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Frozen fuel lines made those European satellites go off course
Remember those two European satellites that went spectacularly off-course in August? Well, it turns out that the reason the vessels entered into the wrong orbit was due to frozen fuel lines. Space Travel reports that pipes containing the Russian Soyuz rocket's (which put the satellites into space) propellent were placed too close to some pretty frigid helium lines, which in turn restricted the flow of fuel to a pair of altitude control thrusters and subsequently caused a lack of power. The good news is that this "design flaw" is apparently fixable easily and immediately for future missions. That won't help the Galileo GPS satellites for now however, because they don't have enough fuel to reach the intended orbit. Assuming there's enough money to go around there's always next time, at least.
Timothy J. Seppala10.09.2014
Scientists discover why mozzarella is the ideal pizza cheese
Pizza is essentially the perfect food. Well, so long as you aren't lactose intolerant or have problems with gluten. We realize that those are pretty big caveats, but stay with us for a second -- it'll be worth it: NPR spotted a study of why different cheeses diverge in looks and taste when baked. Seriously. In a paper called "Quantification of Pizza Baking Properties of Different Cheeses, and Their Correlation with Cheese Functionality," researchers found that, among other things, the reason why mozzarella is so unique of a topping has to do with the way it's prepared. The cheese bubbles and browns because of its inherent elasticity due to stretching. In contrast, cheddar isn't as ideal because it isn't very elastic, thus it doesn't bubble as well. The same apparently goes for Edam and Gruyere, too.
Timothy J. Seppala08.30.2014
The Daily Grind: Do you make use of mule characters?
If you go to any bank in World of Warcraft, you're going to see two different kinds of characters: actual players bedecked in fine combat gear... and level 1 bank mules with cute names and even cuter guild tags. These characters are often seen as worse than alts; they're not merely alternatives to someone's main character but characters who exist solely to hold extra gear or sell items on an auction hall, usually circumventing the intended inventory limits system. In short, they're real characters' pack mules. In some games, especially early sandboxes, such mules were loaded down with tradeskills to allow a single player to craft items for his real character, allowing him to circumvent intended character interdependency too and seriously impacting player-driven economies. Do you make use of mules or bank alts in your MMO of choice? Or has your MMO found a clever way to make muling unnecessary? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Bree Royce08.19.2014
Check out this HD footage of NASA's flying saucer in action
We've been following NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) program for awhile now, and finally have some HD video of it to share. The footage chronicles the LDSD's recent balloon-and-parachute-enabled test-flight and was captured with a number of high-def and high-speed cameras placed on and around the spacecraft. While it isn't a full, unedited clip, this two-minute video gives us the best look at how the contraption actually works and a different perspective of Earth from outer space. The aeronautics outfit says that the test flight provided it with valuable new datasets that can be applied to next year's hypersonic dry-runs ahead of the LDSD's trip to Mars.
Timothy J. Seppala08.09.2014
MIT researchers want to power your cellphone with dew
Water is pretty wild when you think about it: all of its three states of matter are consumable by humans, and one in particular can even give off electrical power. A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has discovered that when water condenses on and spontaneously jumps back and forth between specially-treated copper plates, it picks up an electrical charge. To fully take advantage of this ability, said scientists built a machine that harnesses said charge and uses it to create electricity. The researchers admit that yield is low for now, predicting that a cellphone would take around 12 hours to fully charge, but, as MIT News points out, if you're off the grid, there isn't much else of a choice for electricity anyway. One possible drawback of this method, though, is that it inherently requires a humid environment, like a rainforest, for it to work. We'd imagine that a New York summer would suffice, too. [Image credit: paul goyette/Flickr]
Timothy J. Seppala07.17.2014
NASA is offering code from more than 1,000 programs for public use
Everyone has probably day-dreamed of launching a space-ship from their backyard at some point. Well, now that NASA plans to release over a thousand of its software systems into the public domain, your idle musings could become a reality. On April 10th, the outfit is dropping a ton of free code for things like life support systems, aeronautics and, as Wired reports, even cryogenics, online for your perusal. This is an extension of what it's been doing with its technology transfer program for the last 50 years, and like Data.gov and DARPA's Open Catalog before it, the result of President Obama's push to open government data to the public and digitize it for easy access. The source code will be spread across SourceForge, GitHub and NASA's website for now, but by next year it should be consolidated in one easy-access database. What's more, NASA said that post release it'll keep adding new code to the database. Now is the time to vote for a favorite space suit if you already haven't -- you just might need one after all. [Image credit: Kenneth Lu/Flickr]
Timothy J. Seppala04.07.2014
LCD Soundsystem frontman wants to make New York's subway more musical
Musician and self-described "subway geek" James Murphy has had a bit of time on his hands since LCD Soundsystem's curtain call, but he hasn't been idle. Inspired by the sounds of Tokyo's train system, Murphy has proposed that the turnstiles of New York's 468 subway stations each play a unique melody when someone passes through them. He thinks the project, dubbed Subway Symphony, could be part of the city's plan to overhaul the existing MetroCard system and replace it with NFC-based readers, according to an interview with The Wall Street Journal. There is, however, something standing in the way of his 15-year old plan: the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). An MTA representative said that it's a cool idea but one that would likely require a lot of labor, money and potential downtime for the subway's 5.5-million passengers -- and that isn't feasible (unlike in-terminal WiFi). If you're inclined to disagree, Muphy's set up a petition on the Subway Symphony website. [Image credit: Kent, J/Flickr]
Timothy J. Seppala02.25.2014
How to keep leveling when you're just tired of the same old quests
By now, most of us have leveled alts, and probably a lot of them. And while the leveling game was probably fun the first time and even the second, by the third, fourth, fifth and beyond, you're probably painfully bored of doing the same quests again. And again. And again. Sure, there are all sorts of tricks you can use to speed up your leveling, but what do you do when you just can't stand to quest through the same zone again? That's when you turn to alternative leveling methods. These aren't the fastest or the most efficient ways to get to max level, but they do all have the advantage of not being the same old quest grind. So whether you're leveling a character up for the first time or the hundredth, here are our 6 favorite alternative ways to get the XP you need.
Elizabeth Harper02.21.2014
Breakfast Topic: How many characters do you have?
Some players are focused on advancing and perfecting a single character. But others can't resist the lure of trying out other classes, races, and even factions for a change of pace. Some players could be certified professional alt-a-holics, with level 90s of each class. Today's question is simple: how many WoW characters do you have? Of course, a true alt-a-holic knows the real answer goes further than that. How many characters do you actively play? How many characters do you have at max level? And just how do you make time for them all? So, tell us readers -- in as much or as little detail as you'd like -- just how many characters do you have?
Elizabeth Harper02.15.2014
Watch a fake flower blossom thanks to flexible 3D-printed materials (video)
Richard Clarkson, a student at New York's School of Visual Arts, has used a combination of pneumatics and 3D-printed flexible-materials to create an artificial flower that "blooms," and the result is pretty neat. When air fills a cavity in the rubbery petals, they expand and push outward against the harder center bulb, replicating how a real flower blossoms. Clarkson said he chose a flower for this experiment because he wanted to model something organic from an entirely non-organic process. Words really don't do the art project justice however, which is why we've embedded a video of the installation after the break -- check it out.
Timothy J. Seppala02.01.2014
Waterloo Labs uses paintball guns to make automated works of art
Waterloo Labs is at it again, but instead of concocting eyeball-controls for Italian plumbers, it's futzing with paintball guns. The team has rigged a trio of the paint-filled firearms to make automated art with a little help from a webcam, Labview software, 3D-printed parts and an awful lot of wiring. What winds up on the canvas is pulled from a 50-pixel by 50-pixel image that is fed into the Labview suite. From there, the data moves to the three servo-mounted paintball guns, which precision-fire at their target to replicate the original art. If this description sounds slightly simplified, that's because it is -- the video embedded after the break has the nitty-gritty details. While this setup probably doesn't serve a real-world purpose, it might give your favorite Jackson Pollock wannabe reason to pause.
Timothy J. Seppala01.30.2014
Virgin Galactic tests new thrusters, further disregards gravity (video)
Last year, Sir Richard Branson promised Virgin Galactic's first commercial mission would rip through the atmosphere in 2014. That goal has edged ever closer with SpaceShipTwo's latest trip beyond the sound barrier, where it shot past previous records and hit an altitude of 71,000 feet. This recent dry-run was the maiden voyage for a set of newly designed thrusters (used to keep the vessel on-course in space), and a new coating for the tail section that reflects heat from the rocket engine. As the company tells it, the purpose of this flight was to gather more transonic and supersonic data -- it isn't certain how many more test flights are needed, though. Given that Branson and his kids will be Galactic's first passengers, however, we've a hunch he'll keep tinkering 'til everything's just right.
Timothy J. Seppala01.14.2014
Mars One expedition whittles down its applicant pool to just over 1,000
Apparently, over 200,000 people applied for Mars One's mission to permanently leave Earth -- and while there's room to spare on the Martian plains, moving that many humans off-planet simply isn't feasible. The outfit culled that initial pool to 1,058 candidates, and emailed them to say that they'd made it past the first round of (many) cuts for the one-way mission. These remaining astronaut-hopefuls will undergo a battery of team-based training and simulations on Earth to separate the weak links, shrinking the ranks even further. When exactly those trials are going to take place hasn't been determined yet: Mars One says it needs to sort out its broadcast TV-rights first. After all, inter-planetary travel isn't cheap.
Timothy J. Seppala12.31.2013
Researchers use alcohol, Arduino and a desk fan to send molecular text messages (video)
Scientists from York University in Toronto are using alcohol as a method for sending text messages. How, exactly? By converting sprays of isopropyl alcohol into binary code, using off-the-shelf components. The researchers used an Arduino Uno board, an Adafruit LCD, a desk fan and a household spray bottle to transmit a short message across a tabletop, via molecular diffusion. In the experiment, the fan pushed bursts of alcoholic mist across a table, where a sensor at the other end measured the alcohol content of the air. From there, the vapor was reassembled into non-binary characters and the phrase was successfully reconstructed. Naturally, the transmitted words were "O Canada." The university says that this chemical form of data transmission could easily be shrunk to the microscopic level and find use in the medical field for targeted drug delivery. Conversely, the system could expand in size and offer communication through sewer systems or be used in search and rescue situations; basically, anywhere that traditional radio signals just won't work.
Timothy J. Seppala12.19.2013
Breakfast Topic: What inspired you to level your alt?
As I've mentioned once or twice in past articles, my main WoW project over the past months has been my brewmaster monk alt. He's turned out to be a lot of fun to play and a good reminder of how much fun tanking can be, but that's not the point of this article. The point is his heirlooms. I was pretty excited when I heard that patch 5.4 would bring with it the ability to put high level enchants on low level items, including heirlooms, even if said enchants would be scaled to level. I figured it would make those last few levels pretty fun if my swords had Windsong on them, if nothing else. But my monk's coming along quicker than I anticipated. He's already in the low 80s, so chances are by the time patch 5.4 comes out, those heirlooms will be gathering dust in his bank while he's grinding scenarios and heroic dungeons. But I really want to try out high level enchanted heirlooms, so I may just do the unthinkable and level a rogue.
Daniel Whitcomb08.21.2013
Navy enlists UAVs to uncover atmospheric ducts, protect comms
Turbulence. A minor bother for us, but a huge issue for enlisted seamen. So-called "ducts" in the lower atmosphere can wreak all sorts of maritime havoc; trapping radar and causing radio comms to travel further than expected and into the hands of the enemy. The Office of Naval Research's Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department (rad name, right?) isn't satisfied with using balloons to keep track of the ducts anymore, and is deploying drones instead, including Insitu's ScanEagle shown above. The result should be a greater understanding of how atmospheric conditions affect radar and communications, which could ultimately provide a tactical advantage -- at least while we wait on those 100-kilowatt lasers. [Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Timothy J. Seppala08.01.2013
Alt-week 7.27.13: The blind pixel-painter, redirecting the sun and Saturn's view of Earth
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. This week is all about being humbled. New images from NASA remind us how truly small we are, while a blind computer artist reminds us we could try harder. Perhaps the "easiest" feat this week is a village that is redirecting the sun for five months of the year. No biggie. This is alt-week.
James Trew07.27.2013
The Road to Mordor: Three ways LotRO could encourge rerolls
You're either an altoholic or you're not, and if you're not, then you're probably not too concerned about what your next journey will look like. For those of us who love to fill up our character screens to the max and have rarely gone a week without thinking of sampling a new class, race, or approach we haven't tried before, then a game that provides excellent reasons to do so is essential to our long-term interest. I've made many a new alt in Lord of the Rings Online over the years, and some of those alts even survived the reality show-like elimination process to make it to high levels. Well, at least until Moria, after which the Balrog probably got them. In 2013 alone I've made good attempts at three alts, the highest of which is level 51. However, my enthusiasm for alting in LotRO is on the wane. I feel as though I've seen and done everything in those low levels to death, and Turbine isn't giving me good enough reasons to go back through it again. That's unfortunate because alting extends our interest in a title and gives us something to do once we've run out of new content to devour. So here are three ways that Turbine could encourage players to reroll more often in the future.
Justin Olivetti07.27.2013
Breakfast Topic: Your favorite alt(s)
Sure, we all have our main character on whom we lavish both time and attention. We take the utmost care to gear them up: reforging, enchanting, gemming, and transmogrifing every piece of equipment to perfection. We read forums and class blogs and make sure we're up to date on the latest gameplay techniques and boss strategies to make the most of our beloved main when we're playing. But sometimes? Sometimes you just want a break from all of that. Sometimes you want to play an alt, running through uncharted territory with an unfamiliar class. This, of course, is the draw of the alt. And for some of us, one isn't even enough. So tell us, readers: what's your favorite alt getaway? A specific character, faction, or class? Or is it just anything different, for a change of pace?
Elizabeth Harper07.02.2013
The Daily Grind: Do you ever roll two of the same class?
Every once in a while I'll hear from a friend that he or she has rolled a new character in an MMO. This by itself is not strange nor unusual, but what is weird is that the new character is of the exact same class as another one that the player regularly uses. To me, this is a hard concept to wrap my head around. MMO characters take so much time to develop as it is, and part of the joy of rolling a new alt is trying a different experience. Why would someone want to play the same class again if there are others that haven't been touched yet? I'm sure they have their reasons, and I'm curious if you've done this. Do you ever roll two of the same class, and if so, why? Explain yourself! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Justin Olivetti06.26.2013