Micro stories - small news bits too small to have their own thread

[SvenSvensonov]

Cool photo of 12 US Air Force Stratotanker refueling planes in a row

Here are twelve KC-135 Stratotanker refueling airplanes all lined up on the runway like a dozen ducks in a row. It was part of an aerial exercise at the Kadena Air Base in Japan where the Stratotankers pumped 50 aircraft with 800,000 pounds of fuel.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

In the US we hear a lot about the "middle class," but what does that actually mean? Well, it turns out that middle class differs from state to state.

The Salary Required to Be “Middle Class" in Every State

“Middle class” doesn’t have a definite, official definition. But the Pew Charitable Trust defines it as households that earn between 67 and 200 percent of a state’s median income. Based on this metric and some statistics, Business Insider came up with a list of how much you have to earn to be considered middle class, depending on your state.

Pew analyzed numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey (the most recent) and found that the middle class has shrunk in every state between 2000 and 2013. Business Insider looked at the survey, too, then crunched some numbers based on Pew’s definition of “middle class” to come up with their list.

You can see the full results below. In the left column, they list the median household income for each state. The middle column is the minimum you have to earn to be considered middle class, based on Pew’s definition. And the right column is the upper range of middle class.

Head to Business Insider’s full link for more information.

How much you have to earn to be considered middle class in every US state | Business Insider

 

[SvenSvensonov]

A Moon Of Saturn Has Its Moment In The Sun In This Stunning Ringscape

*Sorry, no caption this time.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

In the US we hear a lot about the "middle class," but what does that actually mean? Well, it turns out that middle class differs from state to state.

The Salary Required to Be “Middle Class" in Every State

Hey can you repost this in the Team USA thread.

Edit: All set..I did it. Team USA | Page 85

 

[SvenSvensonov]

Welcome Back LHC

After a two-year hiatus (I wish I got that kind of vacation package), the Large Hadron Collider is ready for work. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) live blogged the startup process over the weekend until finally, on April 5, the organization confirmed that LHC was, once again, up and running.

The LHC’s largest scientific contribution to date is the discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle, a huge +1 for evidence supporting the Standard Model of physics. The last time LHC was working, it fundamentally changed the physics field. Who knows what could happen next.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

This new camera sensor could turn your phone into a 3D scanner | The Verge

Let's say you want to 3D print a replica of an object in your home. The first step, of course, is capturing a detailed 3D scan — a process that's currently accomplished to varying degrees of accuracy with a desktop unit or more expensive and bulky professional models. But with a new "camera sensor" designed by CalTech researchers under electrical engineer Ali Hajimiri, you may one day be able to record a 3D scan with nothing other than your smartphone.

The tiny chip, called a nanophotonic coherent imager, uses a form of LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology to capture height, width, and depth information from each pixel. LIDAR, which shines a laser on the target and then analyzes the light waves that are reflected back to the sensor, are best known for their use in precision-guided missile systems and self-driving cars.

While LIDAR itself isn't new, Hajimiri explains that "by having an array of tiny LIDARs on our coherent imager, we can simultaneously image different parts of an object or a scene without the need for any mechanical movements within the imager." Each "pixel" on the new sensor can individually analyze the phase, frequency, and intensity of the reflected waves, producing a single piece of 3D data. The data from all of the pixels combined can produce a full 3D scan. In addition, the researchers' implementation allows for an incredibly tiny and low-cost scanner, all while maintaining accuracy. According to the researchers, the chip can produce scans that are within microns of the original.

The chip produced by the lab currently only has 16 pixels on it — not enough to capture a scan of any real objects without moving it slightly after taking each "picture." (That's how they took the scan of the penny above). But researchers say that the product could easily be scaled up to a model with hundreds of thousands of pixels, providing a new, low-cost way for smartphones, driverless cars, and a whole host of other products to capture precise 3D image data.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

I can't take my eyes off of this cool planter robot

I wish I had a window with a perfect view of this pack planter robot. I would open it every morning to watch the machine transplant pansies while I have my breakfast—and I would probably be late to work for the rest of my life.

Video: Insane guy breaks the world mountain bike speed record

Blink and you'll miss him. That's because mountain bike rider Eric Barone is going faster than anyone has ever gone on a mountain bike on snow. He reached 138.752 MPH on a bike with the help of a terrifyingly steep, snowy hill and the wonder of aerodynamic gear. He goes FAST. One wrong move or one misplaced snowball and he'd go flying.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

DARPA Hacked Together a Super Cheap Google Glass-Like Display

Helmet-mounted displays are priceless on the battlefield. And expensive: The proto-Google Glass headset, for instance, is absolutely useful for the average soldier, but way too pricey to be practical. That’s why folks at DARPA are freaking out about the heads up display that researchers hacked together for a few hundred bucks.

Let’s get one thing straight: This is hardly the new F-35 helmet—that insanely overpriced fighter jet’s Gen III Helmet Mounted-Display System (HMDS) that shows the pilot all of the essential information needed to slam through the sound barrier and launch missiles at enemy aircraft.

It’s also so advanced, it effectively turns the entire plane into glass by using a series of infrared cameras mounted on the hull to enable the pilot to “look through” the airframe.

The whole set up also costs about $400,000. That’s what makes DARPA’s garage-built version so interesting.

A team of young engineers built the whole setup at a cost that’s likely less than the price of the chin strap cost on the F-35 HMDS. I tried a hacked-together prototype of the device at a recent DARPA demo day in rural Virginia. It doesn’t exactly look like a Star Wars prop, but that’s part of the point. It’s built to be useful, and it is. Based on what I learned about the simple feature set, it actually sounds like it could save soldiers lives.

The new helmet-mounted display system is designed for infantry soldiers, not fighter pilots. However, the objective to optimize attention remains the same. If you’re leading a patrol into enemy territory, there are a million things to worry about. You’re the one tasked with finding the safest, most efficient path to your destination. You’re the soldier who needs to identify any insurgents who may happen to cross your path. You’re the first line of defense if you walk into a fire fight.

The DARPA device focuses on these key use cases. All three of the programmed features I saw at the demo day focus on navigation and threat detection. The entire system is built within DARPA’s TransApp ecosystem, the same ambitious software initiative that powers thousands of soldiers’ smartphones on the battlefield.

One view through the helmet-mounted display is a simple satellite view of the terrain, the mission plan, and the soldier’s position. Another related view, shown in simplified form below, provides data more directly related to the soldiers. Note the marker for a known IED. These features are all based on the Maps app developed by TransApp as a way not only for soldiers to replace the World War II era methods of charting out points on paper with protractors. It’s honestly not much different than the navigation features on Google Glass. The display also detects the soldier’s head movements so that it always shows the relevant orientation.

The third view is perhaps the most interesting, as it plugs into the military’s larger database of known insurgents and civilians. (One other application of this information is an app called WhoDat which is kind of like a collection of baseball cards made up of locals, their affiliations, and their level of hostility.) This view will enable the soldier to flip through profile pictures of known locals, helping to identify who’s a threat and who’s not.

While it’s easy to draw comparisons between this cheap and easy helmet-mounted display and the not-so-cheap and not-so-easy Google Glass technology, the design is much more utilitarian. The display can flip up and down so that the soldier wearing it can enjoy an unobstructed view whenever he or she wants. As such, the display itself is opaque and lacks the augmented-reality effect of some heads up displays.

All that said! This very high tech and ultra useful device costs about the same as a good smartphone—not the price of a fancy house. That means that more soldiers could take advantage use of the potentially lifesaving technology which, let’s be honest, is inevitably more important than making killing easier.

 

[Azizam]

Aluminium battery charges smartphones in 60 seconds

A bendable battery that can fully charge asmartphone in less than one minute could soon be powering popular gadgets. The potentially-revolutionary aluminium battery is also more environmentally friendly than current lithium-ion and alkaline batteries and keeps working for "thousands" of cycles.

The "ultrafast rechargeable aluminium-ion battery", developed by chemists at Stanford University, is a "major breakthrough" for portable technology, according to the team that discovered it. Their findings were published in the journal Nature.

In experiments the battery successfully charged a smartphone in one minute, compared to current lithium-ion batteries that take hours to deliver a full charge. The aluminium-ion battery delivers two volts of electricity and could also potentially replace the millions of 1.5 volt AA and AAA batteries used in gadgets ranging from remote controls to toys.

Researchers have been experimenting with aluminium batteries for decades, but have never found the perfect combination of materials to produce enough voltage via a cell that lasts for thousands of cycles of charging and discharging.

"We have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames," said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford, adding that the battery won't catch fire "even if you drill through it".

The experimental battery uses a negatively charged anode made from aluminium, and a positively charged cathode made from graphite. The electrolyte inside is a salt that's liquid at room temperature, making it more stable and better for the environment than conventional batteries. The prototype is also reportedly more durable, lasting more than 7,500 cycles without loss of capacity. Previous aluminium-ion batteries lasted around 100 cycles, with lithium-ion batteries running to around 1,000 cycles.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Aluminium battery charges smartphones in 60 seconds

A bendable battery that can fully charge asmartphone in less than one minute could soon be powering popular gadgets. The potentially-revolutionary aluminium battery is also more environmentally friendly than current lithium-ion and alkaline batteries and keeps working for "thousands" of cycles.

The "ultrafast rechargeable aluminium-ion battery", developed by chemists at Stanford University, is a "major breakthrough" for portable technology, according to the team that discovered it. Their findings were published in the journal Nature.

In experiments the battery successfully charged a smartphone in one minute, compared to current lithium-ion batteries that take hours to deliver a full charge. The aluminium-ion battery delivers two volts of electricity and could also potentially replace the millions of 1.5 volt AA and AAA batteries used in gadgets ranging from remote controls to toys.

Researchers have been experimenting with aluminium batteries for decades, but have never found the perfect combination of materials to produce enough voltage via a cell that lasts for thousands of cycles of charging and discharging.

"We have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames," said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford, adding that the battery won't catch fire "even if you drill through it".

The experimental battery uses a negatively charged anode made from aluminium, and a positively charged cathode made from graphite. The electrolyte inside is a salt that's liquid at room temperature, making it more stable and better for the environment than conventional batteries. The prototype is also reportedly more durable, lasting more than 7,500 cycles without loss of capacity. Previous aluminium-ion batteries lasted around 100 cycles, with lithium-ion batteries running to around 1,000 cycles.

Hmm... no mention of energy density? If you need 20 times the volume that isn't going to be useful.

 

[Azizam]

Hmm... no mention of energy density? If you need 20 times the volume that isn't going to be useful.

40 watts per 1kg.

40 watts of electricity per kilogram compared to lithium's 100 to 206 W/kg power density. "Improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density,"

Stanford's aluminum battery fully charges in just one minute

 

[SvenSvensonov]

New Liquid Metal Inkjet Printing Can Produce Flexible Circuitry

Creating truly flexible electronics requires applying super-thin layers of conducting materials to already bendable materials—but doing so accurately is difficult. Now, a new form of inkjet printing can allow scientists to deposit thin layers of liquid metal into neat, stretchable circuits.

The researchers, from Purdue University, had the bright idea that liquid metal could be applied via an inkjet print head—but sadly liquid metal doesn’t quite naturally lend itself to being spurted out of a nozzle in that way. So the team created a new liquid metal ink especially,reports PhysOrg.

Taking the liquid metal alloy—in this case gallium-indium—the team dispersed its constituents into nanoparticles using ultrasound, suspending them in ethanol. The resulting liquid can be printed using inkjet nozzles, and then the ethanol evaporates. The new technique will be described in paper to be published in the journal Advanced Materials April 18th.

Once deposited on a surface, the nanoparticles have to be brought back into contact with each other, because the process causes them to gather a layer of oxidized gallium on their surfaces. The application of light pressure causes them to squash together, breaking down that skin and allowing the bulk printed structure to conduct electricity. And, crucially, bend.

In fact, the need to apply pressure might in itself be a bonus: by selectively applying pressure, it could be possible to create customized flexible circuitry from mass-manufactured sheets of printed materials. The next step for the researchers is to explore how different types of base material can be used to create different types of circuitry, and to consider how they’d go about making the materials at scale.

 

[Azizam]

OUR FUTURE WORKFORCE: 3D-PRINTED BIONIC ANTS

Ants are nature's very own army: goal-driven, indefatigable and capable of great victories in the face of adversity. Now, a German engineering company is looking to harness the power of these insects using the latest bionic technology, in the hope of revolutionising the workforce of the future.

As part of its Bionic Learning Network, Festohas created a swarm of BionicANTs: robot insects around the size of a human hand, which unnervingly resemble a super-sized version of their insect forebears. The BionicANTs are programmed to mimic the intelligence of their real world counterparts -- including their ability to co-operate and complete fiendishly complex tasks, such as moving objects much larger than themselves, which they'd be unable to do alone.

In a press release on its website, Festo says: "Like their natural role models, the BionicANTs work together under clear rules. They communicate with each other and coordinate their actions and movements among each other. The artificial ants thus demonstrate how autonomous individual components can solve a complex task together working as an overall networked system."

Each BionicANT is embedded with a stereo camera in its head and sensors underneath, giving it an intuitive sense of spatial awareness and the ability to locate and grip objects with its pincers. Adding to the robots' uncanny appearance is their 3D-printed plastic body and six ceramic legs powered by piezo technology, which keeps them scuttling along efficiently to get the job done.

The swarm uses a wireless network to communicate, effectively creating a mini production powerhouse. By using a series of complex algorithms, Festo's vision is to pioneer intelligentrobots that could help pave the way for factories of the future run by an entirely autonomous workforce.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

A British Submarine Hit 'Ice' And Now Has A Massive Dent

All Royal Navy Trafalgar-class submarines have specially strengthened hulls and conning towers for breaking through massive polar icepacks. Yet for some reason, HMS Talent returned to port sporting a massive dent in its forehead, and the British Ministry of Defence is blaming it on “ice.” Okay.

The Daily Mail reports that the sub was tracking Russian vessels when it collided with, well,something, though MOD officials are apparently adamant that it was ice and definitely nothing else. An unusually cheery and delightful MOD spokesperson confirmed to us that theTalent was involved in a collision resulting in that massive crumpling you see above, though they couldn’t provide any explanation beyond that.

But that would definitely be weird.

Now it is entirely possible that the Talent hit some ice, in a horizontal fashion, while not very deep. Though it is unlikely, considering how the Trafalgar-class is designed to avoid damage from ice, as you can see from this one sticking its face out of the icy polar crust:

But since the Trafalgar class attack subs tend to wander through ice with no problems whatsoever, we're left to grasp at straws a bit. As the Mail notes, the collision occurred on an undetermined date last year. And British submarines in the past have claimed that they've hit frozen water when they've actually slammed into Russian vessels, as the crew of the HMSSceptre did when they hit a Russian submarine in 1981. It's not like similar incidents are relegated to decades past, either, as the HMS Vanguard managed to bump into the French submarine Le Triomphant in the middle of the open ocean back in 2009.

Furthermore, submarines tend to cruise along without banging away on active sonar to hide themselves, which is fine for most situations but can lead to unexpected collisions, with ice, submarines, surface vessels, or otherwise.

But who knows? Maybe it was ice, and the MOD isn't fibbing about it this time. Or maybe it was something else.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Apple announced a new feature in their latest IOS upgrade allowing you to do wireless CarPlay.

So it sounds like a good time to give people a heads up on how phones are becoming interconnected with your car.