Ukrainian Cyborg Tanks: Armored support for Ukrainian defenders of Donetsk International Airport
Tank crews are used to protect military convoys travelling to strategic military positions at the airport, to take out the wounded or to provide the #39;cyborgs...
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Steampunk Cyborg - Helmet
How I handle more complex shapes. Final work here: http://brunocamara.com/steampunk-cyborg/ Song:DJ Khaled ft. Drake - I #39;m On One (KillaGraham Dubstep Remix) ...
By: Bruno Camara
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Women's MMA standout Cris "Cyborg" Justino recently partook in an AMA (ask me anything) session with the MMA Underground (mixedmartialarts.com), where she talked fight politics, her old-school roots and, of course, UFC women's bantamweight championRonda Rousey.
I perused her responses, and from the looks of things, Cyborg isn't too crazy about the current political landscape of the fight game, and she feels that a bout with Rousey is inevitable.
Here are some highlights (questions/responses edited for readability).
Question: Do you dislike Ronda on a personal level for all the trash talk about you or do you see it as hype in case of a future fight?
Cyborg:I don't have anything personal against her...I am from a different time. Remember when Wanderlei Silva foughtMark Huntin PRIDE? What weight was that fight? That is Chute Boxe. That is fighting because you love it. If she really wanted this fight it would have happened already...The fight will happen or the fans of MMA will robbed of history.
Question: Time has gone by a lot since the first time you and Ronda wanted to fight. Do you think the fight is losing steam and big pay day for everyone because the UFC (is) stalling and putting too many cards?
Cyborg: No. Everyone will watch this fight.
Question: Carano vs. Rousey. Was this amusing to you?
Cyborg: When I heard rumors of this fight, it made me feel like the game of MMA is changing. It's political now.
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Cyborg Opens Up on the UG, Talks Ronda Rousey and Current Fight Politics
Researchers have created creepy "biobots" wired up to microphones that seek out the source of sounds to help find and rescue disaster survivors.
Roaches to the rescue! Eric Whitmire/North Carolina State University
You might have heard the old joke that when the apocalypse wipes out our cities, the cockroaches will easily survive and take over. Strangely, the future reality may be that cockroaches will one day help save humans in a disaster.
Rather than fear the resilience of this clear bad boy of bugs, researchers at North Carolina State University sought to harness the hardiness of roaches by giving them the cyborg treatment. The scientists developed technology to create what they call a "biobot" by attaching a microphone to individual roaches that allows them to be used by first responders to seek out the source of sounds, like, say, a person trapped under rubble following an earthquake.
Each roach is fitted with a tiny circuit board backpack that is also wired into its nervous system, allowing the bug's motion to be controlled remotely. Sounds from an attached microphone are also sent back to the cockroach command center.
One version of the system even includes an array of three directional microphones that can detect the direction a sound is coming from. The team has also developed software that analyzes this information and automatically steers the biobot toward the source of a sound.
"The goal is to use the biobots with high-resolution microphones to differentiate between sounds that matter -- like people calling for help -- from sounds that don't matter, like a leaking pipe," says Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor at NC State and senior author of two papers on the work, in a release.
Bozkurt has also worked on similar research involving controlling cyborg moths.
Creating robotic listening cockroaches wasn't enough of a creepy/awesome accomplishment for Bozkurt's team, though. They also have demonstrated technology that creates an invisible fence to make sure the biobots stay in a defined area. This is obviously useful for keeping the bugs on their work site, but it also helps keep them in close enough range to create a reliable mobile wireless network. Plus, it can steer them to light sources to charge their electronic backpacks using the tiny solar cell on the package.
So, don't go toward the light if you want to be free, little roaches. Then again, what else are they going to do besides surprise you in your lunch? Head for the sunlight, you big bug, you -- I need to be sure I can make a call when it all goes down.
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Cyborg roaches can save your life -- or be your wireless carrier
Controlling cockroaches with electrical 'backpacks' is one of those science experiments that's simultaneously quite cool and ethically grey. What might make you feel better, though, is the knowledge that those remote-controlled cockroaches may save your life if you ever get trapped inside a burning building.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have outfitted cyborg cockroaches with microphones which, when wired up to the roaches' normal sensory appartus, means that the 'biobots' will seek out the source of a sound. The scientists hope that, in addition to providing a good tracking tool to Skynet, this will also enable humans to find other humans in enclosed spaces like a collapsed building.
Cyborg cockroaches themselves are nothing particularly new 'Roboroach' kits let you cheaply control your very own cockroach, by microstimulating the cockraoches' antennae with eletrical signals like steering a horse with reins, only these reins are electrodes that are strapped to their heads.
The North Carolina researchers took this one step further, attaching microphones to their roaches' cerci, which are the sensory organs that cockroaches normally use to sense if their abdomen brushes into something. Therefore, by stimulating the cerci, the roach can be 'encouraged' to move forward, or left, or right, and ultimately towards the source of a sound. The hope is that those sounds will end up being people screaming for help, and that by trapping the cockroaches' transmitters, rescuers will be able to find people trapped in disaster scenarios.
What having a team of cyborg cockroaches crawling over the victims will do to their mental health remains to be seen. [North Carolina State University via Gizmag]
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North Carolina State University researchers have developed technology that allows cyborg cockroaches, or biobots, to pick up sounds with small microphones and seek out the source of the sound. The technology is designed to help emergency personnel find and rescue survivors in the aftermath of a disaster.
The researchers have also developed technology that can be used as an "invisible fence" to keep the biobots in the disaster area.
"In a collapsed building, sound is the best way to find survivors," says Dr. Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and senior author of two papers on the work.
The biobots are equipped with electronic backpacks that control the cockroach's movements. Bozkurt's research team has created two types of customized backpacks using microphones. One type of biobot has a single microphone that can capture relatively high-resolution sound from any direction to be wirelessly transmitted to first responders.
The second type of biobot is equipped with an array of three directional microphones to detect the direction of the sound. The research team has also developed algorithms that analyze the sound from the microphone array to localize the source of the sound and steer the biobot in that direction. The system worked well during laboratory testing. Video of a laboratory test of the microphone array system is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJXEPcv-FMw.
"The goal is to use the biobots with high-resolution microphones to differentiate between sounds that matter -- like people calling for help -- from sounds that don't matter -- like a leaking pipe," Bozkurt says. "Once we've identified sounds that matter, we can use the biobots equipped with microphone arrays to zero in on where those sounds are coming from."
A research team led by Dr. Edgar Lobaton has previously shown that biobots can be used to map a disaster area. Funded by National Science Foundation CyberPhysical Systems Program, the long-term goal is for Bozkurt and Lobaton to merge their research efforts to both map disaster areas and pinpoint survivors. The researchers are already working with collaborator Dr. Mihail Sichitiu to develop the next generation of biobot networking and localization technology.
Bozkurt's team also recently demonstrated technology that creates an invisible fence for keeping biobots in a defined area. This is significant because it can be used to keep biobots at a disaster site, and to keep the biobots within range of each other so that they can be used as a reliable mobile wireless network. This technology could also be used to steer biobots to light sources, so that the miniaturized solar panels on biobot backpacks can be recharged. Video of the invisible fence technology in practice can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWGAKd7_fAM.
A paper on the microphone sensor research, "Acoustic Sensors for Biobotic Search and Rescue," was presented Nov. 5 at the IEEE Sensors 2014 conference in Valencia, Spain. Lead author of the paper is Eric Whitmire, a former undergraduate at NC State. The paper was co-authored by Tahmid Latif, a Ph.D. student at NC State, and Bozkurt.
The paper on the invisible fence for biobots, "Towards Fenceless Boundaries for Solar Powered Insect Biobots," was presented Aug. 28 at the 36th Annual International IEEE EMBS Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Latif was the lead author. Co-authors include Tristan Novak, a graduate student at NC State, Whitmire and Bozkurt.
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KZN beaches to reopen after lifting of shark safety nets
Durban - Three days after shark safety nets were lifted on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, several beaches are set to reopen to the public on Thursday. The KZN Sharks Board removed the nets...
By: eNCAnews
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Blackpool North beach is one of the beaches in England set to fail tough new EU cleanliness standards. Photograph: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND/CHRISTOPHER THOMOND
One in 20 English beaches which currently pass standards for cleanliness will fail tougher tests which come in next year, figures show.
Almost all beaches (99.5%) in England meet the basic standards for clean bathing water, with just two spots failing to reach the mandatory grade this year: Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach, Dorset, and Staithes, North Yorkshire.
But under tougher European standards which come into force next year, 5% of those beaches which are currently reaching the mandatory standards will be classed as poor, reducing the number achieving the required level of cleanliness to 94.5%.
More than 20 beaches are projected not to make the grade, including Blackpool North and Blackpool Central, Lancashire and Seaton and East Looe in Cornwall.
The bathing water statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) showed the number of beaches which reached mandatory levels for cleanliness increased from 98.8% in 2013 to 99.5% this year in England.
In Wales all beaches tested met the mandatory level of cleanliness, in Scotland 97.5% passed bathing water tests and 95.7% of beaches in Northern Ireland made the grade.
The figures also showed that the proportion of beaches reaching existing higher guideline standards of cleanliness fell slightly in 2014.
In England, 80.7% of beaches meet the higher grade, a slight drop on 83.5% in 2013. In Wales 88.1% of bathing spots achieved the higher standards, as did 55.6% in Scotland and 69.6% in Northern Ireland - where it fell from 87% the previous year.
Water minister Dan Rogerson said: Water quality is improving and has now reached a record high, which means families across the country can make the most of what nature has to offer.
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One in 20 English beaches will fail new EU cleanliness tests
From the beaches of France to the harbors of Hawaii, the fields of Britain to the docks of New York, there are countless relics of war. Take this tour of tours through battleships, tanks, aircraft and more.
Geoffrey Morrison/CNET
All over the world, in places once rife with conflict, monuments to the struggles of men remain. The relics of war. Silent ships. Now quiet battlefields. Aircraft grounded forever. These reminders are, thankfully, the closest most of us will ever get to combat.
They're awe inspiring, in their way, and for many, a source of true fascination.
In this tour of tours, you'll see the beaches of Normandy, the bridge of battleships, the missile room of a submarine and countless aircraft and tanks from WWI, II, the Cold War and beyond.
We start where so much did, on the beaches of France, Normandy, on a morning in early June. Seventy years ago, the largest seaborne invasion in history landed here, on their way to vanquish one of history's great evils.
Today, the beaches are serene, decaying structures the only sign of the previous violence.
Only 150 miles away, beneath the streets of London, Sir Winston Churchill's War Cabinet Rooms give a glimpse of what life was like for the leaders of the UK during the war.
And only a bit farther north, Bletchley Park, the secret code-breaking center that decrypted the German's messages, gaining invaluable intel and shortening the war by years. As an aside, the life of Alan Turing, the original code-breaker, is about to be the subject of a movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
The skies above Britain and France were the battlefield of countless skirmishes. Starting from the canvas-and-wood designs of WWI, to the iconic savors of the Battle of Britain, to the fighters and bombers of the jet age, the Royal Air Force Museum showcases hundreds of important and legendary aircraft.
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Astronomy C12 - 2014-10-30: Saturn, rings, moons, Titan and Enceladus
Astronomy C12, 001 - Fall 2014 The Planets - Geoffrey W. Marcy All Rights Reserved.
By: UCBerkeley
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Astronomy C12 - 2014-10-30: Saturn, rings, moons, Titan and Enceladus - Video
Astronomy - Ch. 6: Telescopes (15 of 21) How CCDs Revolutionized Astronomy
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain how CCDs, charged coupled devices, revolutionized astronomy.
By: Michel van Biezen
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Astronomy - Ch. 6: Telescopes (15 of 21) How CCDs Revolutionized Astronomy - Video
Astronomy - Ch. 6: Telescopes (20 of 21) What is Infrared Astronomy
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain what is infrared astronomy on why is the atmosphere opaque to certain wavelengths.
By: Michel van Biezen
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Astronomy - Ch. 6: Telescopes (20 of 21) What is Infrared Astronomy - Video
Astronomys essential diagram | Dr Gregory Wirth | TEDxKamuela
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Dr Gregory Wirth brings us closer to the universe and how scientists use brightness, color, and other...
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Astronomys essential diagram | Dr Gregory Wirth | TEDxKamuela - Video
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have completed the largest and most sensitive visible-light imaging survey of dusty debris disks around other stars. These dusty disks, likely created by collisions between leftover objects from planet formation, were imaged around stars as young as 10 million years old and as mature as more than 1 billion years old.
"It's like looking back in time to see the kinds of destructive events that once routinely happened in our solar system after the planets formed," said survey leader Glenn Schneider of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. The survey's results appeared in the Oct. 1, 2014, issue of The Astronomical Journal.
Once thought to be simply pancake-like structures, the unexpected diversity and complexity and varying distribution of dust among these debris systems strongly suggest these disks are gravitationally affected by unseen planets orbiting the star. Alternatively, these effects could result from the stars' passing through interstellar space.
The researchers discovered that no two "disks" of material surrounding stars look the same. "We find that the systems are not simply flat with uniform surfaces," Schneider said. "These are actually pretty complicated three-dimensional debris systems, often with embedded smaller structures. Some of the substructures could be signposts of unseen planets." The astronomers used Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to study 10 previously discovered circumstellar debris systems, plus comparatively, MP Mus, a mature protoplanetary disk of age comparable to the youngest of the debris disks.
Irregularities observed in one ring-like system in particular, around a star called HD 181327, resemble the ejection of a huge spray of debris into the outer part of the system from the recent collision of two bodies.
"This spray of material is fairly distant from its host star -- roughly twice the distance that Pluto is from the Sun," said co-investigator Christopher Stark of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. "Catastrophically destroying an object that massive at such a large distance is difficult to explain, and it should be very rare. If we are in fact seeing the recent aftermath of a massive collision, the unseen planetary system may be quite chaotic."
Another interpretation for the irregularities is that the disk has been mysteriously warped by the star's passage through interstellar space, directly interacting with unseen interstellar material. "Either way, the answer is exciting," Schneider said. "Our team is currently analyzing follow-up observations that will help reveal the true cause of the irregularity."
Over the past few years astronomers have found an incredible diversity in the architecture of exoplanetary systems -- planets are arranged in orbits that are markedly different than found in our solar system. "We are now seeing a similar diversity in the architecture of accompanying debris systems," Schneider said. "How are the planets affecting the disks, and how are the disks affecting the planets? There is some sort of interdependence between a planet and the accompanying debris that might affect the evolution of these exoplanetary debris systems."
From this small sample, the most important message to take away is one of diversity, Schneider said. He added that astronomers really need to understand the internal and external influences on these systems, such as stellar winds and interactions with clouds of interstellar material, and how they are influenced by the mass and age of the parent star, and the abundance of heavier elements needed to build planets.
Though astronomers have found nearly 4,000 exoplanet candidates since 1995, mostly by indirect detection methods, only about two dozen light-scattering, circumstellar debris systems have been imaged over that same time period. That's because the disks are typically 100,000 times fainter than, and often very close to, their bright parent stars. The majority have been seen because of Hubble's ability to perform high-contrast imaging, in which the overwhelming light from the star is blocked to reveal the faint disk that surrounds the star.
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Game Boy World #019: Shogi (Pony Canyon, 1989)
The third Japan-only Game Boy release, and the third based on a very Japan-specific pastime. Coincidence? Ummm... no. Shogi presents the classic Japanese counterpart to chess in about as ...
By: Jeremy Parish
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Your Computer Wants to Kill You! AI #39;s Dirty Little Secrets!
Will computers take over the world? Trisha discusses the Artificial Intelligence with Joshua Vergara, and Matt Lieberman. Host: Trisha Hershberger @thatgrltrish Guests: Joshua Vergara @joshsalute...
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Your Computer Wants to Kill You! AI's Dirty Little Secrets! - Video
Stephen Hawking says successful AI 'would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last.' Photo: Reuters
Ebola sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Bird flu and SARS also send shivers down my spine. But I'll tell you what scares me most: artificial intelligence.
The first three, with enough resources, humans can stop. The last, which humans are creating, could soon become unstoppable.
Before we get into what could possibly go wrong, let me first explain what artificial intelligence is. Actually, skip that. I'll let someone else explain it: Grab an iPhone and ask Siri about the weather or stocks. Or tell her "I'm drunk." Her answers are artificially intelligent.
Right now these artificially intelligent machines are pretty cute and innocent, but as they are given more power in society, these machines may not take long to spiral out of control.
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In the beginning, the glitches will be small but eventful. Maybe a rogue computer momentarily derails the stockmarket, causing billions of dollars in damage. Or a driverless car freezes on the highway because a software update goes awry.
But the upheavals can escalate quickly and become scarier and even cataclysmic. Imagine how a medical robot, originally programmed to rid cancer, could conclude that the best way to obliterate cancer is to exterminate humans who are genetically prone to the disease.
Nick Bostrom, author of the book Superintelligence, lays out a number of petrifying doomsday settings. One envisions self-replicating nanobots, which are microscopic robots designed to make copies of themselves. In a positive situation, these bots could fight diseases in the human body or eat radioactive material on the planet. But, Bostrom says, a "person of malicious intent in possession of this technology might cause the extinction of intelligent life on Earth."
Artificial-intelligence proponents argue that these things would never happen and that programmers are going to build safeguards. But let's be realistic: It took nearly a half-century for programmers to stop computers from crashing every time you wanted to check your email. What makes them think they can manage armies of quasi-intelligent robots?
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RHM Boeing Aerospace Peregrine Falcon Hunting Ducks (My Edited Videos)
I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor)
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RHM Boeing Aerospace Peregrine Falcon Hunting Ducks (My Edited Videos) - Video
USC Viterbi STEM Spotlight Series: Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
The USC Viterbi STEM program showcased the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering on Thursday, Oct. 23 2014. USC Viterbi helps teachers and students meet new Next Generation ...
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USC Viterbi STEM Spotlight Series: Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering - Video
Ace Combat: Infinity - MiG-29A Libra - Aerospace Center Defense 10/6/2014
Online Co-op Mission MiG-29A -LB- (Level 1) QAAM (Level 1) 4 Players (first part) Deal2kids vs dspyzd PR0F3T4_13.
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Ace Combat: Infinity - MiG-29A Libra - Aerospace Center Defense 10/6/2014 - Video