Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve ever found yourself in a room where you discover that the acoustic properties create a great echo, you’ve probably tried to see how long you can make the echo last. I’ve certainly found myself clapping my hands or yelling “Helooooooo” when I find a space like that. But I’ve never heard an echo that lasted more than a couple of seconds. Recently, a scientist managed to capture an echo which was an astounding 112 seconds long.

After finding out about a maze of abandoned WWII oil tanks under Scotland, Professor Trevor Cox decided to see just how long an echo could last in one of these massive 25.5 million liter tanks. Incredibly, after firing a gun in the chamber, he realized just how much reverberation was in the space, and captured this astounding sound clip. Keep in mind you’ll need to wear headphones and crank up the volume to hear much beyond about the 40 second mark.

The sound was captured by firing a pistol inside the solid rock chamber, and it seems to go on forever. The broadband spectrum sound lasts for 75 seconds, while the lowest frequencies lasted all the way out to 112 seconds.

But it wasn’t exactly easy for Professor Cox to make it happen. He first had to squeeze through a narrow 18-inch diameter oil pipe to get inside of the tank – not something that I’d be likely to try.

Guinness World Records has certified the 75 second record, which blew away the prior one – which stood at just 15 seconds.

[via The Independent]

A few days ago, Virgin Galactic successfully completed another test flight. The test flight happened last Friday and saw the craft reach its highest altitude yet.

You might think the pilot behind the controls would have looked out the window for a bit and enjoyed the view at 71,000 feet. Pilot David Mackay said he didn’t get to look out the window because he was too busy checking the thruster system that will be used to control the craft in space.

SpaceShip Two will eventually fly to an altitude of 62 miles above the surface of the Earth, which is the official start of outer space. Passengers aboard the spacecraft will pay $250,000 each to make the trip into space.

[via NBC News]

I’ve mentioned my daughter’s little pup Buttercup before. I’ve long suspected that Buttercup is an asshole for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that she will only poop when someone is outside with her. I’ve often wondered why exactly the dog has to sniff every inch of the yard, twirl in a circle 57 times, hunch over to drop her deuce and then suddenly give up and go sniffing for just the right spot all over again. It turns out it may be solar flares causing the confusion.

Yes, a group of actual scientists have been studying dogs and the direction they poop in. I can only imagine the piles of data they had to go through. Anyway, the researchers have determined that dogs prefer to take care of their poop in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field. The researchers determined this by watching a group of 70 dogs during 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations. Talk about a crappy job.

The researchers watched the animals over two years and found that they prefer to drop the bomb in a North-South axis. The researchers also found that during times when the magnetic field was in flux, the dogs would become confused. I wonder if that explains the constant searching for just the right spot? The researchers have no idea why dogs prefer the North-South orientation. They also have no idea why they conducted the study in the first place.

[via Design&Trend]

DARPA’s Robotic Challenge Trials wrapped up earlier today, and the robot that reigned supreme is SCHAFT. The squat 209 pound, 4.85 foot-tall robot smoked the competition, scoring 27 points, besting its next closest competitor by 35% in overall points.

The challenge is focused on demonstrating advancements in robotics which could improve disaster response efforts. For the competition, the bipedal humanoid robots had to perform each of the following tasks:

1. Drive a utility vehicle at the site.
2. Travel dismounted across rubble.
3. Remove debris blocking an entryway.
4. Open a door and enter a building.
5. Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway.
6. Use a tool to break through a concrete panel.
7. Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe.
8. Connect a fire hose to a standpipe and turn on a valve.

In the end, SCHAFT beat out numerous teams from DARPA’s home nation, taking the top spot in the terrain, ladder, debris, and fire hose tasks.

Here’s  Team SCHAFT explaining a bit about what makes their robot special:

The time-compressed footage shown below is SCHAFT practicing its tasks prior to this weekend’s event.

Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition’s (IMHC Robotics) robot did quite well, coming in second place, taking first place in the door and wall challenges.

While it’s the end of the line for some of the robots, the top eight teams will get funded to move on to the final rounds in 2014.

[via LiveScience]

A materials scientist from Harvard University named Jennifer Lewis and her team have invented a new ink and printing process that allows or the manufacture of 3D printed batteries at room temperature. The scientists say that the tech is still at an early stage, but shows promise. The ink created for printing battery anodes uses nanoparticles of lithium-ion titanium extruded by a commercial 3D printer.

The material is added to a vial of deionized water and ethylene glycol. Ceramic balls are then added to help mix the solution and it’s put on a spinner for 24 hours. The resulting ink is a solid when left alone, but can be forced out of tiny openings in needles under high pressure. As soon as the material is extruded through the tiny opening in the 3D printer needle, it become solid again.

The team thinks that the technology will make it easier to 3D print electronics with their battery as one seamless piece. The lithium-ion batteries that the team is printing are as small as one square millimeter, but perform as well as commercial batteries. The tools the scientists are designing are meant to be used in manufacturing, but it’s possible they could someday produce a low-end printer for hobbyists.

[via MIT Technology Review]