Chess between two people is tricky enough, but add a third player and the classic board game takes on a whole new – circular – dimension. 3 Man Chess takes the original pieces, moves and rules of chess and throws in a third, gray set of pieces and transfers play to a round board: despite the extra manpower and the unusual shape, … Read More → "3 Man Chess runs rings around the classic game"
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory lifted off from the launch pad at 10:02 a.m. EST today.
The one-ton Mini Cooper-sized rover, which is the largest machine NASA can currently put down on the Martian surface, will now look forward to an eight-month cruise to the Red Planet, arriving in August 2012. The probe will survey the Martian landscape with HD cameras, search for signs of habitability and life past or present, and drill inside rocks … Read More → "NASA’s new Mars Rover launches successfully"
We all want jetpacks, but the only way they’ll ever be affordable is if they’re good for something besides being a plot device for James Bond movies. Martin Aircraft, the guys who have one of the few commercially available jetpacks in existence, have some thoughts about why these things might actually make sense. via Dvice
… Read More → "Martin Aircraft tries to convince you that jetpacks are practical"
I always assumed that the process of making a hologram was so complex that it was limited to only those with access to expensive lasers and other fancy optical equipment. But when I heard that the Maker Shed started carrying Litiholo’s Hologram Kit, I was surprised that such a thing existed and I was eager to give it a try. via Read More → "How-To: Holography"
Remember that little Tamagotchi you promised to always love and care for? When was the last time you fed the thing? Twelve years ago? The little guy’s probably starving. Bandai’s line of pocket pets turns 15 today — the first Tamagotchi on sale November 23rd, 1996, becoming a downright phenomenon that proceeded to baffle parents everywhere. via Engadget
Read More → "Tamagotchi turns 15, wonders why you haven’t fed it in a decade"
… Read More → "10 robots inspired by animals and insects"All the research in the world can’t beat millions of years of evolution. Today’s roboticists are increasingly looking to nature for inspiration, creating robots that move and behave with uncanny similarity to living animals. We’ve pulled together 10 of the most fascinating. via Time/Techland
After eight years of planning, more than $600 million in cost overruns, and a two-year delay, NASA’sMars Science Laboratory is finally ready to launch.
Now you can watch the nuclear-powered, 1-ton rover — currently the largest machine that can feasibly land on the Red Planet — take off from Cape Canaveral and begin its journey to Mars. via Wired
Continue reading</ … Read More → "How to watch NASA’s Mars Rover launch Saturday"
NASA’s modified vintage Airstream motor home orbits the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with one job: delivering astronauts to the launchpad. In its 27 years, it has racked up only 27,000 miles. This short documentary, Catching a Ride to Destiny, celebrates this little tradition and the space shuttle program it represents. via The Atlantic
…and boy it’s a doozy!
The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite, NPP, acquired its first measurements on Nov. 21, 2011. This high-resolution image is of a broad swath of Eastern North America from Canada’s Hudson Bay past Florida to the northern coast of Venezuela. The VIIRS data were processed at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) in Suitland, Md.
VIIRS is one of five instruments onboard the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite that launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on … Read More → "NASA’s NPP satellite acquires first VIIRS image"
A unique, two-blade wind turbine that features a helicopter landing pad will soon be rising off the eastern coast of Scotland. Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing announced this week that the Scottish government has approved the construction of the innovative 6 MW wind turbine at the Fife Energy Park in Methil, which will be located about 70 feet offshore. Scotland has set an ambitious goal of sourcing 100 percent of the country& … Read More → "This wind turbine is so big it has its own helipad"
