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Book with CD, 350pp
NOLO, October 2009
ISBN-13: 9781413310740
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« A Call for Changes at the Patent Office | Main | Weekly Industry Crib Sheet: United Auto Workers Ready to Negotiate... »


January 9, 2009

Light Friday: Art Via Paintballs and Steel Balls

By Jorina Fontelera

Plus a (Potential) Resurrection of Extinct Species and Instant Film, a Lesson on Logistics and More.

Polaroid Instant Film: The Next Generation
For those lamenting the death of Polaroid's classic film, there may be some solace to be found in Polaroid Corp.'s new digital camera, which also produces prints on the spot.

The $200 PoGo camera contains a built-in color printer that makes 2-in. x 3-in. photos by selectively heating spots on specially treated paper. Unlike the original Land Camera where the photo came out blank — it took about 60 seconds for the chemicals to process — the photos from the PoGo come out fully processed. The printer takes about 60 seconds to process as well, but you can't the shake the photo to make it appear "faster" like with the original — not that that made the image appear any quicker.

The prints also can peel apart to reveal an adhesive side for instant photo stickers. And, because it's a digital camera, users can take an SD memory card from another camera, pop it into the PoGo and use the camera as a printer.

The camera is reported to go on sale in March or April.

Logistics Fail
The following is something of a visual metaphor of how an under-planned and overloaded logistics system can suffer.

Bringing Mammoths Back
In 1993, Steven Spielberg wowed audiences the world over with his movie adaptation of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, where dinosaurs were brought back to life through cloning. Soon, that may no longer be the stuff of fiction, but of reality.

Scientists last year announced that they decoded almost all the genome of a woolly mammoth and there was much speculation about whether the animal could be brought back to life. Although that's not possible now, Pennsylvania State University molecular biologist Stephan Shuster says "someone someday is sure to try it."

The way to go about bringing back an extinct being is by having well-preserved DNA 100,000 years old or younger (that means dinosaurs are out), a suitable surrogate species and the proper technology. New Scientist compiled 10 creatures for potential resurrection based on feasibility and popularity. Among them are: the sabre-toothed tiger, Neanderthal man, dodo and giant beaver. It also listed the gorilla as conservationists are freezing tissue samples from threatened species so gorilla clones could be created via chimpanzees later on.

Art Via Paintball
Here Mythbusters draws a Mona Lisa. In 80 milliseconds. In paintballs.

Algae Fuels Fish, Other Aquatic Life and, Now, Jets
A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 recently completed a 90-minute test flight partially powered by algae-based biofuel. Wednesday's test flight is the latest in a series of test flights by the aviation industry, which hopes to use biofuels within the next five years, BBC News reports.

Continental's airplane used a 50-50 blend of biofuel and standard aircraft fuel for one of its engines. As an added bonus, no aircraft modifications were needed in order to use the biofuel, which is a mix of algae and the plant jatropha. It meets the specifications necessary for jet fuel as well.

Kinetic Sculpture at the BMW Museum
The following is an amazing display of 714 metal balls on strings. It really gets creative after one minute.

Starburst in a Dwarf Galaxy
Dwarf galaxy NGC 1569 is undergoing a burst of star-forming activity, with supernova explosions spewing out materials and triggering more star formations. This picture spans about 8,000 light years across NGC 1569, which is 11 million light years from Earth and lies in constellation Camelopardlis.

ngc1569_hst.jpg
Click image for larger view
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgement: A. Aloisi (STScI/ESA) et al.


Toodles!


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