wade womersley – york based software engineer
NASA recently released a video of the Aurora Borealis from space and it is beautiful. What’s more it’s in 4K so you can really enjoy the clarity and beauty of this wonder of nature/science. It’s not just the aurora that gets a view too – as this is a video of space from earth you … Read More “Enjoy the Aurora Borealis from Space in 4K Glory” »
In 1954, IBM released the IBM 704 – the “supercomputer” of its time. Since then computer power has stuck relatively close to Moore’s Law and we now have a 1-trillion fold increase in the computing power available to us (or at least to people with access to modern day super computers, the rest of … Read More “50 year 1-trillion fold increase in computing – keep on going!” »
I recently started playing Elite: Dangerous as I’ve always been a fan of the concept of FTL space travel that humans can do and still be aware of without experiencing infinite mass or time appearing to stand still. I’ve spent hours on some weekends just jumping around from solar system to solar system exploring the … Read More “The vastness of our solar system in a video at the speed of light” »
This amazing picture of an ant holding its own bodyweight while upside down was taken by zoology specialist Dr Thomas Endlein of Cambridge University while researching creatures sticky feet. This photo snatched the guy £700 in photographic vouchers from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. His hope is studying the way ants feet self … Read More “Photo of Ant Holding 500 times its own Bodyweight” »
It seems the large hadron collider has had no end of problems, which led some people to believe it was due to something in the future time travelling into the past to prevent its launch. But now it seems that it’s almost there as initial tests have finally succeeded. CERN, the Swiss facility where the … Read More “Large Hadron Collider (LHC) only two weeks away from real experiments, hopefully” »
Artificially generated black holes could provide us with the power to make inter-solar travel a possibility. New research shows how strapping a black hole to your starship might just give you the juice to get to Alpha Centauri. Louis Crane and Shawn Westmoreland of Kansas State University propose a way to use black holes as … Read More “Artificial Black Hole Could Power Space Ships Soon” »
According to a post at NewScientist, bird flu (avian flu) is actually an STD – at least, it is in ducks. While not completely confirmed yet, it is believed to be the case. Although unlike humans, the more promiscuous the duck, the less likely it is to become infected (wha?); apparently “…It’s all to do … Read More “Maybe we need sex education for birds? Bird flu is an STD.” »
It turns out that if you peel the popular adhesive tape off its roll in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays. The researchers even made an X-ray image of one of their fingers. Actually, more than 50 years ago, some Russian scientists reported evidence of X-rays from peeling sticky tape off glass. But the new … Read More “Peeling Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays” »
