ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 492

Flying Boats Soar Over The Hudson

“Land Rover in some better breeze at the moment…flying a hull, making some good distance back now in that breeze in the middle of the course that has slowly materialized.”

Lee McMillan, second helmsman for the Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing America’s Cup team. He was calling one of the races in the America’s Cup World Series New York session, in the Hudson River on Friday, May 6th.

Before the races, Martin Whitmarsh talked about some of the technology of these boats. He was a mechanical engineer before becoming CEO of McLaren Racing and then CEO of the team that will try to win the America’s Cup for England in 2017.  

“We call them boats, we call them yachts, when they’re flying less than 1 percent of the surface area is in water, 99 percent is in the air. So these are very aerodynamic boats.”

 “So we are in a program now which goes towards Bermuda next year for the 35th America’s Cup challenge. So we are one of the challengers to Oracle Team USA. And we are in a process here in New York of competing with what is called an AC-45, so the boats we have here, they have wings, they’re a hydrofoiling catamaran…but everyone is using the same boats…and the winner of this series, the World Series, gets points that go forward into the qualifying process.

“At the end of this year, we will launch the Cup Class boats. So these will be about twice the power...the sailors are down in cockpits unlike today. A lot of the power is being generated by these four grinders that are providing hydraulic power, and that energy is being used to control the flying surface, the hydrofoil…and is also being used to control the wing and the flaps, effectively the engine, of what we have.

“So these Cup Class boats…they will be in Bermuda traveling at speeds of 85 kilometers an hour. These are about 3.5 tons that’ll be flying on a hydrofoil that’s not much more than a meter wide. So it’s a fairly incredible piece of technology. And as the sailors develop their technique you’ll see these staying in the air, jibing from one hydrofoil onto the other hydrofoil and staying in the air. It’s an incredible piece of technology, athleticism, and choreography on the part of the sailors, and skill of course.”

The boats that raced in New York—the AC-45s—are 45 feet long and identical for each team. But there will be some opportunity for slight differences in the larger AC-72 boats used next year in Bermuda. And applying advanced technology to those non-fixed areas could be the difference between winning the Cup or hoping to try again in 2021.

“There’s a lot of challenge…but whilst we’re racing here, there’s a technology race that’s going on.”—Steve Mirsky (The above text is a transcript of this podcast)   

Scientists Want To Sequence The Genome Of Leonardo Da Vinci

Health and Medicine





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What is believed to be a self-portrait of Da Vinci from 1512. Jakub Krechowicz/Shutterstock

Five hundred years ago, Leonardo da Vinci was pioneering pretty much every field of study going, from poetry to mathematics, engineering, anatomy, science, astronomy, and geology. He wasn’t bad at painting either, apparently. Seemingly inspired by his feverishly creative spirit, scientists have hatched a mad plan to sequence his genome and attempt to piece together his incredible life.

Scientists Have Measured A Black Hole, And It Has A Mass Of 660 MILLION Suns

Space





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The supermassive black hole is located 73 million light-years away in the galaxy NGC 1332, shown. Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey

As black holes are proverbially black, astronomers have to come up with intuitive ways to work out how big they are. One way to do so is to look at how fast gas around them moves, a technique astronomers used with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to get the most accurate mass measurement yet.

Indian Is Set To Spend Over $6 Billion On Restoring Their Forests

Environment





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The plan aims to increase forest cover from 21 percent to 33 percent. Girish HC/Shutterstock

The Indian government is planning on spending an impressive $6.2 billion on reforesting parts of the country. The scheme, which has unilateral support and has already been passed by members of India’s lower house of Parliament, is now just waiting to be passed by the upper house.

Leopards Have Lost 75 Percent Of Their Historic Range In The Last 250 Years

Plants and Animals





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The species have the largest historical range of any big cat, stretching from South Africa to South Korea. Dave Pusey/Shutterstock

Considered one of the most numerous big cats still stalking the wilds, it seems that the leopard is not as impervious to human interference as usually thought. A new study looking into the distribution of the cats over its entire historical range has found some shocking results. They report that over the last 250 years, leopards (Panthera pardus) have lost some 75 percent of their natural habitat.

This Week in Science (May 1 – 8)

You want to have a reference point of where to find the best recent scientific and technological breakthroughs? Here they are, in the weekly science compilations. Share them with friends and family, online or in real life. Enjoy!

Visit the This Week in Science profile: https://wakelet.com/@ThisWeekinScience

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Germany To Legalize Medical Marijuana Next Year

Health and Medicine





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Medical marijuana will be made available to patients with serious illnesses. Teri Virbickis/Shutterstock

Germany is set to become the latest country to legalize the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, with the nation’s health minister confirming earlier this week that the German cabinet had approved the move. Though an exact date for the first permissible puff of medical marijuana has not yet been set, government officials expect the new law to come into effect by this time next year.

Why More Cities Need To Add Up The Economic Value Of Trees

Plants and Animals





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Not just a way to beat the heat, urban forests also reduce air pollution and provide other services for the economy. kiddocone/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Your parents were wrong: money does grow on trees.

Cities routinely rake up tens of millions of dollars from their urban forests annually in ways that are not always obvious. Leafy canopies lower summer air conditioning bills, but more shade also means less blade to maintain thousands of acres of grass. Health-wise, trees contribute to lower asthma rates and birth defects by removing air pollutants.

Rhythm On The Brain, And Why We Can’t Stop Dancing

The Brain





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Some of us can’t help moving to a beat. Shutterstock

Music and dance are far from idle pastimes. They are universal forms of expression and deeply rewarding activities that fulfil diverse social functions. Both feature in all the world’s cultures and throughout history.

A common feature of music and dance is rhythmic movement, which is often timed with a regular pulse-like beat. But the human capacity for rhythm presents something of a puzzle.

Sea-Level Rise Has Claimed Five Whole Islands In The Pacific: First Scientific Evidence

Environment





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The Solomon Islands are low-lying and vulnerable to changes in sea level. Javier Leon, Author provided

Sea-level rise, erosion and coastal flooding are some of the greatest challenges facing humanity from climate change.

Recently at least five reef islands in the remote Solomon Islands have been lost completely to sea-level rise and coastal erosion, and a further six islands have been severely eroded.