space rides

Ever wondered what it'd be like in space? Your dream now becomes a reality with NASA's Suborbital Space Rides. Passengers would spend time in microgravity during rides being offered by aspiring space launch services firms including Virigin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace and others. The Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF) is the leading organization to make human space rides come true. The fares, which so far range from $95,000 to $200,000 help fund Planetary Sciences division in NASA. This program also has attracted scientists who have been conducting experiments during parabolic flights, which mimic microgravity with 20 to 30 second freefalls through the atmosphere aboard jet aircraft. In addition to getting a ride to outer space, scientists have proposed particle physics experiments, a genetics test, investigations to monitor the sun, an astrophysical experiment related to the theory of relativity, and several materials science exposure runs.

NanoRadio

The new technology is NanoRadio. When you think of small you think of an ipod nano or even somehing you could easily fit in your pocket. Alex Zettl is not stopping there. In order to miniaturize a radio you need to make the antenna and the tuner smaller also. This is a very diffcult task but Alex Zettl found a way to do this by using a single molecule that can receive radio signals at the core of the nanoradio.
Not only is this technology going to make small radios it is going to improve many other things. Tiny radio devices could improve cell phones and allow communication between tiny devices, such as environmental sensors.
In emerging technology smaller is always better, but whats next? The answer is computers so small that you can't see them.

New Algorithm to Revolutionize Data Processing?

Science is all about collecting and making sense of data through hundreds, if not thousands of experiments. With many new large scale projects such as the LHC coming online in recent years, scientists around the globe are being flooded with data. Until now their only choice was to divert money that could have gone into the experiments into purchasing a super computer.

Developers at the University of California, Davis sought to change that, and they have succeeded. In the November-December issue of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, a paper describing as well as announcing the creation of the algorithm was published. The algorithm not can analyze as well as create images from the data. Something that would have taken a super computer to do, can now be used on a high end laptop.

The algorithm works by splitting the data into tiny parcels. It then analyzes all the parcels separately using what’s known as the Morse-Smale complex. The data is then combined, and anything that isn’t used is simply discarded of. This drastically cuts down the file sizes and the computing power needed to run.

Using algorithms like these, scientists can hopefully overcome the problem of information overload. This is also will cut down costs of running large scale experiments as the cost of processing the data will dramatically decrease, allowing scientists to continue to work towards the ultimate goal of finding just how the universe works.

More information can be found on the University of California, Davis’ website at: http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/

Classroom Netbooks

Through the growing industry of computers and the decreasing prices of hardware to create netbooks, which are half the price of regular laptop PCs, technology has gradually become more accessible in a school environment. Not only is this affecting schools in the United States, but also schools in developing countries such as Brazil, Jordan, and India.

This in effect brought companies such as Intel to create a "kid-friendly" PC that could fit in a child's educational needs, called the Classmate Netbook PC. These netbooks are not only easy to interact and carry with schoolchildren, mainly due to its tablet mode, but durable enough to survive through any unexpected drops due to its hard plastic exterior and water resistant keyboard. This netbook also carries Intel's Atom chip which allow for longer battery life and better performance.

However, the Classmate Netbook PC is not the only PC available for educational purposes. Other programs such as the One Laptop Per Child program offer the XO computer, in which NComputing claims to be able to deliver their PCs for less than $100, while the ClassmatePC would cost $300 to make (not including software, installation, and computer support). This would be possible by NComputing's "thin-client" model, where several PCs (with limited capabilities) would connect to a central computer to store and retrieve information.

Despite these programs available it still seems that the goal price of $100 per computer cannot be reached due to additional price of software, teacher training, and tech support. Only the future will tell if developing countries will finally be able to afford these types of commodities to educate their children and cultivate a more technologically knowledgeable generation.

Blog Assignment Due Dates Marking Periods 2 and 3

Marking Period 2

11/12/08 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 11/19/08
11/19/08 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 11/26/08
12/10/08 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 12/17/08
12/17/08 David Aquino comments/responses due 12/22/08* before Christmas Break
1/7/09 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 11/14/09
1/14/09 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 1/21/09

Marking Period 3

2/4/09 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 2/11/09
2/11/09 David Aquino comments/responses due 2/25/09 *extra week due to Feb Break
2/25/09 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 3/4/09
3/4/09 Nick DeGiacomo comments/responses due 3/11/09
3/11/09 Jon Filipe comments/responses due 3/18/09
3/18/09 David Aquino comments/responses due 3/25/09
3/25/09 Dan Trujillo comments/responses due 4/1/09

Linxter

This week I decided to switch it up a little and blog about a rapidly growing Middleware software named Linxter. If you don't know what Middleware is, it's software that consists of numerous enabling services that allow applications and software components to be connected. It works as a middle-man, working between the operating system and applications.

Linxter is a new solution to many developers. Once launched it will allow programs to send messages across no matter where, or what platform it is on. Linxter's focus in addition to being reliable and secure is ease of use. According to their website "Linxter has been designed so that developers with only one to two years of experience can master the technology in less than a day."

Linxter will help companies of all sizes. Seperate from saving precious man-hours that could go into other activites, the cost of implementing Linxter is minor when compared to creating and maintaining their own basic infrastructure. Linxter is the future of data distribution, anything connected to the internet will be able to connect to any other device running linxter.

Now You See It and Now You Don't

Ever since the days of Houdini, the master magician, people have been trying to emulate ways of becoming invisible and disappearing out of thin air. This quest for finding a way to appear invisible to the human eye has been going on for years, in which scientists have tried to develop invisibility cloaks that project the images around them. However, it seems most, if not all, of these developments have failed in some way until now.

Since last November there has been announcements of an "invisibility shield", created by David R. Smith of Duke University and colleagues. The researches have managed to divert microwaves around what they are calling a "hole in space". What is unique about these structures is that it can manipulate electromagnetic radiation, which includes light, in certain ways so that it will not be visible in nature. How is this possible? Through the usage of metamaterials. Metamaterials can have the unique ability to affect electromagnetic waves which it interacts with, as long as the structural features are smaller than the wavelenght of the electromagnetic radiation it interacts with. For visible light, the structures are generally half or less than half the size of visible light (less than 280 nanometers). So in effect light waves are transmitted around the area, creating a hole, in which an object can be placed and become invisible.

The research groups has been able to successfully experiment at microwave frequencies, due to the already established techniques. Now the only question becomes whether it will be able to eliminate the reflection of visible light. Only time will tell as David R. Smith and his colleagues continue their research in this innovative method to "shield" objects from visible light.