Aerocedian World

Passenger jets and drones are not the only vehicles that will need to talk to each other in the none-too-far-off future. Though flight-minded laymen still have not seen a Jetsons-like age arrive, the personal air commute is, at least, closer than it was before. Jet pack ideas abound, (such as the Martin Jetpack and Marc Newson’s “Body Jet”) and  flying cars  are on the make (for example, Terrafugia and Moller International’s Skycar). Sure, the morning commute is not likely to crowd the sky the way it does our streets anytime soon. However, if the air is thick with nine-to-fivers, there will have to be some traffic system in place. Current air-traffic control is not designed to handle localized takeoffs and landings. But, just as vehicle-to-vehicle communication is soon to keep automatic cars from colliding, aircraft-to-aircraft interaction is soon to make the man in manned aircraft a little less necessary. Congress has ordered the FAA to pave the way—legally and technical...

The researchers fastened the layers of composite materials together using carbon nanotubes — atom-thin rolls of carbon that, despite their microscopic stature, are incredibly strong. They embedded tiny “forests” of carbon nanotubes within a glue-like polymer matrix, then pressed the matrix between layers of carbon fiber composites. The nanotubes, resembling tiny, vertically-aligned stitches, worked themselves within the crevices of each composite layer, serving as a scaffold to hold the layers together. In experiments to test the material’s strength, the team found that, compared with existing composite materials, the stitched composites were 30 percent stronger, withstanding greater forces before breaking apart. Roberto Guzman, who led the work as an MIT postdoc in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), says the improvement may lead to stronger, lighter airplane parts — particularly those that require nails or bolts, which can crack conventional composites. ...

MIT Aerospace Engineers Develop Carbon Nanotube “Stitches” to Strengthen Composites August 8, 2016 Technology MIT aerospace engineers have found a way to bond composite layers, producing a material that is substantially stronger and more resistant to damage than other advanced composites. The improvement may lead to stronger, lighter airplane parts. Using carbon nanotube “stitches,” aerospace engineers from MIT have found a way to strengthen composites, helping make airplane frames lighter and more damage-resistant. The newest Airbus and Boeing passenger jets flying today are made primarily from advanced composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic — extremely light, durable materials that reduce the overall weight of the plane by as much as 20 percent compared to aluminum-bodied planes. Such lightweight airframes translate directly to fuel savings, which is a major point in advanced composites’ favor. But composite materials are also surprisingly vuln...

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Views Layered Rock Formations September 13, 2016 The layered geologic past of Mars is revealed in stunning detail in new color images from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover, which is currently exploring the “Murray Buttes” region of lower Mount Sharp. Curiosity took the images with its Mast Camera (Mastcam) on September 8. The rover team plans to assemble several large, color mosaics from the multitude of images taken at this location in the near future. “Curiosity’s science team has been just thrilled to go on this road trip through a bit of the American desert Southwest on Mars,” said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. The Martian buttes and mesas rising above the surface are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed. “Studying these buttes up close has given us a better understanding of ancient sand dunes that forme...

Autopilot technology drives Teslas but comes with warning s July 21, 2016 by Abosede peter In this Sept. 29, 2015 file photo, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors Inc., introduces the Model X car at the company's headquarters in Fremont, Calif. A Tesla in Autopilot mode can drive itself but it's not a "self-driving" vehicle, at least … more A Tesla in Autopilot mode can drive itself but it's not a "self-driving" vehicle, at least as far as safety regulators are concerned. So, instead of coming under heavy government scrutiny before being sold to the public, Tesla can mass-produce cars that automatically adjust speed with the flow of traffic, keep their lane and slam the brakes in an emergency. Tesla tells its customers to stay alert while driving, only use the technology on divided highways, keep their hands on the wheel and be prepared to take over should the technology fail. Some clearly don't—online videos, including some with the "dri...

DARPA CHAllenges Researchers to Link Human Brains With ComputER Free E-Mail News Alerts from ECT News Network Keep up with the latest breaking business and technology news from ECT News Network. Receive real-time alerts as stories break -- or a daily version dispatched once each day. Easily add or eliminate keywords and modify service right from your inbox. Target your news today! The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, last week announced a new program that aims to build a connection between the human brain and the digital world. To achieve the goals of the Neural Engineering System Design program, DARPA has invited proposals to design, build, demonstrate and validate a human-computer interface that can record from more than 1 million neurons and stimulate more than 100 thousand neurons in the brain in real time. The interface must perform continuous, simultaneous full-duplex interaction with at least 1,000 neurons -- initi...

Your Facebook Friends Are Really   You Not That Into January 29, 2016 Most of your friends on Facebook may not care much about you at all, suggests an Oxford University study published last week. Friendships involving interactions over social networks are not that different from traditional real-world friendships, found Robin Dunbar, the professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford who conducted the research. In other words, people in your social network are no more your friends online than they would be in real life. [More...] Starry Eyes Speedy Internet Access January 28, 2016 Project Decibel on Wednesday announced Starry, a company that promises easy broadband Internet access at speeds of up to 1 GB with no caps. Starry will deploy what it says is the world's first millimeter wave band for consumer Internet communications. Initial deployment will be a beta in Boston in the summer. Starry has an FCC license to run pilots for 24 mo...