They can simplify the research even further by focussing (groan) on the input of just one of the bee's eyes and just half of the bee's brain. After all, if humans can still function properly while covering one eye (see icon) (now cover one eye and you can still see icon) there is a good chance that one-eyed bees can also function properly.
Or to put it another way...
Half a bee, philosophically, must, ipso facto, half not be. But half the bee has got to be, vis a vis, its entity. D'you see?
It's possible to teach orangutans proper sign language, which they can then use to communicate with keepers and with each other. They have the smarts but not the vocal cords for talking.
Some years snow remains all year round near the top of Australia's highest mainland mountain (Mount Kosciuszko). A drop in average temperatures could see that snow remaining all year round *every* year, which would cause it to gradually build up and form a small glacier. Interestingly, this patch of snow lies on the side of a glacial cirque... so we know that a glacier *can* form here.
While I applaud your knowledge of the original meaning of the word, it is worth noting that in a modern context "decimate" usually means to destroy a significant proportion, or even to destroy entirely. My dictionary confirms this.
"Finding mostly hydrogen left behind by the event, Gezari’s paper in Nature (abstract) suggests that the doomed star was a red giant with a helium core. Hydrogen – the other key stellar fuel – is nearly absent from the sample, suggesting that the lighter element was long-ago stripped by the black hole, leaving helium to make up most of the ejected gas."
"mostly hydrogen left behind" != "Hydrogen ... nearly absent from the sample"
Verdana and Georgia were designed specifically for screen use: they scale well and are easily readable at any font size, whereas most other fonts are difficult to read at smaller font sizes because the detail gets mangled by the screen's pixels.
Years later Nokia still haven't learned this important lesson and are more interested in ripples on a pond than pixels on a screen. Oh dear.
Remind me why this isn't being done at a national level?
Oh that's right... because Australia isn't properly federated yet. There's still that whole middle tier of government known as "states and territories" which is a complete WOFTAM. The simple result is that there are eight governments duplicating each other's work, so even though the ACT (for example) already has this kind of web-based geospatial resource Tasmania is going to spend (waste) money building a system which has already been built by others.
The answer to the problem is to federate (for real this time) and remove the useless and wasteful middle tier. But... doing so would require a new constitution, which would require majority approval in every state, which would require support from state politicians to get rid of their own jobs... so it won't happen.
If you want to know how I feel about all this, just read the mouse-over text for the chosen icon.
Disclaimer: I am not Jeremy Clarkson, despite this comment's title.
The biggest problem to solve with this robot is the power source: tethered to an external power source is impractical, an onboard fossil fuel engine may not work in the target environment and may even be dangerous, onboard batteries won't be up to the job... solve the power problem and the rest is just mechanics.
I've been following the Focus Fusion forum and LPP's progress for at least a couple of years and it is very promising. The theory behind it seems sound and the forward progress has been steady - and yes they do know what else needs to be done to make it all work, it's all in their plan. Good to see that El Reg is reporting on this at last, and I look forward to seeing more. Go FoFu!
I signed up for the report and it arrived a couple of minutes later. It is clear to me that all the activity in the last month is mine, which is reassuring. The report itself is well-formatted and easy to read.
In case you are wondering: I am NOT in any way associated with Google or any other similar organisation, I just like the report, that's all.
No they are not "able to extract viable material from these bones", because these are not bones: these are fossils, and are therefore rocks not bones. Sorry, I agree genetic analysis would have been nice, but it's impossible.
Along with the other recent sub-species discoveries in Asia (hobbits, red deer cave people etc), it seems that there have been more evolutionary branches than we used to think. Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?
It reminds me of the recent boom in exo-planet discovery: we've recently become good at finding more stuff, and it's amazing how much more stuff there is to be found.
He should never have sold Telstra. National infrastructure should remain under govt control because national infrastructure is of national importance. The result of selling Telstra was that the govt no longer has any rights to the hardware, hence the massively expensive price of buying back access to what the govt used to own. If John Howard had not sold Telstra, the govt could have easily rolled out an NBN a couple of years ago for about 3bn (a fraction of the cost).
For many years most PCs* have been running Windows, for the simple reason that most PCs have been running Windows. Yes I did type that correctly: most of us have had to go along with using what most other people are already using, so Windows on a PC has become a kind of self-fullfilling prophecy.
However, most Windows users haven't actually enjoyed using Windows and have been yearning for the opportunity to use something else. We use Windows because we have to, not because we want to. Then, along came smartphones... and we use iPhones or Androids! Because we can! Because we actually want to!
If Apple and/or Google can make one OS which works on all three kinds of device (PC/tablet/smartphone), with full auto-synch between the three, and with full office functionality on the PC version, and with full cloud storage&backup, then Windows will finally disappear.
*For the duration of this comment, the term 'PC' refers to all traditional desktop-style computers, including IBM-style, Macs, etc.
Oxygen as well, and then you can recombine them to make the jellyrobofish move. But where does the necessary leccy come from? It can't "power itself indefinitely" because then it would be a perpetual motion machine, and there's no such thing.
put an *active* RFID tag on the bird (the active ones have a big range, like 100m) and set up readers around the Garden (and elsewhere). No need to rely on unreliable humans to do the bird-spotting.
Sounds to me like this is working the same way as lumps of sacrificial zinc on the hull of an iron ship. It is a battery, yes, but it's not self-charging (it is self-destructive).
Brilliant! What a simple way to fix the problem. Now I won't have to worry about my three-year-old clicking on ads by mistake (or out of curiosity) when I let her play "Aaaangry Birdies".
That's exactly what I came here to say. The only reason planes have their tails on the top is so the tail doesn't bump the runway. In this case there is no runway, so the tail can go underneath. K.I.S.S.
So if transistors in chips are going to be built up into 3D blocks rather than the current planar (2D) layout, I can certainly see how this will help processing power - but won't the big solid blocks of transistors get very hot? We already have enough trouble cooling 2D chips. Maybe the 3D chips will need channels for cooling liquid.
If they can get past the problem of doing this in animals which use hemoglobin, then humans can have our own fuel cells inserted. I like the idea of being my own phone charger, and there must be many other applications. We will become true cyborgs! As an added bonus, the more electricity we use, the more calories we'll burn, so we'll be wired and svelte.
Top-left fossil in the photo. The story does tell us that he lived a long time ago, now we know how long. But how did he get here from a galaxy far away?
Register
200 posts • joined Friday 27th April 2007 00:33 GMT
Page:
Five or six?
"The bot in question, visible in concept design at right, Basic robot design for the National Museum of Australia will boast six Ladybug2 cameras."
"The project will take images from the five Ladybugs mounted horizontally atop the bot’s central stalk"
Well, which is it ?????(?)
Make it even easier...
They can simplify the research even further by focussing (groan) on the input of just one of the bee's eyes and just half of the bee's brain. After all, if humans can still function properly while covering one eye (see icon) (now cover one eye and you can still see icon) there is a good chance that one-eyed bees can also function properly.
Or to put it another way...
Half a bee, philosophically, must, ipso facto, half not be. But half the bee has got to be, vis a vis, its entity. D'you see?
Re: @ I ain't Spartacus @ Neoc - Fascinating
I understand how one knocks up a servant, but how does one knock up a statue?
Bindun without the tech.
It's possible to teach orangutans proper sign language, which they can then use to communicate with keepers and with each other. They have the smarts but not the vocal cords for talking.
Beer was the orangest colour icon available.
Re: How quaint
"I don't want screw off bottle tops!
Can't reuse the bottles as easily for my home brew!"
Sure you can. It's easy. This is the kind of twist-top bottle cap we are talking about:
http://gardennotesforrelocalisation.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/twist-on-home-brew.html
and here is a close-up:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-14736985/stock-photo-beer-bottle-close-up-with-bottle-cap-with-clipping-path.html
They work great with a standard home-brewer's capper.
"AND EVERYBODY SPEAK ENGLISH"
Even Big Dumb Guy 555!
Re: It gets hot it gets cold, move on
Some years snow remains all year round near the top of Australia's highest mainland mountain (Mount Kosciuszko). A drop in average temperatures could see that snow remaining all year round *every* year, which would cause it to gradually build up and form a small glacier. Interestingly, this patch of snow lies on the side of a glacial cirque... so we know that a glacier *can* form here.
Re: Sponsorship and journalism
You see adverts? Have you not heard of Adblock Plus?
@nanchatte the P.G.N.
While I applaud your knowledge of the original meaning of the word, it is worth noting that in a modern context "decimate" usually means to destroy a significant proportion, or even to destroy entirely. My dictionary confirms this.
FSM
is in all vicinities at all times.
Paper?
You guys are living in the stone age.
Did the artist bother reading the desription before drawing it?
Description: flat-bodied, long claws holding onto scales.
Picture: plump-bodied, short claws holding onto skin with feathers.
Or maybe El Reg has (mistakenly) chosen a stock image of a modern flea to illustrate the article?
Either way, someone has stuffed up the picture.
This doesn't make sense:
"Finding mostly hydrogen left behind by the event, Gezari’s paper in Nature (abstract) suggests that the doomed star was a red giant with a helium core. Hydrogen – the other key stellar fuel – is nearly absent from the sample, suggesting that the lighter element was long-ago stripped by the black hole, leaving helium to make up most of the ejected gas."
"mostly hydrogen left behind" != "Hydrogen ... nearly absent from the sample"
WTF?
Form over Function
Verdana and Georgia were designed specifically for screen use: they scale well and are easily readable at any font size, whereas most other fonts are difficult to read at smaller font sizes because the detail gets mangled by the screen's pixels.
Years later Nokia still haven't learned this important lesson and are more interested in ripples on a pond than pixels on a screen. Oh dear.
Re: Of course, since cadmium is such a harmless element
Please read ALL the article before heaping scorn.
Near the end of the article you'll find this: "Cadmium is toxic, and the team is now looking at alternative chemicals to grow the cells in."
@Yet Another Anonymous coward
Looks like two downvoters completely missed the sarcasm.
Re: Translation of Govt waffle to Plain English
Are you absolutely sure that Tasmania is sinking under the ocean?????
Remind me why this isn't being done at a national level?
Oh that's right... because Australia isn't properly federated yet. There's still that whole middle tier of government known as "states and territories" which is a complete WOFTAM. The simple result is that there are eight governments duplicating each other's work, so even though the ACT (for example) already has this kind of web-based geospatial resource Tasmania is going to spend (waste) money building a system which has already been built by others.
The answer to the problem is to federate (for real this time) and remove the useless and wasteful middle tier. But... doing so would require a new constitution, which would require majority approval in every state, which would require support from state politicians to get rid of their own jobs... so it won't happen.
If you want to know how I feel about all this, just read the mouse-over text for the chosen icon.
Re: Good question.
Is that anything like this...
I'm standing on a ship facing aft. To my left is the ship's starboard side.
Re: Question
I do hope that's not a smoker's cough you have there.
POWERRRR!!!
Disclaimer: I am not Jeremy Clarkson, despite this comment's title.
The biggest problem to solve with this robot is the power source: tethered to an external power source is impractical, an onboard fossil fuel engine may not work in the target environment and may even be dangerous, onboard batteries won't be up to the job... solve the power problem and the rest is just mechanics.
Why two elevons?
The diagram shows twin angled elevons to avoid hitting the launch shaft. This in unnecessarily complex.
All that is needed is a single rudder on the *underside* of the craft, thus following the excellent principle of Keep It Simple, Stupid.
(I'll leave it to other commentards to come up with a suitable way of describing LOHAN's Shaft KISS).
I wondered when El Reg would pick up on this.
I've been following the Focus Fusion forum and LPP's progress for at least a couple of years and it is very promising. The theory behind it seems sound and the forward progress has been steady - and yes they do know what else needs to be done to make it all work, it's all in their plan. Good to see that El Reg is reporting on this at last, and I look forward to seeing more. Go FoFu!
I like it.
I signed up for the report and it arrived a couple of minutes later. It is clear to me that all the activity in the last month is mine, which is reassuring. The report itself is well-formatted and easy to read.
In case you are wondering: I am NOT in any way associated with Google or any other similar organisation, I just like the report, that's all.
Re: An opposable big toe, huh?
Bartender Moe?
"podule"?
Why oh why is a new word needed here?
@min
No they are not "able to extract viable material from these bones", because these are not bones: these are fossils, and are therefore rocks not bones. Sorry, I agree genetic analysis would have been nice, but it's impossible.
I'll bet we'll find plenty of other species too.
Along with the other recent sub-species discoveries in Asia (hobbits, red deer cave people etc), it seems that there have been more evolutionary branches than we used to think. Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?
It reminds me of the recent boom in exo-planet discovery: we've recently become good at finding more stuff, and it's amazing how much more stuff there is to be found.
It's all John Howard's fault.
He should never have sold Telstra. National infrastructure should remain under govt control because national infrastructure is of national importance. The result of selling Telstra was that the govt no longer has any rights to the hardware, hence the massively expensive price of buying back access to what the govt used to own. If John Howard had not sold Telstra, the govt could have easily rolled out an NBN a couple of years ago for about 3bn (a fraction of the cost).
p.s. these days govt is a four letter word.
The end is nigh...?
For many years most PCs* have been running Windows, for the simple reason that most PCs have been running Windows. Yes I did type that correctly: most of us have had to go along with using what most other people are already using, so Windows on a PC has become a kind of self-fullfilling prophecy.
However, most Windows users haven't actually enjoyed using Windows and have been yearning for the opportunity to use something else. We use Windows because we have to, not because we want to. Then, along came smartphones... and we use iPhones or Androids! Because we can! Because we actually want to!
If Apple and/or Google can make one OS which works on all three kinds of device (PC/tablet/smartphone), with full auto-synch between the three, and with full office functionality on the PC version, and with full cloud storage&backup, then Windows will finally disappear.
*For the duration of this comment, the term 'PC' refers to all traditional desktop-style computers, including IBM-style, Macs, etc.
Wonder how they cope with strong winds?
Painting the outside of a 747 - timelapse with some more detail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxbZpSXNvI&feature=related
mistake in tagline
"Technology ready for $500,000 round trip"
Let me fix that for you:
"Technology not ready for $500,000 round trip"
It's easy to get hydrogen from seawater.
Oxygen as well, and then you can recombine them to make the jellyrobofish move. But where does the necessary leccy come from? It can't "power itself indefinitely" because then it would be a perpetual motion machine, and there's no such thing.
Re: Gravity Battery
To bring your comment full circle: when the flying man falls, use his precious energy ;-)
(Also, I really hope you come back and re-read your own comment when you are sober!)
Mad Max III - Beyond The Thunderdome
Waterworld
Anaconda
How about...
put an *active* RFID tag on the bird (the active ones have a big range, like 100m) and set up readers around the Garden (and elsewhere). No need to rely on unreliable humans to do the bird-spotting.
Sounds to me like this is working the same way as lumps of sacrificial zinc on the hull of an iron ship. It is a battery, yes, but it's not self-charging (it is self-destructive).
Re: Airplane mode
Brilliant! What a simple way to fix the problem. Now I won't have to worry about my three-year-old clicking on ads by mistake (or out of curiosity) when I let her play "Aaaangry Birdies".
Re: Tail.
That's exactly what I came here to say. The only reason planes have their tails on the top is so the tail doesn't bump the runway. In this case there is no runway, so the tail can go underneath. K.I.S.S.
"Aussie fatties tell less porkies" should be "Aussie fatties tell fewer porkies".
Hot?
So if transistors in chips are going to be built up into 3D blocks rather than the current planar (2D) layout, I can certainly see how this will help processing power - but won't the big solid blocks of transistors get very hot? We already have enough trouble cooling 2D chips. Maybe the 3D chips will need channels for cooling liquid.
Fantastic!
If they can get past the problem of doing this in animals which use hemoglobin, then humans can have our own fuel cells inserted. I like the idea of being my own phone charger, and there must be many other applications. We will become true cyborgs! As an added bonus, the more electricity we use, the more calories we'll burn, so we'll be wired and svelte.
Climate Central say they "synthesize weather and climate data and science".
Do you see that? Synthesize! They admit they make it up!
Well obviously.
They had to drop the price this year, as there are more than 365 days, so it won't work for the full year.
And you wonder why lawyers have a bad name.
Actually, you probably don't.
DARTH VADER!!!
Top-left fossil in the photo. The story does tell us that he lived a long time ago, now we know how long. But how did he get here from a galaxy far away?
I can't stand that show.
The characters are all grumpy all the time. Where's the fun in that?
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