The first full-fledged hurricane of the 2011 season, Irene, is bearing down on the US east coast. NASA has been posting amazing images and video, including this full-frame picture of the Earth showing Irene from August 24 at 11:45 UTC:
Read More → "Full frame photo of the earth showing Hurricane Irene heading for the US"
“Workers struggling to contain the leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan have only a few robots that are able to get deep inside the highly radioactive reactor buildings and piloting them has been very difficult, according to a blog written by one of the workers.” via cnet
… Read More → "A blogger operating robots at Japan’s leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant describes the difficulties of his work"“During Tuesday’s magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia, perceptible shaking was reported as far away as South Carolina and Maine. So why doesn’t the same thing happen during California’s much more frequent earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault?” via Wired Science/Ars Technica
Read More → "Why the East Coast earthquake was felt so far away"
“Gorillapod, the ultra bendy tripod that took the camera world by storm, is getting an upgrade. CineSkates are wheels that attach to the tripod and turn it into an super portable camera dolly. In your face, shaky amateur video.” via Dvice
CineSkates is currently a KickStarter project and seeking backers (at this time, it’s around $15,000 to its $20,000 … Read More → "Gorillapod with wheels turns home vids into smooth cinema shots"
Bennett Foddy doesn’t like fantasy games. “I’m not trying to escape anything,” he says. “I’ve been playing videogames since I was 3 years old. I don’t want to play a game with a gun or a space marine anymore.” What Foddy—who has a day job teaching bioethics at Oxford—does like is realism: soul-crushing, low-reward realism. And he inflicts it with titles like QWOP, named for the four keyboard keys players use to control an avatar’s thighs and calves during an 100 … Read More → "Soul-crushing realism is a video game hit"
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is beginning real-world trials of cars equipped with prototype vehicle-to-vehicle technology, deploying a communication network where cars can talk with one another to increase overall road safety.
Starting in August, 2012, the agency will begin gathering data from 3,000 cars equipped with wireless communication technology. Known as The Safety Pilot, the trials will run for one year in Ann Arbor, Mich., to provide data for setting V2V standards and determining what data streams are most helpful.” via Wired Autopia</ … Read More → "Feds to begin testing connected vehicles"
The increasing volume and complexity of scientific data are overwhelming current research practices, and create additional barriers to an already challenged science infrastructure, workforce and funding landscape. Many agencies and foundations are looking at ways to best combat the growing wave of challenges caused by today’s data deluge, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s RFI on Data Intensive Science is intended to add to this growing body of thinking. This RFI is being conducted in the open and for the benefit of anyone looking to navigate these areas. The Science Program … Read More → "The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation seeks data-intensive science ideas"
“Wunderland near Kalkar, Germany, cleverly combines a never-been-used multi-million-pound reactor with classic fair rides, including a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, carousel and log flume.
A swing ride has even been fitted inside the old cooling tower, while a 130ft-high climbing wall features on the outside.” via Daily Mail
Check out this cool collection of NASA spacecraft blueprints over at Oobject
