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Four Common Wing Shapes in Birds

There are four general wing shapes that are common in birds: Passive soaring, active soaring, elliptical wings, and high-speed wings.

Passive soaring wings have long primary feathers that spread out, creating “slots” that allow the bird to catch vertical columns of hot air called “thermals” and rise higher in the air.  Examples of birds with this wing type include eagles, most hawks, and storks. These Bald Eagles are classic examples of birds with passive soaring wings:

Active soaring wings are long and narrow, allowing birds to soar for a long time. However, these birds are much more dependent on wind currents than passive soaring birds. Examples of birds with this wing type are albarosses, gulls, and gannets. These California Gulls show good examples of the active soaring wing type:

Elliptical wings are good for short bursts of high speed. While they allow high speed, the speed cannot be maintained. Examples of birds that have this wing type are crows, ravens, blackbirds, sparrows, and thrushes such as the American Robin. These Common Ravens are good examples of birds with elliptical wings:

High-speed wings are long and thin, but not nearly as long as birds with active soaring wings. As the name suggests, birds with this wing type are incredibly fast, but unlike those with elliptical wings, these birds can maintain their speed for a while. Examples of birds that have this wing type are swifts, ducks, falcons, terns, and sandpipers. This Forster’s Tern is a good example of a bird with high-speed wings.

(http://www.birds.cornell.edu/education/kids/books/wingshapes)

The 7th Row of the Periodic Table is Finally Complete

And with a single announcement, millions of text books around the world have been made incomplete—out of date. This comes as four new elements are added to the periodic table, finally completing the table’s seventh row. The elements, 113, 115, 117, and 118 were discovered by scientists working in Japan, Russia, and America. Now, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC, the body that is charged with overseeing standards in the world of chemistry) has confirmed the finds. Ultimately, these are the first elements to be added to the table since 2011. They were verified in an announcement released on Dec. 30.

Learn more: http://futurism.com/links/the-7th-row-of-periodic-table-is-finally-complete/

Iran Interested in Purchase of Russian Satellites

Moscow (Sputnik) Nov 20, 2015 Iran intends to cooperate with Russia in the area of aerospace after economic sanctions are lifted, to include satellites, weather satellites, and remote sensing devices, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Thursday. “Iran is interested in our plans [new federal aerospace program], they want to find their place in the market of remote sensing devices. They want their own weat Full article

Almost a month ago, the spaceflight company Blue Origin sent a rocket up to the edge of space and then guided it gracefully back down to earth, intact. It was a historic first.

But Blue Origin’s major competitor, SpaceX, was quick to point out that the rocket wasn’t going fast enough (or sideways enough) to place a satellite into orbit - just 4,600 kph (~2,860 mph). It went straight up, and then straight down.

Now, SpaceX has managed to put 11 satellites in orbit with a “reusable” rocket. Their rocket didn’t just go up and down - it reached a horizontal velocity of 6,000 kph (3,600 mph) before returning to earth. If SpaceX is able to refurbish the rocket and use it in another launch, they’ll have figured out a way to dramatically reduce the cost of spaceflight.

Here’s the full webcast. And here’s the full story.

Video credit: SpaceX

We normally post our tech news roundups on Fridays, but due to turkey, football, and lots of napping, we’re publishing it today instead. Enjoy!

1. The right drones for everyone this holiday season Love is in the air, and here’s a list of UAVs you can use to catch it. There’s never been a better reason to sit around while your relatives drone on and on. Really. With gifts like these the holidays will fly right by. via: Quartz

2. New tech can wirelessly charge your electronics with a standard Wi-Fi router There’s a good reason your Wi-Fi router is always shooting dirty looks at your laptop’s power cord. But rather than stoop to their level, routers everywhere are taking up the slack. Try to be sympathetic when your power cord finally winds up jobless. It’s bound to come as a shock.         via: BGR 3. The Pickle Index is a Delightfully Weird, App-Driven Novel Like No Other Immersive multimedia experiences are becoming more and more advanced every day, but there are plenty of people who still use monomedia to get their virtual realities. With The Pickle Index, techies and bookworms will finally have something to talk about if they’re both forced to interact with other humans. via: WIRED

4. Circuit Board Tattoos That Actually Work Will Make Your Cyborg Fantasies Come True Do yourself a favor and only get tattoos in languages that you understand. Otherwise you might end up with a bunch of spurious output, and it’s going to take forever to find that missing comma. via: Gizmodo

Patricia Cowings (b. 1948) is an aerospace psychophysiologist, and the first African American woman trained as an astronaut by NASA. She conducted important research over many years at the NASA Ames Research Center in the fields of psychology and physiology.

Her research allowed cosmonauts to learn voluntary self-control to bodily responses, and cure motion sickness in space. She has trained space crews and helped improve their performance and wellbeing during missions. She has received several awards for her contributions to technology and development.

Total Recall Sounds Great, But Some Things Should Be Forgotten

Imagine never again forgetting where you parked your car, or that last item you had on your grocery list, or why you walked into this room anyway. If you trust media stories about research currently under way at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to build an implantable device to restore memory, you might not have to worry about these memory lapses in the future.

Meet Surena III: University of Tehran Unveils Its New Humanoid Robot

Researchers from the University of Tehran unveiled the new generation of their humanoid robot called Surena III. The robot stands 1.9 meters tall (6.2 feet) and weighs 98 kilograms (216 lb). It is also  equipped with numerous sensors that includes a Kinect-based 3D vision module, and is powered by 31 servomotors. Surena III is capable of walking up and down ramps and stairs, and along irregular surfaces up to a speed of .2m/s (about 8 inches a second).

So perhaps the robot won’t be running any marathons anytime soon, but it’s still pretty remarkable. Plus, the robot was designed for other purposes besides speed.

Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/meet-surena-iii-university-of-tehran-unveils-its-new-humanoid-robot/