are spinning the more difficult it is for that cycle to tip over. I cannot explain it better than the guy on YouTube so I am providing a link to two videos that cover the topic quite well.
Flywheel Experiment
Gyroscopic Precession

Monday, February 17, 2014

Artificial Intelligence on Indigogo

This may be old news to some but I just stumbled across a new A.I. project on the indigogo site called EmoSPARK. The little box appears to be a voice recognition system that "learns" to modify its responses to suit the user's mood and preferences. There have been a lot of over the years, all of them disappointing thus far, claiming to be some form of A.I. I do not know if this will another small step to an actual A.I., like voice activated search engines. I do know I want one. I will call her Em...
EmoSPARK

Friday, January 10, 2014

Dropping Cats and Blowing Bubbles With an AK-47

Learning new things is occasionally dull, but not when those things involve stunt cats and machine guns.
There have been other videos done on the physics of how cats land on their feet; this one is a bit more fun and the explanation is well put.
Cat Flipping - YouTube Video
The second video is a bit more in depth than the first and involves shooting a rifle, specifically an AK-47, under water. As you watch, note the strange behavior of the bubbles as the gas expands and contracts after exiting the barrel. Bubble bounce is a phenomenon one can observe while scuba diving when bubbles the diver exhales briefly undulate before "stabilizing" on their shaky rise to the surface. The gas of the gunpowder explosion illustrates this phenomenon to the extreme. The host also explains cavitation; something that happens to the hull of a submarine
Underwater Gunfire - YouTube