Archive for the ‘ Science & Technology ’ Category
Clearly I’ve got work to do, because I’m procrastinating with blog posts. #include<speculative comments about motivation> Interesting piece about the futurist implications of the promising new technologies on the horizon becoming corporate controlled walled-gardens, much as everything is now. It’s clear that some level of profit driven development is good, as it spurs innovation, but it’s also [ READ MORE ]
Imagine a search engine that, instead of just doing text matching, attempts to parse your statement into questions it can answer, then provides you with as many of those answers as it can. Imagine a search engine that can deal with numerical relationships and analysis. Imagine a search engine that’s tailored towards returning facts and [ READ MORE ]
Check out this rather impressive imagining of virtual world construction in a fully tangible VR / AR environment. The interface used is quite cool and inspirational, but there’s a lot of funky interface videos out there, and the basic idea of creating worlds from within isn’t new; Snow Crash has this sort of thing, and, to [ READ MORE ]
So, everyone knows what r stands for, right? What about v? Or f(x) and f’(x)? OK. How about x, y, and z? If you’re not a math geek of some kind, you’re probably not reading anymore, but just in case you are, the point is that each of these letters has a common meaning in a [ READ MORE ]
While waiting for pizza this evening, I read an article by David Allan Grier in IEEE Computer about the ways in which technology has changed entertainment, particularly the theatre, over the last 40 years or so. In particular, he discusses how automated lighting, sound and so forth can afford a stage manager the opportunity to calibrate [ READ MORE ]
The BMW GINA uses a rubbery fabric stretched across metal struts in place of metal skin. This makes the design seems eerily alive in places. [ READ MORE ]
I wasn’t going to post anything more about the Phoenix Lander, as the media’s picked it up now, and I don’t have a lot to add. But then, I saw this photo.. It’s Phoenix decelerating with its parachute in the Martian atmosphere, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Not a high quality image, but there’s something totally [ READ MORE ]
Over the weekend, I encountered OECake, a demo application of a 2D physics simulation called the Octave Engine. It models gravity, particle interactions, and momentum, as well as evaporation and condensation of water particles. So, I made a steam engine. [ READ MORE ]
via Open the Future 3D Animation of the Phoenix Lander, due to land on Mars in about 17 hours. This expedition promising interesting results. It’ll be our first chance to sample soil beneath the Martian surface as it carries on board a digging arm capable of digging a trench half a metre deep. In addition, it carries [ READ MORE ]
Recently, I’ve encountered two ways in which evolutionary principles can be applied to medicine. Rather than using brute force to kill pathogens, these are more subtle, systemic approaches. Viruses and bacteria evolve, just like all other living creatures. The difference is that they do it really fast. This means we can use evolution as a way [ READ MORE ]