Physics doesn’t just happen in a fancy lab — it happens when you push a piece of buttered toast off the table or drop a couple of raisins in a fizzy drink or watch a coffee spill dry. Become a more interesting dinner guest as physicist Helen Czerski presents various concepts in physics you can become familiar with using everyday things found in your kitchen.
Physics doesn’t just happen in a fancy lab — it happens when you push a piece of buttered toast off the table or drop a couple of raisins in a fizzy drink or watch a coffee spill dry. Become a more interesting dinner guest as physicist Helen Czerski presents various concepts in physics you can become familiar with using everyday things found in your kitchen.
The designer felt no compulsion to adjust anything to account for a demanding new audience in Paris, conjuring up a strong, sensual, all-conquering female alter ego that was a testament to his focus.
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Just as girlhood is an inevitable prelude to lost innocence, Rei Kawakubo’s collection seemed to recognize another human inevitability, the most inescapable of all.
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Researchers have been playing around with various oddball forms of robot locomotion; surely, we’ve seen it all, haven’t we? Not so! Lucky for us, [researchers at Stanford] are now showing us a new way for robots to literally extrude themselves from point A to point B.
This robot’s particular motion for mechanism involves unwinding itself inside out. From a stationary base, a reel caches meters of the robot’s uninflated polyethylene body, which it deploys by pressurizing. Researchers can make full 3D turns by varying the amount of inflated air in outer control chambers. What’s more, they can place end effectors or even payloads at the tip of the growing end with their position held in place by a cable.
As we can imagine, any robot that can squeeze its way up to 72 meters long can have dozens of applications, and the folks at Stanford have explored a host of nooks and crannies of this space. Along the way, they deploy complex antenna shapes into the air, deliver small payloads, extinguish fires, and squeeze through all sorts of uninviting places such as flytraps and even a bed of nails. We’ve placed a video below the break, but have a look at Ars Technica’s full video suite to get a sense of the sheer variety of applications that they imparted upon their new creation.
Biomimetics tends to get us to cry “gecko feet” or “snake robots” without thinking too hard. But these forms of locomotion that come to mind all seem to derive from the animal kingdom. One key element of this soft robot is that its stationary base and vine-like locomotion both have its roots in the plant kingdom. It’s a testament to just how unexplored this realm may be, and that researchers and robots will continue to develop new ways of artificially “getting around” for years to come.
The folks over at Vulture put together this super handy guide to the Star Trek Universe.
Star Trek is a behemoth of a franchise. Running over 50 years, it has had five live-action series, one animated series, several films, comics, novelizations, and an extremely obsessive fandom I’ve counted myself a part of since childhood. I understand how Star Trek can seem labyrinthine, too dense for new fans to find their way in. But it’s very well worth it. This guide is a window into the Star Trek franchise, meant to introduce it those who have scant knowledge of its intricacies. At its best, Star Trek is a potently political, unabashedly philosophical, powerfully diverse, empathetic, and supremely well-crafted series that uses its hard science-fiction trappings to speak to our times. With Star Trek: Discovery bringing the franchise back to television after a 12-year absence, now is the best time to see why Star Trek has endured since The Original Series first aired in 1966.
The folks over at Vulture put together this super handy guide to the Star Trek Universe.
Star Trek is a behemoth of a franchise. Running over 50 years, it has had five live-action series, one animated series, several films, comics, novelizations, and an extremely obsessive fandom I’ve counted myself a part of since childhood. I understand how Star Trek can seem labyrinthine, too dense for new fans to find their way in. But it’s very well worth it. This guide is a window into the Star Trek franchise, meant to introduce it those who have scant knowledge of its intricacies. At its best, Star Trek is a potently political, unabashedly philosophical, powerfully diverse, empathetic, and supremely well-crafted series that uses its hard science-fiction trappings to speak to our times. With Star Trek: Discovery bringing the franchise back to television after a 12-year absence, now is the best time to see why Star Trek has endured since The Original Series first aired in 1966.
BRANCHBURG, N.J. (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at the mayor of San Juan and other officials in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, contemptuous of their claims of a laggard U.S. response to the natural disaster that has imperiled the island's future....
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Excellent piece from Emily Asher-Perrin over at Tor.com.
As a human being, it is odd to try and calculate where you “exist.” There are philosophers who argue about this very issue constantly. But if you’re an artificial intelligence, there is a verifiable place where you are. And that place, be it a positronic brain or a handful of code or a weird red box, is likely capable of being transferred to another location. Which means that your “body”—your physical casing—is not necessarily a limitation. But what does it mean to be able to exchange, renew, or even completely alter your body?
The real question becomes whether or not you have a say in that change… and why.
When it comes to science fiction, robots and artificial intelligence are often fixed entities. They are bound to a specific place (like a computer) or they have a body that belongs to them (or belongs to the organic being that owns them… which is a conversation for another time). But being bound in such a way is not a guaranteed permanent state of being for many A.I.s, and when that is the case, it often becomes a question of will and autonomy.
Excellent piece from Emily Asher-Perrin over at Tor.com.
As a human being, it is odd to try and calculate where you “exist.” There are philosophers who argue about this very issue constantly. But if you’re an artificial intelligence, there is a verifiable place where you are. And that place, be it a positronic brain or a handful of code or a weird red box, is likely capable of being transferred to another location. Which means that your “body”—your physical casing—is not necessarily a limitation. But what does it mean to be able to exchange, renew, or even completely alter your body?
The real question becomes whether or not you have a say in that change… and why.
When it comes to science fiction, robots and artificial intelligence are often fixed entities. They are bound to a specific place (like a computer) or they have a body that belongs to them (or belongs to the organic being that owns them… which is a conversation for another time). But being bound in such a way is not a guaranteed permanent state of being for many A.I.s, and when that is the case, it often becomes a question of will and autonomy.
Representative Nancy Pelosi says she has remained in Congress partly to ensure that a woman remains at the negotiating table, and she feels she has used that position well.
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President Donald Trump restated his call for NFL players to stand during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" ahead of this weekend's games, tweeting Saturday night that it was "very important" and calling on players to "Respect our Flag and our Country!"
BEIJING (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Saturday that the United State is maintaining direct channels of communications with North Korea even as tensions rise over the North's nuclear and missile programs and the countries' leaders spar through bellicose name-calling....
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Cell phone towers are something we miss when we’re out of range, but imagine how we’d miss them if they had been destroyed by disastrous weather. In such emergencies it is more important than ever to call loved ones, and tell them we’re safe. [Matthew May] and [Brendan Harlow] aimed to make their own secure and open-source cellular network antenna for those occasions. It currently supports calling between connected phones, text messaging, and if the base station has a hard-wired internet connection, users can get online.
This was a senior project for a security class, and it seems that the bulk of their work was in following the best practices set by the Center for Internet Security. They adopted a model intended for the Debian 8 operating system which wasn’t a perfect fit. According to Motherboard their work scored an A+, and we agree with the professors on this one.
Last year, the same SDR board, the bladeRF, was featured in a GSM tower hack with a more sinister edge, and of course Hackaday is rife with SDR projects.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Saturday it had ordered that Iran, Venezuela and four African nations be added to a U.S. list of countries accused of failing to crack down on human trafficking, a step that further isolates them from the United States.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is stoking the controversy over his call for punitive action against NFL players who take a knee or otherwise protest during the national anthem....
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Marine Corps engineer Flora Jordan was honored this week at a Washington, black-tie gala for creating body armor that’s nearly half the weight of older models yet equally protective.
Puerto Ricans reacted harshly on Saturday to President's Trump's tweets that leaders of the hurricane-ravaged Caribbean island "want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort."
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Do you have an assignment to make a model of an Egyptian pyramid? It's a fun school project that can be approached in a variety of ways. Though there are lots of methods out there, you can easily make a realistic-looking pyramid out of cardboard, sugar cubes, or clay.
Gather your supplies. This cardboard pyramid looks like a realistic flat-sided pyramid, but it's lightweight and doesn't take very long to put together. You probably have most of the supplies on hand already. For this project you will need:[1]
A large flattened cardboard box or piece of cardboard
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
Hot glue gun and sticks
Brown or black permanent marker
White school glue
Paint brush
Sand
Cut out a cardboard square. Cut out a square of cardboard that is 14 inches (35.5 cm) by 14 inches (35.5 cm). This square will be the base of the pyramid.[2]
You can make the base in any size you need, but keep in mind that the rest of the measurements will need to be altered if you change the size of the base.
Cut out four cardboard triangles. Use your ruler and pencil to draw four triangles with 8-inch (20.3 cm) bases that are 12 inches (30.5 cm) tall.[3]
Place a dot 12 inches (30.5 cm) from the center point (which is at 4 inches or 10.2 cm) of the bottom line to create a perfect triangle.
You can use a craft knife instead of scissors if the cardboard is stiff and difficult to cut.
Hot-glue the triangles together. Lean the triangles in so that their points meet and create a pyramid shape. You can temporarily tape them together or have a friend or family member help you if it’s tricky to get all four pieces to stay together. Then, seal the edges together with a line of hot glue.[4]
Be very careful when using hot glue, as it can burn you. Keep your hands away from the nozzle and the glue. Make sure you have a safe surface to rest your hot glue gun on when you’re not using it as well.
Hot-glue the pyramid to the square. Center the pyramid on top of the square. Put a line of hot glue along all four bottom edges of the pyramid and press it down in the middle of the square.[5]
Let the glue dry completely. It’s important to allow the glue to dry completely before moving on to the next step. Wait a few hours before moving on to ensure your pyramid doesn’t fall apart.[6]
Draw “bricks” on the pyramid. Use a brown or black permanent marker to draw horizontal and vertical lines on the pyramid that look like bricks. This will make your pyramid look more realistic.[7]
Paint the pyramid with white school glue. Pour some white school glue into a dish and use a paintbrush to paint the entire cardboard pyramid with an even coating of glue. Don't forget to cover the edges, too, so you'll be able to hide the cracks with sand.[8]
Alternatively, you could rub a glue stick over the cardboard before adding the sand.
Sprinkle on the sand. Before the glue dries, cover the pyramid with sand. Try to sprinkle on an even amount so that the entire pyramid is evenly coated in a layer of sand.[9]
Let the pyramid dry. Allow the pyramid to dry overnight, rather than finishing this project the day that it’s due. This way the glue and sand will be firmly stuck on and your finished product will look great.[10]
Collect your materials. Making a clay pyramid allows you to get creative by making realistic indents and grooves in the walls to resemble an ancient Egyptian pyramid. You'll need the following materials for this method:[11]
A large ball of modeling clay (the kind that air dries)
A piece of cardboard
Rolling pin
Knife
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
Paint (sandy brown color)
Paintbrush
Cut out the cardboard base. Use the ruler and pencil to draw a square on your piece of cardboard. An 8-inch by 8-inch (20.3 cm by 20.3 cm) base is a good size, or you could make a larger base if you have plenty of clay. Cut out the square when you're finished.[12]
Roll out the clay. Knead the clay into a ball, the place it on a clean, dry surface. Use the rolling pin to roll out the clay to a thickness of 1 inch (2.5 cm).[13]
Cut a square out of the clay. Cut a 6-inch by 6-inch (15.2 cm by 15.2 cm) square out of the clay. Center it on top of the cardboard base.[14]
Cut additional squares out of the clay. The next layer should be 5 inches by 5 inches (12.7 cm by 12.7 cm), followed by 4 inches by 4 inches (10.2 cm by 10.2 cm), 3 inches by 3 inches (7.6 cm by 7.6 cm), 2 inches by 2 inches (5.1 cm by 5.1 cm), and finally 1 inch by 1 inch (2.5 cm by 2.5 cm). Stack each layer in the center of the previous layer.[15]
Bevel the edges and create ridges. Press your ruler against the sides of the squares to slant them slightly downward. You can also create ridges by using the knife to make markings that look like stone shapes in the sides of the pyramid.[16]
Let the clay dry. Leave it alone for several hours, or even overnight, to give the pyramid time to dry and harden. Refer to the instructions on the clay packaging if you’re unsure how long it takes to dry completely.[17]
Paint the pyramid. Pour the paint into a dish and use the paintbrush to spread an even coating on the pyramid. Alternatively, cover the pyramid in a light coating of white school glue and sprinkle it with sand before the glue dries.[18]
Allow your project to dry. Let your finished pyramid to dry overnight. Then, take it to school and show off your hard work.[19]
Assemble your supplies. This simple pyramid looks like a step-sided pyramid, with individual "stones" visible instead of flat sides. It requires just a few household supplies, including:[20]
A large box of sugar cubes (around 400 cubes)
A piece of cardboard
A ruler
A pencil
Scissors
White school glue
Paint (sandy brown color)
Paintbrush
Cut a cardboard square. Use your ruler and pencil to draw a 12-inch by 12-inch (30.5 cm by 30.5 cm) square. Cut out the square and use it as the base for your pyramid.[21]
Make a sugar cube square. Create a 10 by 10 square base of sugar cubes in the center of the cardboard square (using 100 sugar cubes total). Glue down each sugar cube using white school glue.[22]
Add the second layer to the pyramid. Position a 9 by 9 square of sugar cubes in the center of the first layer (using 81 cubes). Glue down each sugar cube.[23]
Continue adding layers. Each layer should be 1 cube smaller than the previous layer, so the next layer is 8 by 8 (64 cubes), then 7 by 7 (49 cubes), 6 by 6 (36 cubes), 5 by 5 (25 cubes), 4 by 4 (16 cubes), 3 by 3 (9 cubes), 2 by 2 (4 cubes), and finally a single sugar cube on top.[24]
Let the glue completely dry. Allow the glue to dry for several hours to ensure all the sugar cubes are firmly in place.[25]
Paint the pyramid. Use a paintbrush to paint the entire pyramid a sandy brown color. Use only a small amount of paint, and be careful not to damage the pyramid as you go.[26]
Let the pyramid dry. Allow the pyramid to dry completely overnight. You can then proudly present it at school.[27]
The exit of Tom Price as the U.S. health secretary has many wondering if Republicans will be able to deliver on their promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
The past will always find you. Watch the NEW #BladeRunner2049, in theaters October 6. — Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a…
