Novidades

Um Robot que muda de forma:

Morphing cars and planes closer as Pentagon develops shape-shifting robot
By Tom Chivers
Published: 12:16PM BST 30 Jun 2010

At the moment the tiny robot - a sheet just half a millimetre thick, scarcely thicker than a piece of paper - only folds itself into a boat, like a child's toy, or a "paper glider" plane shape. But it is anticipated that in future it will be used to create full-sized cars and aircraft that morph as they move, or robots that can "flow" like mercury into small openings, or multipurpose military uniforms that can adapt to different environments.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7863181/Morphing-cars-and-planes-closer-as-Pentagon-develops-shape-shifting-robot.html

O Raixo X mais forte do Mundo, para tirar Micro-Fotografias estroboscópicas a Moléculas em movimento:

World’s Most Intense X-Ray Laser Takes First Shots

By Lisa Grossman

June 30, 2010 1:58 pm

The world’s most intense X-ray laser may soon be the fastest strobe-light camera ever. Two of the laser’s first experiments show the device will be able to take snapshots of single molecules in motion — without destroying them first.

The laser, called the Linac Coherent Light Source, takes up a third of the two-mile-long linear accelerator at the SLAC National Accelerator Lab in Menlo Park, California. In the accelerator hall, tight bunches of electrons wriggle through a series of magnets and give off X-rays billions of times brighter than earlier X-ray sources could muster. The wavelength of these X-rays is comparable to the radius of a hydrogen atom — about one angstrom, or one ten-billionth of a meter — and each pulse can be as short as a few quadrillionths of a second.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/x-ray-laser/

Ipods a bordo!
Um novo avião com navegação por... Ipod!

iCub Brings iPad and Apps to Avionics

By Jason Paur
June 30, 2010 7:00 am

One of the airplanes we’re excited to see next month in Oshkosh is the new Zlin iCub. As the name hints, the iCub brings together an updated version of the classic airplane design, with an Apple iPad front and center in the cockpit that can be used for navigation, checking the weather, or … well, the list goes on.

The idea makes a lot of sense. The airplane belongs to the Light Sport Aircraft category and is aimed at pilots who are looking for a fun-to-fly plane, not a serious transportation machine. So rather than spend thousands of dollars on a purpose-built, Federal Aviation Administration–approved GPS unit, the company instead went with a much more versatile and less-expensive option.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/new-airplane-should-motivate-apple-fanboys-to-be-pilots/