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StripeSpotter turns wild zebras into trackable barcodes
We've heard plenty of stories over the past few years about tagging animals with RFID chips, but we've never been particularly keen on the idea. Well, now a team of researchers has come up with a much less invasive way of tracking individual animals -- specifically zebras -- by essentially using their stripes as barcodes. StripeSpotter, as it's known, takes an isolated portion of a photograph of a zebra and slices it into a series of horizontal bands. Each pixel in the selection is then fully converted into black or white, and the bands are in turn encoded into StripeStrings, which eventually make up a StripeCode that resembles a barcode. All this information is stored in a database that allows researchers to directly identify particular animals without ever having to get too close. StripeCode may be a zebra-centric application for now, but its developers see it making a mark across the food chain with the inclusion of other distinctly patterned beasts, like tigers and giraffes. Animal tracking hobbyists can get their own free copy of the application by clicking on the source link below.
Earth Hour 2011 starts at 8:30PM your local time, wants you to switch off for a bit
In what has become an annual tradition now, the WWF's Earth Hour is presently sweeping across the globe, getting people to switch off non-essential lights and appliances for a sixty-minute kindness to Ma Earth and her finite energy resources. All you'll need to do to participate is power down the old World of Warcraft questing station, turn the TV off, and maybe take a walk outside so your lights don't have to be on, starting at 8:30PM tonight. Half the world's already done its bit and it's now coming around to those in the UK, Portugal and Western African countries to do the same. Will you be part of it?
Galaxy shocker: laws of physics may vary throughout the universe
Oh, brother. Just when you thought you had everything figured out, along comes a team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England to turn your world upside-down. As the story goes, a new "report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants of nature appears not to be constant after all," with the fine-structure constant actually varying throughout testing. The crew measured the number, dubbed "alpha," in about 300 faraway galaxies, and they consistently found that it measured differently than on Earth. Professor John Webb from the University of New South Wales even stated that it "seemed to vary continuously along a preferred axis through the universe," which effectively means we're back to square one on figuring just about everything out. Burn the books, kids.
Henrik Isaksson Garnell's fusion of nature and tech freaks us out in a good way
We're certainly not art critics, but we know what we like, and it's hard to not like something that makes you look at an every-day object in a different way. That's part of what Swedish photographer Henrik Isaksson Garnell is up to, crafting simple sculptures that fuse bits of nature and bits of tech, then beautifully photographing them. Selections include an electrode-laden eggplant, a conch shell that's sprouted resistors, and a squid that looks to have been given some sort of mechanical hub. These are just a few of his creations, mixed with beautiful infra-red images and other surrealistic shots found scattered over his blog. Take a moment, click on through, and get to scrolling.
GE lands $6.3 million DARPA grant to develop 'bio-inspired' sensors
Do butterflies hold the key to the next generation of chemical sensors? DARPA apparently thinks they might, and it's just awarded GE a $6.3 million grant to further develop a project that the company's research division began three years ago. That project was sparked by the discovery that the nanostructures from the wing scales of butterflies have acute chemical sensing properties, which GE has since been working to replicate in a sensing platform that could instantly detect a wide variety of chemical threats. What's more, GE says that it's sensors could eventually be made in "very small sizes, with low production costs," which would let them be used for everything from emissions monitoring at power plants to food and beverage safety monitoring at home. Full press release is after the break.
Earth Hour starts at 8.30PM tonight, asks for sixty minutes of natural living
Time to don your eco-warrior armor, strap on your nature-loving helmet, and flick that big old... light switch. Yes, in honor of the WWF's Earth Hour, countries around the globe are tonight switching off non-essential lights and appliances for sixty minutes, with highlights including Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Burj Khalifa, and the Empire State Building all going dark in the hope of helping the planet stay green. Timed for 8.30pm your local time, this unorthodox event has already commenced with Australia, New Zealand, China and others doing their bit -- videos after the break -- and is just now hitting Eastern European borders. So, fellow earthlings, will you be among the projected one billion souls that go au naturel for an hour tonight? [Thanks, Pavel]
Poll: Watching Life on Discovery tonight?
We all saw, and loved Planet Earth in its various forms, and now it's time for Life to air on pretty much every Discovery network at 8 p.m. (though interestingly, not HD Theater, which is fine -- we wouldn't want to miss our WRC highlights anyway.) We got an early preview of the first of two episodes that will be airing tonight and it was fantastic. It'll be hard to convince hardcore Attenborough fans to accept any substitute in narration but Oprah does a good job, and there's no doubt that the bar has been raised in the genre of watching animals do incredible things in super slow-mo HD. What was supposed to be just a few minutes preview turned into watching the entire thing, and rewinding just to watch that chameleon part once more turned into a complete second viewing. So, will you be tuning in? %Poll-43230%
Found Footage: MyNature Animal Tracks
I live in a suburban area south of Denver, Colorado, but that doesn't mean that I don't see animal tracks regularly. Quite the contrary -- our area is occasionally visited by mountain lion and black bear, there are herds of elk and white-tailed deer that frequent the area, and it's not unusual to see red fox and coyote loping through the neighborhood. Hiking in the foothills near my home is a sure way to see a variety of animal tracks MyNature, Inc. recently released MyNature Animal Tracks [US$6.99, iTunes Link] to help nature lovers easily identify 43 different species of North American animals. The video above shows the depth of the application, which includes: A searchable database on track size and shape featuring 7 search categories. Clear track drawings showing both fore and hind prints. Images of each animal's common gait and other gait patterns they may use. Photos of an actual track of each animal in the wild. Range maps for each species Sound files of each animal's vocalizations. An image of what the animal looks like in it's natural environment. A ruler to measure and aid in track identification. MyNature journal, for recording personal notes Tips on finding tracks, plaster casting and much more. MyNature Animal Tracks looks like a useful and educational app for anyone who likes to spend time outdoors, and at a price less than the printed track guides that are sold at museums and nature centers.
CoolerBot photographs nature, gets its power from it
If you're into real life bunny wabbits and other such wildlife, but not a fan of the cold, wet and windy outdoors, what do you do? We'd say just boot up the console and shoot you some pixelated peoples, but Steve Norris' idea might be just a tad more practical. He has authored the above mobile snap-station, which is equipped with an infrared video camera, a Nikon DSLR, and pairs of motors, 10Ah batteries, and solar panels. Power flows from the latter into the former to turn wildlife stalking into a pleasurable pastime for even the most indoorsy of folks. Video demonstration of the hardware after the break.
Omlet Beehaus is a plastic beehive for the urban conservationist
Natural England needs you, dear urbanite, to put on your conservationist hat -- and beesuit, by the looks of it -- and start taking care of a small bee colony. Because, as you already know, you can't have healthy plant life without healthy insect populations to sustain it. At this point, a lot of us might be intrigued -- after all, who doesn't find the idea of homemade honey and a houseful of killer bees appealing? And all would indeed be well, but for the £465 ($790) price of the beekeeping unit, which renders the entire idea the exclusive preserve of the very wealthy and very bored and leaves us poor nature lovers looking on helplessly. Like a bee trying to fly through a window.[Via PhysOrg]
Phat Loot Phriday: Petrified Ivy Sprig
Let's do a wand! A really, really hot wand, too -- best in slot for most casters in the game right now.Name: Petrified Ivy Sprig (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDB)Type: Epic WandDamage/Speed: 414-719 Nature / 1.80 (328.6 DPS)Attributes: +19 Intellect, +22 Spirit, +26 Stamina. Which is actually less than that other big endgame wand, but wait, there's more: %Gallery-33600%
New materials change color when stressed, making fans of mechanochemical transduction positively giddy
A U.S. Army-funded research project at the University of Illinois has developed a material that changes color when it is met with force or becomes overstressed. Among the examples trotted out in this month's issue of Nature are an elastomer that starts out the color of amber and turns progressively more orange as it's pulled, eventually turning red as it reaches its point of failure and snaps (see the photo on the right). Once relieved of stress, the material reverts to its original color -- and it can be used multiple times. Suggested uses for this technology include parachute cords, climbing ropes, coatings for bridges -- anything, really, that you'd want a heads-up on before imminent failure. Pretty wild, huh? [Warning: Read link requires subscription.][Via CNET]
Kilauea: Mountain of Fire gives an HD look at the volcano tonight on PBS
Sure, if you want a great look at nature in HD, Discovery HD Theater has a marathon of Planet Earth going on right now (no seriously, if you haven't seen it, forget the NCAA tournament, Tiger on the links and LeBron's 60 Minutes half court shot, click over right now and watch) but brand new this evening Nature on PBS has an all new look at active volcanoes with Kilauea: Mountain of Fire. The first of this site filmed specifically for high definition broadcasts, Hawaii Magazine certainly seemed impressed by peeks into the vent from the air, underwater lava flows and hikes into the world's largest and deepest lava tube (whatever that may be) promise to give an all new appreciation of natures power for anyone not already peeping Ian McShane on Kings.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Hunter
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the twenty-fifth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. The Hunter is probably the oldest class in World of Warcraft. Before anyone in Azeroth took up an axe or sword, or learned anything of how to cast spells -- even before they learned to write -- they had to hunt for food. If they were like early Earth societies, the people of many nomadic groups would have relied on their hunters to bring in the meat they needed, as well as to protect the community from enemies. Back then, there would have been no such thing as fancy armor or complicated magical weapons. The relationship of a fighter to nature was just as important as the weapons he carried, if not more so.Modern hunters in World of Warcraft come from the ancient tradition of those who learned to keep themselves and their families alive by living in harmony with nature. They learned the essential mysteries of survival in the wilderness, killing animals with stealth and primitive weapons, trapping them, and eventually turning predators and prey alike into friends and servants. As time went by, those fighters who took up the path of the druid would learn to become nature itself; shamans would learn to call upon it; warriors and rogues would make battle their art, each in their own way. But hunters remained at that pivotal point between sentient races and the natural world -- they are connected to nature, but not manifestations of it; they work together with nature, but they do not worship it or call upon its spirits; they fight their enemies with the utmost passion, but they do it with the tools that hearken back to the dawn of civilization.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Druid
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the nineteenth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. Nature is a system of life energy in constant flow, peaceful one moment and turbulent the next. All living things draw their life from it, and depend upon its balance for their existence. Druids are the protectors of this balance, who harness the energies it contains and try to live their lives according to its laws and principles. In this way, they become intimate members of the natural system, embodying the very force that they seek to protect. The druid is not merely a spellcaster who draws on nature to do cool stuff -- he is nature, in himself, completely one with it in every way. The world is his body, and he is an inseparable part of the whole. It can be rather hard for those of us living in the concrete jungles of modern city life to get a feeling for what nature really is, or what it feels like to be a part of it. Perhaps if you have ever ventured off the paved highway into the distant reaches of the world, you will know the feeling of connection to the greatness of the natural world in which the human race evolved, long, long ago in a state of mind far, far away from billboards and electronic devices, pop culture and prime-time TV programming. It may no longer be possible for human beings to simply return to its ancient state, nor would that necessarily be a good thing. Today, people look out at the world outside the closed-off bubble of material civilization and wonder their new relationship with the ancient balance of nature could be.To play a druid in WoW as a class in a game is one thing, but to try and get inside the druid worldview and understand what they might be thinking is something else. To start, it would help to look inside ourselves and see what sort of connection to nature exists there. Is there a balance? What would balance look like? How would it feel to be in complete harmony with the natural world? What would it be like to channel all the power of nature through your body or indeed feel the world itself as an extension of your body?
Ask a Lore Nerd: Cenarius, C'Thun, and the Titans
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. Last week on Ask a Lore Nerd, I answered a question about sports. In short, does Azeroth have sports? I, foolishly, looked at it in a pretty narrow way. I was thinking baseball, basketball, things like that. However, it was quickly pointed out that not all sports are things like those. That's very true! Azeroth definitely has things like hunting, racing, fishing and the arena circuit. There's also a reference to Battle Ball but who knows what that is. So there's that! And with that out of the way...XvampyrexrisingX asked...My friend and I have been arguing recently over the death of the demigod Cenarius. I was hoping for some clarification. I (a diehard Nelf) say that Cenarius was only protecting the forest the orcs were cutting, while she (a Nelf turned Hordie) says that Cenarius attacked the Orcs for no reason and their only choice was to kill him. Which one of us gets the bragging rights?
The next Planet Earth? National Geographic premieres Earth: The Biography tonight
We've felt an odd void for nature programming on our HDTV, so National Geographic's Earth: The Biography series comes at an excellent time. As usual, high definition makes the seven continent journey pop, starting off tonight with an episode on volcanoes, followed immediately by a second focusing on ice. We don't have to tell you how great an experience Planet Earth was (and the real sequel isn't due til 2012), so we don't recommend missing any part of this three night event.[Via HeraldNet]
Get your ecosystem on with Sim Animals
EA has worked animals into its Sims franchise before, but Sim Animals already sounds way more interesting than The Sims 2: Apartment Pets (and its corrupting boxart). Described by NGamer magazine as a "woodland ecosystem god game where Disney-style characterisation meets the teeth and claws of the Discovery Channel," this god game puts you in charge of a big ol' chunk of nature, which you have to ensure remains clean and full of happy, well-petted animals and plants.Do this successfully, and you'll get to see more of the 25 animals and 50 plant specimens in the game, which sounds a bit lot like Viva Piñata. The food chain plays a role (so to increase numbers of a certain species, bump up the number of animals they prey upon), and the ecosystem itself has its own happiness level. Four players can take part at once (animals remember how each player treats them), and it should be hitting both DS and Wii next year.With any luck, we'll see more of this soon. If only there were some huge industry event in the near future!
DeLorme Earthmate PN-40 GPS unit for those of you who go outside
We don't normally get very excited about things that involve scary things like nature, bugs, and sunlight. In this case, though, DeLorme's Earthmate PN-40 GPS device sports some seriously interesting features that we couldn't pass up. It uses a high-sensitivity 32-channel Cartesio chipset that speeds up signal acquisition, a dual-core processor for insane redraw speeds, 3-axis compass with accelerometer to allow use in any position, 500MB of internal Flash memory, and supports SDHC cards. Phew. So there you have it, one of the most intense GPS units of doom you can possibly get. Good luck out there, nature people!
Serene scenes on HDTV no substitute for nature
Ruh roh. Seems you can't use the "it's good for my health" excuse to watch just one more hour of Sunrise Earth, as a recent study has shown that watching serene scenes on HDTV just doesn't have the same calming effect as does watching a similar scene in nature. The University of Washington-based study discovered that heart recovery rates in people exposed to minor stress were the same when viewing peaceful imagery on a plasma or starting directly at a blank wall. Yeah, a blank wall. It was also noted that heart rates dropped more quickly when these same folks viewed a calming scene through a window, suggesting that technology may not be ready to replace reality just yet in this particular case. We just have to wonder if they were using true HD signals on the display -- nothing gets our heart racing like a bad episode of Pool Watchers in SD.[Thanks, Ben]
