Scientific data in various fields of human endeavor. Interesting user friendly presentation of articles in sciences both recent and in the distant past
CICADA gliding UAV is designed to deploy sensors behind enemy lines
When soldiers want to gather intelligence in enemy territory, they often have to travel into high risk territory themselves, depositing acoustic, magnetic, chemical/biological or signals intelligence sensors by hand. Not only does this place the soldiers in harm’s way, but the logistics of such missions can also end up being quite costly. That’s why the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Vehicle Research Section created the CICADA unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The tiny sensor-equipped glider was successfully tested at Arizona’s Yuma Proving Grounds on September 1st.
One of the major problems with installing an elevator in a home is the amount of space required, not to mention the costly infrastructure and maintenance issues and the immense problems and cost associated with any retrofitting. Now a new type of elevator developed in Argentina looks set to revolutionise the residential lift market, making elevators affordable to everyone. The self-supporting vacuum elevator is constructed of aluminium and polycarbonate and takes just a few hours to install. Unlike previous elevators, the new lift is completely self-supporting, extremely light, has a footprint of just one square metr e and requires no excavating pit or hoistway, it can be fitted to almost any two or three storey building at a fraction of the cost of a normal elevator.
The Residential Pneumatic Vacuum Elevator may be a little challenging to look at the first time you see it – the hoistway is transparent and there are clearly no cables supporting the elevator cab, so it looks distinctly like some thing out of Star Trek, operating on some advanced levitation principle.
It’s actually very safe with over 300 lifts already installed and working perfectly and works entirely according to the simplest laws of physics – the difference in air pressure above and beneath the vacuum elevator cab safely raise and lower it on a cushion of air and though there’s not much room inside, the lift is rated to a capacity of 450 pounds.
Though it might look precarious, it is absolutely safe even in the case of an electricity power failure as the descending car automatically stops and locks on the next floor.
Some clever locking mechanisms mean that the lift always stops exactly at floor level and as air pressure rather than mechanical apparatus move the lift, the starting and stopping is very smooth.
What’s more, the unique installation and streamlined design will adapt to many non-conventional living spaces in a variety house styles.
The lifts can be seen at Daytona Elevator’s web site below
George Jetson fans take note: the wait for your very own jet ski in the sky is nearly over, according to the New Zealand company behind an ambitious aeronautical project.
The Martin Jetpack, literally a strap-on personal flying machine, is now in the final stages of development, with the first machines to be dispatched for solo flights by the end of the year.
Military agencies, border control and rescue organisations in the United States will be the first to use the pricey $NZ100,000 (about $75,000) aircraft.
Inventor Glenn Martin predicts it will be just 18 months before other wealthy enthusiasts get their delivery.
“We’ve had 2500 people sign up for one so far, and plenty of them from Australia,” Mr Martin told AAP.
Their plans for the expensive toy range from practical – “some just want to dodge the rush-hour traffic and do it in style” – to the purely frivolous.
“We know of someone that would love to do stunts flying across Sydney Harbour. How amazing would that be?” Mr Martin said.
The jetpack resembles two leaf blowers welded together but its capabilities are much more complex. The two-litre, jet-powered engine can soar across the skies at 100km/h at heights of up to 50 metres.
Carrying enough fuel to fly for 30 minutes, the contraption could be used in hard-to-access areas and war zones to patrol borders and, if unmanned, to make difficult deliveries by remote control.
“Some of that might sound boring but where there’s huge cost savings and an increase in efficiencies for agencies it’s actually hugely exciting,” Mr Martin said.
Recreationally, it could be used to go fishing and, one day, get to work.
For now, however, it is categorised as a microlight so it cannot be taken into the city centre, however this may change under US law.
Martin’s machine, lauded as Time magazine’s most anticipated invention last year, has been more than three decades in the making.
The Christchurch man began tinkering with the concept in the 1970s, inspired by the limited success of the US Bell Rocket Belt, which stayed airborne for just 26 seconds before crashing.
A gas-guzzler in the extreme, the belt burned through $US2000 worth of fuel in 30 seconds.
Martin’s latest and most celebrated version, unveiled at an air show in 2008, is more fuel efficient, costing just 15 US cents for 20 seconds in the air.
It was designed to be the “simplest aircraft in the world,” said Mr Martin, who has described how “you strap it on, rev the nuts out of it and it lifts you up off the ground”.
“It’s basic physics. As Newton said, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So when you shoot lots of air down very fast you go up and you’re flying.”
He said the interest had been overwhelming, with inquiries coming from Middle Eastern royalty, US business tycoons and European daredevils.
The Australian government hadn’t officially registered its interest but, judging by website traffic, the Australian Defence Force was a fan.
“It’s the fourth biggest visitor to our site after Boeing, NASA and the SAS, so something’s going on there,” he said with a laugh.
“Maybe they’ve just got an employee who thinks it’s so cool they spend all day checking it out.”
Audi teams with Renovo for ‘duo’ line of wooden bicycles
While a number of car makers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren, have sought to leverage their brand and technical knowledge to produce vehicles of the two-wheeled, pedal-powered variety, they tend to opt for the same high-tech, lightweight materials used in their cars, such as carbon fiber and aluminum. Audi has done the same thing in the past, but for its latest bicycle offering Audi of America has taken a different tack by teaming up with Renovo Bicycles to create the “duo” – a line of bikes that feature monocoque frames made of hardwood. Read More
The StemCAPtain replaces your bicycle’s handlebar stem cap with one that incorporates a clock, compass or thermometer
(All photos courtesy StemCAPtain)
Consider your bicycle’s handlebar stem cap for a moment. It’s right there in front of you as you ride, yet it tells you nothing. Colorado mountain bikers Graeson Lewis and Mike Hogan obviously thought that just wasn’t good enough, and decided to put the humble stem cap to work. The result is their product, the StemCAPtain, which replaces a conventional cap with one that incorporates a waterproof analog clock, thermometer or compass.
First of all, yes, a cyclocomputer would give you all that information and more. Bicycle computers can be expensive, however, and even if they weren’t, not everyone likes them. A wristwatch also does a pretty bang-up job of telling the time, although some people don’t wear one, or would prefer not to while cycling – who likes a sweaty watch band, or an untanned area on their wrist in the shape of a watch?
To install the device, you just remove your old stem cap with an allen wrench, replace it with the aluminum base of the StemCAPtain, then push in the clock or other insert of your choice. A silicone gasket on the bottom of the insert should keep it snug and rattle-free. If your headset has already been properly set up, removing and replacing the cap shouldn’t cause anything to go out of adjustment.
If you have any round pictures handy, you can also get a cap that simply acts as a picture frame. Lewis and Hogan are planning on future inserts that feature a bottle opener, altimeter, LED light, or a “digital multifunction device.”
The StemCAPtain is available through the company website, and various retailers. Prices range from US$19.95 for a mini version of the clock, to $26.95 for a tilting version of the compass with a non-magnetic mounting bolt.
Workers walk past a giant photograph of a part of the Large Hadron Collider. Photo: Getty Images/ Sean Gallup
Scientists believe they are one step closer to creating time travel.
American physicists from Vanderbilt University believe they may be able to use the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest atom smasher buried underground near Geneva, to send a type of matter called the Higgs singlet into the past.
But they’re unsure if the Higgs singlet actually exists and whether the machine can produce it, according to a report by Live Science.
The Higgs singlet is related to another hypothesised particle called the Higgs boson, dubbed “God’s particle” because it is associated with giving other particles mass, which the 27-kilometre long atom smasher may produce.
If the Higgs boson is created, the Higgs singlet may also appear, scientists say.
The Higgs singlet may be able to jump through space and time, travel through a hidden dimension, and then re-enter our dimension forwards or backwards in time, physicists Professor Thomas Weiler and graduate fellow Chui Man Ho believe.
“One of the attractive things about this approach to time travel is that it avoids all the big paradoxes,” Professor Weiler said in a statement on research website arxiv.org.
“Because time travel is limited to these special particles, it is not possible for a man to travel back in time and murder one of his parents before he himself is born, for example.
“However, if scientists could control the production of Higgs singlets, they might be able to send messages to the past or future.”
The singlet, a highly technical term to describe the particle that doesn’t interact with matter in the usual way, and boson are both named after theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.
The researcher’s study is based on M theory, or “the theory of everything”, which attempts to unite the cause of all matter.
But it’s much too early to start thinking like Back to the Future’sMarty McFly.
University of Sydney Associate Professor of Physics Kevin Varvell said the study was highly speculative, something the researchers themselves admit.
“From my reading of the paper, these guys themselves aren’t going crazy over the idea of time travel,” Professor Varvell said.
“They explicitly say we’re not talking about time travel for humans, they’re talking about potentially one might be able to send information through the production of these particles.
“But they’re also saying that’s very, very highly speculative as well.
He said it’s one of many ideas that proposes using the collider and it is serious scientific work.
“But, again, I think we need to find the Higgs boson or something like it, before we can entertain other new particles being produced in association with it.”
The Large Hadron Collider, which cost more than $4 billion to build, has attracted plenty of controversy.
Before it started working, some feared it would create black holes and its operation was delayed several times due to a string of technical problems, including a liquid helium leak in 2008.
Philip Pauley’s proposed Pathfinder submarines would be able to crawl along the sea floor, or move through the water when necessary
The Transatlantic Seafloor Research Challenge is not a real competition, but that hasn’t stopped British designer Philip Pauley from envisioning it, and the watercraft that would take part in it. If it were to exist, the challenge would require underwater vehicles to cross from the UK to the US using whatever route their team members thought was the quickest, but they would have to stay in physical contact with the sea floor for as much of the distance as possible. Pauley’s Pathfinder submarines would be equipped with wheels or tracks for trundling along the bottom on most of the crossing, but would also theoretically be able to propel themselves up through the water when necessary.
The designer estimates the trip taking between two and four weeks, during which time the submarines would maintain an average depth of at least 4,000 meters (2.5 miles). They would not be allowed to surface, but would instead be followed by topside support vessels that monitored their activities, and supplied life support and battery recharging power via umbilical cables. The support vessels would also be equipped with ROVs (underwater remote-operated vehicles), to assist the submarine crews in emergencies.
The Pathfinders themselves would be 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49 feet) in length, and would support a three-person crew. A lithium battery system would provide power for the wheels/tracks, and for the two-to-four side thrusters and rear propeller. All waste generated by the crew would have to be contained within the vehicle.
While the Transatlantic Challenge will presumably never happen, Pauley told us that he invented it as “a narrative to try to drive interest into the concept and engage investors.” Instead of winning races, he sees the subs being used more for scientific research and exploration.
When we asked about possible positive buoyancy issues with all those big fat tires, he replied that his hope is that they would be semi-solid. He admitted, however, that the optional heavy tracks could pose a negative buoyancy problem, and were pictured mostly to grab the attention of potential military customers. The windows, he added, were just included for wider audience appeal, and would not be part of an actual Pathfinder.
Given how such large windows would likely stand up to the pressure two and a half miles under the sea, that’s probably for the best
The XC2V must be designed around the tubular chassis found in the Local Motors Rally Fighter
In an effort to streamline the design and build process for manufacturing military vehicles, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is enlisting the “power of the crowd”. Through the Experimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle (XC2V) Design Challenge, which asks entrants to conceptualize a vehicle body design for combat reconnaissance and combat delivery & evacuation, the agency is looking to pick the brains of not only armed service members and engineers, but also members of the public and others that usually have no way to contribute to military design.
The challenge is being conducted with Local Motors, a Phoenix-based company that lets a community of car designers and engineers collaborate on designing cars, which can then be bought and built in regional micro-factories. Local Motors’ first “open source” production vehicle is the Rally Fighter, which was developed in 2008 using a crowd-sourced process. The XC2V design submissions must be based on the lightweight, tubular steel chassis and the General Motors LS3 V8 powertrain found in that vehicle.
Budding designers must also devise a vehicle that meets two mission sets – combat delivery and evacuation and combat reconnaissance. To meet the requirements of combat delivery and evacuation missions, the judges will be looking for flexible vehicle body designs that allow supplies, people and equipment to be transported around a potentially hostile battlefield in the quickest and most efficient way possible.
Meanwhile, in terms of combat reconnaissance, the vehicle must also be light and fast with the capability to mount sighting systems on the exterior and space inside to stow items such as camouflage and ammunition so it is easily accessible.
To help make the mission requirements easier to understand for those without a military background, DARPA has provided four different fictitious scenarios that illustrate how the vehicle might be used in different missions. DARPA and Local Motors will also provide feedback to competitors as submissions are received
Local Motors is accepting design submissions until March 3, 2010, which can be as simple as a sketch on a piece of paper or as detailed as a 3D CAD file. However, the submission must include a profile view, front/rear/Combo view and top (half or full) view.
Once the submissions are assessed, those that meet the competition requirements will be put to a vote on March 3 to 10, with anybody able to cast their vote on the designs, meaning that not only the designs, but the winner that is being crowd-derived.
Third place will be awarded US$1,000, second place $1,500, while first place will take home $7,500 and will get to see their vision become a reality as soon as June when a fully functional concept vehicle based on the winning design is due to be ready.
Entrants must be over 18 with full competition details and entry guidelines available at Local Motors’ website.
CICADA gliding UAV is designed to deploy sensors behind enemy lines
$75,000 a piece … The Martin Jetpack.
