Glow-in-the-dark roads hit the streets in the Netherlands

One stretch of road in the Netherlands may make you feel like you’re cruising through a video game. A new glow-in-the-dark pavement has replaced power-sucking streetlights for a 500m (.3mi) piece of the highway. The result is a Tron-like street that shines courtesy of solar-powered photo-luminescent powder incorporated into the road paint. This is just a proof of concept, but its creator, Studio Roosegaarde, hopes to use parks as a testing ground for new versions of the product.

Down the road, new iterations might even include informational markers — like functional street art. For instance, in freezing temperatures the entire surface might light up with giant flakes to alert drivers (until they get buried by snow). There are also plans to incorporate wind-powered lights that shine only when cars are nearby, and ultimately a special lane where electric cars could charge up while they drive. As you might imagine, the road will have to pass several government safety and durability tests before we can just throw out our streetlights but the glow-in-the-dark road, however, paves the way for the next generation of highways. Hopefully, future versions also support our flying cars — those are coming soon, right?

Filed under: Transportation, Alt

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Via: Ars Technica, Wired UK

Source: Studio Roosegaarde

This smiley face is either a perfectly fitting typo or the world’s first emoticon

It turns out that the emoticon might be a bit older than we originally thought. Literary critic Levi Stahl has found what could possibly be the first instance of a “:)” in Robert Herrick’s 1648 poem “To Fortune.” Stahl checked to see if it was just a typo in the edition of Hesperides that he owns, and says that he found the smiley intact in the authoritative two-volume edition of Herrick’s work published last year by the Oxford University Press. Stahl explains that the poet’s work was rife with humor, so this likely isn’t a “punctuational oddity.” If true, it’d beat the previous record-holder’s age — a transcription of an 1862 speech by Abe Lincoln — by some 200 years. That isn’t quite the final word, however. The New Atlantis (a scholarly journal about tech and society) writes that this probably isn’t the case, and the only real way to tell if the emoticon was Herrick’s intent would be to look up very early editions or his original manuscripts. The 19th century version it found didn’t have the parentheses, however, and thus it ruled that the smiley was likely the result of a modern editor’s insertion

[Image credit: Robert Herrick]

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Atlantic

Source: I’ve Been Reading Lately, The New Atlantis

Scientists are studying evolutionary concepts with robot mice

Studying evolution is tricky — it’s a process that happens over countless generations and thousands of years, but the men tasked with studying it live less than a century. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have found one way around the problem: robots. OIST’s Dr. Stefan Elfwing has been using small, rodent-like robots to study the long-term effects of disparate mating strategies, observing the evolution of the simulated species for over 1,000 generations. Two groups of robo-mice were programmed to forage for food (battery-powered recharge stations) and to find a mate (trade data through an embedded IR port), with each group following a different mating strategy. Robots dubbed “foragers” would focus on recharging, only mating if it didn’t get in the way of feeding, while “trackers” would actively seek mates and go without charging if it increased their chances of linking up IR ports.

The experiment eventually yielded a population with both phenotypes, mirroring populations of real species with similarly distinct mating strategies — which shows that robot simulations are a viable way to study long-term evolutionary concepts. Wondering what Elfwing’s biological conclusions were? No worries, you can find the formal results of his research right here.

[Image Credit: OIST]

Filed under: Robots, Science

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Via: Dvice

Source: PLOS One, OIST

[GAME REVIEW] Fly Catbug Fly!: The 2D endless runner game based on Bravest Warriors

One of my favorite animation series on YouTube, Bravest Warriors, has made their own game. The animation is based sometime in the future and it follows four teenagers on their adventures. One of the characters has many pets and this game is based on the one named Catbug. Catbug is one of the most adorable characters I enjoy to watch. Yes I, a grown man just proudly admitted that.

Description

The game, Fly Catbug Fly!, is a 2D endless runner based on the YouTube animation series Bravest Warriors. You play one of the Bravest Warriors’ pet Catbug as he flies around collecting items that he can later sell for power ups or costumes that can be mixed and matched to your liking.

The Bravest Warriors is created by Pendleton Ward. “Who is that” you ask? Well, he is also famous for an animation on Cartoon Network called Adventure Time with Finn and Jake. If you still don’t know what that is at this point that means you have some research to do. But not now; you still need to finish reading this.

All of the games locations, items that are collected and some of the music are based on the first two seasons of the Bravest Warriors. Even what Catbug says throughout the game is dialogue straight out of the series.

My Thoughts

This game is no different then other 2D runners, however that does not mean it is not fun. Even though it really does not innovate the genre I find it enjoyable because it is a casual game based on the series I enjoy watching. If you are not a fan of the series or don’t know what it is I still feel it can be enjoyed if you like the genre.

What I truly appreciate about the game is that it does not have any freemium or “pay-to-win” mechanics. Every power up or costume item I buy is paid through grinding which brings a sense of accomplishment. If you suck at the game you will continue to do so until you can afford that power up. There are also no in app purchases; if you want an item it is all bought through in game currency that you have to earn the hard way.

My few dislikes of the game would be since it is new it still has bugs to work out. Another dislike I have is when you die Catbug lets out a soul crushing scream. I feel like regardless of how long I will play this game I will never get used to that scream.

Conclusion

If you are a fan of the series I truly think this would be something that can be enjoyed. It does not adopt any of the negative features that plague games of a similar genre. It even offers Google Play Games services to compete against your friends or other players. The game has a launch sale for half off ($0.99 USD), so in case you’re still on the fence about the game, pick it up before you have to pay that extra dollar.

Fly Catbug Fly! ($0.99) – Google Play Store link