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Dario Izzo

robot generates a conception of itself - 2 views

www.youtube.com/watch

alife robotics

shared by Dario Izzo on 04 Jun 10 - Cached
  • Dario Izzo on 04 Jun 10
     
    I wonder how free is the starting morphology.....
pacome delva

Flights of fancy - 1 views

physics.aps.org/...PhysRevLett.104.220502

phy bio birds magnetic_field

shared by pacome delva on 08 Jun 10 - Cached
  • Could quantum entanglement help a flock of birds fly south for the winter? A team of scientists at the Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Universität Innsbruck, both in Austria, is looking at how concepts central to the field of quantum information—entanglement and coherence—play a role in the chemistry of magnetodetection that animals use for navigation.
Dario Izzo

Goodbye To Google Wave - 2 views

techcrunch.com/...wave-goodbye-to-google-wave

INF

shared by Dario Izzo on 05 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Juxi Leitner on 05 Aug 10
     
    I guess it never really was clear what it should do (everything?!) or what it was (they also developed server communications and APIs for loads of things) ... also: "Wave was one stab at tackling our information overload, at providing a central hub for all the information we need to deal with every day. And it will be back, in one form or another." http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/aug/05/google-wave
  • LeopoldS on 07 Aug 10
     
    I liked the concept but it was too slow .... a pity
Joris _

The seeds of disruptive innovation within the European Space Agency - 24 August 2010 > Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory > On Demand Seminar - 5 views

ewds.strath.ac.uk/...ce-Agency--24-August-2010.aspx

science

shared by Joris _ on 20 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • Joris _ on 20 Sep 10
     
    :p
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Luís F. Simões on 20 Sep 10
     
    haha :) well.. don't shoot me Dario. I wasn't involved in this disclosure. But now that the link is public, you might all want to consider subscribing to their feed: http://ewds.strath.ac.uk/space/Podcasts.aspx They have some nice talks there. One of them is by Ken McLeod, the science fiction writer. Is anyone else with me on the idea that we should also invite science fiction writers for science coffees? :)
  • Ma Ru on 21 Sep 10
     
    So nice to hear Dario again! :-) But apparently UoS needs someone a bit more skilled to handle these videos...
  • Dario Izzo on 21 Sep 10
     
    Only one self-comment alla Barney ..... suit-up
Joris _

SPACE.com -- Railway to the Sky? NASA Ponders New Launch System - 3 views

www.space.com/...ew-nasa-technology-100914.html

space technology future

shared by Joris _ on 16 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • A team of engineers from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and some of the agency's other field centers are looking into this and other novel launch systems based on cutting-edge technologies.
  • The launch system would require some advancements of existing technologies, but it wouldn't need any brand-new technologies to work
  • Scramjet vehicles could be used as a basis for a commercial launch program
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • It's not very often you get to work on a major technology revolution
  • Juxi Leitner on 16 Sep 10
     
    I wonder if they are also working with that SCRAMSPACE initiative in Australia that was presented at ESTEC a while back...
  • Giusi Schiavone on 19 Sep 10
     
    what about a space elevator!!! quiet old concept (1895), see this link on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
Francesco Biscani

The End Of Gravity As a Fundamental Force - 6 views

science.slashdot.org/...Gravity-As-a-Fundamental-Force

phy

shared by Francesco Biscani on 11 Jan 10 - Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • Francesco Biscani on 11 Jan 10
     
    "At a symposium at the Dutch Spinoza-instituut on 8 December, 2009, string theorist Erik Verlinde introduced a theory that derives Newton's classical mechanics. In his theory, gravity exists because of a difference in concentration of information in the empty space between two masses and its surroundings. He does not consider gravity as fundamental, but as an emergent phenomenon that arises from a deeper microscropic reality. A relativistic extension of his argument leads directly to Einstein's equations."
  • ...8 more comments...
  • Dario Izzo on 12 Jan 10
     
    Diffcult for me to fully understand / believe in the holographic principle at macroscopical scales ... potentially it looks though as a revolutionary idea.....
  • pacome delva on 13 Jan 10
     
    never heard about it... seems interesting. At first sight it seems that it is based on fundamental principle that could lead to a new phenomenology, so that could be tested. Perhaps Luzi knows more about this ? Did we ever work on this concept ?
  • Luzi Bergamin on 13 Jan 10
     
    The paper is quite long and I don't have the time right now to read it in detail. Just a few comments: * We (ACT) definitely never did anything in this direction? But: is there a new phenomenology? I'm not sure, if the aim is just to get Einstein's theory as emergent theory, then GR should not change (or only change in extreme conditions.) * Emergent gravity is not new, also Erik admits that. The claim to have found a solution appears quite frequently, but most proposals actually are not emergent at all. At least, I have the impression that Erik is aware of the relevant steps to be performed. * It's very difficult to judge from a short glance at the paper, up to which point the claims are serious and where it just starts to be advertisments. Section 6 is pretty much a collection of self-praise. * Most importantly: I don't understand how exactly space and time should be emergent. I think it's not new to observe that space is related to special canonical variables in thermodynamics. If anybody can see anything "emergent" in the first paragraphs of section 3, then please explain me. For me, this is not emergent space, but space introduced with a "sledge hammer." Time anyway seems to be a precondition, else there is nothing like energy and nothing like dynamics. * Finally, holography appears to be a precondition, to my knowledge no proof exists that normal (non-supersymmetric, non-stringy, non-whatever) GR has a holographic dual.
  • Luzi Bergamin on 13 Jan 10
     
    Update: meanwhile I understood roughly what this should be about. It's well known that BH physics follow the laws of theormodynamics, suggesting the existence of underlying microstates. But if this is true, shouldn't the gravitational force then be emergent from these microstates in the same way as any theromdynamical effect is emergent from the behavior of its constituents (e.g. a gas)? If this can be prooven, then indeed gravity is emergent. Problem: one has to proof that *any* configuration in GR may be interpreted as thermodynamical, not just BHs. That's probably where holography comes into the play. To me this smells pretty much like N=4 SYM vs. QCD. The former is not QCD, but can be solved, so all stringy people study just that one and claim to learn something about QCD. Here, we look at holographic models, GR is not holographic, but who cares... Engineering problems...
  • LeopoldS on 13 Jan 10
     
    is there any experimental or observational evidence that points to this "solution"?
  • Luzi Bergamin on 13 Jan 10
     
    Are you joking??? :D
  • pacome delva on 14 Jan 10
     
    I was a bit fast to say it could be tested... apparently we don't even know a theory that is holographic, perhaps a string theory (see http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9409089v2). So very far from any test...
  • LeopoldS on 14 Jan 10
     
    Luzi, I miss you!!!
  • Luzi Bergamin on 14 Jan 10
     
    Leo, do you mean you liked my comment on your question more than Pacome's? Well, the ACT has to evolve and fledge, so no bullshitting anymore, but serious and calculating answers... :-) Sorry Pacome, nothing against you!! I just LOVE this Diigo because it gives me the opportunity for a happy revival of my ACT mood.
  • pacome delva on 14 Jan 10
     
    haha, today would have been great to show your mood... we had a talk on the connection between mind and matter !!
Joris _

planetarydefense.blogspot.com: Documents: Human NEO Mission Design Studies - 0 views

planetarydefense.blogspot.com/...cuments-human-neo-mission.html

MAD NEO Human_Exploration

shared by Joris _ on 11 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Joris _ on 11 Jan 10
     
    An interesting compilation of Human NEO mission concepts
pacome delva

Philosophers' Imprint - 5 views

quod.lib.umich.edu/...text-idx

philosophy phy math

shared by pacome delva on 18 Jan 10 - Cached
Nicholas Lan liked it
  • pacome delva on 18 Jan 10
     
    An interesting (free) journal on philosophy, with even some article with mathematics and physics !
  • Luzi Bergamin on 18 Jan 10
     
    Reading the titles somehow reminds me of the most important webpage of the ACT: the Advanced Concepts Generator :-)
  • pacome delva on 18 Jan 10
     
    have you seen the 2 articles on canonical GR ...!
Joris _

Panel Picks 3 Finalists for ESAs Cosmic Vision M class Missions | SpaceNews.com - 3 views

spacenews.com/...ic-vision-mclass-missions.html

MAD Class_M Science Marco Polo

shared by Joris _ on 20 Jan 10 - Cached
pacome delva liked it
  • “superb from a science standpoint,” but beyond Europe’s current budget
  • There was some questioning of the cost estimate for Euclid, but at some point you have to decide: Either you don’t believe the estimates that [ESA science program managers] produced, or you assume their estimates are credible. Euclid was the one mission where costs were debated, but the consensus was to use the cost estimates presented to us.
  • pacome delva on 20 Jan 10
     
    finally cross-scale is not selected, it was the only cosmic vision mission with multi-satellites formation flying, since the concept for Xeus has changed. There is still Swarm but it's not really formation flying... So ESA is missing something here...
Joris _

Robot mini space shuttle is go for April, says US air force * The Register - 2 views

www.theregister.co.uk/...x_37_go_for_april

MAD launcher space

shared by Joris _ on 15 Mar 10 - Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies.
  • a robotic spaceplane able to remain in orbit for substantial periods before re-entering the atmosphere and coming in for a runway landing automatically
  • Joris _ on 15 Mar 10
     
    make you wonder when the FLPP will actually lead to something flying !
  • LeopoldS on 16 Mar 10
     
    I did not even know that the airforce continued the X37 project when it was cancelled at NASA ... interesting stuff indeed ...
Joris _

NASA could buy plasma engine for station reboost services - 1 views

www.flightglobal.com/...-station-reboost-services.html

nasa MAD low thrust

shared by Joris _ on 10 Mar 10 - Cached
  • enough to generate 1lb of thrust (0.00445kN) and fulfil the critical role of giving the Space Station a periodic altitude boost.
  • the most powerful electric engine in operation toda
  • , NASA is contracting Ad Astra Rocket for a lunar tug concept study, to take cargo from the Earth to the Moon and back, and deliver equipment in preparation for a human landing
nikolas smyrlakis

mentored by the Advanced Concepts Team for Google Summer of Code 2010 - 4 views

socghop.appspot.com/...advancedconceptsteam

pagmo google summerofcode

shared by nikolas smyrlakis on 19 Mar 10 - Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • nikolas smyrlakis on 19 Mar 10
     
    you propably already know,I post it for the twitter account and for your comments
  • ...4 more comments...
  • LeopoldS on 20 Mar 10
     
    once again one of these initiatives that came up from a situation and that would never have been possible with a top-down approach .... fantastic! and as Dario said: we are apparently where NASA still has to go with this :-)
  • Joris _ on 20 Mar 10
     
    Actually, NASA Ames did that already within the NASA Open Source Agreement in 2008 for a V&V software!
  • Joris _ on 20 Mar 10
  • LeopoldS on 20 Mar 10
     
    indeed ... you are right .... interesting project btw - they started in 1999, were in 2005 the first NASA project on Sourceforge and won several awards .... then this entry why they did not participate last year: "05/01/09: Skipping this years Google Summer-of-Code - many of you have asked why we are not participating in this years Summer of Code. The answer is that both John and Peter were too busy with other assignments to set this up in time. We will be back in 2010. At least we were able to compensate with a limited number of NASA internships to continue some of last years projects." .... but I could not find them in this years selected list - any clue?
  • LeopoldS on 20 Mar 10
     
    but in any case, according to the apple guru, Java is a dying technology, so their project might as well ...
  • Joris _ on 21 Mar 10
     
    They participate under the name "The Java Pathfinder Team" (http://babelfish.arc.nasa.gov/trac/jpf/wiki/events/soc2010). It is actually a very useful project for both education and industry (Airbus created a consortium on model checking soft, and there is a lot of research on it) As far as I know, TAS had some plans of using Java onboard spacecrafts, 2 years ago. Not sure the industry is really sensible about Jobs' opinions ;) particularly if there is no better alternative!
Joris _

Researchers Claim They Can Translate Infant Cries, But is it Just Noise? | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...ate-infant-cries-it-just-noise

shared by Joris _ on 22 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Joris _ on 22 Mar 10
     
    nice conclusion! Published paper: "Statistical method for classifying cries of baby based on pattern recognition of power spectrum" in Int. J. Biometrics, 2010, 2, 113-123
  • Ma Ru on 23 Mar 10
     
    This must have been a hot topic is space research during last months... well, at least within the ESA's Advanced Concepts Team ;-)
Juxi Leitner

Draper MIT Students Test Lunar Hopper with Eyes on Prize | SpaceNews.com - 0 views

www.spacenews.com/...tudents-test-lunar-hopper.html

tech exploration hopping

shared by Juxi Leitner on 02 May 10 - Cached
  • The testing of the second-generation lunar hopper is being carried out under the supervision of engineers from the nearby Draper Laboratory with an eye toward competing for the Google Lunar X Prize in 2012.
  • Although planetary rovers are not new, the hopper concept could add a new dimension to robotic planetary exploration, one that Tuohy said could inspire a new generation of engineers, technologists and scientists.
santecarloni

Breakthrough Propulsion Physics - 7 views

www.grc.nasa.gov/bpp

propulsion physics space

shared by santecarloni on 26 Jan 11 - Cached
  • santecarloni on 26 Jan 11
     
    The competition is open....
  • Luzi Bergamin on 26 Jan 11
     
    And what does one win in the end? Yet another unfeasible concept to be archived somewhere in a journal? Look at "Millis hypothetical drives"... Give me a break, for sure!!
  • Dario Izzo on 26 Jan 11
     
    I like the sentence "16 peer-reviewed journal articles, and an award-winning website (Warp-When), all for a total investment of less than $1.6M". This gives 100.000 dollars per peer-reviewed paper (we neglect the award-winning web-site under the assumption that is the easy part....). With these number the ACT in 2010 cashed 1.4 millions only in research papers making it an obvious good investment for the European Space Agency also in austerity times!!!
Ma Ru

Dialing Phone Numbers on Cell Phones Activates Key-Concordant Concepts - 0 views

pss.sagepub.com/...0956797610397668

technology mobile science psychology

shared by Ma Ru on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Ma Ru on 17 Feb 11
     
    Personally, I have the habit of switching off keypad sounds in any device I use (mobile, camera, etc.). Now I have scientific results to back this philosophy up :) P.S. Mass-media version is here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20139-predictive-texting-alters-our-perception-of-numbers.html
Joris _

DARPA Solicits Ideas For Its Hundred-Year Starship Project | Popular Science - 4 views

www.popsci.com/...try-100-year-starship-concepts

darpa MAD

shared by Joris _ on 05 May 11 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 05 May 11
     
    I just can't see how their way of finding non-state funding for a 100 year project could work but would be happy to be surprised positively ...
Joris _

The Associated Press: Daunting space task _ send astronauts to asteroid - 1 views

www.google.com/...M5hnN4y3aS-C7w15dB_witS1S3sEjA

shared by Joris _ on 25 Jul 11 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • NASA leaders say civilization may depend on it
  • NASA is thinking about jetpacks, tethers, bungees, nets and spiderwebs to allow explorers to float just above the surface of it while attached to a smaller mini-spaceship.
  • At the moment, there are only a handful of asteroid options and they all have names like 1999AO10 or 2009OS5.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • NASA is pursuing its concept for a mini-spaceship exploration vehicle, about the size of a minivan. And it's planning an underwater lab for training, an effort to mimic an asteroid mission's challenges
  • "There's a lot of things we need to invent and build between now and then."
LeopoldS

NASA - 2011 NIAC Phase I Selections - 7 views

www.nasa.gov/...2011_phase1_selections.html

NIAC NASA space advanced concepts

shared by LeopoldS on 09 Aug 11 - No Cached
Joris _ liked it
  • LeopoldS on 09 Aug 11
     
    very nice selection of projects by NIAC!! there are at least some who have European partners as it looks like ... lets still see if we can get involved ...
  • Ma Ru on 09 Aug 11
     
    Interesting. Is it NASA's equivalent of ESA's GSP?
  • Joris _ on 09 Aug 11
     
    It is a good thing NIAC is alive again. Wie, Bong -> "Optimal Dispersion of Near-Earth Objects" . I wonder what it is?
Luís F. Simões

Wind Power Without the Blades: Big Pics : Discovery News - 4 views

news.discovery.com/...-power-without-the-blades.html

NRG wind energy biomimicry

shared by Luís F. Simões on 19 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.
  • Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area
  • After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor's diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. But Windstalks work on chaos and turbulence so they can be installed much closer together, said Núñez-Ameni.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Núñez-Ameni also reports that the firm is currently working on taking the Windstalk idea underwater. Called Wavestalk, the whole system would be inverted to harness energy from the flow of ocean currents and waves.
  • Luís F. Simões on 19 Sep 11
     
    additional information: http://atelierdna.com/?p=144
  • LeopoldS on 24 Sep 11
     
    isn't this a bit of a contradiction: on the one hand: "Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area" and on the other: "After completion, a Windstalk should be able to produce as much electricity as a single wind turbine, with the advantage that output could be increased with a denser array of stalks. Density is not possible with conventional turbines, which need to be spaced about three times the rotor's diameter in order to avoid air turbulence. " still, very interesting concept!
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