Flying Snakes Ride The Wind To Get More Boost

The flying Paradise tree snakes of lowland Asia are renowned for their ability to glide from tree to tree and a new study in the journal Physics of Fluids has shown that these reptiles ride tiny vortices of air that give them a little extra boost.
The study expanded on previous research that showed the snakes get an extra boost of lift when facing the air flow at a certain angle.

“After experiments uncovered this, we decided to use computer simulations to try to explain it,” said study author Lorena Barba, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the George Washington University.

“Rather than fixed wings, animal fliers have flapping wings,” Barba continued. “In the case of gliders, their small scale means they’re always in a flurry of whirling winds. By understanding how they can be graceful and efficient under these conditions, we can in turn use that knowledge to create small flying machines that are equally graceful.”

The research team is currently looking to include more factors related to the snake’s actual gliding conditions into their computer simulations – such as the S-shape of its full body, instead of just using a section.

“This will be more difficult to do in a computer model, but it will probably reveal more about the complicated flow patterns snakes take advantage of to be such gifted gliders,” Barba said.

In a study published in January, the same team of researchers described how the Paradise tree snake forms its body into an ‘S’ for extra surface area.

“They turn their whole body into one aerodynamic surface,” said Jake Socha, a biomechanics expert who was a co-author on both studies, adding, “they look like they are swimming.”

Published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the study revealed that snakes flex their ribs as they launch – extending and flattening their body from a circular tube into an arched semi-circle.

“It looks like someone’s version of a UFO,” said Socha, adding it’s an unconventional shape for generating lift.

To analyze the aerodynamics of the S-shape, the study team used a 3-D printer to generate the very same UFO-like cross-section as the snake’s body. Next, the team placed their model in a tank filled with water that flowed over the snake-shaped bar. While water is considerably denser than air, it can be used to model the airflow passing across a surface at an array of speeds.

The team found that when the team tilted the model in the tank to a 35-degree angle, there was an immense spike in the lift produced by water flowing at higher speeds. More remarkably, when the model was positioned level with the flow, the fluid pushed it down. Also, when the team observed the water flowing around the model engineered with microscopic reflective beads, they could clearly see a vortex sitting beneath the level snake shape, sucking it down.

The researchers said twisting of the snake’s body in midair could allow it to fine tune the forces acting on their bodies – enabling more precise flight control.

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Colored diamonds are a superconductor's best friend

Flawed but colorful diamonds are among the most sensitive detectors of magnetic fields known today, allowing physicists to explore the minuscule magnetic fields in metals, exotic materials and even human tissue.

University of California, Berkeley, physicist Dmitry Budker and his colleagues at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and UCLA have now shown that these diamond sensors can measure the tiny magnetic fields in high-temperature superconductors, providing a new tool to probe these much ballyhooed but poorly understood materials.

"Diamond sensors will give us measurements that will be useful in understanding the physics of high temperature superconductors, which, despite the fact that their discoverers won a 1987 Nobel Prize, are still not understood," said Budker, a professor of physics and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

High-temperature superconductors are exotic mixes of materials like yttrium or bismuth that, when chilled to around 180 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero (-280ºF), lose all resistance to electricity, whereas low-temperature superconductors must be chilled to several degrees above absolute zero. When discovered 28 years ago, scientists predicted we would soon have room-temperature superconductors for lossless electrical transmission or magnetically levitated trains.

It never happened.

"The new probe may shed light on high-temperature superconductors and help theoreticians crack this open question," said coauthor Ron Folman of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, who is currently a Miller Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley. "With the help of this new sensor, we may be able to take a step forward."

Budker, Folman and their colleagues report their success in an article posted online Feb. 18 in the journal Physical Review B.

Flawed but colorful

Colorful diamonds, ranging from yellow and orange to purple, have been prized for millennia. Their color derives from flaws in the gem's carbon structure: some of the carbon atoms have been replaced by an element, such as boron, that emits or absorbs a specific color of light.

Once scientists learned how to create synthetic diamonds, they found that they could selectively alter a diamond's optical properties by injecting impurities. In this experiment, Budker, Folman and their colleagues bombarded a synthetic diamond with nitrogen atoms to knock out carbon atoms, leaving holes in some places and nitrogen atoms in others. They then heated the crystal to force the holes, called vacancies, to move around and pair with nitrogen atoms, resulting in diamonds with so-called nitrogen-vacancy centers. For the negatively charged centers, the amount of light they re-emit when excited with light becomes very sensitive to magnetic fields, allowing them to be used as sensors that are read out by laser spectroscopy.

Folman noted that color centers in diamonds have the unique property of exhibiting quantum behavior, whereas most other solids at room temperature do not.

"This is quite surprising, and is part of the reason that these new sensors have such a high potential," Folman said.

Applications in homeland security?

Technology visionaries are thinking about using nitrogen-vacancy centers to probe for cracks in metals, such as bridge structures or jet engine blades, for homeland security applications, as sensitive rotation sensors, and perhaps even as building blocks for quantum computers. Budker, who works on sensitive magnetic field detectors, and Folman, who builds 'atom chips' to probe and manipulate atoms, focused in this work on using these magnetometers to study new materials.

"These diamond sensors combine high sensitivity with the potential for high spatial resolution, and since they operate at higher temperatures than their competitors – superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID, magnetometers – they turn out to be good for studying high temperature superconductors," Budker said. "Although several techniques already exist for magnetic probing of superconducting materials, there is a need for new methods which will offer better performance."

The team used their diamond sensor to measure properties of a thin layer of yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO), one of the two most popular types of high-temperatures superconductor. The Ben-Gurion group integrated the diamond sensor with the superconductor on one chip and used it to detect the transition from normal conductivity to superconductivity, when the material expels all magnetic fields. The sensor also detected tiny magnetic vortices, which appear and disappear as the material becomes superconducting and may be a key to understanding how these materials become superconducting at high temperatures.

"Now that we have proved it is possible to probe high-temperatures superconductors, we plan to build more sensitive and higher-resolution sensors on a chip to study the structure of an individual magnetic vortex," Folman said. "We hope to discover something new that cannot be seen with other technologies."

Researchers, including Budker and Folman, are attempting to solve other mysteries through magnetic sensing. For example, they are investigating networks of nerve cells by detecting the magnetic field each nerve cell pulse emits. In another project, they aim at detecting strange never-before-observed entities called axions through their effect on magnetic sensors.

Published at : PHY.ORG

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Microsoft unveils 'SurroundWeb'—whole room web display concept

Microsoft has published a concept paper on its research web site in which it describes a concept it calls SurroundWeb—a means for displaying web content on multiple flat surfaces and satellite screens in a physical room.

The concept relies on Kinect technology to scan a room to "recognize" flat surfaces and other objects. Once that's accomplished it would use software to parse out different parts of web content which it would divvy out to different surfaces (or satellite devices such as phones or tablets) in the room, effectively adding more screens. The idea is that different parts of web content would fit just right onto different patches of walls and other flat surfaces.

At first blush, the concept appears rather simple—a closer look, however, reveals that what Microsoft is actually proposing is a way to create immersive applications for the home that don't violate the privacy of their users. As its name implies, SurroundWeb is Internet based, thus, if such a system were to scan a room and allow information about what is found to make its way to the web, all manner of privacy violations could occur. In its concept paper Microsoft outlines how SurroundWeb could be implemented without violating privacy. The design of the system would mimic operating system design—different parts would be allowed access to different information—each level having access only to what it needs to function.

As an example, if an initial scan of a room reveals a can of a certain brand of soda sitting on a table, that brand information data would become a trusted object, available only to a section of the "local" software that allows for an ad to be displayed showcasing that or a related type of product. In such a scenario, the brand identity would never be able to make its way to the web, yet ads could still be displayed based on user preferences. Such recognition could also serve in the user's favor as is noted in the paper—if a pot in the kitchen begins to boil, for example, a message could be displayed in another room as an alert.

In its favor, the SurroundWeb concept is being put forth in a public forum, which means readers of all technical levels can study the idea and trade opinions regarding the soundness of the design. Thus, if there are privacy holes in the system, others will find them allowing Microsoft to refine the idea until the concept is deemed "safe."

SurroundWeb is still just an idea, one that Microsoft is clearly tossing around. Only time will tell if the company decides it's an idea worth pursuing.

Published at: PHY.ORG

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Facebook Looking Into Buying Drone Maker Titan Aerospace

Facebook, one of the primary backers of the Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet access to the 5 billion people in the world who still lack connectivity, is in talks with a company that could help further that agenda. TechCrunch is hearing that Facebook is buying Titan Aerospace, makers of near-orbital, solar-powered drones which can fly for five years without needing to land. According to a source with access to information about the deal, the price for this acquisition is $60 million*.

From our understanding, Facebook is interested in using these high-flying drones to blanket parts of the world without Internet access, beginning with Africa. The company would start by building 11,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), specifically the “Solara 60″ model.

You can see an example of these UAVs, first introduced last year, here on YouTube. As the video explains, these drones are “atmospheric satellites” that can conduct most of the operations of an orbital satellite, but are cheaper and more versatile. The drones could potentially have many uses, including weather monitoring, disaster recovery, Earth imaging, or communications, the company has said, but clearly Facebook would be interested in that latter part.

The Solara 50 and 60 models can be launched at night using power from internal battery packs, then when the sun rises, they can store enough energy to ascend to 20KM above sea level where they can remain for five years without needing to land or refuel. Such capabilities make them ideal for regional Internet systems, like those that Internet.org would be focused on. (For those interested, Ars Technica took a more in-depth look at the technology and history behind Titan’s aircraft last August).

Titan Aerospace is a privately held venture with R&D facilities in New Mexico. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of funding through seed and Series A and A-1 rounds, and had announced in October 2013 it would open a B round soon.

Titan is currently led by CEO Vern Raburn, previously founder and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. The company was founded in 2012 by Max Yaney (CTO), in order to produce what it refers to as “atmosats,” new types of UAVs that do the work of near-Earth satellites at a fraction of the cost.

The designation of “satellites” is important here, as the idea has been to position these aircraft above the airspace that the FAA regulates in the U.S. Class A airspace ends at 60,000 feet stateside, and above that the U.S. doesn’t regulate, Fortune had pointed outlast summer. That means the only issue in launching these in the U.S. would be the initial climb. In other parts of the world, the laws will, of course, vary. But in the developing markets Internet.org is focused on, it’s likely they’re not as far along in regulating such new technology.

Following the acquisition, all of Titan Aerospace’s production would be for the Internet.org project only, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Facebook’s Own “Project Loon,” Worth Less Than WhatsApp?

The Internet.org project competes with Google’s own R&D effort called “Project Loon,” which would involve balloons, not aircraft. TechCrunch had previously heard that Facebook has its own counterpart to “Project Loon” in the works, and this could be a part of that agenda.

In any event, if you’re keeping score at home, that’s $60 million to bring Internet to the world, and $19 billion for WhatsApp. That may seem odd, but this acquisition and WhatsApp would share the same broader goal of making the Internet more accessible, from Facebook’s point of view.

If Facebook could project weak but free Internet to developing nations via Titan Aerospace drones, it could then make a basic version of WhatsApp available to those users. They may not be able to send or view photos, but they likely could send messages and view status updates without having to pay for the Internet. While phones are getting cheaper, it’s the data costs that make the web unaffordable to much ofthe world. Titan’s drones could help Facebook fix that.

Facebook’s acquisition of Onavo could lend a hand, too. We hear the team is hard at work on data compression technologies that would allow the same functions to require less transmitted data to complete. Onavo-optimized WhatsApp or Facebook apps could run on a weaker Internet signal, such as from drones, because they don’t need to send or receive as much data.

Many ask why Facebook would even care about getting these parts of the world on the Internet if they currently have such little buying power that it’s hard to make money off of ads shown to them. There’s the altruistic side of Internet.org, but when it comes to business, Facebook is playing the long game. It hopes that with time, everyone in the world will gain affordable access to the Internet and smartphones, which could help them join the knowledge economy and gain more buying power.

If Facebook can use Titan’s drones to be someone’s first experience on the Internet, they’re likely to get deeply hooked into the social network’s service and eventually become a lucrative lifetime user.

*Our initial tip on the deal came from someone outside the company who had unauthorized access to this information. We have since confirmed discussions are taking place, and have spoken to Titan board member, Asher Delung, about the unauthorized access, without revealing sources.

Published at: TC

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World's fastest car Watch in Video

Hennessey Venom GT car has set the new record fastest car in the world with reaching a top speed of 270.49 mph (436 km/h) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Tackling Tumors With Space Station Research

In space, things don’t always behave the way we expect them to. In the case of cancer, researchers have found that this is a good thing: some tumors seem to be much less aggressive in the microgravity environment of space compared to their behavior on Earth. This observation, reported in research published in February by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal, could help scientists understand the mechanism involved and develop drugs targeting tumors that don’t respond to current treatments. This work is the latest in a large body of evidence on how space exploration benefitsthose of us on Earth.

Research in the weightlessness of space offers unique insight into genetic and cellular processes that simply can’t be duplicated on Earth, even in simulated microgravity. “Microgravity can be approximated on Earth, but we know from the literature that simulated microgravity isn’t the same as the real thing,” says Daniela Gabriele Grimm, M.D., a researcher with the Department of Biomedicine, Pharmacology at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, and an author of the FASEB paper.

True weightlessness affects human cells in a number of ways. For one thing, cells grown in space arrange themselves into three-dimensional groupings, or aggregates, that more closely resemble what happens in the body. “Without gravitational pull, cells form three-dimensional aggregates, or spheroids,” Grimm explains. “Spheroids from cancer cells share many similarities with metastases, the cancer cells which spread throughout the body.” Determining the molecular mechanisms behind spheroid formation might therefore improve our understanding of how cancer spreads.

The FASEB paper resulted from an investigation in the Science in Microgravity Box (SIMBOX) facility aboard Shenzhou-8, launched in 2011. Cells grown in space and in simulated microgravity on the ground were analyzed for changes in gene expression and secretion profiles, with the results suggesting decreased expression of genes that indicate high malignancy in cancer cells.

The work was funded by a grant from the German Space Life Sciences program, managed by the German space agency, DLR, in collaboration with Chinese partners.

Grimm and her colleagues are following up with additional research, a Nanoracks Cellbox investigation called “Effect of microgravity on human thyroid carcinoma cells,” scheduled to launch in March on SpaceX's third commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Another follow-up investigation, “Spheroids,” is planned in 2015. The overall goal is to find as many genes and proteins as possible that are affected by microgravity and to identify the cellular activities they influence. Researchers can then use this information to develop new strategies for cancer research.

In a recent paper published in Nature Reviews Cancer, Jeanne Becker, Ph.D., a cell biologist at Nano3D Biosciences in Houston and principal investigator for the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS) 1-Ovarianstudy, examined nearly 200 papers on cell biology research in microgravity during four decades. This body of work shows that not only does the architecture of cells change in microgravity, but the immune system also is suppressed. Other studies in addition to Grimm’s have shown microgravity-induced changes in gene expression. The key variable, Becker concluded, is gravity. And the only way to really mitigate gravity is to go into space.

To maximize use of the space station’s unique microgravity platform, in 2011 NASA named the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) as manager of the station’s U.S. National Laboratory. By selecting research and funding projects, connecting investors and scientists and improving access to the station, CASIS accelerates new technologies and products with the potential to benefit all humanity.

CASIS recently requested proposals for research on the effects of microgravity on fundamental stem cell properties. That request, says Patrick O’Neill, communications manager, generated a terrific response from the research community – larger than any other CASIS proposal to date. That, he says, is because CASIS has become more known within the scientific and research community as a viable option for sending research to the space station. It is also because, now that the station is complete, crew members can increase their focus on research. All in all, this is an ideal time to send research to the station.

Grimm agrees. “The station is an invaluable tool for long-term studies of cells in microgravity. Exposure to real microgravity in space will always be the gold standard for all microgravity research and will therefore always be an important cornerstone of our work.”

Thanks to that research in space, scientists continue to learn more about diseases and their possible treatment here on Earth. With this new knowledge, we can turn that unexpected behavior in microgravity to our own advantage.

Published at NASA

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Pillow Nudges Sleepers To Stop Snoring

Trying to sleep next to a snorer is a nightmare, with not much middle ground for solution. At best, bed mates can look forward to a night of interrupted rest and nudging the other to turn over. Worst case scenario, the snorer is diagnosed with sleep apnea and forced to wear one of thosesleep apnea masks.However, with its snore-triggered nudging pillow, goofy gadget emporium Hammacher Schlemmer may have what it takes for a peaceful night of slumber. The pillow includes a microphone that picks up the sonic vibrations of snoring. When snores are detected, an air bag inflates the pillow by three inches, enough to nudge the snorer into changing positions.The pillow’s microphone can be calibrated to detect light or heavy snoring. The inflation feature can also be controlled manually, if one’s partner wants to give the elbow nudging a rest.Unfortunately, the pillow in powered by an AC adapter, so it needs to be plugged in. Which, in my case, would be a real threat. With all the tossing and turning I do, having any type of power cord in bed is liable to tangle me up or destroy everything on the nightstand.

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China lifts ban on foreign consoles

China has temporarily lifted its 14-year-old ban on foreign-made game consoles, opening up a hugely lucrative market to gaming giants such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

The relaxation Tuesday by China's State Council, which originally flagged the idea last year, permits "foreign invested enterprises" to manufacture games consoles within Shanghai's free trade zone and sell them in the world's second-largest economy.

But the products would still be subject to inspection, the Chinese government said, and the games are likely to remain under strict censorship.

China originally banned foreign consoles in 2000 citing concerns that violent games could have a detrimental effect on the mental health of young people. Instead, gamers have been brought up on a diet of PC games which makes up two thirds of the revenues generated in the country's gaming market. Nonetheless, despite the prohibition, games consoles have been on the illegal "grey market" for years – often at a deep discount.

Big opportunity for console makers?

The liberalisation of the laws could pave the way for major players to gain a foothold in the Chinese gaming markets, which raked in revenues of around $14 billion in 2013, up 38 percent from the previous year, according to China's game industry body. The U.S. gaming industry brings in double this at $38 billion..........

FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

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Workers Burned At Tesla Motors Plant

Workers Burned In Industrial Accident

Three workers have suffered burns in an accident at the Fremont, California assembly plant, where Tesla Motors builds its Model S electric car.

According to the company, a low-pressure aluminum casting press failed on Wednesday afternoon, spilling hot metal onto the workers.

All three employees were immediately taken to Valley Medical Center in San Jose with second-degree burns.The Fremont Fire Department dismissed initial reports that there was a fire at the plant, and that the incident is being considered an industrial accident. California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health will investigate the incident.

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powerful turbo AWD rally car

Ken Block has done it again, and even though this particular dead horse has now 
suffered at least six beatings, it's always fun to see Block try to one-up himself in a wickedly powerful turbo AWD rally car.
watch 
 bit.ly/1aOPcwl  

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sure police guns are safe

A Massachusetts politician has put forth a proposal to allow local police to enter homes without a warrant in order to inspect whether gun owners are properly storing their firearms.The idea was floated by Swampsott Selectman Barry Greenfield, who expressed frustration about the Newtown school massacre in the neighboring state of Connecticut and in other cases where people have obtained their parents’ guns to carry out shootings.

“We need the ability to enforce the state law,” Greenfield said, according to theSwampscott Patch.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/11/police-entering-homes-to-make-sure-guns-are-stored-safely-if-this-politician-has-his-way/

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