NASA’s decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite fell back to Earth between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 23 and 1:09 a.m. EDT Sept. 24. The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California said the satellite entered the atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of the United States. The precise re-entry time and location of any debris impacts are still being determined. NASA is not aware of any reports of injury or property damage. via NASA</ … Read More → "NASA has confirmed that the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellites, UARS, burned up over the Pacific Ocean last night"

When carbon fiber was first trotted out in solid rocket motor cases and tanks in the 1960s, it was poised to not only take on fiberglass, but also a whole host of other materials.

What happened?

50 years later it’s still an exotic material. Sure, Batman’s got it in his suit, expensive cars feature smatterings of it in their dashboards and performance parts, but at $10 a pound on the low end, it’s still too pricy for wide-scale deployment. We’ve been using this stuff for decades. Where’s … Read More → "Why is carbon fiber so expensive?"

That’s just super cool! The movement of this robot feels so organic – it’s hard to believe that it’s a machine. It has a personality to it.

The roboticists at Boston Dynamics compiled a nice new video featuring the greatest highlights from the life and times of BigDog. If you don’t know BigDog yet, be sure to check him out.

BigDog uses a system of hyper-responsive hydraulic joints, sensors, accelerometers and gyroscopes to keep it on its four legs. Boston Dynamics says the creature can run at 4 mph, climb slopes up to 35 degrees, walk across a wide range of terrain, and carry 340 pounds. … Read More → "Check out Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robot, BigDog"

The rare footage was captured by the International Space Station as its orbit passed 200 miles above eastern Australia and Antarctica on Sept 11 2011. via The Telegraph UK

(Click the player link to be redirected)

Stewart Wolpin over at Dvice has a good list of some of his “favorite” tech companies that flopped.

Check it out here.

Image via Analog Memories

Heathrow Airport in London, UK, has begun to transport passengers in computer controlled, driverless, car-sized personal laser-guided travel pods. The system reduces the time it takes business passengers to move from the terminal to the car park by 60%. via The Presurfer

I want these!

Bike lighting is usually a pretty pedestrian affair: a handlebar-mounted headlight and possibly a seat-mounted rear flasher to make the bike visible to motorists. Palo Alto startup Revolights wants to change that. Their new product, which has just reached three times the level of requested funding on Kickstarter, is a set of LEDs … Read More → "Revolights LED headlights and taillights make your bike glow"

Human brains are like wild animals, you learn more when you can watch them in their natural habitat. That’s why five scientists in Milab at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have combined the brain scanning power of the Emotiv EEG headset with a Nokia N900 smart phone. With their setup you can simply wear the Emotiv and the data from your brain scan will be processed and displayed on the phone in a cool looking 3D reconstruction you can rotate. The smart phone app will also give you information about your … Read More → "Brain scans on the go – EEG Hooked up to your smart phone"

Long-running Project X tease from UK’s biggest bike maker is revealed to be an electric-assist version of the popular folding Brompton bike.

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