Featherweight Weather Balloon

A group purely of amateurs created a lightweight weather balloon recently to travel new distances across the world.

The creators names were Ron (55) and Lee (32) Meadows who, as father and son, work together as swimming pool service repairmen.

The balloon, called "call sign K6RPT-11" was launched from a site near Silicon Valley on Sunday the 11th. It was one of the two balloons launched designed to reach high heights and then travel with the wind.

The balloon traveled an amazing 6,236 miles and eventually ended up falling out of the sky somewhere above the Mediterranean. It was traveling 35 mph at a height of 14,558 feet above the ground.

Here's what the weather balloon looked like right before the launch:

The balloon weighed about 3.5 pounds, which is what allowed it to travel so far and high.

The father and son are also previous record holders in that they made a latex balloon that traveled at an altitude of 136,545 feet, which broke the previous record by 1,500 feet. They also doubled their last run for distance with the "all sign K6RPT-11".

I really think this device could help us get better readings of weather even faster by allowing us to travel half-way across the world in one trip with a weather balloon.

Robot Geologist on Mars

Planetary scientists recently created a "robot geologist" rover they named Curiosity to explore Mars and attempt to find signs of life.

The rover can be easily landed by NASA because of its hovercraft sky crane and guided landing system built in to it. It also has 11 built in tools for examining rocks and looking for oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon, the four signs of life.

One of the scientists involved in the making of Curiosity, Ashwin Vasavada, says that the rover will be also be able to sense temperature, water levels, and the environments. This could play a big role in finding where life on mars could be (if there is any).

The machine is able to be controlled from 45 million miles away by NASA and has a drill they can use to collect samples.

Here's a simulated picture of Curiosity:

Curiosity is set to launch in August of next year at Cape Canaveral. The 15 foot saucer will land on mars with a 165 foot long parachute. It is also too heavy to install airbags so hopefully the scientists at NASA get the landing just right.

In conclusion, I hope that we will be able to learn a lot more about Mars. I believe we might even have some sort of a scientific breakthrough considering the machine can scan the rocks and bring back samples. The Curiosity is the first of its kind and I really believe it will be helpful to NASA.

Here's the site with all the information: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-11/mars-science-laboratory

Robo-Ostrich

Researchers at DARPA have recently created a robot ostrich capable of running up to 30 mph with incredible balance.

Scientists also predict the robot, named the FastRunner, may be able to reach speeds of up to 50 mph in the near future. This robo-ostrich can run on uneven surfaces like stairs or through obsticles, according to the researchers.

The FastRunner has a structure of an ostrich and runs with a single motor in each of its robotic bird legs. It also has a locking knee and springs in the legs so it runs easily and with little help from batteries. Since it runs with such little equipment inside of it, it is very lightweight and easily portable and fit for running.

Here's a picture of the robotic creature: 

The researchers who created FastRunner also say that it can handle as much weight as the material of the leg can handle because of the leg not requiring much energy to run, thanks to the springs and design.

In the near future, we could be seeing this robot increase its speed by up to 20 mph. There is also more robotic animals in developement, too, so we might see them soon.

All-in-all, I think that this concept of robot animals is kind of weird, but could help us in the long run with moving heavier objects much faster or just giving us an easy, convenient way to get around.

Nest Thermostat

Some time next month a new, high tech thermostat called "Nest", founded by Tony Fedell (creator of the iPod) will go on sale for about $250, making using thermostats a lot easier.

Nest looks like the classic Honeywell thermostat that many people may know.

Here's what it looks like:

Nest also has technology that lets it adjust itself automatically to your personal settings it can learn over time. Scientists say this is much more efficiant than adjusting it yourself because it will put it at a temperature that can save you money and be comfortable. It will glow red when heat is on and blue when AC is on.

It displays a green leaf when you turn the dial in the more efficient direction and can also shut itself off when you're not home. It does this with motion sensor that detects whether people are around or not to lower or higher the temperature accordingly.

Another great feature of Nest is that it has built in Wifi so you can control it from a smartphone, iPod app, etc.

Its' stainless steel dial also picks up the color of the wall it is mounted on so it can blend in with your house for a better looking thermostat.

Hopefully the Nest will be a great success because I honestly can see no downsides to this and believe it will overall benefit people and make their lives that much easier.

All information on Nest can be found here: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/ipod-creator-aims-ipod-ize-home-energy-efficiency-tech

New Supercomputer

Recently, a company called DARPA has been building a new supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Labs, which they named Jaguar, and will be ranked the number 1 biggest supercomputer by 2013.

The computer is currently ranked 3rd in the world for the biggest supercomputer, but an update in progress should make it number 1 by late 2012 or early 2013.

The updated model will have over 300,000 cores, which will make the computer extremely fast. It will make even more calculations than the current 2.3 petaflops per second. That's about 2.3 million billion calculations every second!

They believe its final speed will be 10-20 petaflops per second after the upgrade!

The scientists at Oak Ridge National Labs are using all types of modern wonders such as nuclear physics, clean energy science, and nano-scale material modeling.

All sorts of new things are being done to the computer everyday. One of those things is exploring battery chemistry to make sure the supercomputer will last as long as possible.

Here is a picture of the Jaguar:

So, when the Jaguar's update is done, hopefully we will be able to build from it and speed up all home computers and have everyone benefit from its technology.

All this information can be found here: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/day-life-supercomputer-oak-ridge-national-labs-jaguar-oct-25-2011

Ultrasound Helps Bones Heal After Injuries

In Scotland, Scottish doctors have recently found that ultrasound pulses can help heal broken bones significantly.

It works by a water based gel being applied to a "transducer" and put under a strap for 20 minutes. The gel then pierce through tissue, painlessly, and stimulate cellular activity. A recent pacient named Gary Denham recently had this procedure done and said, "It's got a wee strap that goes around where the break was."

Here's a picture of the ultrasound scanner:

Doctors say it would have taken Dunham's broken ankle from a 20 foot fall 9-12 months to heal, but with this new technology, it healed in about 4 months.

And according to Dr. Angus MacLean, his doctor, the ultrasound speeds up the healing process by about 40 percent.

This technology has branched off of the first ultrasound in the 1950's from Glasgow's Western Infirmary. Ultrasound can now be used for a wide range of medical uses, such as healing punctured lungs or breaking up blood clots.

Though this technology is expensive now, I believe in the distant future, when it is cheaper and more effective, people will be able to heal their broken bones almost instantly.

Robotic Surveillance Bugs

Scientists have recently been working on a new type of gathering information secretly through a bug-like flying camera thanks to the Pentagon's research contracts.

These small, robotic bugs are Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) and are used to discreetly gather information or deliver videos without being seen by anyone.

Though, there are problems with this device. One being that it is easily pushed around by wind and may not be able to sense its surroundings. It is very hard for scientists to put all of this technology into the tiny flying vehicle. So, a conclusion was made that the Micro Air Vehicle should be made even more bug-like.

The future Micro Air Vehicles will almost resemble a small fly, in that it will have big, bulging eyes and tiny hairs on it.

Here is a picture of the tiny bug-like vehicle:

The small hairs on it will act as tiny sensors to pick up any wind before it even comes. This is so the Micro Air Vehicle can re-adjust itself using its central processor so it doesn't get carried away by the wind.

The big eyes work as tons of little cameras, helping the device collect more visual data. An on-board "minicomputer" will process the images in real time so the device can more easily and cleanly avoid obstacles in its path.

In my opinion, this is a very cool piece of technology and could really benefit us in collected information more efficiently and quietly.