| September 2010 |
Electrique, naturellement |
| This gloriously retro-looking electric monoplane, known as Demoichelle, was created by a group of French enthusiasts who call themselves the Association for Promotion of Flying Ladders (APEV). |
It made its debut during the recent Green Air Show at Le Bourget, outside Paris. Power is provided by a strengthened AGNI 112 R electric motor, fed by a bank of lithium-polymer batteries. The... |more| |
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| August 2010 |
Fermi’s excellent adventure |
| Since it's launch in June 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space telescope has shed light on some of the brightest, most explosive events in the universe and opened tantalising windowS into dark matter and the nature of space-time. |
Five hundred and sixty kilometres overhead, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope glides silently through space. From this serene vantage point, the satellite’s instruments watch the fiercest processes... |more| |
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Race for WIMPs |
| In Soudan, Minnesota a quest to redefine the nature of the universe is underway in a mine-shaft. |
A quest to redefine the nature of the Universe is underway in a mine-shaft in Soudan, Minnesota, where physicists with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search have been looking since 2003 for particles... |more| |
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Battle of the heavyweights |
| The talk of the commercial aviation world has been dominated for years by the sales conflict between Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and Airbus’s A380. Now both planes are fi nally airborne – the A380 flying for airlines, the 787 in test flights. Here’s how the planes match up in the global marketplace. |
Airbus A380
The world’s largest passenger plane has proven to be the most expensive civilian aircraft ever developed. Airbus claims its fuel-efficiency, control system and... |more| |
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Air race at the edge |
| The Redbull Air Race is not just a struggle among competitors, but also between pilots and the course. |
Every Red Bull Air Race is a struggle – not just among competitors, but also between pilots and the course. For June’s championship, the first to be flown in new York City, race director Jim DiMatteo... |more| |
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Rocket, return home |
| The US Air Force is designing a rocket stage that can land on a runway instead of falling back to earth with a parachute, saving the cost and time of ocean retrieval. A prototype could fly by 2013 |
Step 1
The proposed Reusable Booster System separates from the second stage and payload.
Step 2
The system uses its main engine to flip over in a “rocket... |more| |
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Unprepared for the worst |
| The level of earthquake readiness does not always match the risks |
A worldwide spate of earthquakes this year demonstrated that preparedness makes the difference between a disaster and a catastrophe. Finding out how buildings would fare in the next big quake... |more| |
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The practical world of plasma |
| Scientists find new ways to control the fourth state of matter. |
When English physicist William Crookes discovered plasma in 1879, he did not propose any use for the stuff. Crookes found that he could make gas behave differently from other forms of matter by... |more| |
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Who's afraid of synthetic biology? |
Don’t let fears about frankenmicrobes halt promising research.
- By Ronald Bailey |
Better medicines, carbon neutral fuels, cheaper food and a cleaner environment – who could be against that? Well, quite a few people, as it turns out. A research team led by private human genome... |more| |
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| July 2010 |
What’s wrong with the MD-11? |
| PM examines an aircraft that some pilots say invites disaster. |
A FedEx McDonnell Douglas freighter, landing through gusty winds at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport on March 23, 2009, bounces during touchdown. As the airplane hits the runway a second time, it... |more| |
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