Writing a report and want to spice it up a little? Look no further than ‘Roger’s Profanisaurus’ for the right word for any situation.
Author: John
Phoenix Mars Lander
I hope that this project isn’t plauged by the “faster, better, cheaper – choose two” thinking that the some space probes have had in the few years.
I think that the science that can be gathered from the polar regions of Mars will answer a lot of questions that scientists have about where the water might have gone.
The Phoenix Mars Mission, scheduled for launch in August 2007, is the first in NASA’s “Scout Program.” Scouts are designed to be highly innovative and relatively low-cost complements to major missions being planned as part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program. Phoenix is specifically designed to measure volatiles (especially water) and complex organic molecules in the arctic plains of Mars, where the Mars Odyssey orbiter has discovered evidence of ice-rich soil very near the surface.
Similar to its namesake, Phoenix “raises from the ashes” a spacecraft and instruments from two previous unsuccessful attempts to explore Mars. The 2001 lander, administratively mothballed in 2000, is being resurrected for the Phoenix Mission. Similarly, many of the mission’s scientific instruments have already been built, requiring little or no modification for flight to Mars.
Phoenix is a fixed lander, using a robotic arm to dig to the ice layer and analyze samples with a suite of sophisticated on-deck scientific instruments.
Dinosaur Bones Link To Birds
Soft tissue found in the animal’s thighbone strongly suggests it was a female, and just about to lay eggs, the researchers report.
Sensacell
Looks cool, these would be fun in a childrens science center.
In its most basic form, the Sensacell is a small tile embedded with LEDs, capacitive sensors (like a laptop trackpad) and networking capabilities. Bundled together the tiles can be mounted underneath a translucent surface to make anything from a coffee table to a wall sculpture. The interaction is simple– touch, or even just get close to, the surface and the lights illuminate. Various modes can be assigned– trail, paint, reverse, and others each have different results but are all seriously satisfying in the way they breathe on and off.
More Cheap Camera Hacks
I saw this on MAKE today and thought “time to build a digital stereo camera!”. I tried to make one with two cheap cameras without LCD displays but had a major time getting them to be correctly oreiented
Looks like I’ll be checking out the local CVS stores this weekend.
Hack the “disposable” digital camera that CVS sells for $20. Includes all wiring diagrams, steps, and software needed to be able to take the images off the camera to your computer.
Photos of my modding adventure can be found here:
They make good cameras for kids or to keep in the car in case you see somthing weird on the road.
NOTE:
The main site has gone off line for (I hope) a while, there is a Google cache here.
At the bottom of the page there are some links to the info the web page had on it. I’ve copied them here:
http://www.maushammer.com/systems/dakotadigital/lcd.html
http://www.demanufacturing.com/pv2
http://forkboy.doesntexist.com/
http://www.digitalfluff.net/pv2/
http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowBoard&Board=cameras
Stealth Camera bag
Not wanting to stand out in a crowd by saying ‘why yes, I do have an expensive camera and lenses in this bag. Go ahead and mug me” this guy decided to mod a now common messenger bag and added a nifty fiberglass insert to hold his camera gear.
Tischers Camera bag