July 14, 2009
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center,
Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, CA
6 Teams
[KCSP, LM, USST, NSS, McGill, U MICH]
1 km vertical raceway,
laser-powered vehicles
$2,000,000 Total prize purse (two levels)
Horava is a serious string theorist (if there is anything like that...) I like the last comment by Dvali: if the theory can be adjusted in such a way that it becomes indistinguishable from GR then it should be taken seriously. Gosh, am I glad to be among engineers now!!!
yeah an interesting theory, definitely worth following. But it is far from being mature, and a lot of work remains before saying that it is viable or not... I posted something on this some time ago (http://www.diigo.com/user/pacome/horava_theory) and proposed to do smthing on it in the idea storm (our new creative game...), which didn't have a lot of success...
I like also the idea of matrix gravity (see Matrix general relativity: a new look at old problems, Ivan G Avramidi, CQG 21, 103)
"Neuroscience UCLA neurophysicists have found that space-mapping neurons in the brain react differently to virtual reality than they do to real-world environments. Their findings could be significant for people who use virtual reality for gaming, military, commercial, scientific or other purposes."
I wonder if we are doing it wrong with the airplane pilot simulators...
NASA Releases Tool Enabling Citizen Scientists to Examine Asteroid Vesta
Vesta Trek is a free, web-based application that provides detailed visualizations of Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in our solar system.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft studied Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. Data gathered from multiple instruments aboard Dawn have been compiled into Vesta Trek's user-friendly set of tools, enabling citizen scientists and students to study the asteroid's features. The application includes:
-- Interactive maps with the ability to overlay a growing range of data sets including topography, mineralogy, abundance of elements and geology, as well as analysis tools for measuring the diameters, heights and depths of surface features and more.
-- 3-D printer-exportable topography so users can print physical models of Vesta's surface.
-- Standard keyboard gaming controls to manoever a first-person visualization of "flying" across the surface of the asteroid.
"There's nothing like seeing something with your own eyes, but these types of detailed data-visualizations are the next best thing," said Kristen Erickson, Director, Science Engagement and Partnerships at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC.
Did we just solve overpopulation and climate change?
With 40% more efficient crops we could easily sustain 10+ billion people on Earth.
And 40% more efficient plants would absorb much more CO2 than we are emitting (currently: artificial CO2 emission ~29 GT/y, photosynthesis CO2 capture through plants ~450 GT/y)
I am usually very worried about the risks of climate change, but this could be a real game changer!