Technology
Can Solar Power Give Us the Roads of the Future?
Using hexagonal shaped pieces Solar Roadways wants to replace sidewalks, parking lots, roads, and even bike paths
Pink Floyd Releases New “Marooned” Space Video
The English band Pink Floyd released this beautiful video to their song Marooned on April 28, 2014. Marooned appears on the band’s 1994 album The Division Bell and pairs perfectly with visuals taken from the orbiting International Space Station.
The iWatch is not a Watch.
Tech sites have been abuzz with a potential launch of an Apple iWatch. I keep reading how such a device may be used, what sensors could be included in the first release, what data may be recorded, and who might have been hired to support its use.
As vague as these reports have been, one thing is clear to me. iWatch is not a watch and it’s not a phone on your wrist, it’s a sensor platform with a display. The only reason it has watch in its name is to fool you into putting it on. iPhone wasn’t a phone, you just needed an excuse to buy one.
Visualization of 19th Century Ship Routes from Publicly Available NOAA Data Set
Ben Schmidt, assistant professor of history at Northeastern University, has visualized the routes of 19th Century ships using publicly available dataset from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The resulting image is a hauntingly beautiful image that outlines the continents and highlights the trade winds.
Walk on Walls Using Geckskin
Duncan Irschick and Al Crosby have been working together at UMass Amherst to develop Geckskin. Using a gecko’s foot for inspiration, Geckskin can hold considerable weight while not leaving residue or marks behind like conventional tape or nails would.
Smithsonian Institute Releases Online 3D Models Including This Stunning Lincoln Life Mask
“If you think about the ways humans perceive the world, we see in stereographic vision, we perceive depth. So 3D scanning offers us sort of a natural way to capture and interpret the world around us.”
An Unofficial NASA TV Commercial by a Citizen Scientist
This is what happens when you take a great song like Genesis by Justice and add NASA.
A Material Point Method For Snow Simulation – How Snow is Made for Disney’s Frozen
As part of the marketing for the release of Disney’s Frozen on November 27, 2013, the studio has shared a SIGGRAPH video describing their snow-making technology.
The Automated People Mover Tunnel at Dulles International Airport
After landing at Dulles Airport after a trip to California I paused to notice the beauty of the Automated People Mover. Sometimes it can feel heroic just to go home.
Species of Illumination – Lamps That Behave like Animals
Ever needed some light but you were too far away and didn’t have the clapper installed? What if you could just call the lamp over like your pet dog. For his graduation project at Design Academy Eindhoven, Bob de Graaf is exploring ideas such as this. Inspired by the movie Wall-E and an experiment at a park in Eindhoven, Bob has begun creating lamps that respond to humans and light much like organisms would.