Computer scientists at MIT have developed Vital-Radio, a technology that wirelesslessly measures heartbeat and breathing. Vital-Radio is like radar, transmitting signals from a router that reflect off your body (and everything else in the room) and depending on how long it takes those signals to return, determines what is moving and at what rate. This could potentially give hospitals and the health care industry the option of monitoring their patients without having to attach physical devices to their bodies, or without even requiring them to come to the hospital.
Metropolis - The Future of Autonomous Personal Air Transport (FP7 project)
Personal air vehicles aka flying cars (legacy future) and unmanned, autonomous flying cargo vehicles aka autonomous delivery bots (possible but unlikely)
play a leading role in many recent pictures of the future. In addition, a lot of companies are working on the economic utilization.
It’s obvious that we need a safe flight & airspace concept. Fortunately, there is the “Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development” (FP7) funding program from the EU which has contributed nearly 600k € to the interdisciplinary research program METROPOLIS from NLR, DLR, TU-Delft, ENAC and SSEP.
METROPOLIS shows how a city might look like in the future, in which personal flying cars play an important role. METROPOLIS is a European FP7 project in which various elements of personal air transport are studied, like safety, collision avoidance, capacity and efficiency. Four mode of operations are studied and presented in this video clip, ranging from chaotic to central control. They are dubbed ‘Full Mix’, 'Layers’, 'Zones’ and 'Tubes’.
'Full Mix’ shows analogies with a bee swarm, 'Layers’ with flocks of birds, 'Zones’ with behaviour of ants, 'Tubes’ with a city subway system.
The project has two main goals: (1) Exploratory research into future urban airspace design and (2) Provide a better understanding of air traffic by looking at extreme scenarios. Watch a video summary of the project below:
Read the full Scenario Definition Report here and click here to read the full Societal Demand & Technology Review report. The texts are somewhat readable - because science in progress - but they provide some interesting insights.
Tech artist DevKid presents a look into a custom projection mapping tool he developed himself to design sound reactive visuals for architectural spaces:
Imagine a space defined just by points. Points as the only constants and
reference to the physical world. Then, imagine a tool, something like a
pencil. Drawing tool crafted to be used in a 3D canvas.
I use it to rewrite the physical form of the space into digital
substance. I don’t want to create a realistic representation of that
space, rather that, I want to pull out the essence I want to work with.
Connection between the physical and digital world will remain through my
points. Someone would call it mapping. But it really does not matter.
For me it is important to vanish physical substance of one and give
physical reference to the second.
A few weeks ago, NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan made news by saying, “I think we’re going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we’re going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.” It was a bold statement, but NASA is now backing those words with action.
Steven Erickson branches out into the far reaches of Outer Space with this build. Christened the “White Raven”, this little speed demon has an adorable chibi vibe going on. I really like it. More Space, Steven! More Space!
by Casey Chan on Sploid, shared by Lauren Davis to io9
If space traveling the universe had a scenic route, this would be it. It’s a 3D fly-through of the nebula Gum 29 with the stunning star cluster Westerlund 2 in the middle and it’s absolutely gorgeous. The image was taken by the Hubble and shown off for its 25th anniversary. It’s the stuff of dreams.
I have to say, I'm really enjoying the science and space music videos that keep happening. The legacy of Tom Lehrer and Bill Nye is alive!
Get into a little “Hubble trouble” with this music video by NPR’s Adam Cole, aka Skunk Bear. Produced in honor of the 25th anniversary of the space telescope’s launch aboard Discovery STS-31 on April 24, 1990, the video is a parody of Iggy Azalea’s “Trouble” and, in my opinion, surpasses it astronomically.
Translating car design into furniture and other consumer goods is all the rage this month. For Milan Design Week (Salone del Mobile), Mazda highlighted its Kodo Design language reincarnated as a sofa and bicycle. Ford got even more diverse, unleashing the styling of the all-new GT supercar on a varied selection of designs, from pieces of furniture, to a foosball table, to a sailboat, to a guitar. .. Continue Reading Ford reinterprets GT styling as a foosball table, sailboat and other concepts
The Black Pearl was unveiled at the Bigtwin Bike Show in Rosmalen, Holland, next to a poster of Captain Jack Sparrow. But unlike the legendary sea vessel of the silver screen, this Black Pearl is a land vehicle powered by a steam engine. Constructed by Dutch company Revatu Customs, the two-wheeled locomotive is a fully functioning motorcycle, albeit a slow one.
.. Continue Reading The loco steam-powered Black Pearl motorcycle from Revatu Customs
For the past 33 years Japanese craftsman Okano Nobuo has been repairing tattered books and reconstituting them to look brand new. When a customer brought in an old Japanese-English dictionary that looked like it had been through a few wars, Okano approached it like an art conservationist repairing a painting. Using very basic tools like a wooden press, chisel, water and glue, Okano reconstituted the book to make it look like it was just purchased.
The tedious job required Okano to take each page—all 1000 of them—and flatten out all the creases with tweezers and an iron. But not everything is repaired. Okano makes some things disappear, like the initials of an old girlfriend. And much like the way a sculptor removes pieces to improve on it, Okano applies a subtractive process to bring the book back to life.
Once the job was done the book was returned to the customer, who presented it to his daughter as she was on her way to college. “It’s not their shape or form but what’s inside them that attracts us to books,” says Okano. For a man who makes it his job to repair the shape and form of books it’s an incredibly humbling statement and is a testament to the value we still hold in physical books. (via Reddit)
Our process of shaping trees is called pooktre. We have perfected a gradual shaping method, which is the shaping of trees as they grow along predetermined designs. With an understanding of tree lore, trees like these are easy to grow and it’s a very satisfying pastime.
Going back to childhood drawings of stick people was the inspiration for our next person tree. The beauty of this is everyone knows what a stick figure drawing looks like and everyone knows what tree looks like. Our person trees show both in a new light.
A group people trees allow for expressions of feeling, that a single tree person is unable to convey. Imagine walking though a forest of tree people.
The year on each photo refers to the Spring of the planting, if there are two dates shown then the second date refers to autumn of harvest.
Some trees are never to be harvested and will continue to become more majestic with each season that passes.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
For his ongoing series Flying Cars, French designer Sylvain Viau digitally edits photographs of cars into sleek, wheel-less hover cars that appear to float just above the ground. Viau not only uses his own photography to create these sci-fi cars, but is fortunate to claim many of the actual cars among his own collection. He originally worked only with 80s Citroën vehicles because of their classic space-age design, but has continued to branch out over the last few months to include cars from Peugeot, Toyota, and Renault. You can see many more here. (via Designboom)
Update: Photographer Renaud Marion created a similar series of works in 2013.
This isn’t meant to come off as a preachy post… in fact I only hope it gives you some perspective on my personal choices in the matter. There’s more than one reason involved, and yes I’ve imbibed and hopped on a street motorcycle once, and had a beer and hopped on a dirtbike or minibike as well. None of these situations ended in a hospital visit or terrible disaster… but I flirted with the edge and I know it. Some of it has to do with the fact that I personally really enjoy going fast. I do have a certain “faster faster” Hunter S. Thompson quote tattooed on me and all that. Now, speed is all about perspective, so I’m not saying I’m fast or the fastest or anything like that. But I know myself, and I know that I don’t need any liquid courage fueling my throttle hand. (The term whiskey throttle comes from somewhere, you know.)
I know quite a few people who can have a beer or a cocktail with food and hop on their motorcycle and ride home- and I’m not trying to tell anyone how to ride or what to do. This is all about me. Furthermore, the general best practice for operating any vehicle is to do it without any alcohol in your body at all. So, now that the disclaimers are out of the way…
1. If some jerk-off hits you, the fault could be put on you.
Here’s the number one reason I choose not to drink and ride motorcycles. There’s already a ton of idiots out there on the road, not paying attention, doing too many things at once, or are downright motorcycle haters. You can get yourself into a bad situation. Cruising down the freeway, you’ve had a couple drinks, and some jerkwad decides it’s funny to swerve into you (a lot of us have been here, if you haven’t.. you’re lucky). In a lot of cases, you may be able to avoid any mishaps despite aggressive behavior, but maybe your balance is a little off and you go down. The cops show up, your blood alcohol levels are just over the limit, and despite a hit-and-run, you’re left with a DUI. Or maybe you stopped by your favorite Pub on the way home from work and had a beer with some fries, then someone runs a stop sign and runs over your front tire. The cops show up, you smell like beer, it’s a no-tolerance city, and despite testing at .01 BAC you still get a DUI. F*** all of that. It goes on and on really, in the fact that accident and crash statistics are recorded for the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and others. From their website- “Statistics show that the percentage of intoxicated motorcycle riders in fatal crashes is greater than the percentage of intoxicated drivers on our roads. This is why NHTSA urges all motorcycle riders to always ride smart and sober.” Statistics can be used to show a lot of things, and in this case, they’re being used to make us look bad. “Alcohol related crashes” could actually be any situation in which someone injested any form or amount of booze- and as in the aformentioned scenarios, the person who has had a drink may have absolutely no fault in the matter. Insurance companies don’t care, and neither do state legislatures when they’re looking for people to blame for accidents. The fact of the matter is that we motorcycle riders are more likely to be involved in an accident, therefore we’re more likely to be shown as having alcohol related accidents just by frequency (because people in America tend to have a drink and operate vehicles more often than a lot of other countries).
2. I already have way too much fun on a motorcycle.
Booze is generally used to enhance experiences, loosen up, and have a little fun. I need none of that assistance when I’m on a motorcycle.
3. One beer today doesn’t act the same as one tomorrow.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes the same drink on different days will have a stronger effect than on others. I don’t mean before or after food, on a particularly busy and exhausting day or lazy one. I mean my body sometimes decides to get a wicked buzz off of practically no booze at all, and others I’ll have two drinks and be like “was there liquor in that?” In other words, my metabolism is not reliable for gauging what kind of effect alcohol will have on me. So it’s better safe than sorry.
4. It helps me worry less.
I’m a worrier and a planner. If I can avoid issues and problems ahead of time, I feel better about my decisions. I still love adventure and throwing caution to the wind, but I feel like if I set things up for doing so, I feel a lot more relaxed about it. Same goes for drinking and riding- sometimes it sucks not to have a beer with a burger at lunch on a ride. But in the end, I know I’ll feel a lot more secure about my ride… which makes it a lot more pleasant in the long run.
Oh, and since you’re probably curious about my earlier comment admitting a buzzed blast on bike… here’s the lowdown. It was about two months after I got my first bike, a 1980 Yamaha XJ Maxim 650. My buddy Tim and I were out riding, and we decided to meet up with my [now ex] Husband for some food on the way home after he was off work. We went to Slowbar, one of my favorite Portland food and drink spots, which has amaaazing burgers and cheap booze. Not thinking, I ordered what I usually did, which is a mixed drink in a pint glass called the White Limes. Half way through, I realized I felt a little tingle coming on, I had my bike, and oh my god I needed to stop drinking. So, I passed on the rest of the drink, let my food settle for a while, then rode home. It was only four miles, and I only had half a drink, but I had way too much fun. I caught myself trying to get air on this giant cruiser over the speed bumps near my house. Yeah, obviously not a great plan. Anyway, I got home and vowed to never drink and ride again.
Some folks have told me I’m a stick in the mud, or seem to look guilty as they drink their beer during food break on a ride… just don’t. On both fronts. It’s my own thing, and your choices are yours.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
