Send out the robot guards!

Nuclear test sites are hard things to keep secure. As nuclear test sites, they have to be big enough to contain the explosion and radiation of a detonating bomb; unfortunately, this makes them very hard to protect. The Nevada National Security Site, for example, is 1360 square miles. How can such a site be patrolled? The answer is simple: use automated guard robots.

Yes, automated guard robots. The army has started using what they call Mobile Detection Assessment Response Systems, or MDARS, as a form of security. The MDARS is essentially a small car with a camera attached to it. It has a diesel engine, and it can run for 16 hours on a full tank. It can reach speeds of 20 mph. The MDARS patrols the perimeter of the NNSS, and searches for intruders, or any evidence of tampering, such as broken fences or locks. One MDARS is currently deployed at the NNSS, and two more are being developed.

The MDARS is a patrol robot, not a security robot. While it does patrol the perimeter, it is unarmed; if it finds something wrong, it alerts actual guards back at the main base. There is a live video feed so the guards can see what the problem is if the MDARS finds something. In addition, it is not completely automated. The MDARS goes about its normal patrol routine by itself, but a guard remotely operates the MDARS if it finds anything. In addition to the aforementioned live video feed, the MDARS is equipped with a microphone and speaker. The guards can use the MDARS to interact with people they may find trespassing on the NNSS’s grounds.

Of course, this brings up one big question: why? Why would the army decide to have robots patrolling its nuclear test sites? The first answer is because that’s incredibly cool. However, since that’s not really a good reason, it’s also because MDARS are more cost effective. Yes, developing and building a robot costs a lot of money. However, the alternative is using a series of cameras, lights, towers, trenches, and motion detector cameras to guard a mainly empty strip of land. Using MDARS saves roughly $6 million in infrastructure costs, with an additional estimated $1 million saved annually on equipment maintenance and human paychecks.

This is still a long way away from using robots with sunglasses and Austrian accents to fight for us. However, it is one step closer. And what an awesome future that will be.

"New Robots Improve Security While Reducing Costs." National Nuclear Security Administration. 04 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Shachtman, Noah. "Video: Robots Now Guarding Nevada Nuke Site | Danger Room | Wired.com." Wired News. 04 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Dillow, Clay. "Video: Nevada Nuclear Site Hires Autonomous Robotic Sentries To Provide Security | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. 05 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

This just in: Newly discovered Earth-like planet renders Solar Sail unnecessary!

Scientists have recently discovered a planet orbiting around the red dwarf star Gliese 581 that appears to be within the zone deemed "habitable." Even better is the fact that it is within our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Could this be the "new Earth" we've been looking for or is it just another thing for mankind to dream about?

Researchers from UC Santa Cruz used the Keck Observatory in Hawaii to find the planet, known as Gliese 581g, and published their findings in the Astrophysical Journal (A link to which can be found on this page). The planet has about 3 times the mass that Earth does, and is within a range of the star that it can have water in liquid form and a gravitational field that could sustain an atmosphere. The only downside is the fact that it doesn't rotate. One side is always facing the star and the other is in perpetual darkness. The best bet for sustaining human life would be around the planet on the border between light and dark. This may seem like it isn't enough room for a substantial colony, but the size of the planet makes it less of a problem. So it's perfect and we can fly over there now and start our expedition, right? Wrong.

Did I mention the fact that Gliese 581g is 20 light years away from our current solar system? Because it is, and that's one hell of a flight, even if it were possible to travel close to the speed of light using current technology. This also means that the planet we see is from 20 years ago, meaning the possibility exists that it isn't even there any more.

Professor Steven Vogt talks about the fact that while this may not be a planet we can currently travel to, there must be other planets like it strewn throughout our galaxy: "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common." This is an exciting idea, considering the fact that mankind has been looking for planets with life that are inhabitable since we discovered we aren't the center of the universe.

Overall, I think the exploration of these types planets can be of benefit to mankind, but it's still to early to give up completely and move on to a different planet. People tend to become overly excited when they hear about a possibility of us venturing off into space to live on a new planet where there is intelligent life. Even though that would be cool, I'm still willing to accept the idea that I will never live to see the day we do such a thing. Maybe humanity will never even last that long, but at least we still have our imaginations and egos to make us strive for eternal life. Maybe we should try finding intelligent life on Earth before we go looking for it in other places.

Dillow, Clay. "Freshly Discovered Earth-Like Planet Orbiting Nearby Star Could Be the First Truly Habitable Exoplanet | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

"Professor Steven S. Vogt." University of California Observatories. 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Forget Sailor Moon, Solar Sail is where it's at

"Possible Energy Innovation could Generate 100 Billion Times the Energy Required to Sustain Earth"

Sound like a good headline? I think so too. Scientists at Washington State University recently published a paper, theorizing the creation of a giant "solar sail" that could potentially make our mountain of an energy situation into a molehill.

A solar sail basically harnesses the solar winds constantly blowing through space to generate massive amounts of energy. They "work by pointing a .4-inch-wide copper wire attached to the sail at the sun. This wire, which can be up to half a wire in length, then generates a magnetic field that captures electrons found in solar winds throughout the Solar System. These particles are in turn funneled into a spherical receiver, which then produces a current".

The only obstacle stopping these scientists from setting this potentially earth-shattering innovation into motion is figuring out how to transfer the energy harvested by the solar sail back to earth. But consider the possibilities! We could leave our lights, lamps, computers, phones, laptops, speakers, TVs, Xboxes, Playsations, Dreamcasts, toasters, and electric kitty litter mechanisms on and still not feel guilty!

You may be wondering why you haven't heard of this. So am I. I guess you're an idiot, huh?

Not so! This article was published in the International Journal of Astrobiology where experts in the field no doubt have buzzed with excitement over its possibilities. Apparently though, us everyday Joes could never be interested in the solving of our energy crisis, right? We're too busy thinking about sports and stuff.

It looks like that's what CNN thinks, at least. The very first article I see when visiting the CNN website today is "Phillies' Halladay no-hits Reds in playoff opener". Don't get me wrong, I'm always excited to hear about other Roys' accomplishments, but I think that the possibility of this solar sail holds a little more precedence.

Which leads me to my next point, the media is too busy feeding us largely superficial information about celebrities' boob jobs to take notice of monumental ideas like the solar sail. We need to value information that is actually valuable and part of that is recognizing just how revolutionary our current technology is and how fantastic it would seem even ten years ago.

The Comedian Louis CK says it beautifully in this interview:

It's going to space, will you give it a second?

Category, By. "Solar Winds Could Provide 100 Billion Times Earth's Energy Needs | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World." Green Design Will save the World | Inhabitat. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy. Perf. Louis CK, Conan O'Brien. Youtube. 29 Feb. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2010. .

Hydrogen: the Fuel of the Future ... Hopefully.

For those who didn't read my first blog post, I have written about this subject already. From that post i am going to elaborate on the subject of Hydrogen Fuel.

like I said before, I have hoped that Hydrogen is used as a fuel source ever since I found out about the idea from an educational video I saw in high school. The idea that such a common element as hydrogen being able to run our cars seemed like a genius idea. Since then, I never really talked about the idea or did any research on the subject, but I always kept the idea in the back of my mind that we should be researching Hydrogen Fuel ASAP. That way we could get the problem of pollution from cars and fossil fuels out of the way.

Let me explain how Hydrogen fuel works. Firstly, Hydrogen is not a energy source, it is an energy carrier. One single fuel cell has two inputs and two outputs. Hydrogen and Oxygen go in the negative and positive ends of the cell, respectively. The hydrogen's protons and electrons split, letting the protons pass through to the side with the oxygen, and leaving the electrons to pass through an external circuit, which creates electricity. Then, the electrons meet up with the hydrogen and oxygen to create water and heat, which then exit the cell.

This model is great because the only outputs are water and heat. Pollution would not be a problem for a long time.

The problem with Hydrogen fuel is that it is a lot more inefficient than other types of renewable energies. It takes about 1000 fuel cells to power an entire car, when it only takes one battery to run a hybrid.

For the purposes of this post, I have used the same site as my first post. If you want more info, visit this site.

Lemme buy you a drink.. from my couch?

Everyone who has a facebook has at one time been witness to the 'gifts' that can be exchanged online. These virtual gifts are more a form of boredom relief than they are an actual gift. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would much rather have a real gift. A service called Bartab thinks so too.

Bartab is part of a larger company (Webtab) that is trying to combine our growing online social lives with our real ones. (in the form of a profitable business of course) Bartab allows a person to choose a bar on their mobile device and purchase a drink for a friend online who also has the service. The receiver simply shows the bartender the receipt screen and the drink is theirs to enjoy. So far it only works in San Francisco, LA, and parts of New York, but is supposed to be supported in 17 other cities in the near future.

Bartab doesn't charge bars for its service and depending on its success will likely be available in many more bars as word spreads. Users get cheap drinks and connections with friends, and bars get new customers at a low cost. It seems that the idea provides a good situation for everyone.

I personally think this is a cool idea. It is a trend that I can definitely see becoming more developed in the future. With how powerful our mobile devices are becoming its no doubt that they are going to be more and more applications like this. Online social networks originally offered a way for people to stay in touch online but ways are being made to take the online connection the to real world. As technology develops it will be interesting to see far this mobile connection will take us. Just as picture phones became standard, so will mobile internet. Soon we won't be able to buy a phone without online capabilities. This constant online connection will create a new real world connection. The possibilities seem endless and if we can keep from destroying ourselves, the future looks like it will be full of cool innovations such as this.

http://bartab.webtab.com/

Kapp, Trevor. "Users of New Facebook, IPhone Application 'Bartab' Can Buy Drinks at Bars via Social Networks." New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Photos, Entertainment, and Gossip - NY Daily News. 11 July 2010. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. .

(image from above)^

Metz, Rachel. "Forget Virtual Gifts; Bartab Says Send a Margarita."Boston.com. 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

Jumping for Juno

As a curious species we always look ahead and into the stars for what’s coming next. It was not until Greek civilization that we as a collective intelligence cherished and preserved the knowledge of the past. When we have information of past events we can partially predict what will happen in the future by recognizing patterns. In 2016 NASA will look back into the creation and evolution of our galaxies fifth planet, Jupiter, by examining the atmosphere’s composition and temperature, cloud migration, and the magnetic fields and auroras with a satellite named Juno.

In August of 2011 Juno will be launched into space, the satellite will complete an orbit around the earth, when this is finished the main propulsion system will be initiated and a 5 year trek to Jupiter will begin. In July of 2016 the Juno will have reached Jupiter and will make a total of 32 full orbits of the planet that will last for one year. Data collection will be done at this time.

Jupiter has an interesting atmosphere made primarily of dense clouds of various gasses, this shield safeguards information on the governing laws that our galaxy followed in its creation and early existence from outside forces. Nine incredibly advanced tools aboard Juno will carry out the uncovering of this data. These instruments will investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter's intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet's auroras on either magnetic pole.

Juno has many obligations on its journey, but I find the investigation for water in the planets atmosphere very interesting. The possibility of finding water could solidify a planet formation theory, and give us a more correct understanding of large planets in surrounding galaxies and their possible behavior.

Juno is currently under construction by Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado and is on schedule for its date of completion and launch. Although the process of gathering, examining, and understanding information from sky and beyond has always been tedious, complicated, and frowned upon we will continue to advance our collective intelligence until our appetite for knowledge is satisfied.

NASA website,

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/juno20100405.html

No More Need To Smoke The Weed?

In search of any possible method to remove the fun from America's favorite illegal past time, scientists are currently experimenting with a drug with the same pain relieving compounds found in marijuana but none of the high. According to these scientists, the drug, currently unnamed, "could be used in new pain medications that are non-addictive and non-sedative, unlike opiates" (Popular Science Par. 1). The drug works by blocking enzymes which slow the release of a compound called anandamide, which "comes from the Sanskrit word "bliss"" (Par. 2)and is incredibly similar to THC, the active compound in marijuana.

Anandamide is said to promote all of the positive benefits of marijuana without the 'negative' ones. While the current test subjects are rats, among the notable effects the animals revealed were increased brain cells in the hippocampus (there's a new one) and decreased anxiety and depression. Nevertheless, the animals only yielded noticeable benefits after approximately a month of regular dosage.

Articles detailing the discovery can be found all over the internet but two very contrasting accounts can be found on www.FoxNews.com and, as cited previously, on www.popsci.com . While the information provided in each article is almost word for word, each article features an opinionated conclusion. The Popular Science article ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that the medication could provide pain relief for many American’s who currently cannot access medical marijuana, or that they could instead “move to Denver”. The Fox News article concludes with a rather biased section which cites the National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA), stating “research findings for long-term marijuana use indicate some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term use of other major drugs of abuse” and further revealing just how good the political news station is at spinning something to support its perspective.

These developments will have a profound effect on our future World and its inhabitants. Perhaps this discovery might promote more scientific studies of the plant itself and its long term effects, which (surprisingly) we know very little about. Certainly, there is much to be said in support of a drug which could provide safe powerful pain relief for millions of Americans, but there is still much research to be done. There is no way of knowing the extraneous effects it could have on humans. For now, maybe the positive effects of this new drug could provide some new insight into the marijuana plant itself. If this drug is so similar to THC, then wouldn’t the effects be quite similar as well? Perhaps somebody from Fox News might even feel tempted to light up a joint.

Sources:

1. Boyle, By Rebecca. "New Drug Kills Pain by Boosting Body's Naturally Occurring Marijuana-Like Compound | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/new-drug-boosts-marijuana-compound-reducing-pain-after-injuries

2. Hitti, By Miranda. "Marijuana-Like Drug Increases Brain Cells, Relieves Depression - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News - FOXNews.com." FOXNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172194,00.html