Thursday, December 22, 2011

Why we haven't met any aliens yet?

tl;dr:
We already sidetracked according to space research: we are inventing and investing more and more around virtual fields, and space exploration lost its status.
In the long run, maybe fundamentalists and anti-consumerists will rule the galaxy outside the matrix-immersed Earth...

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Planet Found in Habitable Zone

Sadly, it is 600 light years away from us, but still... we could colonize it.. (If it is not yet.)

Friday, November 18, 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

ISS Time Lapse Video

You can even see the Moon's light reflecting on the oceans..

Thursday, November 10, 2011

'Smallest fossil' in 3D


Researchers have documented the "smallest fossil" at the University of Manchester. Computed Tomography (CT) was used during the survey and the 3D image of the fossil was created by the combination of the 2D images. Nice work!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

How Dark Sky Works

What is Dark Sky?
An accurate short-term weather predictor. (By short-term: half or one hour.)

And now here is a post about how it works:

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Swarmonoids

However cool this looks, 4 years of research for getting a cartoon book is a little bit pricey.. :)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

An idea

The other day I saw an ad: "this bag fits the hand luggage size.
I had to describe the situation to someone, who has never been to an airport: your hand luggage must fit into a box, if it is only a little bit bigger, you have to remove something from it.
(Mostly getting out a jacket or pullover, and taking it on, or throwing away some big but cheap souvenir.)

The idea: why do we need the box?
Maybe we could check the size of the luggage with a laser scanning device, or with a video recorder.
(As you've seen in a previous post, a 3D model could easily been constructed..

There would be no need to try to push your stuff at all costs into that box.. you just have to smile and show the bag while the device scans you and your belongings.

"Ott is volt egy!"

http://twitpic.com/662hqp/full
My new desktop picture.. :)
A shooting star photo taken from IIS by an astronaut.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

GelSight - Innovative research at MIT


Woooow! GelSight offers various new research opportunities, for example....
This unique measurement system can help to analyse the surface patterns in the firearms and toolmarks identification. Nowadays, the forensic experts investigate these surface structures in 2D and I think the 3D comparison of these patterns can provide more exact identification process in the law enforcement.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The next generation of battleship weapons - laser cannons?

In a new research project the MK-38 25 mm machine gun will be combined with a solid-state laser weapon. This new technology can be useful against the small ships and drone attacks in the future, because the invention of this unique defense system provides a huge improvement in the field of next generation weapons.

The next MK-38 can be used in three different ways. First, the machine gun function (180 rounds per minute) can destroy the enemies within the range of 2000 yards. The second method is the laser function; the canon can fire of “different levels of laser energy???”. I don’t know, what does it means exactly, but I’m sure, I don’t want to stand at the front of the cannon during the test phase of the weapons. J Today, officially we can burn small objects (with 10 kilowatts maximum energy) or mosquitoes with laser…maybe there are some secret developments in the background like the Death Star Superlaser in StarWars. The third function of the new MK-38 means the combination of the first and the second techniques: the laser can identify and lock on a target for the machinegun. I think this third “combination method” of the weapon should be as a basic attribute in the first function. My question is: Why would I use only the machinegun function? I have an integrated laser as well, which could help during the target selection….I don’t understand. To summarize: I think, this “new” invention tries to upgrade the previous machinegun technologies and unfortunately, we should wait again for the real laser cannon news.

source: wired.com

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Bird Flight Deciphered

http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369.htm

It looks wonderful.. however, it reminds me one of Philip K. Dick's novels: Do Androids Dream About Electronic Sheeps?

I bet the main usage fields of this technology will be entertainment and military.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Far Future Mispredictions

http://www.futuretimeline.net/the-far-future.htm
Nomen est omen, you can imagine, what this page is about. :)

Open the page, scroll to 4000 AD, and you'll find:
"New applications can be generated instantly and automatically, for almost any purpose."

Scroll back to 3100 AD and you can read:
"Under the direction of a Godlike superintelligence, vast swarms of automated, self-replicating ships are building it - using material from the asteroid field, Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud."

Just to make the anachronism visible:

2011 - developed applications
3100 - Godlike superintelligence
4000 - instant applications

What happened between 3100 and 4000? A 6th world war? Why would we go back to applications, after we had superintelligence?!

The page might be interesting in the sense of science fiction, but it's missing serious consideration, or maybe different people were writing predictions for different time windows.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Spiders on International Space Station


Space Shuttle Endeavour is waiting for the final lunch. This final mission of Endeavour will probably start only on May 16. The last two launches were canceled; the reason of the delays was some technical problems. One of the main assignments of this final mission will prepare an interesting space research. I want to write now about this futuristic space story.

If we check the list of STS-134 crew members, we can find two “spidernauts”. This situation can be really easy integrated in a sci-fi screenplay, the spiders will escape and the contact with International Space Station (ISS) will suddenly interrupt… But, the truth is, there are already some spiders on ISS and the researchers are investigating the arachnid habits in microgravity environment.



In this special condition, the geometry of different spider webs will be studied. The new “spidernauts” (Nephila clavipes) spin asymmetric three dimensional webs and the most important question is how these spiders will construct a 3D web in low gravity. The other two spiders (Larinioides patagiatus and Metepeira) were launched to the ISS in 2008 and these spiders spin two dimensional webs on Earth. The researcher will compare the different webs of various spiders in low gravity. I think, we can learn lot of new facts about the webs of spiders during the mission!

The fruit flies will be the nourishment of the spiders, but the astronauts on ISS will also study the mobility and flight patterns of the fruit flies during the research program. You can follow this program on bioedonline.org and you can find some interesting teaching materials about this experience!

Source: nasa.gov


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Help Solve an Open Murder Case - alternative methods?


“Maybe someone with a fresh set of eyes might come up with a brilliant new idea.”

Good luck!
I would like to investigate these two texts, like images, because the spatial patterns of the "characters" could give some additional information...but I think, the forensic researchers have already tried this method :)





Saturday, March 26, 2011

Kinect+Quadrocopter

"Researchers at the Hybrid Systems Laboratory at UC Berkeley mounted a Kinect sensor atop their Ascending Technologies Pelican quadrotor UAV, mapping the copter’s surroundings so it can avoid obstacles while traveling along a predetermined, programmed path."


source: www.popsci.com

Mount Rushmore in 3-D

Great work! Info: http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/metrology-article/international-team-scans-entire-mt-rushmore-3-d.html
I like this picture. :)


Source:www.qualitydigest.com