NASA’s version of ‘Shark Tank’ results in six aviation moonshots

NASA wants to change the way planes fly. As part of a new Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project, the agency’s innovators recently formed teams to pitch their wildest ideas to a jury. Out of the 17 teams that presented their aviation-transforming studies to a panel of NASA managers, six teams secured funding for their research. While the process seems an awful lot like a VC funding round, according to program manager Doug Rohn, no monetary return on the investment is expected. The program is designed to back seemingly improbable ideas that might lead to solutions to the problems that plague aviation.

To qualify, all the ideas had to take form as a technology, tool or process. One of the more bizarre yet ingenious ideas explores the possibility of an aircraft structure doubling as an energy storage system. It would eliminate the need to carry the heavy load of batteries that weighs down a plane in flight. Another idea suggests artificial intelligence for drones that would allow them to think for themselves. The team plans to explore advanced programming to see if unmanned machines can emulate human pilots and alter their own course without any remote intervention. A team also proposed adaptive digital composite aerostructures. Depending on the flight conditions, what if a plane could channel Optimus Prime and transform its shape midair? The project is essentially a feasibility test where failure isn’t frowned upon. In fact it’s expected. But even if one of the shortlisted ideas can push past the limitations of aviation, it just might be worth investing in wild ideas.

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Source: NASA

Australia passes controversial law to block ‘pirate’ sites

Australia’s senate has passed a controversial bill allowing sites hosted overseas that distribute pirated material to be blocked at the ISP level. But which sites to block is not up to the service providers to choose, instead movie and music studios and other rights holders can go to a federal court and demand sites whose “primary purpose” is the illegal sharing of copyrighted material be blocked by the country’s ISPs. For obvious reasons, the providers are not particularly happy with the result of the vote. Especially since it’s not clear who will be footing the bill for any costs associated with blocking the sites. But those internet companies had plenty of allies in the battle against the bill, including the country’s green party. But the coalition wasn’t enough to fight off the entertainment industry.

One of the biggest problems cited by critics of the bill is a lack of clear definitions and measures to prevent abuse. What constitutes “primary purpose” is not established in clear terms by the law (which you can read here) nor does it spell out what acts or services qualify as “facilitating” copyright infringement.

Many are concerned that studios and the government will use the law to block sites that happen to host illegal content, like Dropbox, even if that isn’t their “primary purpose.” And there is room for things to go horribly wrong even when targeting legitimate piracy. Need evidence? In the summer of 2014 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed that it had accidentally blocked over 250,000 harmless sites because its staff fundamentally misunderstood how IP addresses and the internet work.

[Image credit: Shutterstock]

Filed under: Internet, HD

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Source: TorrentFreak, Sydney Morning Herald

This device helps the blind navigate by tingling their tongues

Remember the BrainPort, that device that helps the blind get around by sending electrical signals to their tongues? It’s finally getting the green light. The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the BrainPort V100 for sale in the US, giving sightless Americans a unique way to augment their perception of the world around them. In its finished form, the BrainPort sends visual signals from a pair of camera-equipped glasses to a set of electrodes that stimulate your tongue based on object characteristics such as distance, movement and shape. You only need to pay close attention to the V100’s tingles and vibrations to identify items. It’s not the same as restoring vision and won’t completely replace guide dogs or other conventional assistance, but it could fill in a lot of missing information.

Filed under: Wearables

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Via: Popular Science

Source: FDA

Facebook algorithm can recognize people if it can’t see their face

A number of companies have developed photo software for facial recognition, but what happens when your face is partially hidden? What if it’s completely covered up? Facebook’s artificial intelligence lab developed an algorithm that remedies the issue by picking out folks with other clues. Instead of using facial features, the software can identify people using things like hair style, pose, clothing and body type. Of course, a tool like this could lend a hand in a photo app like Facebook Moments or even Google’s revamped Photos software. However, it also raises privacy questions when you can be identified in a snapshot even if your face is concealed, especially if you’re trying to remain hidden on purpose. Facebook’s algorithm is pretty good too, identifying people with an 83 percent success rate in tests, so we’ll be curious to see if it makes its way into the social network’s photo galleries in the future.

[Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Filed under: Misc, Facebook

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Source: New Scientist

Army and Air Force team up for laser-based landmine sweepers

Used to be that if the US military wanted to clear a roadway, runway or airfield of deadly IEDs (improvised explosive devices), they’d have to send in highly-trained and heavily armored explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams a la “The Hurt Locker.” Problem is, this method is as ploddingly slow as it is dangerous to the servicemen and women involved. That’s is why the Army and Air Force are teaming up to burn those IEDs clean out of the Earth using lasers mounted on MRAP battle trucks.

The technology is called the Recovery of Airbase Denied by Ordinance (RADBO) and was developed through the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center Prototype Integration Facility (AMRDEC PIF) at the Redstone Test Center in Huntsville, AL. It mounts an Air Force-built laser (similar to what’s used in the HEL-MD) and a dexterous manipulator arm onto the Army’s Cougar I MRAP. That way, EOD crews won’t even have to leave the comfort of the cab to disable roadside bombs. The laser can reportedly fry an IED from 300 meters away while the manipulator arm can rip up to 50 pounds of disabled bomb out of the ground at a time.

“We may see hundreds to thousands of small unexploded ordnance items on a runway or airfield but the RADBO will allow us to reduce the time it takes to get an airfield operational,” Marshall “Doc” Dutton, Air Force EOD modernization program manager of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center said in a statement. “Currently, if a runway gets hit it can take days to weeks to get cleared. With the RADBO, runways can be cleared and operational at a much quicker pace.” The system is currently undergoing munitions testing before moving to Tyndall Air Force Base in September, though there’s no word on when it will actually begin active service.

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Source: US Army