Machine Maker

by Michael Keller

A new water-repellant concrete impregnated with tiny superstrong fibers promises to leave roads and bridges free of major cracks for up to 120 years.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee civil engineers have developed a concrete mix that is durable and superhydrophobic. They call it Superhydrophobic Engineered Cementitious Composite (SECC). Preventing normally porous concrete from absorbing water means that liquid can’t get inside, freeze and cause it to crack. The concrete’s unusual characteristics, including being significantly more ductile than traditional concrete, means that cracks that do form do not propagate and cause failure.

“Our architecture allows the material to withstand four times the compression with 200 times the ductility of traditional concrete,” said associate professor Konstantin Sobolev, whose lab created SECC.

First synthetic biological leaf could allow humans to colonize space

In order for humans to live in outer space, they must have a steady supply of oxygen they can depend on. Now, instead of relying on plants that may not survive, they can use an artificial biological leaf designed by a London graduate student.

Julian Melchiorri, a graduate student in innovation design engineering at the UK’s Royal College of Art, created the synthetic leaf, which he called the ‘Silk Leaf Project’. The design was for an RCA course offered in collaboration with Tufts University’s silk lab in Massachusetts.

Planetary gear

How a hole is drilled to be made square. The red shape in the center would be the cutting tool.

Chat off the grid: goTenna lets you send texts without cellular service

hypothesisfun:

Diferentes maneras de obtener una elipse

En matemáticas, una elipse es una curva en un plano que rodea dos puntos focales de tal manera que una línea recta trazada desde uno de los puntos focales a cualquier punto de la curva y luego de vuelta al otro punto focal tiene la misma longitud para cada punto de la curva. 

Hay muchas maneras diferentes de dar forma una elipse. Los anteriores son algunos ejemplos.

En orden:

Una animación del trasmallo de Arquímides.

Una animación de elipse de Van Schooten.

Una elipse como un caso especial de un hipotrocoide.

Animación de una curva que rodea dos focos.

Logarithms explained in one handy gif.

From the TED-Ed Lesson Logarithms, explained - Steve Kelly

The Google Lunar XPRIZE, the largest international incentive based prize of all time, aims to do something we haven’t done as humanity since 1973, safely land on the surface of the Moon. More than half of the world’s population has never had the opportunity to view a live transmission from the lunar surface.

Why the Moon? Scientists and explorers have shown that the Moon is an ideal platform from which to study the Earth and the wider solar system and universe. There is much we can learn about the formation of our planet and the solar system by studying the Moon. Further, the Moon has untapped resources that could allow us to improve the quality of life here on Earth as well as expand our permanent presence beyond Earth orbit. You can read about some of the benefits of the Moon here.

What is the XPRIZE? The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity, thereby inspiring the formation of new industries and the revitalization of markets that are currently stuck due to existing failures or a commonly held belief that a solution is not possible. The foundation addresses the world’s Grand Challenges by creating and managing large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prize competitions that stimulate investment in research and development worth far more than the prize itself. It motivates and inspires brilliant innovators from all disciplines to leverage their intellectual and financial capital.

XPRIZE || Making The Impossible, Possible (Overview, Mission Statement)

The XPRIZE Foundation conducts competitions in five Prize Groups: Energy & Environment; Exploration (Ocean and Deep Space); Global Development, Learning; and Life Sciences. Prizes won include the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE for private, suborbital space flight; the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive XPRIZE for creating safe, affordable, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPG energy equivalent (MPGe); and the $2 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander XCHALLENGE for advanced rocket development. Active prizes include the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, the $2.25 million Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, and the $2 million Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE.

Why an XPRIZE? History has shown that incentive prizes stimulate innovation and create revolutions. At $30 million, the Google Lunar XPRIZE is the largest incentive prize of all time, reflecting the vast technological and funding challenge of achieving a lunar landing.

BigThink Interview with Peter Diamandis, Chairman/CEO of the X Prize Foundation, Co-Founder/Chairman of Planetary Resources

Commercial space companies are now opening up the sub-orbital and orbital frontier - doing things that once were the realm of governments and their contractors and achieving it in ways that are often more cost effective and efficient. This “NewSpace” economy was stimulated in a significant way by the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE, awarded in 2004, for the achievement of regular sub orbital flight.

Following on from the Ansari XPRIZE, the $1 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander XCHALLENGE spurred innovation in technologies to soft land on the Moon. Building upon that to innovate inexpensive regular access to the Moon is the next critical stepping stone for further exploration of our solar system and universe.

Why Google? Google is sponsoring the Google Lunar XPRIZE to help stimulate a passion for science, technology, engineering, and math related research and education in a generation of potential innovators. They also expect this prize to stimulate the space economy in ways that provide lower cost and more plentiful access to space than is currently possible.

Why Now? Commercial space companies are now opening up the sub-orbital and orbital frontier - doing things that once were the realm of governments and their contractors and achieving it in ways that are often more cost effective and efficient. This “NewSpace” economy was stimulated in a significant way by the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE, awarded in 2004, for the achievement of regular sub orbital flight.

Who Runs the Prize? Google has contracted with the XPRIZE Foundation to administer all aspects of the Google Lunar XPRIZE. The XPRIZE Foundation has a dedicated small team working on this prize as well as access to many advisors. A panel comprising highly qualified and impartial judges from around the world will judge the prize. They will be responsible for evaluating teams’ compliance with the requirements of the XPRIZE.

What will be the outcome? The Google Lunar XPRIZE aims to create a new era of lunar exploration that will be more sustainable and more accessible to all than humanity’s first moon race. We believe that the Google Lunar XPRIZE and the stories of the global community of innovators and entrepreneurs competing for the it, will motivate the high tech workforce of tomorrow and show people of all ages how they can personally contribute to a worthy and exciting endeavor like space exploration.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE aims to create a new “Apollo” moment for this generation and to spur continuous lunar exploration with $40 Million in incentive based prizes. In order to win this money, a private company must land safely on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters above, below, or on the Lunar surface, and send back two “Mooncasts” to Earth. Teams may also compete for Bonus Prizes such as exploring lunar artifacts or surviving the lunar night, and can be awarded prize money earlier by completing terrestrial or in space milstones. All of this must be completed by December 31, 2015. The race is on!

Portable Hydrogen Reactors - The Future Is Here

You’re on the go and your phone just ran out of juice, maybe you have a portable charger handy but it’s not likely that you will get more than one charge out of it. But what if you had a portable power generator which could provide enough power to run your phone for a week? This is where the Brunston Hydrogen Reactor steps in; you may recognise that it bears some similarities to the Horizon Fuel-Cell MiniPak, which just so happens to be the device it was modelled on. The main changes seen between the two are the aesthetics, an increase in sturdiness in the Brunston as it is marketed towards hikers and campers, and higher capacity fuel cells.

So how does it work? The 3-inch fuel cells are full of hydrogen which is stored as a hydride and this hydrogen is split apart using a platinum catalyst as to separate the positively charged H+ ions and the negative electrons and use them to create a electrical potential gradient, or, voltage. The device then routes the electrons through some wires and a USB port to charge your device, while the H+ ions are expelled through an electrolyte membrane where they combine with oxygen to form water vapour.

As the hydrogen is stored in a hydride its stability is increased and the device has been cleared for carry-on luggage in airplanes - however you cannot carry more than two hydrogen cells with you. The cells feature a 8,500 mAh capacity at an output of 5V with a choice of either 1A or 2A which you can select using a toggle switch. Once a fuel cell is depleted they can be charged again in about an hour, but sadly this ability will have to wait until you get home as the device used to charge them isn’t portable and requires a wall socket. Brunton is working to find a way to provide free in-store charging stations as the at home hydrolyser charging device costs $250.

I for one am very excited to see this awesome tech hit the market and may make use of it for my long trips into the mountains with my camera in the future! What would you use this tech for a what improvements would you like to see in the future?