Tag Archives: technology

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In space, no one can hear you hiss

Astronaut on board the International Space Station It’s a staple of SF: something punctures the hull of a spacecraft and crew members, alerted by the hiss of escaping air, scramble to plug up the leak.

Just one problem: in real space, no one can hear the hiss of escaping air, because it’s venting out into vacuum. And real spacecraft, unlike their fictional counterparts, seldom have nice smooth unblemished hulls where holes can be easily located: instead, every square inch is jammed with equipment. Which is why a research team from Iowa has developed a square sensor just an inch across that provides a computer with enough information to locate a leak in about a minute–as opposed to weeks with NASA’s current handheld devices. (Via ScienceDaily.)

Just the thing for long trips to Mars–and space junk-filled near-Earth orbits, too. (Photo from NASA via Science Daily.)

[tags]space travel, NASA, space junk, technology[/tags]

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MummyWraps – tinfoil hats for the unborn

Purpoted sources of 'electrical smog' No matter how far we advance technologically, there’s one product that has always sold to the easily alarmed …. and snake-oil still shifts units to this day. Point in case: MummyWraps, a garment designed for pregnant women made from a special fabric that purportedly shields the developing baby from those possibly-lethal-and-cancer-causing-depending-on-who-you-ask cell-phone signals. It’s not clear whether or not the company intends to make a matching bonnet for the expectant mother … perhaps it’s too late for her, and the Illuminati have already rewired her thoughts with microwaves. But then surely they’d tell her not to buy shielding for her unborn kids? Sounds like a job for Occam’s Razor … [Via Engadget] [Image from MummyWraps website]

[tags]electro-smog, paranoia, snake-oil, technology[/tags]
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"The brightest illumination source ever created by man"

Diagram of Orion Helium Ion Microscope That’s the claim for the Orion Helium Ion Microscope from ALIS (Atomic Level Imaging Source), a Peabody, Massachusetts-based unit of Carl Zeiss SMT AG. It’s a next-generation microsocope that will enable us to see things we’ve never been able to see before, even with the most sophisticated scanning electron microsocope. The company has already sold one unit and has five more under construction. (Via MedGadget.)

I haven’t been this excited since I got my first microscope the Christmas I turned seven…although I don’t suppose I can expect one of these under the tree. Pity. (Illustration from ALIS.)

[tags]microscopy, technology, optics[/tags]

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Return of the airship

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A new article by Air & Space Magazine hints at a return to airships, with a focus on their potential use for heavy lifting in military and commercial applications, as well as a use as a spy platform.  That’s the idea, anyway.  It remains to be seen if the necessary advances in technology will make these behemoths economically viable.  One interesting feature would be that they might not come back in the familiar cigar shape – evidently a sphere is better for balancing out the helium.  Another cool thing would be hover pads that could push or pull on the surface, either to keep the airship above the ground/ice/sea, or hold it down while cargo is being offloaded so it doesn’t shoot up into the air like a, well, balloon.

(via SciTechDaily) (image from article)

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Smaller, safer, cleaner cars

Artist’s impression of the VentureOneDevilstower on Daily Kos wrote an excellent piece yesterday about how quickly cars in the US have changed. Following the Oil Crisis in the seventies lower speed limits encouraged smaller, more efficient cars. Over the last twenty years what had been a massive increase in MPG by the eighties has slowed and stalled with the advent of the SUV and bigger vehicles all round. Now a few manufacturers are producing incredibly efficient small city cars and hypercar such as the VentureOne and the Aptera. Having had a break from the trend towards smaller cars, is public thinking returning to the idea again?

[via Daily Kos, photo from the VentureOne website]