Friday, March 4, 2011

Moving along...

Movement past and present.
I actually was going to post about something else, but this captured my attention instead.
Regarding the past: Eadweard Muybridge pioneered stop-action photography back in 1880s (galloping horse and all). There is a show of his work—including hauntingly beautiful photographs of Yosemite and elsewhere—which just opened at SFMOMA. I hope I can somehow make time to get to this exhibit. I'm fascinated by Muybridge's work ... and intrigued by his rather tortured personal life as well (all fodder for fiction, you know).

And for the cutting-edge here and now: Here's a really amazing technical development—a "Nano Hummingbird" flapping-wing nano air vehicle, developed for DARPA by AeroVironment.


Description that goes with the YouTube video: "Battery-powered and remote-controlled, the hummingbird-like prototype uses flapping wings for propulsion and control. Carring a video camera and downlink, the prototype has a wingspan of 16cm (9.5in) and weighs just 19 grams (0.66oz). It can hover for 8 minutes, remaining stable in gusts up to 5mph, and reach up to 11mph in forward flight."
What can I say? This... is... awesome. I'd like one for Christmas, please.

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