Archive for the ‘science’ Category

Life Creates Conditions Conducive to Life

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[image: ‘Supertrees’ by Grant-Associates]

Sounds simple, right? That life creates an environment suited for life is a fact constantly taken for granted by humankind, as we’re the only life that doesn’t follow this beautifully simple rule. Its really quite fascinating how we view ourselves, as something outside of nature - something unnatural. So what’s a ninja to do, you ask? Borrow all the best ideas from your surroundings, and adapt them to your needs : enter biomimicry.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6783454727978317271

Read the rest of this article over at architecture.MNP

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Posted: September 18th, 2007
at 1:00pm by orangemenace


Categories: youtube,green,architecture,science

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Google’s Lunar Challenge

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Google Inc. is bankrolling a $30 million contest that could significantly boost the commercial space industry and spur the first non-governmental flight to the moon.
Call it Moon 2.0. The bulk of the prize will go to the first private company that can land a robotic rover on the moon and beam back a gigabyte of images and video to Earth, the Internet search leader said Thursday.

Google partnered with the X Prize Foundation for the moon challenge, which is open to companies around the world. The Santa Monica-based nonprofit prize institute is best known for hosting the Ansari X Prize contest, which led to the first manned private spaceflight in 2004.

The race to the moon won’t be easy or cheap. But whoever fills the requirements in the Google contest by the end of 2012 gets $20 million.

The winning spacecraft must be tough enough to survive a landing and be equipped with high-definition video and still cameras. And it must be smart enough to trek at least 1,312 feet on the moon and send self-portraits, panoramic views and near-real-time videos back to Earth that will be streamed on Google’s Web site.

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::via Yahoo News::

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Posted: September 14th, 2007
at 5:00am by orangemenace


Categories: myninjaplease,youtube,green,fo' real?,real life news,science

Comments: 1 comment


Google Universe?

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And you thought that Google Earth was a great way to waste your time? My Ninja, Please! Google is reportedly working with a network of 19 national research institutions to develop software that will bring up-to-date images of the galaxy to a desktop near you- hopefully in an interface something like what we’ve seen with Google Earth.

What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, for starters, thats about 30 terabytes of info streaming from the new Large Synoptic Survey Telescope in Chile, which will be imaging the heavens about twice a week. A little bit about the LSST:

One thousand times as powerful as previous telescopes, the LSST will survey the entire sky every three nights using a wide-angle mirror and a three-billion-pixel digital camera.As the telescope rotates on its base, the camera’s 15-second exposures take in an area 50 times as large as the full moon. Software will compile three-dimensional imagery to produce time-lapse digital "movies" of the universe [CNN].

Unfortunately, it’s going to take some time, and we’ll hopefully have it within the decade. That being said, Google has recently added ‘Sky’ to Google Earth, allowing you a glimpse of a number of constellations and celestial bodies - which will have to be enough for now. And if you’re looking for something in our own neighborhood to hold you over, don’t sleep on Google Mars.

Impatient? Then get your learn on! If you study up now, you want be fumbling around when Google Universe comes out, and you’ll know exactly where you want to go first. Where were those green chicks from in Star Trek again?

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Posted: September 12th, 2007
at 12:00am by orangemenace


Categories: myninjaplease,youtube,computers,web,science

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