Something cool thread

[Corcaigh]

Alex Honnold - free soloing (climbing without ropes) of Yosemite Half Dome.

 

 

Video at: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/adventure/featured-videos-adventure/adv-beyond-the-edge-honnold/

Edited January 31, 2014 by Corcaigh

[China]

Spies, take note: Scientists create one-way sound machine

 

Scientists have created a one-way sound machine.

 

The device, called an acoustic circulator, runs counter to the principle that sound waves, and other types of waves, are a two-way street.

 

The findings, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, could lead to the sound equivalent of a one-way mirror. With such a device, people can hear someone talking, but they themselves cannot be heard.

 

An acoustic circulator, shown here in schematic form, can send sound waves on one-way trips in different directions.

 

...

 

To accomplish the feat with sound waves, which are pressure oscillations in the air, the team created a cavity loaded with tiny CPU (central processing unit) fans that spin the air with a specific velocity. As sound waves go through the cavity, they are routed through one of three pipes (think of a sea star with the cavity in the center and each of the pipes is one of the sea star's appendages), each of which has a microphone at the end.

 

The air is spinning in one direction, so the flow of air "feels" different to the wave in one direction versus the other, preventing backward transmission. As a result, sound waves can go in, but they can't go the other way. The result is one-directional sound.

 

...

 

The findings will likely lead to many useful applications, said Sebastien Guenneau, a metamaterials researcher at the Institut Fresnel in France, who was not involved in the study

 

"I would be surprised if sound industries do not pick up this idea," Guenneau told LiveScience. "This could have great applications in sound insulation of motorways, music studios, submarines and airplanes."

 

Click on the link for the full article

Edited January 31, 2014 by China

[skinsmarydu]

This is awesome. He may have lost, but has tons of class.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/peyton-manning-leaves-crushing-super-bowl-loss-with-reputation-intact-065205260.html

[Spearfeather]

A group of over 600 Kentucky All- State High School Chorus sing the National Anthem at the Louisville Hyatt, as other guest and hotel staff come out to listen. An annual tradition, done at 11:00 pm. The acoustics are fantastic ... the girls hitting the high notes at the end, ... just awesome.

 

:35 mark

 

Edited February 13, 2014 by Spearfeather

[skinsmarydu]

A group of over 600 Kentucky All- State High School Chorus sing the National Anthem at the Louisville Hyatt, as other guest and hotel staff come out to listen. An annual tradition, done at 11:00 pm. The acoustics are fantastic ... the girls hitting the high notes at the end, ... just awesome.

Thanks for sharing, truly made my day!

[Jumbo]

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.astellnkern.com/

 

 

 

 

 

[China]

[frostyj]

How Wolves Change Rivers 

[Jumbo]

attention, fellow haunters of the music/recordings threads.....

 

 

http://research.google.com/bigpicture/music/

 

 

have fun 

[Dan T.]

attention, fellow haunters of the music/recordings threads.....

 

 

http://research.google.com/bigpicture/music/

 

 

have fun 

 

Awesome!

[skinsmarydu]

Westboro Baptist strikes again...and University of Missouri students strike back!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/missouri-students-turn-backs-church-protest-basketball-game-060514575--ncaab.html

[BlueinBuf]

Yellowstone wolf video was awesome.

[Jumbo]

http://www.gizmag.com/harvard-termite-robot-builder/30851/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=ba9cd6754e-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-ba9cd6754e-91507117

 

Researchers at Harvard University have taken inspiration from the swarm construction method used by termites to create TERMES. These robots are intended as the first step in a project with the ultimate goal of creating a fully automated robotic workforce that can create complex structures without the need for centralized control.

The robots are designed “with a philosophy of simplicity” needing to perform only a few simple functions with a high degree of reliability. Each robot houses ten sensors and three actuators in order to detect its position relative to the blocks used in the project as building materials.

TERMES units are only aware of their immediate vicinity and have no concept of the progression on the structure as a whole, or of the work conducted by their fellow robots. They simply progress what is in front of them to its final state.

If necessary, an individual worker robot has the ability to build a structure without the aide of other units as each robot is identical with no central command unit directing or coordinating the workers. Each TERMES has the ability to maneuver both on the structure it is creating, and in unstructured environments, but in their current design, can only operate in flat, obstacle-free areas.

Each robot measures 175 mm (6.8 in) in length with its gripping claw raised and is 110 mm ( 4.3 in) wide by 100 mm (4 in) high, excluding the supporting shelf. Each robot weighs 810g (28.5oz).

 

 

(more---pics, too--at link)

[skinsmarydu]

Kitties help kids with their reading skills...love it!

http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/reading-with-cats-slideshow/reading-with-cats-photo-1392581578907.html

[Elessar78]

Watched this on Netflix last night. Pretty bad ass. Watch a Killer Whale **** up a Great White! Intelligent, learning, pack hunters.

[AsburySkinsFan]

A deaf-mute girl, on a horse that she had ridden for THREE weeks!! not to mention the song she

picked out to dedicate to her deceased father! Listen to the announcer's voice crack!

The horse she is riding is not even hers; she is training it for a client and has had it only 20 days

at the time of the ride shown here.

Note that she rides without a saddle or halter and bit and (obviously) without voice commands.

She is using the method used by American Indians. When you think your voice can't be heard I

want each of you to watch this Video.

She has no voice. She cannot hear. Yet she has persevered and achieved VICTORY!

[Bang]

http://femurdesign.com/theremin/

Play the online Theremin.

Pretty neat for a minute.

~Bang

[Jumbo]

Concordia – science at the edge of the world

 

 

http://www.gizmag.com/concordia-research-station/30735/

 

cool pics and more at link

[frostyj]

[Jumbo]

Stanford scientists use light to control pain in mice

 

http://www.gizmag.com/stanford-scientists-control-pain-light-optogenetics/30921/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=50fd49304c-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-50fd49304c-91507117

 

 

 

Scientists at Stanford Bio-X, the institution's department for breakthrough discoveries about the human body and disease, have modified mice with gene therapy so that their sensitivity to pain can be altered by shining light on their paws.

 

This application of the neuromodulation technique called optogenetics starts with the insertion of light-sensitive proteins called opsins into the nerves of the mice. The researchers then showed that that exposure to one color of light can increase pain sensitivity in the mice whilst another reduces it.

 

The research is helping to develop a better understanding of what pain is and why it occurs. It is also hoped that it will provide some clues as to why some people feel pain more or less than others and the extent to which light might ultimately be able to treat pain in humans, in particularly those living with chronic and debilitating pain conditions.

 

[Jumbo]

http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-beasts-roam-spains-wilderness-004553746.html

 

more at link

 

Ancient beasts roam Spain's wilderness

Campanarios De Azaba (Spain) (AFP) - In an oak wood spanning the border of Spain and Portugal, an ancient sight unfolds: wild horses, not saddled or shoed, but roaming free as they did centuries ago.

 

Farming has declined in Spain, leaving the countryside deserted, conservationists say. Now the wild things are coming back: wolves, vultures and rare herbivores.

 

Dozens of Spanish "Retuerta" horses have been released over the past two years here into the 500-hectare (1,235-acre) Campanarios de Azaba Reserve.

 

"It's a wonderful horse that has been around since time immemorial," despite coming close to extinction, said Carlos Sanchez, director of the conservation group running the site.

 

"We are recovering the most primitive breeds to try to help manage an ecosystem which has been abandoned due to the disappearance of humans."

 

Nuzzling its mother's velvety brown hide, a foal suckles then disappears among the trees with the grazing herd.

 

"We released these animals to live by themselves, to take care of themselves in their environment," said conservationist Diego Benito, 35.

 

"We don't feed them. We just watch them and monitor how they are doing in their groups, which are the dominant horses and which of the mares are pregnant."

 

Overall in existence there are only about 150 Retuertas -- identified by genetic studies as one of the oldest horse breeds in Europe.

 

They were brought from the Donana National Park in southern Spain -- previously the only place where they existed -- to create a second breeding site in Campanarios, where they now number about 50.

 

Sharing the reserve with rare vultures and free-roaming cows, the Retuerta horses are among the animal pioneers of what conservationists call "rewilding".

 

The Campanarios reserve is part-funded by Rewilding Europe, an initiative for development through "wild nature" in various countries.

 

"For the first time in history, Europe is facing a situation where there is no grazing anymore," said Frans Schepers, managing director of the Netherlands-based organisation.

View gallery

Two wild horses fight in the hills of Sabucedo, a town in northwestern Spain, on July 4, 2009 (AFP P …

"There has been a lot of land abandonment in Spain over the past few decades," he said.

- Wildlife comeback -

 

Therefore, in recent years "Spain has shown a very interesting wildlife comeback," with wolves, vultures and even the endangered Iberian lynx recovering in numbers, he added.

 

Rewilding aims to turn this into an economic opportunity, to draw visitors and revive abandoned rural areas in the long-term.

 

The Campanarios reserve, currently inhabited just by the animals and a handful of staff, aims to draw groups of wildlife spotters and boost the local economy.

 

Jon Teixeira, 27, works in the reserve planting trees, releasing rabbits and leaving dead chickens for vultures to feed on.

 

"I am glad there is a reserve here -- that way we'll have jobs in the area, where there's a lot of unemployment," he said.

 

"And it's a good job there's a place where you can't hunt, otherwise all the animals would be wiped out."

 

Elsewhere, conservationists this month released a herd of wild oxen to graze in a reserve near the northern Spanish city of Burgos.

- Stone age safari -

In the coming months they plan to add endangered European bison and other breeds of wild horse to the reserve.

 

The oxen were set free near the Atapuerca prehistoric site, where archeologists have dug up human remains more than a million years old.

 

Conservationists want to take people visiting the dig on a stone age safari to see the living descendants of the beasts that roamed the area aeons ago.

 

"In the archaeological site lie the bones of the ancestors of todays' species. These are their evolutionary descendants," said Fernando Moran, a bison specialist at the park.

 

The Atapuerca site is not part of the Rewilding Europe initiative, but it shares the aim of drawing money and jobs to the abandoned rural areas while also preserving endangered species.

 

"It is about nature conservation, but also tourism, development and land management," Moran added.

 

"Spain is in general a fair bit more wild than the rest of Europe. Lots of hectares are being left empty, which for wild animals are obviously perfect."

 

[twa]

Membrane that can keep your heart pumping forever and possibly prevent heart attacks

Scientists have created an external membrane using a 3-D printer than can keep a heart beating virtually forever.

The thin membrane is elastic, designed to stretch over a heart like a glove, and is outfitted with tiny electrodes that monitor cardiac function – it was first demonstrated as a proof of concept on a rabbit heart.

Researchers at both the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University published the astonishing breakthrough in Nature, and hope it will someday help prevent heart attacks in humans.

 

It is about 10-15 years away from being made available to humans, but the revolutionary device might be a long-term solution to these normally catastrophic events.

The team told Gizmodo’s Sploid that they were able to custom fit it to the rabbit’s heart by using computers to scan it’s surface area and put together a mold for the membrane.

They then put it together and wove it with a spider web-like network of electrodes that interact with the rest of the body to regulate heart beat – it’s light years ahead of a pacemaker.

‘This artificial pericardium is instrumented with high quality, man-made devices that can sense and interact with the heart in different ways that are relevant to clinical cardiology,’ researcher John Rorgers said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2571917/Membrane-heart-pumping-forever-possibly-prevent-heart-attacks.html#ixzz2v0A5mr4a 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[China]

Snake eats crocodile after epic fight in Queensland

 

An enormous water python has devoured a metre-long fresh water crocodile following an epic duel that shocked onlookers at Lake Moondarra, near Mount Isa, on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

Click on the link for more

Edited March 5, 2014 by China

[China]

[Jumbo]

Almost bumped the most recent PeterMP/alexy tango for this, then decided "nahhhhh" 

 

 

Nevertheless, when exploring matters of cosmic significance with the deepest meanings to you, always check what Nerdwatch has to say. 

 

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nerdwatch/physicist-believes-evolution-was-inevitable-n45001

 

It's nothing that new/big, just a fun primer-like presentation of Jeremy England's theorizing, animated. Now that's the way to teach science to the masses!  

 

Watch the vid after, too--"dude in a box"---cool.