marine
Latest
Harvard's noodly robot fingers are great at grabbing jellyfish
Robots can be a bit heavy-handed. Their forceful grip might not be a problem when they're moving boxes in a warehouse, but they can damage fragile marine creatures like jellyfish. Researchers may have a solution. They've created a robotic hand with a squishy grabber and a gentle grip that uses "fettuccini-like silicone fingers" to catch and release fragile, gelatinous jellyfish.
Giant plastic-collecting 'pool noodle' breaks apart in the Pacific
The "giant pool noodle" dispatched into the Pacific Ocean last September to catch and clean up thousands of tonnes of floating plastic has run into trouble. Invented by Boyan Slat when he was 17, the 2,000-foot-long U-shaped floating barrier was designed to travel with wind and wave propulsion collecting pieces of plastic as small as a millimetre in size from the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between Hawaii and California. But after just a few months at sea, the device -- called System 001 -- is heading back to land after seeing major setbacks.
Scientists accidentally produce an enzyme that devours plastic
There are research teams around the world dedicated to finding a remedy for the growing plastic pollution crisis, but now it seems that one group of scientists have found a feasible answer -- and they stumbled upon it by accident. Researchers studying a newly-discovered bacterium found that with a few tweaks, the bug can be turned into a mutant enzyme that starts eating plastic in a matter of days, compared to the centuries it takes for plastic to break down in the ocean.
ESA plans to measure ocean plastic data from space
Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) are working on a technology that would allow them to identify from space just how much plastic there is floating around in oceans. Until now, researchers have used satellite maps to simulate the accumulation of marine trash, but the new project would use direct optical measurements to provide actual data on the scale of the issue.
China's acoustic probe heard sound from the Mariana Trench
A team of Chinese scientists have completed the country's first acoustic test in the Mariana Trench, and the results could lead to a breakthrough in understanding how sound is transmitted in the deepest parts of the ocean. The researchers from Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shanxi province dropped and retrieved an acoustic probe into a valley at the southern end of the trench, which is about 11 kilometers (approximately 6.83 miles) under the surface.
3D printing will revolutionize how the Marine Corps fights
"The people closest to the problem are also the people closest to the solution," Capt. Chris Wood, co-lead for Additive Manufacturing with the US Marine Corps, told Engadget. In 2016, the USMC put that adage to the test as it launched the Logistics Innovation Challenge, a program "to solicit ideas from Marines, sailors and civilians from across the Marine Corps" that would address challenges that they face in their daily duties. And this is only the start to the US Military's additive-manufacturing aspirations. Pretty soon, everything from ammunition to autonomous vehicles could come from the Corps' cadre of 3D printers.
ICYMI: A new form of whale communication, found
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A new Marine Mammal Science publication found that humpback whales slap the surface of the water to communicate with one another, although what they're actually saying is still a mystery. Meanwhile MIT's CSAIL lab created a CAD-like program to create UAVS. The best part of the software is testing it virtually to see if your creation would fly in real life. The Tesla Coil video by SmarterEveryDay is pretty great and for fun, you may want to watch the Turkish satellite heading up to space. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The Marines are fitting their tanks with anti-missile tech
The US Marine Corps believes it's time to upgrade their trusty tanks with technology that can detect and deflect incoming missiles. In fact, it's joining forces with the Army to test out the Israeli Trophy Active Protection System (APS). When Trophy's sensors detect that there's an anti-tank missile on the way, it fires small rounds to deflect them. It can also use jammers to mislead the enemy. According to Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, they're seeing "much more sophisticated threat(s) on the ground," and adding more armor to the vehicles will just slow them down. They needed to turn to high-tech solutions to protect the tanks and their drivers, like how the Navy is developing new technologies for its ships.
ICYMI: Underground AI delivery, sea life discovery and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-255157{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-255157, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-255157{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-255157").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Xenoturbella deep sea creature doesn't have a brain, eyes or functional gut, but its genetics prove it is one of the oldest forms of ocean life. Also, it looks like a discarded purple sock.
Autonomous robosub hunts starfish with poison-tipped needles
Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) are voracious coral consumers with a propensity for population explosions, which makes them very real threats to the world's coral reefs. And while they're typically held in check by fish higher in the food chain, overly aggressive human fishing has decimated these predator species. That's why a team from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia has spent the past decade developing a fully autonomous COTS-hunting robotic submarine to help bring these populations back into balance.
Cloud Imperium previews spiffy Star Citizen marine concept
Star Citizen may be a spaceship game at heart, but Cloud Imperium's recent updates have begun to focus on the title's sexy sci-fi character models. The latest example is the UEE Marine pictured above, which Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts showed off at last weekend's SXSW panel. The artwork, which includes a full-body shot and helmet closeups, was done by artist Rob McKinnon. Star Citizen's website says that more info on Roberts' panel appearances will be available later this week. In the meantime, you can click past the cut to see all the art.
US Navy LASR research facility builds robots, not ray guns
The US Navy announced a new robotics research facility this week located within the existing Naval Research Laboratory's main site in Washington D.C. The Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research, or LASR, was created to support NRL research in "robotics and autonomous systems of interest to the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense," wrote LASR director Alan C. Shultz, mentioning that a familiar sounding autonomous firefighting robot would be among the lab's projects. The new facility is kitted out with a litany of realistic environmental simulation bays, allowing NRL scientists to pit their research against the elements with ease. Researchers will also have access to machine shops stocked with 3D printers and other goodies, a power and energy lab, a sensor lab and what Shultz calls the "world's largest space for real-time motion capture." Sounds great, at least as long as the research projects never get ahold of a certain Navy-funded AI report. Check out Shultz' official statement at the White House blog link below.
Former Marine marches from battlefield to Apple accessory market
Devon Read spent five years in the Marines, serving in both Iraq and Africa. Now, the Golden, Colorado resident is a successful Apple accessory maker. He's a self-admitted Apple fan who wanted a protective case for his Apple devices, but couldn't find products that were fashionable, functional and affordable. Instead of waiting for that perfect product to hit the market, he and two of his friends decided to make their own. Read and his friends came up with the idea for Happy Owl Studios, after the iPad announcement and quickly designed their signature Wallet and Clutch bag. The Wallet is a slim bag that has room for your pocket change, credit cards, and mobile phone. The Clutch is a slightly bigger bag, designed primarily for the ladies. It'll replace your purse and has a larger pocket that'll hold lip gloss, sunglasses, keys and more. Read was recently interviewed by the Denver Post and shared his company's biggest advantage over their larger rivals like Griffin which makes a variety of cases for the iPhone and iPad. Read says, "To compete in that same world as the huge accessory makers, we need to take advantage of what we have but they don't have: the ability to turn on a dime."
Marines field test solar panels by day, watch Gomer Pyle by night
United States Marines are among the best-equipped soldiers on the planet, but more gadgets mean extra batteries to haul, adding dozens of pounds on extended missions. Troops in Afghanistan recently put that hot Middle Eastern sun to use, swapping spare batteries for placemat-size solar panels on a three-week patrol. Batts were replaced with extra bullets, so the soldiers didn't get off easy, but they were also able to reduce generator usage, making a significant dent in fuel consumption. It will be several years before all soldiers charge their radios, night vision goggles, and GPS devices using the sun, but the Marine Corps hopes to cut fuel use in half by 2025, so it's only a matter of time before solar-powered gadgets have a more permanent home on the battlefield. Sha-zam!
The Perfect Ten: The 10 people you meet in MMO hell
"Hell is other people," the jaunty Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in No Exit. In this play, three characters are locked together in a small room, where they gradually realize that they are there to torment each other for all of eternity. Plus, there are no toilets, and that's going to get unpleasant fast. It's fun for the whole family -- get your tickets today! We've all met folks in game who leave an unpleasant taste in our mouths for a long time after. With the all of the good of social games comes the seedy underbelly (henceforth referred to as "Camden, New Jersey"), and for every stellar soul you connect with, there is another lying in wait to destroy your day. If MMO heaven is full of supportive guildies and grammatically correct chat channels, then think of MMO hell as a pick-up group gone horribly awry as you run a dungeon that never ends, a dungeon you can never quit. While we'd never voluntarily go to MMO hell, it was inevitable that some of its denizens have escaped to walk amongst us in our games even today. Who are these nefarious devils? Hit the jump to find out!
Dolphin uses iPad to learn to identify objects
Cats love iPads, dogs love iPads, and dolphins... love iPads? That's the word from a site called SpeakDolphin.com [PDF, here's the text], where researchers say they're using the iPad's touchscreen to offer up visual stimuli for dolphins to touch and interact with. A touchscreen for dolphins needs to have a few certain criteria, including being waterproof-able, sensitivity, and visual clarity, and apparently the iPad fits the bill, as you can see in the picture. So what kinds of apps does a dolphin use? Turns out they're addicted to Plants vs. Zombies HD, too. No, just kidding -- they use just an image that contains pictures of various items that exist around the dolphin in real life. The trainer points to an object in real life, and then asks the dolphin to point to that same object on the screen, laying the very first groundwork for lingual interaction. Interesting stuff. We haven't heard of dolphins using Apple's magical device before, obviously, but what's constantly surprising is that the iPad is slowly replacing all sorts of other technology, and being used in many ways that Apple's engineers couldn't even imagine. [via BoingBoing]
Power generating backpack is a gift from the gadget gods, Uncle Sam
Without a doubt, the military is home to some of the best gadgets. Fortunately for us, the non-lethal stuff often makes it into the hands of consumers after companies finish milking the government of its R&D budget. Case in point: this electricity-generating backup. Designed for the military, the kinetic energy pack is suspended on a rail that generates electricity as you walk. The power generated will charge a standard US Marine-issue lithium ion battery pack or can be directly routed to whatever device you want to charge. The obvious benefit would be limitless power in the field freeing troops from carrying extra batteries on long missions. A power meter on the shoulder strap lets you monitor performance while a three-stage resistance device lets you regulate the power output. A braking mechanism lets you lock down the pack when you want to keep the pack steady. Otherwise, it looks like it'll generate about 8 watts of power while walking or 44 watts of power when running. Do want. See it in action after the break. [Via besportier]
BlizzCon live stream order page up
Didn't get your tickets for BlizzCon? Planning to pick up the Internet stream instead, because you don't have DirecTV at home? Now's your chance -- the page has appeared to order up the official livestream in HD video straight from the conference. For $39.95, you get over 16 hours of video from the convention floor, as well as all the main stage presentations, tournament coverage, and even the Grunty the Murloc Space Marine pet. There's more answers over on their FAQ page if you have more questions.The video streaming as a test on the page suggests that both Level 80 Tauren Chieftain will be playing and Jay Mohr will be hosting again, though that video is likely from last year, and not necessarily indicative of this year's show. It looks like the HQ stream will also require you to install the RayV player, while the lower quality stream will likely be available just through Flash. You can also keep in mind that though this is probably an excellent deal (especially if you want that pet -- I know many people will pick up the package for that code alone), there will be no shortage of information from BlizzCon for sure, as we'll have plenty to go around as well. But if you were planning on picking up the Internet stream, order on up.BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon, you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there are some great looking costumes.
Grunty, the Murloc Marine appears on the PTR
We've had WoW and Diablo 3-themed BlizzCon/Worldwide Invitational in-game pets already, so you might say "hell, it's about time" when we tell you that Grunty, a murloc in Space Marine power armor, is on its way. MMO-Champion's Boubouille, head of the Romulan Data Miners Guild, discovered the pet's model while performing routine excavation on the newly-updated 3.1.2 patch files. If I were a betting man, I'd say that all signs point to this being part of the BlizzCon goody bag as opposed to TCG loot, meaning there's even less of a chance for you to get it. Hope you're prepared to beat the queue to get one. Heck, I'm even considering trying to go after seeing this -- I can't wait to see the idle animations he gets. According to the screenshots, it looks like he even blasts the air with his flamethrower. For once, the fish will do the frying. *puts on sunglasses, plays "Won't Get Fooled Again"*
The Queue: Stripes edition
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.Today in The Queue we're going to spend the entire time answering a question we got from a U.S. Marine currently deployed in Iraq. And while the above YouTube clip has very little (or nothing) to do with the Marines or Iraq, I think that everyone can use a little more Bill Murray in their life.Thalimor asked..."I currently am a Marine deployed in Iraq and I was wondering how much the game will change in one year? I am worried that when I do get back, it will feel completely different. What are your thoughts?"First and foremost, thanks for your service. I hope that things are as safe as possible for you and your fellow servicemen and servicewomen.I'm going to answer your question in two parts. First, what has happened to WoW in the past year. And second, what will probably happen to WoW in the following year. That should cover the entire timeframe for yourself and others in your situation.
