Glass

So, you may not know this, but I love technology.  I really do.  Even before I ever owned a smart phone, I would read up all about them and dream of what I could do with one (perhaps that's a bit sad).

I especially love Google technology.  I can't explain it, but their stuff is pretty awesome to me.  They're working on an interface now called Glass.  You wear it and it does things.  Watch the video below for more information.

It was an asteroid!

Although some scientists have suggested for decades that an asteroid may have killed the dinosaurs, others have disagreed.  The dates of major collisions around the earth and the demise of our loved beasties just didn't seem to occur at the same time.  The asteroid theory remained the favored idea of all of us kids out there who wanted a nice, clean explanation for why I can't ride a Triceratops down the street.

Now, it turns out, the age estimates of the Chixulub crater were by around 100,000 years.  It did happen at around the same exact (geological) time that the mass extinction of Earth species occurred 65 million years ago.  Sure, there was also a great deal of volcanic activity around then that would have weakened the dinos, but the asteroid finished them off!

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171170142/fresh-clues-in-dinosaur-whodunit-point-to-asteroid

Anosmia

Well, I am finally (almost) over the flu, but I am left with near complete anosmia.  I find this very annoying as I love to cook and appreciate the subtle flavors of food.

What is this?

Will it ever reverse?

What does scent have to do with flavor?

Read and find out.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/anosmia-loss-of-smell

The Walls of Jericho

I haven't been feeling too well recently, so I haven't posted as frequently as I would like.

Here's something that I gave my physics classes to listen to.  How many trumpets would it take to knock down the walls of Jericho (miracles aside)?

From Radiolab.

Space Junk

Humans have been launching objects into orbit since the late 1950s and not everything that goes up does come down.  The area around the Earth is littered with bits and pieces of satellites, rockets and other debris from over half a century of space exploration.  Some of these pieces collide with other satellites increasing the hazard of near Earth travel even more.

Luckily, there are a number of plans to clean up the mess.  Some of them seem to have a decent shot at success, provided funding can be found.  Mental floss has a roundup of these.

Asteroid Mining

I have been debating what science thing to post today.  There are so many good offerings: labor pain simulators for men, using PET scans to detect brain damage in football players before they know anything is wrong.  I think that I will go with space-themed:  asteroid mining.

What is it you ask?  Well it's mining... In space!

Why?  Aren't there mines here on Earth?  Well, yes, but there are three reasons why mining asteroids makes sense:

1. No need to launch materials into space.  It costs a lot of money to get materials out of Earth's gravity. These are already "out there".
2. Many asteroids contain metals that are relatively rare on Earth.
3. Many asteroids contain water which would be an indispensable commodity to space explorers.

Two major groups working on plans at the moment are:

1. Planetary Resources
2. Deep Space Industries

Real Life Mario Kart

RFID tags can make possible a number of things such as tagging animals, managing product inventories, or tracking railroad cars.  Now a group from Austin has used this technology to allow Mario-style go cart racing.  You should really watch the video, but a few things that you will see: banana peels that cause cars to spin out of control, mushrooms that increase your speed, and shells that can be fired at other carts.




Check out some of the other cool things that Waterloo Labs has built.