October 2009
10 posts
Stephen Wiltshire Draws Manhattan Skyline From... →
“wiltshire diagnosed with autism at the age of three displays an unusually powerful photographic memory that he has applied to rendering cityscapes. he can look at the subject of his drawing once and reproduce it accurately with photographic detail, down to the exact number of columns or windows on a building. he memorizes their shapes, locations and the architecture.” Found on...
Xerox hopes to print computing smarts on fabric,... →
“Xerox’s process uses ink containing silver metal that can be used to wire up processing circuitry. It works on surfaces such as plastic that earlier have shown an inconvenient tendency to melt under the high temperature of liquid silver; Xerox’s process works with an ink compound with a much lower temperature, the company said.” Found on CNET via Make.
Mantis Shrimp Eyes Might Inspire New High-Def... →
“They possess the animal kingdom’s most complicated eyes, capable of distinguishing between 100,000 colors — 10 times as many as humans &mdash and seeing circular polarized light, or CPL, which can’t be detected by any other creature.” Found on Wired Science.
Fossil Reactors →
“There are as many as sixteen two-billion-year old nuclear reactors locked in the rocks beneath Gabon. Unsurprisingly, at that age, they are also completely natural.” Found on BldgBlog.
LCROSS Overview →
“The Centaur will act as a heavy impactor to create a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris...
Tiny Nuclear Battery →
“Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, currently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS).” Found on the University of Missouri Web site via Boing Boing.
Magnetic Floating Bed - no drugs necessary →
“Forget the water beds and swinging beds, this all new Millionaire’s Magnetic Floating Bed is going to make you look like you own the world. The bed floats in the air and can support up to 900kgs and is held by 4 very thin wires. This bed is expected to cost $1,200,000.” Found on High T3ch. Submitted by Sarah V.