In an effort to win the $20 million Google Lunar X-Prize, Astrobotic and Masten have been busy at work developing a free-flying moon lander. Watch this video of the XOMBIE rocket as it uses an onboard hazard avoidance system to execute a perfect landing.
    
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So, technically, this is what it would look like if the Moon were a disco ball AND orbited Earth at the same distance as the International Space Station, i.e. roughly 420 kilometers (260 miles) above the surface of the Earth. But that doesn't make it any less incredible looking.
Ever wanted to see inside the body of a crocodile in the highest of resolutions? Now you can, thanks to University of Ohio Professor of Anatomy and Paleontology Larry Witmer. To understand dinosaur anatomy, he's turned to birds and crocodilians, their closest living relatives.
Volcanic islands can seem to appear out of nowhere, emerging from the ocean like breaching monsters of the deep. Below, Mika McKinnon explains how these odd geological formations are born, how they evolve, and how they eventually vanish back beneath the waves.
This might be the best tank paint job ever… JURASSIC PARK!
Photo by Rachel Teller at Deus in Venice Beach.
‘The cloud from an A-Bomb test at Yucca Flats, Nevada, stretches out and floats away over the desert.’
Line Møller (on the Triumph) and Synne Sofie Reksten at the Music Festival at the Top of the World in Norway (Vice story). Photo by John Doran.
E-tattoos, ultra thin, stretchable electronics worn on the surface of the skin, are now capable of more than just basic biometric readings like heart rate monitoring. Now, researchers have made developments that allow them to store data and even automatically administer medicine. From Motherboard:
The problem with e-tattoos so far has been powering them and allowing them to do long-term data storage. The advancement of nanotechnology, however, has allowed researchers to create e-tattoos that use less power and are finally able to store data.
Powering the thing is still a problem—Son’s e-tattoos are connected to an external power source worn on the body (say, a battery placed in your pocket), but the data storage problem has been solved by using what’s known as resistive random access memory (RRAM), created using exceedingly small nanomembranes. For the first time, e-tattoos can actually store and use information.
That’s a big deal, because it opens up new possibilities for the usefulness of e-tattoos, especially in diagnostics and drug delivery. Instead of sticking one on so that you can use Bluetooth to connect the vibrations of your throat with your phone for better voice-command clarity, we can imagine a scenario where e-tattoos are used to trigger the release of drugs into the bloodstream or something like that.
Similar to the nanovolcano concept shown a few months ago, such devices could be useful for people with chronic conditions. In fact, Son even designed a wearable skin patch that could automatically deliver drugs when necessary and tested it on pigs.
Would you like to play a game… of Pac Man? Researchers from Washington State University have developed a way for a computer to “teach” another computer how to play the video game.
Researchers have developed a method to allow a computer to give advice and teach skills to another computer in a way that mimics how a real teacher and student might interact. Researchers had the agents — as the virtual robots are called — act like true student and teacher pairs: student agents struggled to learn Pac-Man and a version of the StarCraft video game. The researchers were able to show that the student agent learned the games and, in fact, surpassed the teacher.
Why UPS Trucks Don’t Turn Left.
UPS engineers found that left-hand turns were a major drag on efficiency. Turning against traffic resulted in long waits in left-hand turn lanes that wasted time and fuel, and it also led to a disproportionate number of accidents. By mapping out routes that involved “a series of right-hand loops,” UPS improved profits and safety while touting their catchy, environmentally friendly policy. As of 2012, the right turn rule combined with other improvements — for the wow factor, UPS doesn’t separate them out — saved around 10 million gallons of gas and reduced emissions by the equivalent of taking 5,300 cars of the road for a year.
Space.com has an interesting read on how space was viewed in the Middle Ages.
The idea that our universe may be just one among many out there has intrigued modern cosmologists for some time. But it looks like this “multiverse” concept might actually have appeared, albeit unintentionally, back in the Middle Ages.
When scientists analyzed a 13th-century Latin text and applied modern mathematics to it, they found hints that the English philosopher who wrote it in 1225 was already toying with concepts similar to the multiverse…
In De Luce, Grosseteste assumed that the universe was born from an explosion that pushed everything, matter and light, out from a single point — an idea that is strikingly similar to the modern Big Bang theory.
At first, wrote the philosopher, matter and light were linked together. But the rapid expansion eventually led to a “perfect state,” with light-matter crystallizing and forming the outermost sphere — the so-called “firmament” — of the medieval cosmos.
The crystalized matter, Grosseteste assumed, also radiated a special kind of light, which he called lumen. It radiated inward, gathering up the “imperfect” matter it encountered and piling it up in front, similar to the way shock waves propagate in a supernova explosion.
This left behind “perfect” matter that crystallized into another sphere, embedded within the first and also radiating lumen. Eventually, in the center, the remaining imperfect matter formed the core of all the spheres — the Earth…
And although De Luce never mentions the term “multiverse,” Bower said that Grosseteste “seems to realize that the model does not predict a unique solution, and that there are many possible outcomes. He needs to pick out one universe from all the possibilities.”
“Robert Grosseteste works in a very similar way to a modern cosmologist, suggesting physical laws based on observations of the world around him, and he then uses these laws to understand how the universe formed,” Bower said.
Priceonomics has an inspiring interview with Susan Kare, creator of the first Apple icons and pioneer of pixel art.
Thirty years ago, as tech titans battled for real estate in the personal computer market, an inconspicuous young artist gave the Macintosh a smile.
Susan Kare “was the type of kid who always loved art.” As a child, she lost herself in drawings, paintings, and crafts; as a young woman, she dove into art history and dreamed of being a world-renowned fine artist.
But when a chance encounter in 1982 reconnected her with an old friend and Apple employee, Kare found herself working in a different medium, with a much smaller canvas — about 1,024 pixels. Equipped with few computer skills and lacking any prior experience with digital design, Kare proceeded to revolutionize pixel art.
For many, Susan Kare’s icons were a first taste of human-computer interaction: they were approachable, friendly, and simple, much like the designer herself. Today, we recognize the little images — system-failure bomb, paintbrush, mini-stopwatch, dogcow — as old, pixelated friends.
But Kare, who has subsequently done design work for Microsoft, Facebook, and Paypal, has also become her own icon, immortalized in the annals of pixel art. We had a chance to interview her; this is her story.
Check out this vintage Macintosh commercial from 1983 featuring Susan!
“My philosophy has not really changed — I really try to develop symbols that are meaningful and memorable. I started designing monochrome icons using a 32 x 32 pixel icon editor that Andy Hertzfeld created. Subsequently I’ve been able to take advantage of more robust tools and higher screen resolution, and also design vector images in Illustrator. But design problems are solved by thinking about context and metaphor — not by tools.”
“The end goal is to develop an image that is easy to understand and remember, and that works well in its screen environment. It’s always optimal to be able to see the whole visual UI and mock up how icons will fit into that, and iterate.”
There’s a ton more to the interview, including pictures of Susan’s notebooks that show her original ideas for classic icons! Check it out here.
Niscemi, Italy
Niscemi, Italy
Niscemi, Italy
Niscemi, Italy
Bologna, Italy
Bologna, Italy
Rome, Italy
Messina, Italy
Messina, Italy
Messina, Italy
Over the last year artist Blu has dropped a number of killer murals in several Italian cities, most recently in Niscemi (top) where he created a three-story piece depicting a military figure playing a weaponized xylophone. Despite the extreme visual density present in Blu’s latest works, it’s impossible to miss his perspective on contemporary society from his skewering of religion and consumerism to his distaste for war and injustice. The last images shown here are parts of a massive mural painted last August in Messina, Italy—you really need to see the piece in its entirety to grasp it fully.
If you want to learn more about the context behind all of these pieces, StreetArtNews has you covered.
Just a few days ago we saw a contingent of GoPro cameras lifted above a bicycle to create a fun “tiny world” effect. Now director Ryan Staake (previously) takes 8 cameras into the sky for this new music video for German house duo Booka Shade. You can see how it all came together here. (via PetaPixel)
Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Galloway that the next installment in the Star Wars saga has already begun shooting.
Remember that animation making the rounds on the internet some months back, the one that depicted "the true orbit of the planets" as a mesmerizing vortex? The animation, while beautiful, was decidedly unscientific. Featured above is a more accurate animation, served up with a hearty helping of exposition from Mika McKinnon.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 67% of Americans say that the government should focus more on providing treatment for those who use illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine, while 26% believe that the government's priority should be prosecuting users of hard drugs.
Lionsgate just snapped up the rights to Terrestrial, a spec script about a massive spaceship in the middle of the Mojave Desert, for a reported six figures.
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We’ve been writing Fabbaloo for quite a few years now. So long that it’s time to take a look back to examine the prehistoric world of 3D printing of five years ago.
In April 2009 it was a world before almost all personal 3D printing manufacturers existed. Makerbot had just been founded only weeks earlier. But what else was happening?
Things have progressed quite a bit, haven't they?
