Carnivalia — 8/25 – 8/31
The past week’s selection of science-related blog carnivals for your reading enjoyment:
All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume 113
Grand Rounds Vol. 6 No. 49 – a conference in a tropical island resort
September 1st, 2010
August 30th, 2010
The scientific tourist #138 — Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk
This week you get two images of a Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk, taken at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
The Curtiss P-40 was a single-engine, single-seat fighter and attack aircraft that saw service across the globe during all of the second World War. Known in all its variants in U.S. service as the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, everywhere else early variants (P-40B & C) were called the Tomahawk while later ones (P-40D and on) were called the Kittyhawk.
While not breaking many records for speed or turn performance, the P-40 made a name for itself by being a low-cost aircraft with almost ridiculously high durability. Many returned to their bases with damage that would have ended the days of other aircraft.
This particular aircraft was delivered to Canada in 1941, and served until 1946 in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1975, U.S.A.F. personnel at Andrews Air Force Base restored it to represent an aircraft of the 14th Air Force — it’s painted as “Lope’s Hope” in honor of Donald S. Lopez, USAAC / USAF pilot, WWII ace, and former Deputy Museum Director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
August 27th, 2010
Casual Friday — Walkman vs. Hoover
OK, no great scientific value in today’s video — just good, clean, silly fun. From the folks that brought you Wallace & Gromit, it’s “Stuff vs. Stuff: Walkman vs. Hoover”:
August 25th, 2010
Carnivalia — 8/18 – 8/24
The past week’s crop of (mostly) science-related blog carnivals:
All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume 112
An Inordinate Fondness #7: Beetles beautiful
Carnivalesque 65 (ancient / medieval history)
Four Stone Hearth #99: The last two-digit edition
Grand Rounds, Volume 6 Number 48: The “Funny” Edition
August 23rd, 2010
The scientific tourist #137 — Thor-Able
This week’s image is another from the U.S. Air Force Space & Missile Museum at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station — it’s a Thor-Able launch vehicle:
Thor-Able got its rather… unusual… look from the fact that it was cobbled together from two existing launch vehicles. The first stage was a modified Thor IRBM, while its second (”Able”) stage was a Vanguard-derivative. As you see it here, the Thor-Able was originally developed to support the Atlas ICBM program — logging nine flights as a sounding rocket in order to test potential warhead designs and materials for the ICBM. But as its kinks got worked out, the vehicle came into service for launching small satellites.
The Thor-Able was used for 16 launches between 1958 and 1960, of which 10 were fully successful (and to be fair, three of the failures resulted from problems with a sometimes-used third stage). Ultimately, Thor-Able launched four spacecraft on at least partially-successful missions:
- Pioneer 1 (a partial success with an abbreviated mission)
- Explorer 6 (S-2)
- Pioneer 5
- Tiros 1
In the big-picture view, though, possibly the Thor-Able’s most significant role was as a stepping stone on the way to today’s Delta launch vehicle family.
August 21st, 2010
Casual Friday — life in slow motion
It’s just plain fun and interesting to watch what life looks like in super slow motion. Courtesy of Philip Heron, here’s a short film on the subject — Tempus II:
Tempus II from Philip Heron on Vimeo.
H/T: Gizmodo
August 18th, 2010
Carnivalia — 8/11 – 8/17
The past week’s science-related blog carnivals:
All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume 111
BEHOLDE! Giant’s Shoulders Edition 26: Fools, Frauds, and FAILURES
August 16th, 2010
The scientific tourist #136 — the Dornier Do 335
I’ve always thought the Do 335 has to take the prize for “oddest looking military aircraft,” but then its performance more than made up for its unusual appearance.
The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (”Arrow”) started out in the late 1930’s as a design for a fast bomber, yet hit so many political roadblocks and politically-driven redesigns that it was only beginning production as a fighter aircraft when World War II wrapped up in 1945. The Do 335’s unusual look comes from its designer’s approach to packing two engines into a minimum-drag configuration — in a push / pull or centerline thrust arrangement.
This scheme was effective enough that the Do 335 could outrun any other propeller-driven aircraft of its time — it would have proven a lethal adversary had it ever flown in numbers. When the U.S. Army overran its factory in April of 1945, only 11 Do 335 fighters and two trainers had been built, while 15 more were in final assembly. Today the sole remaining example of this aircraft is the one in these pictures (the second preproduction aircraft), taken at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
August 13th, 2010
Casual Friday — the new Bay Bridge
If you remember anything about the Loma Prieta earthquake (magnitude 7.0) that hit the San Francisco bay area in 1989, it might well be this picture:
It’s a collapsed section of the San Francisco to Oakland Bay Bridge — and currently carries well over 250,000 cars each day, but obviously wasn’t built to survive a severe earthquake.
So the more-fragile, eastern half of the bridge is getting replaced by a brand new structure. The whole effort will wind up costing over $7 billion, but will result in a “lifeline” bridge — capable of functioning after the kind of earthquake that’s expected only every 1,500 years. And it’s built to last for 150 years. Essentially, it’ll be San Francisco’s lifeline to the outside world when “the big one” comes (and that’s definitely a “when,” not an “if”).
So courtesy of Wired comes this video about the most photogenic and high-tech part of the new span — the world’s largest self-anchored suspension bridge, hanging from a tower in the middle of the bridge rather than from ground on either end of it.
If you’re using a non-Flash device, you can check out the video imbedded in its accompanying Wired article over here.
August 11th, 2010
Carnivalia — 8/04 – 8/10
The past week’s crop of (mostly) science-related blog carnivals awaits your reading attentions:
Carnival of Space #165 (you’ll want your blue / green 3D glasses for this one)
Carnival of Space: Issue #166 (came in a few days early, so you get a double-dose of spaciness this week!)
Grand Rounds Vol. 6 No. 46: The Power of Listening
Medlibs Round: May 2010 edition
MolBio Carnival: the first edition
Nursing Change of Shift – Vol. 5, Number 3
