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Broadcast Thursdays at 89.5 FM KZCT in Vallejo, California, to a worldwide audience.
Science & Futurism
* "How to 3-D Print Your Own Sonic Tractor Beam; After demonstrating the first acoustically driven tractor beam platform, researchers develop a simpler, cheaper version using 3-D printable parts and open-source electronic components for the maker community" (2017-01-03, Applied Physics Letters, aip.org) [archive.is/1Cl6W] [begin excerpt]:
Last year Asier Marzo, then a doctoral student at the Public University of Navarre, helped develop the first single-sided acoustic tractor beam -- that is, the first realization of trapping and pulling an object using sound waves from only one direction. Now a research assistant at the University of Bristol, Marzo has lead a team that adapted the technology to be, for all intents and purposes, 3-D printable by anyone (with some assembly required, of course).
In addition to a fully detailed how-to video that the group produced for the public, the results of the work developing this do-it-yourself, handheld acoustic tractor beam will appear this week as an open access paper in Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.
Sonic levitation is not new, and the use of sound waves to push around macroscopic objects, or create patterns in resting sand and flowing water, is scattered throughout YouTube and has been for years. This technology, however, is not simply sonic levitation, using sound to push objects around.
Based on similar fundamental physics used for decades to create optical traps, these tractor beams are true to their name in that they pull objects, trapping small beads -- and even insects -- at their foci.
“The most important thing is that it can attract the particle towards the source,” said Marzo. “It’s very easy to push particles from the source, but what’s hard is to pull them toward the source; to attract the particles. When you move the tractor beam, the particle moves, but otherwise the trap is static. It can levitate small plastics; it can also levitate a fly and small biological samples. It’s quite handy.”
The first versions of the device that proved the concept possible were not much larger than these new, 3-D printable versions. However, their underlying technology was more complex and required expensive electronics.
Much of the expense arose from the array of active components that electronically shaped sound waves, manipulating how and where they interfere to create the resulting object-trapping environment just above the array.
“Previously we developed a tractor beam, but it was very complicated and pricey because it required a phase array, which is a complex electronic system,” Marzo said. “In this paper, we made a simple, static tractor beam that only requires a static piece of matter.”
The simplicity (and affordability) of this passive, static-matter approach comes from the special architecture of that matter, designed to replace the phase array components and to shape sound waves structurally instead of electronically. As the sound, which now can be generated from a single source, passes through these carefully designed elements, the waves are shaped by the internal structure of the 3-D printed material. [end excerpt]
* "How to 3-D print your own sonic tractor beam" (2017-01-03, phys.org) [archive.is/7ETv2], photo caption: Levitating a 3cm diameter expanded polysterine sphere with a DIY portable tractor beam.
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* "Siberian Physicists Ready for Next Step Toward Free Nuclear Energy; Scientists of the Siberia-based Institute of nuclear physics (INP) are planning to complete the first stage of their work on the development of an alternative fusion reactor, a project which is considerably more commercially attractive than the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER)" (2017-01-03, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/jSr7R]
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* "Pentagon’s DARPA Delivers ‘Luke Skywalker’ Bionic Arms; The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Revolutionizing Prosthetics program recently delivered a set of bionic “LUKE” arms, designed for people living without upper-body limbs, to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center" (2017-01-05, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/WPVrr], photo caption: DARPA's LUKE prothetic arms
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* "China becomes 3rd country to test hydrogen-powered plane – report" (2017-01-09, rt.com) [archive.is/U4t5g]
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* "How to detect emotions remotely with wireless signals" (2016-09-23, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/xstR6] [begin excerpt]: MIT researchers from have developed “EQ-Radio,” a device that can detect a person’s emotions using wireless signals.
By measuring subtle changes in breathing and heart rhythms, EQ-Radio is 87 percent accurate at detecting if a person is excited, happy, angry or sad — and can do so without on-body sensors, according to the researchers.
MIT professor and project lead Dina Katabi of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) envisions the system being used in health care and testing viewers’ reactions to ads or movies in real time.
Using wireless signals reflected off people’s bodies, the device measures heartbeats as accurately as an ECG monitor, with a margin of error of approximately 0.3 percent, according to the researchers. It then studies the waveforms within each heartbeat to match a person’s behavior to how they previously acted in one of the four emotion-states.
The team will present the work next month at the Association of Computing Machinery’s International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom).
EQ-Radio sends wireless signals that reflect off of a person’s body and back to the device. To detect emotions, its beat-extraction algorithms break the reflections into individual heartbeats and analyze the small variations in heartbeat intervals to determine their levels of arousal and positive affect.
These measurements are what allow EQ-Radio to detect emotion. For example, a person whose signals correlate to low arousal and negative affect is more likely to tagged as sad, while someone whose signals correlate to high arousal and positive affect would likely be tagged as excited.
The exact correlations vary from person to person, but are consistent enough that EQ-Radio could detect emotions with 70 percent accuracy even when it hadn’t previously measured the target person’s heartbeat. In the future it could be used for non-invasive health monitoring and diagnostic settings.
[end excerpt]
Attached video [youtube.com/watch?v=nmcDnEhZTJM].
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* "A machine-learning system that trains itself by surfing the web" (2016-12-08, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/qLiVX]
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* "A thought-controlled robotic exoskeleton for the hand" (2016-09-26, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/sfaOD]
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* "A robotic hand with a human’s delicate sense of touch Could one day restore sensitive touch for both hand amputees and robots" (2016-12-16, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/PlYkC], photo caption: A soft, sensitive robotic hand mounted on a robotic arm
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* "UMN research shows people can control robotic arm with their minds" (2016-12-14, twin-cities.umn.edu) [archive.is/osyfv], image caption: Research subjects at the University of Minnesota fitted with a specialized noninvasive brain cap were able to move the robotic arm just by imagining moving their own arms.
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* "Paralyzed man regains use of arms and hands after experimental stem cell therapy Initial results offer hope for patients to reclaim independence after suffering severe spinal injury" (2016-09-12, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/aEX93]
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* "Diamonds that ‘know where they are’ could make GPS satellites redundant" (2017-01-03, rt.com) [archive.is/tc3oP]
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* "Semiconductor-free microelectronics using metamaterials: faster, can handle more power; Back to the vacuum-tube future" (2016-11-13, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/UgyjJ]
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* "This simple optoelectronic computer could one day outperform supercomputers for complex problems" (2016-11-15, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/uDdUn]
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* "Self-powered ‘materials that compute’ and recognize simple patterns; Could be integrated into clothing and used to monitor the human body, or developed as a skin for “squishy” robots" (2016-09-20, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/GxNaj]
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* "How to form the world’s smallest self-assembling nanowires — just 3 atoms wide" (2016-12-26, by Andrew Gordon, slac.stanford.edu) [archive.is/BLhUt], animation caption: This animation shows molecular building blocks joining the tip of a growing self-assembling nanowire. Each block consists of a diamondoid — the smallest possible bit of diamond — attached to sulfur and copper atoms (yellow and brown spheres). Like LEGO blocks, they only fit together in certain ways that are determined by their size and shape. The copper and sulfur atoms form a conductive wire in the middle, and the diamondoids form an insulating outer shell.
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* "First Russian nanosatellite produced at 3D printer to go into space in 2017" (2017-01-04, TASS Newswire) [archive.is/AYJ2e]
Space News
* "NASA releases rare photo of Earth & Moon, as seen from Mars" (2017-01-07, rt.com) [archive.is/bdKV5], image caption: Here is a view of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars
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* "Curiosity Rover Finds Purple Rocks on Mars; The most recent series of Martian photographs taken by the NASA rover Curiosity has revealed purple rocks on the surface of the red planet. NASA officials have called this a suggestion to a greater degree of diversity in the geological composition of the region, and a hint as to what caused Mars to lose most of its water" (2016-12-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/Ea8c8]
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* "Could an Alien Megastructure Be Causing the Rapid Dimming of a Star? Astronomers continue to debate the mystery of KIC 8562852, better known as Boyaijan’s Star. In September 2015, Yale’s Tabetha Boyajian discovered that the star has rapidly dimmed over the last seven years, at one point by as much as 22 percent" (2016-12-29, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/DjHC5]
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Ancient News
* "2,300yo sword discovered in China, looks as deadly as ever" (2017-01-03, rt.com) [archive.is/1uoX5], photos [archive.is/RcgEM].
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* "Archeologists Dug Up 3,800 Year Old Potato Harvest; Archeologist harvested blackened 3,800-year-old potatoes in British Columbia, Canada. The crop is uneatable, of course, but proves that North American natives tended gardens during the prehistoric era. The garden is older than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, found in Greek and Roman texts" (2016-12-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/cLyoB]
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* "Justice, Myths, and Biblical Evidence: The Wealth of Information Held in the Ebla Clay Tablets" (2017-01-08, ancient-origins.net) [archive.is/sPK8z]
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* "Sicilian 'Stonehenge' Discovery Joins Similar Global Prehistoric Findings; A prehistoric sundial, similar to that of Stonehenge in the UK and dating back to the Bronze Age, was discovered by a group of friends in Sicily, Italy" (2017-01-05, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/WdDvU]
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* "Cambodia Museum to Exhibit World’s First Zero Inscription; This month the National Museum of Cambodia is set to exhibit what experts believe is the world’s oldest zero symbol" (2017-01-03, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/0u5MF]
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* "Turkey Opens Underground City Never Before Seen by the Public; The underground city of Nevsehir in the central part of Turkey was discovered in 2014 after excavation. It will soon be opening its doors for tourists from all over the world. RIA Novosti correspondent Alena Palachzhencko visited the city and met with archaeologists working on restorations" (2017-01-07, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/pV6H0]
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* "Archaeology Graduate Discovered Lost City of Trellech After Using Life Savings to Buy Field" (2017-01-09, ancient-origins.net) [archive.is/Dy6jR], photo caption: Alongside a road, under the ground a medieval manor lies waiting. ender4000/Lost City of Trellech
* The Official Site of the Lost City of Trellech Project [lostcityoftrellech.co.uk]
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* "World’s ‘oldest’ man just turned 146, beats curse of 2016" (2016-12-31, rt.com) [archive.is/WTGAl], photo caption: Mr. Sodimejo who was called Mbah Gotho the oldest man alive. In its Identity Card, Sodimejo recorded was born on December 31, 1870, which means that now the age of Mbah Mejo, now at the age of 145 years.
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* "Huge Flock of Birds Dance in Unison in Fascinated Show of Nature" (2016-11-29, en.alalam.ir) [archive.is/cfGJo]: An incredible sighting of a flock of birds flying in unison and twisting and turning in mesmerizing patterns has been captured on video and shared online. Watch [is.gd/fg9SbM].
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* "Giant cell blob can learn and teach, study shows" (2016-12-22, CNRS) [archive.is/gro9y], summary: It isn't an animal, a plant, or a fungus. The slime mold (Physarum polycephalum) is a strange, creeping, bloblike organism made up of one giant cell. Though it has no brain, it can learn from experience, as biologists have demonstrated. Now the same team of scientists has gone a step further, proving that a slime mold can transmit what it has learned to a fellow slime mold when the two combine. Photo caption: P. polycephalum, a single-celled organism otherwise known as a slime mold, grown on agar in the laboratory.
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* "Russian Lunar Mission May Finally Put End to Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory; A group of Russian engineers and space enthusiast aim to develop and launch a satellite to check the "lunar conspiracy" theory: the satellite will take pictures of footprints and the lunar rovers, American Apollos and Soviet Lunokhods ("Moonwalkers") left on the Moon" (2017-01-10, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/976HO]
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* "Chilean navy declassifies inexplicable UFO footage after 2yr investigation" (2017-01-06, rt.com) [archive.is/2VvxL]: The report from an alleged UFO sighting by the Chilean military over two years ago has just been declassified and the internet is abuzz with speculation – this is one mystery that has experts completely stumped.
The Chilean government agency which investigates UFOs, the CEFAA, reports that a naval helicopter was carrying out a routine daylight coastal patrol in November 2014 when the camera operator noticed an unidentified flying object ahead.
It was flying horizontally and at a steady speed similar to that of the helicopter.
The crew contacted local airports and land-based military installations to confirm whether the object had appeared on their radar screens. It did not. They then attempted to contact the craft using standard civilian radio frequencies, but to no avail.
Twice during the 10-minute recording, the UFO ejects an unknown material into the air, which is only visible on the infrared (IR) spectrum. To the naked eye, the object itself is barely visible and the substance it expels disappears straight into the clouds.
Before the crew could obtain any more information, the UFO vanished into the clouds.
Each and every theory proposed so far for explaining the bizarre object has been debunked, officially making this a genuine unidentified flying object.
The footage was captured on a sophisticated Surveillance & Reconnaissance (SAR) camera in broad daylight. Nearby radar installations could detect the helicopter which captured the amazing footage but nothing else in the vicinity, which rules out low flying airplanes and weather balloons.
As part of the two-year investigation, multiple agencies were contacted to verify whether any satellites or falling space debris could explain away the phenomenon – they could not. The team assembled to study the footage and investigate the case include astrophysicists, video and image analysts, and aeronautic engineers, however they were unable to explain the object.
Here is the declassified footage in full [youtube.com/watch?v=XdjKFjlfNcg].
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* "Arizona UFO Sighting Theories Reignited After Mystery Lights Appear; Strange lights spotted on New Year’s Eve over the town of Queen Creek, Arizona, may have been explained in an eyewitness report. The mysterious lights, which were speculated to be anything from fireworks to an alien invasion, were simply paper lanterns, according to the local woman’s explanation" (2017-01-03, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/ZeZ6U]
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The Lunar anomaly found in Apollo Mission photo AS15-P-9625 [archive.is/kJ320] and AS15-P-9630, and a closer look [archive.is/Muer7]:
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* "Bizarre 3-Fingered Mummified Hand Found in A Tunnel in the Peruvian Desert" (2017-01-09, ancient-origins.net) [archive.is/Pk6vQ]
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* "The movie that doesn’t exist and the Redditors who think it does; Over the years, hundreds of people online have shared memories of a cheesy Nineties movie called “Shazaam”. There is no evidence that such a film was ever made. What does this tell us about the quirks of collective memory?" (2016-12-21, newstatesman.com) [archive.is/Q0e9f]
* "Sinbad’s ’Shazaam’: Inside the Internet’s Conspiracy Theory About a Non-Existent Movie; The imaginary film stars Sinbad as a genie who grants wishes to two children" (2016-12-23, indiewire.com) [archive.is/CWoiZ], a semi-satirical recreation of the movie poster [archive.is/vDLd8].
* (2016-10-03, twitter.com/sinbadbad) [archive.is/0JAO7]: Solved the Sinbad genie mystery. I hosted an afternoon of Sinbad movies in 1994 (Sinbad the Sailor movies)
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Curiata
* "Strange Brew: DMT Cinema goes Mainstream" (2016-12, realitysandwich.com) [archive.is/Uzhn5]
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* "These six plant extracts could delay aging" (2016-09-16, kurzweilai.net) [archive.is/HpniU]
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* "Legends of Spring Heeled Jack, the Uncatchable Demon of Victorian England" (2017-01-09, ancient-origins.net) [archive.is/f05VT]
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