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Personal Satellites Becoming More Feasible - PSFK

We recently wrote about engineer Song Hojun’s Open Source Satellite project that looks to provide consumers with cost effective personal satellite options. It seems as though affordable personal satellites are being researched and enlivened by a host of other inventors. Of most recent to note is NASA’s project to utilize smartphones and unconventional toy parts as the main components of these low cost satellites.

Wired explains:

The smartphone in your pocket has about 120 times more computing power than the average satellite, which has the equivalent of a 1984-era computer inside. “You can go to Walmart and buy toys that work better than satellites did 20 years ago,” said NASA physicist Chris Boshuizen. The biggest challenge of sending cellphones and toys into space is whether the parts can get up there without shaking apart and work in a vacuum at extreme high and low temperatures.

If these inventors are successful, personal networks could free consumers from the dependency on large network providers from broadband to mobile telecom. In turn, this offers the potential to pose a host of political, economic and social upheavals in terms of how data is policed; that is, people’s individual rights verses larger corporations and governments.

Chris Boshuizen / NASA

Wired: “Cheaper, Better Satellites Made From Cellphones and Toys”

via psfk.com

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A Collaborative Learning Space For The Scientific Community

Posted by Kyle Cameron Studstill

We recently learned of Scitable, a collaborative learning space for the scientific community. Scitable is essentially a free science library and personal learning tool developed by Nature Publishing Group, a leading science publisher. Scitable’s peer-reviewed content library and ongoing dialogue are fueled by thousands of users in the scientific community, including researchers, educators, students and of course, scientists. Scitable currently concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation and biology (the complexity of living organisms).

An interesting aspect of Scitable is its corporate sponsorship – in addition to the Nature Publishing Group’s overall stewardship, specific content added to Scitable can be underwritten by sponsors such as Intel, Roche, Tata Consultancy and New England Biolabs. These companies may be underwriting research and development leading to published studies as a form of corporate social responsibility, or to demonstrate their commitment to the advancement of society – and their brand/product’s role in that process.

Scitable offers an example of how the social networking model can be applied to the scientific community, and used to propel collaborative learning. It also offers an example of how relevant brands can subtly support and underwrite collaborative learning – and science – in a way that aligns with the brand’s offering.

Scitable

via psfk.com

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Game Players Outperform Computers In Solving Complex Puzzles

Posted by Kyle Cameron Studstill

In what can be described as evidence of superior pattern-recognition skills in humans over computers, a groups of gamers outperformed a special software in a complex protein folding video game. The game, called Foldit, pitted players against computers in a series of protein-folding puzzles to understand if non-scientists can contribute to developing new algorithms to solve the challenge of protein folding.

NY Times reports on the game:

Foldit begins with a series of tutorials in which the player controls proteinlike structures on a computer display. In the game, as structures are modified, a score is calculated based on how well the protein is folded. Players are given a set of controls that let them do things like “shake,” “wiggle” and “rebuild” to reshape the backbone and the amino acid side shapes of a specific protein into a more efficient structure.

The experiment was extremely successful and showed how scientists can harness the skills of human volunteers to improve their systems.

Foldit
NY Times: “In a Video Game, Tackling the Complexities of Protein Folding”

via psfk.com

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Indian Cops Using Facebook To Monitor Traffic Violations

Posted by Kyle Cameron Studstill

New Delhi’s traffic police have found a new way to issue tickets; they have created a page on Facebook where its ‘fans’ (read: motorists plying on Delhi roads) can post images of vehicles violating traffic rules. The cops then determine if the violation was legit and issue a ticket based on the vehicle’s number plate. So far, they have issued over 600 tickets by monitoring their Facebook page. Whether the initiative is abused by people looking for retribution needs to be seen.

Delhi Traffic Police on Facebook

[via Jalopnik]