NASA’s Antarctica balloons will study cosmic rays and neutrinos

Antarctica is ideal for launching high-altitude science balloons this time of year. You not only get non-stop sunlight (ideal for solar power), but wind patterns that keep those balloons over land. And NASA is determined to take advantage of this....

Six next-gen battery technologies

By Cat DiStasio We all love our battery-powered gadgets, but portable power cells can be devastating to the environment. Fortunately, recent developments have proven that greener batteries are coming in the not-too-distant future. Engineers are repl...

Game algorithm could help win elections

There's a particular strain of game theory, Colonel Blotto, that many believe could predict the outcomes of everything from elections to sports matches. It asks two sides to distribute soldiers over a battlefield, and hands wins to whoever has the m...

AeroVelo’s human-powered helicopter bags $250,000 Sikorsky Prize

DNP humanpowered helicopter wins elusive aviation prize

We're sure AeroVelo team members think every sleepless night and pedal push are worth it now that they can add the prestigious $250,000 Sikorsky Prize to their pile of bragging rights. They've completely demolished all the requirements needed to win the human-powered helicopter competition during one of their recent attempts. Atlas, their flying contraption, stayed in the air for 64.11 seconds, flew at a max altitude of 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) and never meandered beyond the designated 10 x 10 meter (33 x 33 feet) area. The University of Toronto's creation was locked in head-to-head battle with the University of Maryland's Gamera chopper for quite some time, but it's finally bagged the prize that had remained unclaimed for 33 long years. That's a tremendous accomplishment for anyone, especially for a project with humble beginnings, and if Leonardo Da Vinci were still alive, he'd extend a big congratulazione.

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Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: AeroVelo

Big Ten Network carriage agreements may be motivating conference expansion

Big Ten Network carriage agreements main motivator for conference expansion

It's no secret that college football is big business and that a major contributing factor is revenue from television. The influential reach of that revenue is a hot debate in organizations that are supposed to put more ideal values above capitalistic ones -- the two are not always at odds, though. So when a collegiate organization like the Big Ten Conference is motivated to expand, most would like to think it's a school's academic, or even athletic, merits that put said institution at the top of the want list. However, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports believes the reason the Big Ten courted the University of Maryland and Rutgers University really just comes down to finding a way to sell an additional 14.6 million residents the Big Ten Network. The economics of sports networks on cable television is well documented -- the majority pay so that the vocal minority may watch -- but sculpting an amateur sports league to ensure your cable TV channel gets carriage in America's largest media markets might be a new twist.

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Source: Yahoo Sports