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Technology

Hydrogen-Powered Navy UAV Shatters Flight Endurance Record

By Stuart Fox Posted on 10.13.2009 8 Comments
While most research directed at improving UAVs focuses on upgrading their weapons or sensor packages, the Naval Research Laboratory is also working to ensure that the next generation of killer drones are as fuel-efficient as they are deadly. And a recent test of their hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered Ion Tiger UAV proves how successful they have been: it staid aloft for just shy of 24 hours on a single fuel load.

10.13.2009 at 07:53pm - Comment by robert1374

There was nothing said about it launching from a carrier. If it only has a .75HP engine and weighs 35 pounds, that means it's likely to be launched from humvee's or by backbacked and launched by humans.
Gadgets

Food-Generating Microwave Wins Electrolux Design Challenge

By Corinne Iozzio Posted on 9.25.2009 6 Comments
How will people make dinner in 90 years? If the newly crowned winner of the Electrolux Design Lab 2009 challenge is any indication, it'll be as easy as 1-2-3. Cocoon is a fish- and meat-generating microwave, intended as a solution to preserve fishing and farming resources.

9.25.2009 at 02:34pm - Comment by robert1374

They didn't design anything! The guy just drew re-purposed Tupperware and called it a meat maker! There is no REAL design to it besides aesthetics.
Entertainment & Gaming

Presenting: The Nominees for the Sci-Tech Oscars

By Stuart Fox Posted on 9.8.2009 3 Comments
Imocap image courtesy Animation Weekly News Much like puberty and Ramadan, the movie awards season begins earlier and earlier each year. But this year, the nerds get to fire the opening salvo. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (emphasis on the "Sciences") has released its short list of nominees for the Science and Technical Oscars. The list includes some of the best known names in computer animation and special effects, like Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic, as well as some less famous companies that have been quietly changing the process of filmmaking.

9.8.2009 at 01:06pm - Comment by robert1374

Megan fox is so over rated.
The Environment

Better Tomatoes Via a Fertilizer of...Human Urine?

By Rebecca Boyle Posted on 9.4.2009 8 Comments
You say tomayto, I say tomahto. You say Miracle-Gro, I say ... pee. Apparently, human urine works remarkably well as a fertilizer for tomatoes, according to a new study out of Finland. Plants fertilized with a mixture of stored human urine and wood ash produced 4.2 times more fruit than plants without the pee, the study found. The urine-fertilized tomatoes had more beta-carotene than unfertilized ones, and much more protein than traditionally fertilized plants.

9.4.2009 at 10:52am - Comment by robert1374

Maybe harvesting Milk Cow pee. You don't want to be eating food with pharmaceutical or trace elicit drug remnants in the urine. Recycling phosphorus is good seeing as we're going to run out of the mined variety at some point.
Cars

Toyota Plug-in Prius Concept to Debut at Frankfurt Auto Show

By Posted on 10.6.2009 12 Comments
It's been the talk of the hybrid-car crowd since the first hybrids landed in dealerships: The plug-in Prius. And with GM's plug-in Volt set for a 2010 launch, all eyes are now on Toyota. This week the company offered its first tangible evidence of a plug-in Prius, at least in two dimensions. The company released the first official photo image of a new Prius concept car that can get juice from the electrical grid.

9.4.2009 at 08:54am - Comment by robert1374

The Wonderer said "Until we can generate that power without fossil fuels, there is no difference between plugging your car into the wall, and filling it up at the pump." It cost's less to use electricity to fill up your batteries, you use less gas and get a better fuel economy, and electric motors are far more efficient than gas engines. All electric cars are a step in the right direction away from fossil fuel dependency. They go hand in hand with developing a renewable energy grid. From the news about some of these auto manufacture's developing (of somewhat illegitimate authenticity) fuel efficient cars isn't something to complain about! On a side note: I think they should stray away from the typical car that's yay wide and long, and ways a couple tons or so. If they made a vehicle for the purpose of moving a Person AND NOT 3,000 pounds of metal, they'd have a cheaper car with better mileage! Hybrid Hummers kind of defeat the purpose.
Science

Find Out How You'll Die, In 4 Easy Online Steps

By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 8.31.2009 6 Comments
A new website lets you figure out how you might die, by sorting death data by cause of death, sex, and age. For American males ages 20-29, the most common cause of death is accidents (40.2 percent of deaths), followed by homicide (17.5 percent), and suicide (11.7 percent). Urinary tract infections? 0.3 percent.

8.31.2009 at 10:32am - Comment by robert1374

I'm roughly projected to live until 2060. I grew up on the nintendo, and i'm still constantly amazed by technological growth. I talk to kids sometimes and they take all these things for granted. How times change and i'm only 22! Someday we'll live to see people land on mars; but i'll never trust magazine predictions of the future. I wish we had half the things people predicted in 2000 that we'd have by 2009!
DIY

Möbius Strip Music Box Brings Non-Orientable Topology to the Trinket World

By Adrian Covert Posted on 8.28.2009 5 Comments
The brain-melting concept of the Möbius strip has been used to explain complex, meaningful ideas such as time travel. But this simple, trivial music box, which uses a punch strip in the shape of a Möbius strip, might be my favorite application of the idea. The music box will play the song once through, then plays it again upside-down, creating an endless, repeating loop of music. It may not solve the secrets of the universe--but hey--it looks so cool. Can you recognize the upside-down-and-backwards tune?

8.29.2009 at 12:03pm - Comment by robert1374

never mind my first comment. It's the "Happy birthday to you" Song!
Gadgets

Electrolux Design Challenge Envisions Your Automated Future

By Posted on 8.28.2009 16 Comments
Meet your kitchen of the future. Electrolux Design Lab has announced the finalists in their annual design competition. Undergrad and graduate industrial design students were challenged to envision new home appliance ideas for the year 2100 that create new ways to prepare and store food, wash clothes, or do dishes. Of 900 entries, these eight were selected as the most inventive, eye-catching, and forward-thinking.

8.29.2009 at 04:21am - Comment by robert1374

Yeah, i can design a Teleportation fridge too, But tell me if anyone can actually build it! My Tele-fridge also beams in giant Wonka bars too, maybe i should win!
DIY

Möbius Strip Music Box Brings Non-Orientable Topology to the Trinket World

By Adrian Covert Posted on 8.28.2009 5 Comments
The brain-melting concept of the Möbius strip has been used to explain complex, meaningful ideas such as time travel. But this simple, trivial music box, which uses a punch strip in the shape of a Möbius strip, might be my favorite application of the idea. The music box will play the song once through, then plays it again upside-down, creating an endless, repeating loop of music. It may not solve the secrets of the universe--but hey--it looks so cool. Can you recognize the upside-down-and-backwards tune?

8.28.2009 at 09:45pm - Comment by robert1374

It's definitely Evangelis, Or the intro to the Cosmo's theme. Not sure if it's called Evangelis or not.
Gadgets

PlayStation 3 Joins the Motion-Capture Gaming Party

By Dan Smith Posted on 7.16.2009 5 Comments
After Microsoft's announcement at the E3 conference of Project Natal, Sony unveiled its own version of motion-capture gaming, both playing catch-up to Nintendo's Wii. Using the Playstation Eye camera and a colorfully globe-tipped controller, the new hardware claims to allow true 1:1 motion response.

6.3.2009 at 04:35pm - Comment by robert1374

What this needs is a 3D Headset that can also be tracked as well. It would be the most immersive experience to be able to look around in your environment in 1:1 while you see a direct animation of your hand holding the controller as a gun. The reason is that then you have a 3d perspective objects instead of looking at the perspective through a 2D TV farther away than is in virtual space. Motion capture is like a novelty, but a visual 3D experience is what will revolutionize gaming. The only real problem is that there is no "weight" to the virtual object. So when you have a massive sword moving 1:1 in your hand it looks all glitchy because it moves too fast. Still it's only just a controller interface. Project natal is a full body motion capture device. That's some real progress for Micro$oft because ANYONE can easily make a motion tracking controller as well. I can't wait till all these technologies are combined into one platform. Imagine putting your self in a stationary vehicle with 3d cars and buildings flying by, while your perspective moves in direct correlation with the position and angle of your head in space.