From my bookshelf: SCIENCE IN THE SPACE AGE, Teachers Edition Book 7, 1961.
Watched the videos for this tonight. Great stories, and a damn good time. Not just smart, but passionate, funny, and very entertaining… a fine example of why more folks should listen to what scientists have to say.
The Origins Project at ASU presents the final night in the Origins Stories weekend, focusing on the science of storytelling and the storytelling of science. The Storytelling of Science features a panel of esteemed scientists, public intellectuals, and award-winning writers including well-known science educator Bill Nye, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, theoretical physicist Brian Greene, Science Friday’s Ira Flatow, popular science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, executive director of the World Science Festival Tracy Day, and Origins Project director Lawrence Krauss as they discuss the stories behind cutting edge science from the origin of the universe to a discussion of exciting technologies that will change our future. They demonstrate how to convey the excitement of science and the importance helping promote a public understanding of science.
Link to Part 2 (of 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40YIIaF1qiw
From my bookshelf: Deals With the Devil, Compiled and edited by Basil Davenport, 1959. Art credit: Richard Powers.
This is a damned good book. “Satan and Sam Shay” was probably my favorite story, one where the main character actually got the better of the Devil, but all “twelve terrifying tales” were entertaining reads. Love the cover by Powers, who is best known for doing science fiction cover art.
The whole gang together in one spot, from the series of Star Wars bounty hunter illustrations I recently concluded.
Sometime soon, I intend on lining them all up and having prints made. Need to set up an online shop of some sort and wrap up a few other things first, so more news on that when everything falls into place.
Now they’re teaching robots to jump around on stuff… gonna be tough to keep them off the furniture in whatever dystopian future we’re working towards.
“Toward a Vocabulary of Legged Leaping,” by Aaron M. Johnson and D. E. Koditschek from the University of Pennsylvania’s Kod*lab.
Flat robots that pop up and assemble themselves… with a little help.
This Crawling Inchworm Robot Can Be Printed Out and Folds Itself
“Robot Self-Assembly by Folding: A Printed Inchworm Robot,” by Samuel M. Felton, Michael T. Tolley, Cagdas D. Onal, Daniela Rus, and Robert J. Wood from the the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, was presented this week at 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2013 in Germany.
Robotic insects make first controlled flight
Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap at 120 times per second, robotic insects, or RoboBees, achieve vertical takeoff, hovering, and steering. The tiny robots flap their wings using piezoelectric actuators — strips of ceramic that expand and contract when an electric field is applied. Thin hinges of plastic embedded within a carbon fiber body frame serve as joints, and a delicately balanced control system commands the rotational motions in the flapping-wing robot, with each wing controlled independently in real-time.
More about Robobees here: http://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/
Pretty cool stuff… but it reminds me of the work of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Air Vehicles Directorate Micro Air Vehicle Integration & Application Research Institute (µAVIARI), and the application of robotic bugs as envisioned in their “Air Force Bugbots” video. Yikes!
Magazine advertisement for Celanese Chemicals, 1958.
Magazine advertisement for Callery Chemical Company, 1958.
One of my recent flea market finds: Your Guide to Marineland of Florida. The cover was a bit musty, but it was in good shape otherwise. Not sure what year this was made. Pretty nice design overall. Love the design of the cover, and all of the colorful little illustrations throughout the book.
