Hasta La Gadget!

Plucky space spider Nefertiti, nicknamed “Spidernaut” after accompanying astronauts on a 100-day trip to the International Space Station, has died shortly after her return to Earth. On show at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since Thursday last week, the museum confirmed the intrepid explorer had been found dead earlier this week, as Insect Zoo staff completed a pre-opening check of the department.

Thankfully, the museum says that Nefertiti’s death wasn’t spider suicide triggered by post-return depression, but instead from natural causes. The phidippus johnsoni species – known as the redback jumping spider – can life for up to a year, in general, though the spidernaut was a spritely 10 months old.

“Jumping spiders have very good vision that they use to track and stalk prey. Unlike orb weavers, the jumping spider does not spin a web to capture food. Jumping spiders are hunters. They move around during the day seeking prey. Once it visually identifies prey, it may stalk it for some distance prior to catching it. Once the jumping spider is within close proximity of its prey, it will secure a drag line using its silk and then jump with great speed onto the prey securing it with a lethal bite. The drag line acts as a safety harness in case the spider should miss its target and fall. This experiment seeks to determine if the jumping spider alters its predation technique in a microgravity environment” SpaceLab experiment overview

“The loss of this special animal that inspired so many imaginations will be felt throughout the museum community” the museum wrote. “The body of Neffi will be added to the museum’s collection of specimens where she will continue to contribute to the understanding of spiders.”

Putting the spider into orbit had been the suggestion of a team of students, investigating the effects of microgravity on arachnids. A report from space by Suni Williams earlier this year described how Nefertiti – along with fellow spidernaut Cleopatra – was acclimatizing to life in space, with no apparent issues capturing prey.

[via Smithsonian]

Spidernaut Nefertiti dies after space hunting experiment is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nintendo may be taking the Wii U launch as seriously as it needs to, given its financial position, but that hasn’t stopped president Satoru Iwata from having some fun with an “official pre-release unboxing ceremony.” The new Nintendo Direct video sees Iwata share his first opening experience of the new console, donning white gloves that he says “kind of make me feel like Mario.” If you’ve ever wanted to watch the head of a multi-billion yen international company brandish an HDMI cable like a proud parent, this video is for you.

Inside there’s no shortage of extras, along with a surprise or two. The AC adapter for the Wii U console itself – the large grey box in the image below – is surprisingly big, for instance, given the diminutive size of the base station.

There are also two stands, as it’s the Premium pack which Iwatu unboxes; that’s priced at $349.99 in the US, and includes stands for the console and the GamePad, and a GamePad charging cradle, as well as 32GB of storage. There’ll also be a Basic pack, for $299.99, which will do without the stands.

Pre-ordering has been open for some weeks now, and retailers report that initial stock levels are expected to be tight. We doubt that any early adopters will take quite the same care in opening up their new console as Iwatu does, however.

[Thanks Carl!]

Nintendo president dons Mario gloves for Wii U “unboxing ceremony” is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We all love a good Wankel, and crazy watchmakers MB&F and URWERK have put the spinning, meshing polygons to excellent use in the limited edition C3H5N3O9 “Nitro” Experiment ZR012 timepiece. Fronted by a unique Wankel-inspired movement that shows hours and minutes on a pair of eccentric rotating Reuleaux polygons, Experiment ZR012 will be released as a limited run of just twelve, hypnotic examples.

Wankel engines have had limited commercial success, delivering power that belied their compact size, but issues around maintenance – as well as the increasing potency and efficiency of rival technologies – have reduced their appeal. Mazda is perhaps the car company best known for using Wankel powerplants, but it ceased production in April 2012.

In the case of Experiment ZR012, the power isn’t by Wankel, but the indications are. The lower “dial” shows hours while the upper shows minutes; the tips of the triangular rotors trace curves against the edge of the markers, with a tolerance of 0.2mm between them.

On the back of the zirconium case – which measures 55 x 44 mm, not counting the lugs – is a power gage, with a full wind good for 39 hours of runtime. Making things complex inside is the fact that the rotors aren’t directly attached to the crankshaft from the mechanism, and there’s an intermediary (and adjustable) stage to connect them all together.

Unsurprisingly, Experiment ZR012 doesn’t come cheap. The watches will be sold at 110,000 Swiss francs ($118k) apiece, followed by another twelve Wankel-powered watches, the red gold RG012, sometime in 2013.

Experiment ZR012 puts some Wankel on your wrist is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Jumping from the edge of space and trying to break the speed of sound as a parachutist probably isn’t how most of us are spending Sunday, but the Red Bull Stratos mission is underway again for another attempt at the record. Having been cancelled last week after weather issues, and postponed in the days following after forecasts refused to play ball, the climb through the atmosphere to 120,000 feet is now on.

When the capsule hits the target altitude, daredevil Felix Baumgartner will open up the hatch and become the first human to skydive from such a height. He’s expected to rapidly break the speed of sound – 340.29 m/s – though the best estimates of the team is that it won’t affect his body.

At time of writing, the Stratos capsule is 38,000 feet above the surface of the Earth, rising at a rate of around 1,000 feet a minute. It’s being monitored not only by cameras on the capsule itself, but a set of NASA-developed tracking cameras on the ground underneath, which use a combination of infrared and other targeting systems to keep things in view.

It’s taking 180,000 cubit feet of helium to get the capsule up to the stratosphere, though only gravity will be needed to bring Baumgartner back down. You can watch the full event in the live YouTube video below.

Red Bull Stratos supersonic dive is go! Watch it here… is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

What’s that, your car doesn’t have a projector hidden in its hood? You’re obviously not as achingly cool as smart, with the German car brand outing its forstars SUC (Sports Utility Coupé) at the Paris Auto Show today. Tipped to offer “a glimpse of the brand’s future design idiom” the electric two-seater features a 60 kW magneto-electric motor, replaces the rear-view mirror with a smartphone dock hooked up to a camera, and hides a projector in the grille for impromptu screenings.

There’s also a glass bubble roof, for star-gazing, and external speakers built into the sweeping B-pillar for those outside the car. Media playback is controlled by a smartphone – and content can be streamed from there over Bluetooth, too – and the smart app allows drivers to remotely set the aircon temperature before they get into the car.

The rest of the design borrows from the smart for-us concept shown late last year, though with a few tweaks. The charging point is hidden behind the left rear light assembly; the space behind its right counterpart is saved, bizarrely, for a drinks can. Inside, the seat covers can be removed, and the rear load space shifts electrically for easier stowing of your shopping.

smart isn’t saying whether it’ll put the forstars into production, though we’d doubt it; if anything, it’s merely a hint at what the car company has in mind for its next-gen model. However, there’s also a new smart BRABUS electric drive, up for order from today, which uses the same electric engine as the concept and can manage 0-62mph in 10.2s and a top speed of 81mph, with a range of 90 miles.

More importantly, smart says, the new eco-friendly BRABUS can go 0-37mph in 4.4s, a far more useful achievement for a city car. It’s up for sale in 11 countries, priced at €29,990 ($39,000) for the coupé and €33,080 ($43,000) for the cabriolet.

smart forstars concept includes projector-snout and smartphone remote is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.