Civilian Tilt-Rotor Aircraft - YES PLEASE
Jul 17, 2008 Sci/Tech
Throw a little hot-rod red in there.
I admit, ever since I saw the V-22 Osprey, I loved it. It just LOOKS cool, and I’m a military geek. That tech (they fixed it finally, honest!) is now making it’s way to the civilian airspace with the Bell 609.
Looking and flying like a smaller cousin of the military V22 Osprey, also a Bell vehicle, the 609 will undoubtedly please millionaire business people since it can perform all the rooftop-landing duties of a normal helicopter, but flies twice as fast and can fly 9 passengers up to 25,000 feet altitude.
Just so you know, all of the copious (*sigh*) ad revenue I generate is going in a fund to buy one of these (along with the money to pay the pilot). After I buy Sabres tickets for this year, of course.
Tags: bell 609, helicopter, plane, V-22, V-22 Osprey
Graphene - Strongest Material Ever Tested
Jul 17, 2008 Sci/Tech
Technology Review has posted an article about Graphene, which has been thought to be the strongest material known since it was first isolated. Scientists were finally able to test it and confirm that it is.
Jeffrey Kysar and James Hone, mechanical-engineering professors at Columbia University, tested graphene’s strength at the atomic level by measuring the force that it took to break it. They carved one-micrometer-wide holes into a silicon wafer, placed a perfect sample of graphene over each hole, and then indented the graphene with a sharp probe made of diamond.
Now, before you tremble in fear at the thought of the next generation of battle robots covered in this stuff, as they noted that “Only a tiny sample can be perfect and superstrong”. What they ARE interested in using this for is as a replacement for silicon in transistors.
“The main liability concerning the microprocessing industry is strain,” says Julia Greer, a materials scientist at Caltech. Not only must the materials used to make transistors have good electrical properties, but they must also be able to survive the stresses of manufacturing processes and the heat generated by repeated operations. The processes used to pattern metal electrical connections onto microprocessors, for example, exert stresses that can cause chips to fail. And, says Greer, the main obstacle to making faster microprocessors is that “the heat is too much for materials to take.” Based on measurements of its strength, graphene transistors could take the heat.
That means they could stay in the kitchen, as well. Very nice. H/T to Gizmodo for the link to a neat article.
Tags: gizmodo, graphene, science it works bitches, technology review
2008-2009 NHL Schedule Out
Jul 17, 2008 NHL
NHL.com has the schedule for this season out, and this article highlights some of the interesting games (like the ones being played in Europe). Here is the link to the full schedule. First thing that jumps out, Buffalo plays a day game at the Islanders on October 13th. There’s an early western trip Oct 23-25, visiting the Wild and Avalanche. I’ll look at it more and post more later.
edit: Here is the Sabres’s schedule specifically.
Tags: avalanche, buffalo, colorado, Hockey, islanders, minnesota, new york, NHL, sabres, schedule, wild
