Plus: A Self-Flying Car, Tarantula Terror Studies, Close-Up Comet Photos and an Engine-Free Speedster Plane.

The Autonomous Helicopter-Jeep
Building a flying car or a car that drives itself to fulfill our vision of the future would be one thing, but a flying car that flies itself is another level of sci-fi-turned-reality altogether.

The United States military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced a new development in its Transformer (TX) Program, which is exploring ways to convert a ground vehicle into a vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft. DARPA will work with Carnegie Mellon University to create an autonomous flight system for the TX. This will essentially make it a self-flying helicopter-jeep.

“The TX is all about flexibility of movement, and key to that concept is the idea that the vehicle could be operated by a soldier without pilot training,” Sanjiv Singh, a research professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon, said in an announcement of the partnership. “In practical terms, that means the vehicle will need to be able to fly itself, or to fly with only minimal input from the operator. And this means that the vehicle has to be continuously aware of its environment and be able to automatically react in response to what it perceives.”

According to the plan, the TX vehicle itself will be capable of transporting four people and 1,000 pounds of payload for up to 250 miles by either land or air. Its ability to switch between forms of transportation would make its movements less predictable and thus increase its survivability in combat situations.

Tarantulas Help with Terrifying New Study
Halloween may be over, but there’s still plenty to be frightened about. Researchers have recently taken a new approach to uncovering the science behind fear: using tarantulas to examine the mental effects of panic.

A team of British scientists recently studied subjects under a magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, watching screens of a Brazilian salmon pink tarantula crawling progressively closer to their feet. Although the participants were only watching an elaborately staged video, they were led to believe the tarantula was really there.

“[T]he researchers showed that different parts of brain were more active when the spider was further away versus closer,” Discovery News explains. “When the spider was distant from the subject’s foot, the prefrontal cortex, involved in judgment, was more active. But when the spider got closer, the prefrontal cortex became less active while more primitive parts of the brain — parts of the amygdala and midbrain — took over.”

According to the team’s published findings, a threat’s proximity, direction of movement and the expectation of scariness are critical factors in triggering the brain’s fear response. Different components of the brain serve specific fear reactions, and this knowledge could eventually help scientists better diagnose and treat clinical phobias.

NASA Spacecraft Nearly Brushes Comet
Earlier this month, NASA’s deep space mission EPOXI successfully flew a spacecraft within 435 miles of the comet Hartley 2, in the process obtaining the closest ever images of a comet in what experts call a historic flyby.

“The spacecraft has provided the most extensive observations of a comet in history,” Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in an announcement of the findings. “Scientists and engineers have successfully squeezed world-class science from a re-purposed spacecraft at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers of a new science project.”

The EPOXI vessel followed the comet for years, traveling approximately 2.9 billion miles into outer space to capture photos of Hartley 2 while it sped along at 27,000 miles per hour. The close-up images of the comet may help explain how the Earth and planets were formed and developed because comets are considered icy remnants of the solar system’s formation nearly 5 billion years ago.

“Initial views of Hartley 2 show a comet the likes of which mission scientists have never seen before, including an odd peanut or bowling pin shape and dozens of superactive jets spewing gas and dust like firehoses,” National Geographic reports. “The odd textures of the surface of the nucleus…have also caught many experts’ eyes: The thick, rough ends of the comet are bisected by a much thinner central region that is noticeably smoother.”

Click image for larger view.
Image Credit: NASA EPOXI Mission

According to Discover Magazine, a large boulder or spire of ice is visible on the right side of the smooth section. Hartley 2′s features indicate low gravity (the nucleus is only 1.4 miles across), and the jutting piece is likely 100 meters high.

Real-Life Hologram Communication
The 3-D hologram images of Princess Leia in the Star Wars films may soon be coming to a workplace near you, as researchers from the University of Arizona have devised a system for transmitting holographic displays across distances.

Earlier attempts at replicating the hologram technology “depicted in the original Star Wars film in 1977″ have proven ineffective due to a lack of computational power and the inability to rapidly update holographic projections, according to a paper published in the journal Nature this month. The researchers solved these problems by using a new holographic stereographic technique and photorefractive polymer material as a recording medium to produce holographic displays that update every two seconds.

“Let’s say I want to give a presentation in New York. All I need is an array of cameras here in my Tucson office and a fast Internet connection. At the other end, in New York, there would be the 3-D display using our laser system,” Nasser Peyghambarian, a professor of optical sciences and the project leader, said in a release from the university. “Everything is fully automated and controlled by computer. As the image signals are transmitted, the lasers inscribe them into the screen and render them into a three-dimensional projection of me speaking.”

A series of cameras would capture several different perspectives of the user while a computer system processes them into a cohesive image. The image could be sent through a computer link to a receiver at a remote site anywhere in the world to have the image “printed” and updated.

“No glasses are needed to see the images, merely some form of illumination,” BBC News explains. “The team concedes its prototype system has a lot of development ahead of it, but the researchers believe the first commercial products could be available in a few years’ time.”

The Engineless 400 MPH Plane
There are plenty of fast-moving aircraft in the world, but how many of them can move at a whopping 400 miles per hour without being powered by an engine?

A team of do-it-yourselfers has put together a remote-controlled plane that relies only on the wind and an extremely aerodynamic design to slice through the skies:

Have a great weekend, folks.