Post: #51

(01-25-2013 05:13 AM)magellan Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 03:39 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(01-25-2013 02:50 AM)magellan Wrote:  This shit makes me want to get a PhD in a STEM field. What publications do you guys read? Besides popsci.

Is there any value in a PhD? I.e. can anyone comment on the return on investment of one of those things?

I've done a lot of reading on it since it's something I've been interested in for a long time. PhysicsForums.com is a good resource for learning more. The takeaway is that there are a lot more PhDs being churned out than there are positions at universities. Some end up in industry, some end up in something completely different that employs their quant skills, other unemployed, etc. If you're like me and would want to pursue a PhD for the purpose of doing some ground breaking research, then it really seems like the chances of getting to do that are pretty slim. And the money isn't all that, especially for that level of education.

This is spot on.

Pure Math/Theoretical Physics/Theoretical Chemistry
If you're good enough to get into a top school, you have a decent chance of gaining a faculty position after a few years earning $40k as a postdoc. As an assistant professor, you'll earn mid 60s to mid 70s depending on the school. You then have 5 years to prove your worth to your fellow faculty and earn tenure, otherwise you get fired and probably have to go to a lower ranked school and start over.
If you don't become a professor, you pretty much have to leave the field but you'll earn a lot more. Quants can take home $200k in their first year, but work well over 60hrs/wk on average. Government jobs (CIA, NSA, etc) will pay you in the high 5 figures and work you 50hrs/wk or less.

Experimental Physics
The same analysis applies to faculty jobs.
Industry jobs are more plentiful and you don't need a post-doc to get them. These are mostly jobs at technology companies e.g. Intel.

Chemistry/Biology
The same analysis applies to faculty positions in these fields, but salaries are probably a bit lower.
The options outside of academia are better, but you will probably still need to do a post-doc before getting those. These are mainly industry jobs for pharma and biotech companies. They pay in the high 5 figures to start.

Engineering/Applied Physics
Faculty jobs are somewhat easier to get and pay better.
Industry jobs are plentiful, but you don't need a PhD in engineering unless you plan to become a professor. A masters is enough for the top industry positions in engineering.

Consulting is open to all of these people, but it doesn't involve any research and requires a skill set that is negatively correlated with the skills needed to succeed in academic research.
I know people following all of these career tracks. From my limited data set, I'd say the people in government jobs are happiest.

Post: #52

An American special effects guy and a South African carpenter built a prosthetic robotic hand using a 3d printer for a 5 year old who was born without his right hand. This was all done through online collaboration. And they've open sourced what they've done, so other people will soon have the chance to build their own prosthetics.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/02/south-african-boy-gets-robotic-hand-made-with-3-d-printer/

Post: #53

Curiosity Rover spots "robotic looking metal arm" [not natural metallic formation] sticking out of Martian dirt



Sauces: Number 1 Number 2

Post: #54

(02-08-2013 05:59 PM)TheMan Wrote:  Curiosity Rover spots "robotic looking metal arm" [not natural metallic formation] sticking out of Martian dirt

That thing could be anything: ice crystal, rock outcrop that's been smoothed and worn away by carbon dioxide storms, or even just an optical illusion caused by the rover's positioning.

Nevertheless, very cool pic.

Post: #55

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/...l?cmp=fbtl

Post: #56

I've only just started subscribing to this youtube channel but I absolutely love this guy. His channel is a must:

Post: #57

There's so many documentaries on youtube. A bunch of cool shit from National Geographic channel and PBS. I still think we're an alien's ant farm and they're seeing how long we can last.

Post: #58

Canada makes cloaking technology

Post: #59

   

   

   

Post: #60

This is one of the coolest videos I have ever seen. It's a video tour of the International Space Station. It's amazing to realize that there are actually human beings living in space right now.





Get a look at 12:04

Post: #61

   

Cancer genes: http://bit.ly/XkbFug
Magnetic charges of matter & antimatter: http://bit.ly/XBZbtN
Seven sex mating system: http://bit.ly/15ZOuVp
Down's Syndrome: http://bit.ly/105Cznm
Gene therapy: http://bit.ly/160HEz6
Neanderthal hybrid: http://bit.ly/YJxbVl

Post: #62

Have any of you guys seen these in SoCal? I have.. This is a sea hare. When threatened, they squirt purple ink and milky white substance called opaline at the predator. The ink impairs their vision and the opaline restricts their sense of smell.

   

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit - innovation inspired by nature.

   

Post: #63

(03-29-2013 04:45 AM)houston Wrote:  There's so many documentaries on youtube. A bunch of cool shit from National Geographic channel and PBS. I still think we're an alien's ant farm and they're seeing how long we can last.

Ha Neil Strauss is in the alien video. Maybe he's going to seduce them.

That Alien vid is Libertarian/militia propaganda.

Post: #64

If Aerofex ever gets this right, put one under my Christmas tree...

Post: #65

"This building eats pollution. Mexico City is one of the smoggiest cities in Latin America, and to reverse that trend, engineers have designed a tile that reacts with UV light to break down pollutants in the air. The tile is arranged in an attractive honeycomb pattern which increases the amount of air it can clean and covers the Torre de Especialidades, a large hospital."

   

Post: #66

Bioteeth From Stemcells Will Regrow Complete Tooth, Superior to Implants

"Replacing missing teeth with new bioengineered teeth, grown from stem cells generated from a person’s own gum cells, is a future method that could be superior to the currently used implant technology.

New research, published in the Journal of Dental Research and led by Professor Paul Sharpe, an expert in craniofacial development and stem cell biology at King’s College London’s Dental Institute, describes an important preliminary step towards the development of this method by sourcing the required cells from a patient’s own gum.

Research towards producing bioengineered teeth, also called bioteeth, aims to grow new and natural teeth by employing stem cell technology which generates immature teeth (teeth primordia) that mimic those in the embryo. These can be transplanted as small cell pellets into the adult jaw to develop into functional teeth, given the right circumstances, programming and assembly — all of that difficult to master and not even tested yet — the researchers say.

Remarkably, despite the very different environments, embryonic teeth primordia were found to develop normally in the adult mouth. Embryonic tooth primordia cells can readily form immature teeth following dissociation into single cell populations and subsequent recombination, but until now the available sources of these cells were impractical to use in a general therapy.

“What is required is the identification of adult sources of human epithelial and mesenchymal [stem] cells that can be obtained in sufficient numbers to make biotooth formation a viable alternative to dental implants,” said Sharpe.

This challenge was now solved by the researchers, who successfully isolated adult human gum (gingival) tissue from patients at the Dental Institute at King’s College London, grew more of it in the lab, and then combined it with the cells of mice that form teeth (mesenchyme cells). By transplanting this combination of cells into mice, the researchers were able to grow hybrid human/mouse teeth containing dentine and enamel, as well as viable roots.

“Epithelial cells derived from adult human gum tissue are capable of responding to tooth inducing signals from embryonic tooth mesenchyme in an appropriate way to contribute to tooth crown and root formation and give rise to relevant differentiated cell types, following in vitro culture,” said Sharpe.

“These easily accessible epithelial cells are thus a realistic source for consideration in human biotooth formation. The next major challenge is to identify a way to culture adult human mesenchymal cells to be tooth-inducing, as at the moment we can only make embryonic mesenchymal cells do this.”

Post: #67

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Post: #69

In Tomorrow’s Wars, Battles Will Be Fought With a 3-D Printer

A 3-D printed drone is shot down by insurgents near a far-flung base manned by the U.S. military. Within hours, a small lab dropped onto the base by a helicopter days before churns out a replacement — along with plenty of ammunition and reinforced shelters for the troops. A few miles off a nearby coastline, a naval ship-turned-factory harvests resources from the sea and uses on-board printers to make everything from food to replacement organs.

It’s a far-out vision for future combat, but at least one naval officer thinks it could happen. According to Lt. Cmdr. Michael Llenza, who sketched out the scenario in the latest Armed Forces Journal, 3-D printing could arguably “upend the way we think about supply chains, sea basing and even maritime strategy.” And by we, Llenza doesn’t just mean Americans. The Chinese military is already bragging about how they are printing parts for their next-gen aircraft.

Aside from drones — which have already been printed — ammunition could potentially be produced with the machines, as the casings would be “relatively easy,” he writes. (The Pentagon would just have to find a way to produce the propellants.) Additive manufacturing also “offers a new way to think about building shelters or other structures on a beachhead or forward operating base.” The hope, as the theory goes, is that large-scale investments in 3-D printing could take a lot of strain off the supply lines modern military forces depend on to survive.

None of this amounts to the official position of the Pentagon, but publications like the Armed Forces Journal serve as influential arenas where many theories and ideas from military officers — some which are later incorporated — are first put up for debate. And it’s no surprise the potential (and existing) military uses of 3-D printers has been getting a lot of recent ink.

In April, Navy lieutenants Scott Cheney-Peters and Matthew Hipple sketched out a theoretical future Navy in the widely read U.S. Naval Institute journal Proceedings that imagined ships capable of harvesting the oceans for 3-D printing material, and floating factories capable of manufacturing repair parts for a fleet of ships. Even shipyards, the authors wrote, could be effectively converted into giant 3-D printers. Llenza, who is also a Senior Naval Fellow at the non-partisan Atlantic Council, has taken that concept and run with it.

But there are also dangers, he warns. It’s not the 3-D gunmakers who are posting videos of their weapons to the internet. Those guns are crude and expensive compared to a homemade zip gun or bomb. “As far as printing guns, I’m not worried about it in its current state,” Llenza tells Danger Room. “I’m more worried about knee-jerk legislation and some idiot getting a hold of one. Plans to make zip guns and bomb making recipes have been online forever, so not much is new there.” (Though over time, the technology could advance with machines that can work with both metal and plastic simultaneously, or with printable composite materials that can withstand the heat and pressure of repeated use.)

Llenza is worried about larger military-grade material being reproduced by anyone with a 3-D printer. “This has implications not just for corporate intellectual property but national security,” he says. That could mean, for instance, military blueprints for a 3-D printed device or weapon being pirated and re-produced on the fly, instead of having to physically steal a machine and reverse-engineer it. Even more radical, Llenza writes that spies could one day use a “hand-held computed tomography scanner” to peer through containers to scan weapons, which “automatically generates the digital blueprints to print it.” Or hack 3-D printers as a form of sabotage.

3-D printers are also being incorporated into the armies of America’s potentially future foes. China, a rising competitor to the United States, does not have the luxury of a global and (relatively) efficient supply chain for its military, nor does it have a network of bases around the world. China has decided to sidestep the century it took the U.S. to develop its carrier fleet — though China is not nearly at the U.S. Navy’s level, and it’s another matter entirely when it comes to putting an operational carrier to sea for months. But 3-D printers, Llezna says, could help China move a little faster.

“First off, these are my opinions and not the U.S. Navy’s. Now that that’s out of the way, absolutely, China is 100 percent all-in on this,” Llenza tells Danger Room. “The technology has great potential to shorten logistical supply chains, and is especially beneficial to a state which is developing a deployable navy.” That includes titanium parts China is now printing for the J-15 Flying Shark — a carrier-borne fighter currently being developed. The J-15′s chief designer told Xinhua News Agency in March that printable components are being used “in major load-bearing parts, including the [J-15's] front landing gear.”

The U.S. has yet to certify 3-D printed parts for load-bearing structural aircraft parts. “Frankly, as an aviator, I’d like my parts to be certified before I go flying with them,” Llenza says. “But it goes to show, if they’re telling the truth, that they’ve bought in. Also, and again, this is my opinion, but the ability to print titanium and employ these lightweight parts in their aircraft can only help with what I understand to be a history of fabricating underperforming aircraft engines.”

In the end, the Pentagon may be better positioned, or at Llenza hopes. The military already uses 3-D printers to manufacture some non-critical components for aircraft, and has deployed prototype 3-D printing labs to Afghanistan. The Obama administration has plunged into 3-D printing technology, pledging $200 million in funds this month for three proposed research institutes that include 3-D printing as a key area. The Pentagon will oversee two of those institutes. So perhaps that 3-D printed military isn’t as far off as it might seem.

Post: #70

The only man to ever parachute into a thunderstorm and live to tell about it:

Post: #71

How kissing works.. some useful game info here on how to use uncertainty.

Post: #72

(07-13-2013 10:54 AM)soup Wrote:  How kissing works.. some useful game info here on how to use uncertainty.

Some interesting shit in that vid

Post: #73

I'm certain I've lost out on a bang or two because I didn'thave any mints on hand.

Cool video.

Post: #74

(07-13-2013 01:23 PM)kickboxer Wrote:  I'm certain I've lost out on a bang or two because I didn'thave any mints on hand.

Cool video.

Could be interesting to find out what foods make your kiss tastier...

Post: #75

the first human powered HELICOPTER:
(it won the sikorsky prize).




Cearly, it is massive. you need the draft. the very first telephone was cumbersome and massive too. same with the first phonograph.

eventually, it will get better...then, you will have small, compact, foldable bike/helicopter powered by humans(maybe with an additional AAA battery.)..who knows....your bike...can then turn into an helicopter...that then turn into a para-gliding equipment in the future.

anyways, here is a more detailed background, the whole thing was done through kickstarter.





Cool stuff.