Jet-fuel powered Cessna flies cheaper and greener

The Cessna Aircraft Company is looking to make small planes a little cheaper to fuel and greener to fly with its new Cessna Turbo 182 NXT. Unveiled on Monday, July 23, at the 2012 Airventure airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the aircraft is a single-engine prop plane that is the first to burn Jet A aviation fuel. This change makes the plane cheaper to fuel, get better mileage and performance, as well as operate more environmentally friendly... Continue Reading Jet-fuel powered Cessna flies cheaper and greener

HemoGlobe device works with a smartphone to detect anemia

A terrible scourge in the developing world, anemia claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Medical tests to detect the condition and prevent tragedy are often unavailable, but students at John Hopkins University have invented a sensor that turns a cell phone into an inexpensive blood analysis tool. At an awards ceremony in Seattle on July 14, the bioengineernig undergraduates revealed their device, the HemoGlobe, which will soon be undergoing testing in Africa. Read More

NASA's first new spacesuit in 20 years is its own airlock

The current US space suit used by NASA is a dinosaur. Designed in 1992, it was only ever intended to be used by crews aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. That may have been good enough in the days of 14 kps modems, but with eyes turning increasingly toward missions to the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, space explorers need something better. That’s why NASA is designing its first new suit in twenty years. Developed by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems (AES), the Z-1 prototype space suit currently undergoing vacuum testing at the Johnson Space Center is a wearable laboratory of new technology. And it’s a hatchback... Continue Reading NASA's first new spacesuit in 20 years is its own airlock

UCLA produces transparent solar cells that harness infrared light

A UCLA team has developed a new type of solar cell that is nearly 70 percent transparent to the naked eye. The plastic cells, which use infrared instead of visible light, are also more economical than other types of cells because they are made by an inexpensive polymer solution process and nanowire technology, potentially paving the way for cheaper solar windows... Continue Reading UCLA produces transparent solar cells that harness infrared light

U.S. Army to test female-specific body armor

Body armor is the blessing and the curse of soldiers. Modern tactical armor has saved thousands of lives from bullets and bombs, but it can also be a major problem if it doesn’t fit properly. That’s what the women who make up 14 percent of the US Army face on a regular basis. Now, according to the Army News Service, the Army is preparing to test a new armor that is tailored to the female form to replace the standard men’s armor that the women now use. Working on data collected in studies overseas and at stateside army bases, the Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier has identified several problem areas and has developed a new armor that will be tested in 2013... Continue Reading U.S. Army to test female-specific body armor

NASA tests IRVE-3 inflatable heat shield in hypersonic flight

Legendary science fiction author Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) scored another hit in the prediction department on Monday, July 23, 2012 when NASA tested an inflatable heat shield that he foresaw back in the 1980s. The test of the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by rocket into a suborbital trajectory from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, VA. The unmanned vehicle reached velocities of up to 7,600 mph (12,231 kph), yet was protected from atmospheric heating by the mushroom-shaped shield... Continue Reading NASA tests IRVE-3 inflatable heat shield in hypersonic flight

Raytheon developing missile-ramming Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle

If you visit the Blue & Gray Museum in Decatur, Alabama, you’ll see a remarkable curiosity – two bullets that collided in midair during a battle in the American Civil War. What does this have to do with ballistic missile defense in the 21st century? Everything, because that's exactly what the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) being developed as part of the American Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile defense system is intended to do – destroy high-speed ballistic missile warheads in flight by hitting them head on. .. Continue ReadingRaytheon developing missile-ramming Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle

VARIES project proposes antimatter starship mission

As Douglas Adams said, “Space is Big. Really Big." And that’s the major obstacle for travelling between the stars. But a new proposal published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society promises to shrink that distance just a bit. Physics and technology consultant Richard Obousy claims that an antimatter starship that creates its own fuel from the vacuum of space itself would be capable of making a return journey to the nearest star and back within one lifetime... Continue Reading VARIES project proposes antimatter starship mission

Inexpensive device could allow the disabled to control computers with their eyes

Bioengineers at Imperial College, London have developed a new computer controller for paraplegics that is not only more accurate and easier to use than current methods, but also uses inexpensive, off-the-shelf components. The GT3D device uses a pair of eyeglass frames with two fast video game console cameras costing less than UKP20 (US$30) each, which scan the wearer’s eyes from outside the field of vision and provide “3D” control at much lower costs and without invasive surgery... Continue Reading Inexpensive device could allow the disabled to control computers with their eyes

New catalyst could replace platinum to bring down the cost of microbial fuel cells

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) have identified an inexpensive nanorod catalyst with efficiencies rivalling that of platinum. Composed of nitrogen-enriched iron-carbon nanorods, the new catalyst holds the promise of cheaper, more efficient microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that generate their own hydrogen from waste water.. Continue Reading New catalyst could replace platinum to bring down the cost of microbial fuel cells

Space:1999: Ring Around the Moon

DARPA crowdsourcing tank design to speed up heavy weapons development

The U.S. Defense Department think tank DARPA is offering US$10,000 in prizes as part of a competition to introduce crowdsourcing to heavy weapons development and manufacturing. By adopting the”democratized” strategy of crowdsourcing for the development of the Fast, Adaptable Next-Generation armored vehicle (FANG), DARPA hopes to speed up the design and manufacturing of such weapons while reducing costs and introducing greater design flexibility... Continue Reading DARPA crowdsourcing tank design to speed up heavy weapons development

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The Fantastic Four: Coming of the Submariner

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Metropolis

Coming to the crossroads

You may have noticed that posts have been a bit sparse lately on Ephemeral Isle and non-exist on its sister blogs.  That's for a number of reasons.  I've been very busy with clients and deadlines, I had to deal with a medical scare that turned out to be a false alarm and my liver isn't packing up after all, but the biggest reason is that both my wife and I are undergoing some major career shifts that will completely change our routines for at least the next year.  It's a sound plan and will put us on a much better footing, but it also means making some sacrifices and hard choices.

I've been running EI since 2004 and since then I've started three other blogs.  They've been great fun and I love doing them, but they were never meant to be a hobby.  They were intended to attract traffic to Tales of Future Past and my freelance writing business with the side benefit of generating some advertising revenue.  In other words, it's a business.  Unfortunately, it hasn't created either the revenue nor traffic nor demonstration of growth  to justify as much effort as I've put into them.  In other other words, I can't justify the investment.  Therefore, I've had to do some serious thinking and I've concluded that blogs are going to have to take a backseat to my other endeavours until the financial situation improves drastically.

That doesn't mean that I'm quitting.  It does mean, however, that I'm going to be cutting back considerably.  The other blogs will be only occasional affairs with postings made when time and suitable material collide.  As to EI, I'll still do the video features, so there'll always be something here, but the four posts a day routine will fall back to posting what I think is the most interesting or important as time permits on an irregular basis.

Thanks to all my regular readers, thanks for your support and please subscribe to the RSS feed so you won't miss what does come up.

Ta for now.

Space 1999: Black Sun

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