SODIUM

Sodium. We love us some Sodium here at Science Patrol.

42 year old Talking Chimp Dies

Okay, well maybe "talking" is a bit misleading, but Washoe, a chimpanzee was the first non-human to learn American Sign Language, and she died of natural causes earlier this week. Many of you may be thinking "wait a second, what about Koko?" Koko was a few years younger than Washoe, who was taken in by scientists in 1966. The scientists who studied Washoe had a very specific method by which a sign was entered into her vocabulary, but this (of course) is still disputed among scientists. Most notably by MIT linguist Noam Chomsky. The main argument of scientists that refute language use by non-humans is that they simply learn to use certain motions and/or noises to receive a reward, and that this is not a true acquisition of language. I have a hard time subscribing to that theory considering that the scientists at the Washoe Project attempted to make her learning environment as similar to a deaf child learning from its parents as possible. Also, Isn't observation the most vital portion of learning language? If a child were left, completely alone, with no contact at all, it wouldn't develop language. Not even Chomsky could argue that. So why are some scientists so quick to say that Washoe and Koko didn't know their 250 and 1,000 words respectively? Is it just too outlandish? Too revolutionary? Well pushawe to that says I. And much respect to the scientists who do this great work with primates, including those that give gorillas kittens. Article Here.

Bionic Will Wright presents Spore

Will Wright is a genius. He invented a whole genre of gaming called "God Games" where you control every aspect of the game world you are in-not just one character. You dont win or lose or blow stuff up or enter any blood codes or "pwn" any "noobs" when you play his games either. But you do get to use your imagination to instigate creative design. You may have heard of him from games like SimCity and The Sims.
Recently I found this video from the TED conference this year. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and its a bunch of lectures every year which mostly covers how we are doing at combining Ts Es and Ds. This video features Mr. Wright discussing his latest project "Spore". If you havent heard of it already it is a "God Game" that starts you out on the cellular level from which you are to evolve to the intergalactic level, with complete creative control over the evolution of your character. Bionic Will does a much better job than me of explaining it, after all he did create it. He does not however, explain why he is indeed Bionic. Not even science can answer some things, folks.

Finalists in the Uncanny Valley Expo

Everyone's got an opinion about Second Life. If you ask me, this raving pack of transhumans are working on the forefront of weird to bring about some radical new technologies. Residents actually own what they create, so many virtual artists are staking a claim on this frontier. The Uncanny Valley Expo is a beauty contest of sorts for avatars. The greatest skin and mesh weavers have been nominated for the award and the polls are open.

Vote

Toy Patrol

When Science Patrol was just a wee toddler, Lance and I would take him for walkies in the East Williamsburg area and buy toys for him. Now that he's grown up a bit and he hangs out under the JMZ selling Newports, he considers himself too old to play with toys, and yet, Lance and I often find ourselves wistful for the good ol' days, when the Engrish ran free over the plain and a good cup of coffee was only a nickel. What the fignuts am I talking about? See below for the answers.

This store on Knickerbocker had some simply amazing toys, but my camera went dead after these two, so I will return and extend the scope of this investigative report.












This is Batman. He will catch all baddy.















This is Superman. His veloci-banana will catch all baddy.

Costume Patrol

Congratulations to all our featured contestants, you were all beautiful. Halloween is America's celebration of cosplay in our culture.

Did I say something wrong?

But seriously folks, in Science Patrol we are ALL winners, and nobody wanted to spend money on medals anyway, so we will instead be offering all our participants identical trophies of the most extravagant kind:


Scanning Tunnelling Electron microscopes.

Pick yours up at your local postgraduate research facility. I'm trading mine in for a Hadron collider.

There's a STM microscope simulator here.






Finally, I have a few Honorable Mentions, culled from the massive amounts of people in the West Village last night. Frontliners in the fight for science, all.

Science of Flight, Pt. II

After posting about the fact that people are taking to the skies in many methods, I talked to a friend on the Left Coast who was watching some BASE jumping videos, and came across a man with the satchel enough to actually fit a wing with jets, and has tested several methods. Yves Rossy calls himself Fusionman. He's a former Swiss Military pilot. His videos can be seen on his website or on youtube. The most recently tested version can be seen below, which houses 4 jets, and climbs at a rate of 1000 feet per minute. He also has plans for a new version which will be able to climb vertically and take off from the ground, whereas now it must be launched from an aircraft. Be on the lookout folks, because I think some of the technologies we see being developed on this front will become the platform for a revolution in transportation .

Scary as Hell!! Joan vs. Gwar

Halloween is a time honored tradition where we celebrate the macabre. On this day people delight in being scared and relish in that which would most certainly frighten on any other day. In honor of this day, i present to you a video which can be truly described as terrifying.
Of all the entities in the entertainment world, none is more grotesque; more vile; more hideously disgusting as that which is featured in this video. One look fills us with terror and the agony eminates from our eyes and spreads throughout our bodies, paralyzing us with fear. Hearing one note of the ghastly shrieks that bellow from within this monstrosity sicken most men to the point of despair. Weeping and gnashing of teeth surround the horrible thing depicted in this video wherever they may go. I speak of course of Joan Rivers. See her here as she interviews GWAR (runners up in the Science Patrol Costume Contest)

Science Patrol Costume Contest :

Lance Cardigan

In celebration of Halloween, Science Patrol has been searching every Hal 9000, Teletraan 1, and Aurora Unit this side of the crab nebula in an attempt to find the most scientifically advanced halloween costumes out there. My nomination is these french dudes, who have dressed up as robots-wait, cars-no; its robots.

Costumes Transformers
Uploaded by xkendyx

Wormocious

Well, thanks to Lance for those Badass Transformers. I personally decided to go just a bit more science for this mug, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker have been reppin this science thang since I was just a before I was a neonate. So here is my submission for Science Patrol Costume Winner: Beaker:

Matroid

My costume is based on hard science--the science of death in 14th century Japan. Plus this garb-meister made his armor from Rubbermaid trashcans. £ЄЄŦ

Science of Flight for Fight of Science

Like most kids, when I was young I used to dream about flying around in the clouds. Daydreaming in geography, or around mountains in deep sleep, it was always something I wanted to do. I would still love to. I even did a tandem, and I think I would get AFF certified if it weren't for the near $1000 pricetag. But for a rare few neither any amount of money, nor being told to be realistic and stop dreaming can keep them from the dream of human flight.

First there are wingsuit pilots. Made popular by BASE jumpers in Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and other Alpine nations, Wingsuits are pretty much the closest thing to human flight without aid. There is, of course, aid. A ripstop nylon suit to give the jumper area to get lift, and a 'chute. But it has to be the most intuitive way to take to the skies once parachuting and BASE jumping are natural.These cats are about the best in the world right now:

Then there are the folks who think a rigid wing cat be more efficient in lift capability, producing longer flights. About 3 years ago, Felix Baumgartner flew across the English Channel in a redbull sponsored rigid frame backpack wing. he jumped from about 30,000 ft, and soared 35 km, or 22 miles in 6 and a half minutes. He hit 200 km/hr, that's damn quick. Article here.

There is also a version that is newer, and developed for Military use. It was made by a company called Spelco which makes parachutes and the like for the German armed forces. Their version is called the Gryphon, and has had limited testing. They think that eventually they will be able to fit it with missiles and even mini jet engines, so it could become a major ass-kicking machine in the near future, but for now, no military has "officially" funded, or purchased the technology or the rights to produce. Article Here.

1000 cars, one race. Or, "Lemmings"

Hopbot Uprising Imminent

While some "scientists" design a robot to stay inside and play games all day, this one wants to go for walkies.

Nanahiro Wada: Imagination Scientist

Nanahiro Wada is an artist with his finger on the pulse of technology. Instead of just drawing pictures on a piece of paper like other artists, Wada uses web animation and interactive flash games to get his expression on. What he comes up with completely blurs the line between art and gaming. The things he creates take us inside the art and invite us to explore. Treasure Box and TCB Museum are two of his flash games that make my point for me. More to be found at This link, including Mimi; a wonderful animation about putting puppy brains into robots.

Jacque Fresco:Futurist

The world is like a big room full of people arguing. Everyone is all loud and heated and yelling at each other, so fanatic about their own point of view that they couldn't possibly hear what the other people are fanatically yelling about. But somewhere in the room, there is some guy calmly stating the solution to everyones problem. He's not yelling, not even fanatic: he is just intently stating that there is a solution if anyone cares enough to listen. In todays pre-apocalyptic world of global climate change, severe overpollution, and iminent robotic uprising; Jacque Fresco is that guy. He's just sitting there, quietly telling us that if we did it like this, none of us would have to yell fanatically anymore. We just have to calm down and listen to him.
For decades, Mr. Fresco has been designing the future. He has theories about how the world should, and could work with proper distribution of resources and efficient use of said resources. Check out this link to the website of film maker William Gazecki who has made a documentary called "Future by Design" chronicling the works of Jacque Fresco.

Little People by Slinkachu

View more Little People

Finally, I can be Professor X! (minus the telekinesis)

I ran across this video earlier showing a new, high tech personal transport from Toyota called the i-real (although I think Apple may have something to say about that). It looks almost exactly like Professor X's chair, and it uses the same principle for its steering as the Dodge Tomahawk.

Ginormous Annoyance

If you are in London this week, you have probably not been able to avoid the hype surrounding an NFL game being played there this weekend between the Miami Dolphins and the NY Giants. This is really saying something considering that there is a Champions League Soccer Tourney going on this week too. The reason it is so unavoidable is because of a 26' tall Robotic Jason Taylor that is roaming the streets of London, starting with Trafalgar Square on Monday. Here is a link to an Article covering the story, but here is some video of the giant walking advertisement.

Pleo

Since all of us Science-tightists (what are practitioners of science called?) are always hyped up on robot-speak, I wanted to throw this little gem out there.



Not a humanoid robot, you probably won't be teaching Pleo to hold a Wii-mote anytime soon...or will you? Pleo features a fully hackable OS, apparently, so if you could strap a Wiimote to his face or flank, he could probably learn to kick your ass. There may be some great things to come from this.

Posts tagged "pleo" on Engadget

Re: Sports Cyborg

Science can mean using all the technology you have available to destroy whatever task is put in front of you. In the case of sports, that means using your body and whatever equipment is used to get your team the W. Sports Science has made huge evolutions in the laboratory, but also on the field/pitch. Case in Point: Ronaldinho.
BTW, the song can get annoying after a few minutes, but the footage was the best I found.

Alex Grey: Psychedelic Badass

If you have never seen the work of Alex Grey, you are square. Alex has been doing tripped out work since he was 5 drawing skeletons a la day of the dead. He is a pioneer of art and psychedelics, which makes him an honorary member of Science Patrol. See his website here , but if you want to see stuff in real detail, head to a bookstore and check out any of his collections. I recommend Transfigurations.

Tiny Tiny Universe.

. <--- See that dot. It is enormous compared to how large you are in relation to The Universe. You, after all; are a tiny, miniscule, almost insignificant spec when you look at The Universe as a whole. But when you take an atom; just one part of yourself, one single solitary unit of your whole; you realize how much of you there actually is. You are gigantic compared to the parts that make up you.
To get an idea of what im talking about, ill refer you to this flash presentation that scales from our place in the universe on down to the size of an atom. Then you will realize how big that dot at the begining of this post really is, and how big you are in relation to it.

Parkour.

Parkour is this thing from France that you have to be out of your mind to attempt. These guys find ways to leap, fall, climb, and jump over shit like you wouldnt even believe. Then they are gone before you knew some 150lb french dude just flew past you at full speed twenty feet above your head;and youre like "but wait where'd he go?"
This is the type of thing that requires you master understanding of both the mechanics of your body and the mechanics of your surroundings. Science Patrol salutes Parkour for giving physics the big "vas te faire encule". That said i present you with this video, showcasing some real life parkour in action.

Stop Motion=Super Powers.

Watch this video. Its one of those things where somebody was probably high and said "hey it'd be cool if we did a video like this...." Except for this time that guy acctually did it. And its amazing. In fact, why are you reading this still. Watch the damn video already. It will amaze you alot sooner than i will. Also; Tony is a Jerk.