A mathematical analysis of golf ball trajectories along a flat gradient reveals a new and simple strategy for judging the perfect putt. via Technology Review
Diagram: Technology Review</ … Read More → "Mathematics reveals new approach the the perfect putt"
This is a cool book list gathered by Maria Popova over at Brain Pickings, with topics including science fiction, film, jazz, information theory, and happiness.
… Read More → "(Almost) everything you need to know about culture in 10 books"“This video demonstration from the Android And Me enthusiast site illustrates how Scalado’s software, known as Rewind, works for group shots. Instead of hoping that everyone is wide-eyed and smiling when tapping the shutter button, the software uses a burst mode to capture five successive images in quick succession. To do this, a peppy processor is needed for the fast image capture. Once the picture is taken, the software uses facial recognition to zero in on each member of the group; tapping a face in the picture creates a circular control around the person’s … Read More → "Another use for dual-core smart phone chips: awesome photos"
“Nissan’s gamer-turned-racer Lucas Ordonez scored a podium finish in his debut drive in the world’s highest profile motor race yesterday. Ordonez’ Signatech Oreca 03 Nissan team led the LMP2 class of the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours early, but a puncture dropped it to fiftieth place inside the first hour of the race. Undeterred, the team worked solidly to work its way back to ninth place outright and second in the LMP2 class, despite a second puncture late in the race. It’s just three years since Ordonez won the Nissan Playstation Academy.” via < … Read More → "He did it – gamer-turned-racer Ordonez takes podium in Le Mans 24 Hour"
“Many European countries — along with China, Japan and South Korea — have pushed commercial development of carbon-reducing technologies with a robust policy mix of direct government investment, tax breaks, loans, regulation and laws that cap or tax emissions. Incentives have fostered rapid entrepreneurial growth in new industries like solar and wind power, as well as in traditional fields like home building and food processing, with a focus on energy efficiency.
But with Congress deeply divided over whether climate change is real or if the country should use less fossil fuel, efforts in the … Read More → "US is falling behind in green technology"
“Score another victory in science’s relentless pursuit to make all things Star Trek a reality. To the list that already includes universal translators, voice-activated computers, and–sort of–replicators, we now get to add antimatter containment pods. Scientists at CERN have rigged a container to trap anti-matter for more than 16 minutes. It may be a while before they’re used to store energy for antimatter fuel cells, but these ingenious containers are expected to allow particle physicists to go where no particle physicists have gone before.” via Read More → "Scientists trap antimatter for more than 16 minutes"
You ride it like a motorcycle, including handlebar-based speed and direction control, and thanks to its custom carbon fiber propellers, frame, driveshafts, and seat, you should be able to make it almost 100 miles between fuel-ups. Oh, and it can reach altitudes of 10,000 feet plus? via Uncrate
Check out the Hoverbike website
Read More → "The Hoverbike is a motorcycle-like ultralight aircraft that’s powered by a flat twin 4-stroke engine"
This Silly Putty has been altered by adding some ferric iron oxide powder picked up at an art supply store. Apparently, if you get the right mix of the two materials you end up with a flowing substance that performs mysteriously when exposed to a magnetic field.
Check it out:
The domain of the Sun’s influence is called the heliosphere: The Voyagers are approaching the edge of this enormous balloon of charged particles thrown out into space by our star
via BBC
… Read More → "Nasa’s Voyager probes, launched in 1977, are now approaching the edge of our Sun’s influence, more than 14 billion km from Earth; and they are still returning data"A 100-year-old electric car charger, the earliest fuel cells, and much more.
One of GE’s earliest photovoltaic (or solar) cells, this is a slightly smaller demo version of the “Sun Motor” unveiled at the 1939 World’s Fair. You can read more about the Sun Motor–and see it ostentatiously demoed by GE publicist and “amateur magician” William Gluesing.
Read More → "Edison-era inventions emerge from the vaults of General Electric"
