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| NASA Genius Materials |
If you're a fan of the replicator which already is 3 D Printing and wants to step into the Star Trek Hala Deck it won't be long. Around the world designers are working on smart materials such as alloys that can change shape on demand, plastics that heal themselves when ruptured, and fluids that obey magnetic commands to flow or stiffen under computer control. "One of the great challenges in creating a smart material is arranging the molecules," says Eric Furst of the University of Delaware. "They're so small!"
In the micro-gravity of Earth orbit, vials of fluid mixed with very small 'colloidal' particles (about a millionth of a meter in diameter) are exposed to magnetic fields. Magnetism is switched on and off again very rapidly. This jostles the particles, causing them to bump together and self-assemble into microscopic structures that currently no supercomputer can predict.
"Astronauts enjoy watching this process in action through microscopes because the samples are back-lit by a green lamp, they sometimes call it the 'green blob experiment', says Furst."
Understanding all Matter will be the Holy Grail for humanity.
Full Story at NASA Science
Globe Backyard TV
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| Yale University Press |
Science will forever push us forward for a better tomorrow and for many of us on this Thanksgiving day NASA has helped and brings us closer together. As the ISS orbits Earth the advancements in our everyday life have been many in supporting humanity through the coalition of several countries working together in experiments and engineering alone that has created the ISS. Our lives and health are already changing and it's only going to get better from the results these teams strive for. Soon will come a time where manufacturing is obsolete with the aid in 3D printing and once a man understands all matter I've said this before, will be the Holy Grail for humanity. In the meantime what has come from experiments and upgrades to the ISS we are utilizing back here on the good Earth.
From ReelNASA: For generations, we have dreamed about a place to live and work in space...a space station. And right now, 260 miles above us, moving 5 miles a second...that dream is a reality. We dreamed that life up there would benefit life down here. That dream has come true. Can the research on board the space station lead to cleaner drinking water on Earth? Can it help farmers produce better crops? Can it inspire a generation of students? Can it even save a life? It already has. As the work aboard the International Space Station begins to reach its potential, the benefits to humanity are becoming evident. These are just a few of the stories from people who have benefited....told in their own words.
ReelNASA
Shaping Humanity
What did earlier humans really look like? What was life like for them, millions of years ago? Award-winning paleo-artist John Gurche is artist-in-residence, Museum of the Earth, Paleontological Research Institute, Ithaca, NY. His works have appeared frequently in National Geographic and similar publications and in major natural history museums including the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Field Museum. He enriches our awareness of the various paths of human evolution and humanity’s stunning uniqueness in the history of life on Earth.
Shaping Humanity- the Book
Yale Press
