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Dec 19, 2020

Rocket-launching drone ready to take satellites into orbit

Posted by in categories: drones, satellites

Aevum’s RAVN-X targeting “smallsat” market with 2021 Space Force launch.

Dec 19, 2020

Light-activated material stores potential energy for months or years

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

Researchers at Lancaster University have developed a new material that can store energy for months, and potentially years, at a time. The material can be activated by light, and then release the pent-up energy on demand in the form of heat.

The team started with a metal-organic framework (MOF), materials that are famous for being very porous and as such, having an extremely high surface area. That in turn allows them to hold onto large amounts of molecules, making them great for desalinating or filtering water, capturing carbon dioxide out of the air, or delivering drugs in the body.

For the new study, the Lancaster researchers tested out how well a MOF might be able to store energy. They started with a version of the material called a DMOF1, and loaded its pores with azobenzene molecules. This compound is excellent at absorbing light, which causes its molecules to physically change shape.

Dec 19, 2020

Fungi Leather Could Mould The Future of Sustainable Fashion

Posted by in categories: biological, sustainability

Future leather…may be made from fungus! Cool! 😃


Around five years ago, US companies MycoWorks and Ecovative invented and patented fungus-derived leather technologies. These technologies use the mushroom’s root-like structure, known as mycelium. When mycelium is grown on agricultural waste or sawdust, they produce a thick mat that can be treated to look like leather.

This natural biological process can be conducted anywhere since the roots are used and not the mushrooms. The process doesn’t need light; it turns waste into something useful and stores carbon by collecting it in the growing fungus.

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Dec 19, 2020

Fireball ‘as bright as full moon’ spotted in night sky over Japan

Posted by in category: space

Social media was abuzz Sunday after reports that an object emitting an intense light had been spotted falling from the skies above Japan in the early hours of the morning.

Supplied photo taken from video footage of a fireball seen in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. (Kyodo)

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Dec 19, 2020

How The Navajo Nation Is Transforming Math Education

Posted by in categories: education, mathematics

This week, I had some amazing discussions with Navajo Nation Math Circle leaders — Dave Auckly and Henry Fowler. The idea of starting a math circle on Navajo land was initially brought up by a wonderful math educator and mathematician raised in Kazakhstan, Tatiana Shubin. Here is a small tribute to their efforts:


Project activities were launched in the Fall of 2012. A team of distinguished mathematicians from all over the US, as well as local teachers and community members, work together to run the outreach. Navajo Nation Math Circles present math in the context of Navajo culture, helping students develop their identity as true Navajo mathematicians. “We want to find kids who would not have discovered their talents without our project, to help them realize that they can change the world,” says Fowler. Having introduced Navajo children to the joy of mathematics, the project also yielded a book, Inspiring Mathematics: Lessons from the Navajo Nation Math Circles, which contain lesson plans, puzzles and activities, and other insights for parents and teachers to embrace.

An extension of Navajo Nation Math Circles is an annual two-week Baa Hózhó summer math camp at Navajo Technical University. “Baa Hózhó” means “balance and harmony,” tying together the ideas of mathematical equilibrium with the way of life embraced by Navajo people. The summer camp is widely popular with parents and children; the older students come back as counselors, making everyone feel like one big family. It is preceded by an annual student-run math festival in local schools across the Navajo Nation, where students share their passion for mathematics with families and friends.

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Dec 19, 2020

The Marine Corps is on the hunt for a kamikaze drone swarm to back up grunts on the battlefield

Posted by in category: drones

The Marine Corps is looking for industry sources to produce a man-portable system capable of launching swarms of kamikaze drones over contested battlefields, according to a new notice.

In a request for information published earlier this month, Marine Corps System Command detailed a fresh need for an “individually operated, man-portable, anti-materiel, anti-personnel ground-launched loitering munition system” for fielding to grunts in the coming years.

The so-called Organic Precision Fire-Infantry (OPF-I) capability will consist of a fresh infantry-operated system capable of launching drones that can conduct explosive strikes and are “capable of swarming” over a 20-kilometer range for up to an hour and a half, according to the notice.

Dec 19, 2020

‘Like horse-mounted cavalry against tanks’: Turkey has perfected new, deadly way to wage war, using militarized ‘drone swarms’

Posted by in categories: drones, military, policy

It seems some countries are now switching to drone swarms.


From Syria to Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh, this new method of military offense has been brutally effective. We are witnessing a revolution in the history of warfare, one that is causing panic, particularly in Europe.

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Dec 19, 2020

Using artificial intelligence to help drones find people lost in the woods

Posted by in categories: drones, robotics/AI, space

A trio of researchers at Johannes Kepler University has used artificial intelligence to improve thermal imaging camera searches of people lost in the woods. In their paper published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, David Schedl, Indrajit Kurmi and Oliver Bimber, describe how they applied a deep learning network to the problem of people lost in the woods and how well it worked.

When people become lost in forests, search and rescue experts use helicopters to fly over the area where they are most likely to be found. In addition to simply scanning the ground below, the researchers use binoculars and . It is hoped that such cameras will highlight differences in body temperature of people on the ground versus their surroundings making them easier to spot. Unfortunately, in some instances does not work as intended because of vegetation covering subsoil or the sun heating the trees to a temperature that is similar to the body temperature of the person that is lost. In this new effort, the researchers sought to overcome these problems by using a deep learning application to improve the images that are made.

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Dec 19, 2020

This futuristic food product can be made by mixing carbon dioxide, water, and electricity

Posted by in categories: food, futurism

You can make something out of nothing. Or so one company claims.

Dec 19, 2020

All-electric off-grid glamping trailer ditches gas for solar power

Posted by in categories: business, climatology, sustainability

The new ERV from Retreat Caravans travels to the most distant corners of Australia and beyond, using only electric power to keep equipment running. That would be a nice feat for an RV as simple as a tiny teardrop trailer, but the ERV is more a dual-axle luxury condo. Its lithium battery and solar roof power the all-season climate control, indoor/outdoor entertainment system, electrified kitchen and even washing machine. Leave the LPG tanks and electrical grid behind, explore Outback-style remoteness and live like a kingly nomad in a high-tech hideaway.

Electric motorhomes and pickup campers have stolen the spotlight throughout 2019, but all-electric caravans have been quietly creeping forward in the backdrop. In the US, Thor Industries, the world’s largest RV manufacturer, worked up a more rigid definition of “off grid” with the Sonic X caravan concept back in March. Later in the year, another brand under the Thor umbrella, Germany’s LMC, followed suit with its own electrified trailer at the Düsseldorf Caravan Salon. The two models were quite distinct, but both shared the same goal: leaving behind every last trace of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and tying together all onboard equipment with a single electrical architecture.

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